Neepawa council gets to work

Details

Published on Friday, November 7, 2014

By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner

Neepawa’s new mayor and council are wasting little time in tackling the variety of complex issues facing the community. The group held its first official meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 4, and reviewed several items of note. 

The first order of business was formally naming a deputy mayor and chairman of Finance. Council decided that Isobel Jarema would be the first to serve as deputy mayor, while Bill Stilwell will take a seat in the finance chair.

Jarema noted that each member of council will have the opportunity to step into the deputy mayor position.

“My role as deputy mayor is only for the first term,” said Jarema. “It’s an opportunity to learn. We, as a council, are still in the process of planning and organizing ourselves but I’m eager to get started and looking forward to serving the people of this community.”

Meanwhile, some council committee appointments were also approved. Murray Parrott and Adrian de Groot will serve on both the Neepawa and Area Planning District and the Neepawa District Medical Committee.

Council also received an update on several ongoing projects. Manager of Operations Denis Saquet informed them that construction along the Industrial Park access road, on Neepawa’s east end has begun. The current plan is to build an expanded service road, so that more commercial and industrial development may be an option in the future. 

A new snow removal agreement with Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation was formally agreed upon.

Neepawa will perform snowplowing operations along the portion of Highway 16 that passes through the community in accordance with the provincial standards. 

The province meanwhile, agrees to pay to the town $61.42 per centimeter of snow, a rate that is based on historic snowfall records, which falls in Neepawa as reported by Environment Canada. MIT will also perform winter maintenance on the highway, such as sanding and ice control.