Council Debrief: Making a Case for the Arts

After taking a break for the holidays, Neepawa Town Council met for the first time in the new year this week and discussed updates to several ongoing projects as well as heard a couple of year-end reports from 2021.

They open with a delegation from ArtsForward to talk about why funding their organisation is important for the community. The town’s Community Grant Program accepts applications each year until the 31st of December, and while most organisations, institutions, and clubs do not make an in-person presentation such as this one to accompany their application, anyone can make arrangements with the town office to do so in advance of a town council meeting. ArtsForward is the main centre for the arts in the community and outlined all of the programs and resources they offer in their presentation to Council.

Operations Manager Denis Saquet’s report covers updates in several construction projects around town, but particularly talks about beginning the process of rebuilding Park Lake in the near future. One of the concerns addressed is regarding the delivery of materials to the area, because the direct route is through a residential area. A temporary change of speed limit is being considered to address the increased traffic of many heavy trucks through the hilly street.

Economic Development Officer Marilyn Crewe presents her year-end report which encompasses new and expanded businesses, housing developments, the storefront improvement program, and various aspects of local tourism.

The Neepawa Farm and Leisure Lottery was a great success again this year, and now the Council needs to begin the process again for next year, which includes guaranteeing the substantial prizes should ticket sales fall below a certain level. Councillor Murray Parrot talks about the lottery and indicates that another successful year could pay off the clinic expansion so they’re now looking at future projects for the medical community.

Council votes on a three-year update to the accessibility plan and discusses taking the lead on ensuring that the county courthouse building is made accessible. The goal of the accessibility plan is to ensure that all public buildings in the town are made accessible, as well as to help enable local businesses to do the same.

Council also votes to implement a vaccination plan for the town, which is a process that all municipalities in Manitoba have been undergoing. Specifically, this is a plan for how to sustain operations and manage staff in the face of an outbreak and is not a vaccine mandate.

Other items covered at the meeting include a 5% increase to pool fees next year, a small increase to the cost of dumping construction waste at the local landfill, the sale of a small piece of town land, and the appointment of the senior election official for the 2022 municipal elections in October.