WEYBURN - The City of Weyburn had a “pretty exciting” and busy year in 2024, said Mayor Jeff Richards, and city council is ready for a challenging time to come in 2025.
He was a councillor for much of the past year, and on Nov. 13, won the election as mayor, defeating eight-year veteran Marcel Roy to take over the city’s top job.
Richards admits this was “a personal highlight” for him to win that race, and said, “That was pretty exciting, and I’m very grateful the people of Weyburn sent a pretty strong message. They wanted a change, so I’m excited for the opportunity and the challenge,” said the mayor.
This year was an exciting one for Weyburn with lots of roadwork done after a fairly wet spring, including 13 blocks of new pavement on First Avenue, a block on Prairie Avenue, five blocks on Railway Avenue, and over 200 metres of new curbing and new pedestrian ramps.
The pedestrian ramps were built at the intersections of 13th Street and First Avenue; Coteau Avenue and 16th; Warren Avenue and 16th, and Warren and McGillivray Drive.
In addition, the City did a fair amount of pothole patching once the city’s infrared machine was up and running, plus they did 5,000 metres of crack sealing on Apron 1 at the Weyburn Airport, noted Mayor Richards.
He noted the council chambers has the motto, “A community for all” written on the walls, and doing work like these pedestrian ramps are important to help ensure accessibility throughout the city.
There were also new traffic lights installed at 16th Street and First Avenue, and at Government Road and First Avenue.
The past year was exciting also because of the Weyburn Oil Show in June, which brought in a lot of businesses and visitors to the city. Mayor Richards said he loves the buzz around the city when this show is on, with people in the hotels, restaurants and stores, and is a chance to show off Weyburn to the visitors.
“It shows off how well we do oil and gas in Canada, and I would argue how well we do oil and gas in southern Saskatchewan. We have the world’s largest carbon sequestration project in our backyard at Whitecap Resources, so it was great to have these people visiting us,” he said.
More recently, Weyburn hosted its first-ever U9 Outdoor Classic hockey tournament at the Credit Union Spark Centre, which is a “real jewel in our crown” in Weyburn, said the mayor, who talked to a lot of out-of-town families who wished their community had what we have here.
“They’re blown away by how awesome this facility is, plus Mother Nature helped us out. We had kids roasting hot dogs outside, and a few folks said, ‘we had no idea that the Spark Centre was there’,” said Mayor Richards.
Weyburn can also be proud of the District Planning Commission, which is a collaboration between the City and RM of Weyburn for land use development and regional planning.
Looking ahead to 2025 and the new budget, Mayor Richards noted that all of the councillors he’s talked to are pretty clear on the priority of getting the city’s streets in order and making more improvements.
“Not all of it is new pavement, some of it is fixing trouble spots and fixing them quickly,” he said, adding that council also wants to focus on encouraging new business development, getting more new jobs and building new homes, along with the downtown revitalization project. The City has hired Crosby Hanna Associates as consultants, and they will be talking to the downtown business community about the future of the downtown region.
One feature that will provide a boost to downtown will be the development of the new theatre on the site of the former Soo Theatre.
“By next Christmas, we might be watching movies in the new theatre – wouldn’t that be exciting?” said Mayor Richards, pointing out this project is a testament to the young people of the city, particularly the members of the youth council who pushed for it to happen.
The mayor also made the “bold prediction” that we may very well see a playoff run by the Weyburn Red Wings in 2025, plus the Weyburn Beavers are also planning for an exciting season in the coming year.
Asked if the mall will be a part of the downtown revitalization discussion, the mayor said to a limited extent they will be, but noted as the mall is privately owned, it’s dependent on the owners wanting to be a part of the process.
The 2025 budget will also include discussions on the indoor pool, and Mayor Richards noted the council is going to want to see a number of options brought forward that they look into for the future of the pool. The consultation with the public and with user groups for that future will be similar to what the City did for the Spark Centre, he added.
With the budget to be introduced at January’s first council meeting, Mayor Richards pointed out it won’t be a zero-increase budget, as those days are gone – but at the same time, council will not be looking for a 10-12 per cent increase either, as they don’t want to burden taxpayers with that big of an increase.
There are several necessities that the City has to pay for, such as emergency services, the landfill, water and sewer, along with amenities that residents want such as the arenas and the Spark Centre.
One exciting development to come in 2025 will be Weyburn’s new hospital, which the mayor said Wright Construction has assured him will be done on time in late 2025.
The City will be aggressively seeking any available grants that might be available to help pay for the things that are needed, noted the mayor, and he plans to be having that conversation with both the provincial and federal levels of government to make sure they know of the needs here.
“Sometimes Saskatchewan’s relationship with the feds can be somewhat strained, but that doesn’t mean Weyburn’s relationship should be impaired. If there are grants out there, we’re going to go get them, even matching dollars,” said the mayor.
