Neepawa Council Debrief: Developing Downtown

This week Council held a fairly abbreviated meeting as a couple of members were absent. Because of this we are able to give you the Council meeting in its entirety in the debrief this week, but first here are a few highlights from the meeting.

Alongside other upcoming events, Councillor Sisley reminds the community that there will be an Indigenous Culture Day on Friday, September 27 at The Flats, with learning stations and a pow wow presentation as well as greetings from several dignitaries. The event is free and open to the public, with the first presentation at 9:45 am and the second at 1 pm. It will also be attended by hundreds of students from several schools within the Beautiful Plains School Division.

CAO Synchyshyn reports on behalf of Manager of Operations Denis Saquet with updates on various infrastructure projects around town, including the main street drainage project, which is nearly complete, and an emergency water repair on Mountain Avenue which put part of the street out of commission over the weekend.

Both Saquet’s report and Deputy Mayor Parrott note that the town is aware there are several paving projects that have yet to be completed, however there are a limited number of paving companies available with competing demands on their time. As Parrott says, they are doing their best to get these jobs completed for residents.

Finally Council discusses potential further development in the area which used to be the parking lot at the old Neepawa-Gladstone Co-op location and now houses the Training Centre, Grit Force Fitness, Harris Pharmacy and several community agencies including Settlement Services and Westlake Employment. While nothing is planned in the near future, the town needs to delineate where the public lane runs through that block, as the entire area is currently used for vehicles and parking. Residents might see some indicators of lanes and designated parking areas in the near future.