It was a packed four days for Humboldt mayor and councillors at the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association annual conference in Saskatoon from Feb. 5-8.
Over 1,000 delegates from towns, villages, cities, and northern municipalities across Saskatchewan attended the four days of education sessions, meetings with government leaders, and discussions on the shaping of urban Saskatchewan.
Mayor Rob Muench was very happy about how Humboldt was represented with all six councillors able to take in the convention.
The award ceremony on Feb. 7 also saw the City of Humboldt receive their long awaited Saskatchewan Municipal Award for their work on the Our Humboldt Strategic Framework which was announced last November.
Muench says a lot of work went into the framework which will be used for future development of the city.
Muench was very proud to be able to accept the award with all the current city councillors and former mayor, Malcolm Eaton.
“He was a big part of the implementation of that whole process of the Our Humboldt Strategic Plan so it was good to have him up there.”
The convention kicked off with education sessions on asset management, climate change, digital security, waste strategy, and finding new revenue sources.
Muench says he was most pleased with the asset management session with speaker, Celine Favreau, Director of Operations and Planning with Mid-Sask Municipal Alliance.
Muench was happy to see Humboldt ahead of the curve on managing and cataloguing city infrastructure and being aware of replacement timing.
This was one session that Muench advised all new councillors to go to and it was well done by Favreau.
Humboldt has been fortunate in the past to have a strong dialogue with government ministers. Muench was happy to see small communities given this opportunity with six provincial ministers available for discussions on local issues.
Bruno Town Administer, Lorna Beaton, as well as Muench were quick to ask the about issues with Hwy 5. Muench says it was good that they were able to bring their concerns right to the Minister of Highways.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall was also present at the conference to give his own address. Talk of the deficit and how it will affect provincial and urban government relations was a hot topic.
Until the budget comes out, Muench says they are unsure how much will be cut from revenue sharing with the provincial government.
With government revenue sharing, one per cent of PST go towards municipalities to be used in their budget.
According to Muench, Humboldt’s share will be dropping by at least $62,000, which makes up 1.2 per cent of Humboldt’s budget.
Wall said during his address that that number might be dropped even more. They will not have a definite number until the budget is passed.
“He didn’t say that he would do that but he did say everything’s on the table so we’re waiting to see what the budget will bring,” says Muench.
