Humboldt City Council debated the merits of a series of projects brought forward by the city’s administration to put forward for approval in light of increased dollars provided by the province’s Municipal Economic Enhancement Program (MEEP). Each year, the province provides cities funding through MEEP to assist them in undertaking infrastructure or development projects.

This year, as part of the government’s stimulus package, an additional $300 million dollars was earmarked for municipalities throughout the province.

This year, the City of Humboldt’s share amounts to $843,542. At the June 22 Council meeting, City Manager Joe Day introduced a series of proposed projects to provide to the government for approval. The proposal will be submitted by the deadline date of July 17th. If the projects are approved at the provincial level, the funds provided by MEEP are to be spent by March 31, 2020.

The most costly of the proposals and the one that generated most discussion by Council was a $350,000 plan for an outdoor skating rink and recreation multi-use space. 

The idea is to provide a multi-season recreational space that would reintroduce a surface for tennis courts, pickleball, outdoor basketball, and other sports. In the winter, the area would be converted to an ice surface. In addressing the cost, Joe Day noted that city administration, in preparing its proposal, had consulted with other centres. 

“There were a couple of other municipalities that we looked to who had built skating surfaces relatively recently. As a breakdown, it was about $80 to 100 thousand dollars for a pad, somewhere around $80 to 90 thousand for a board system. You have a chain link fence for around $15 thousand, and if you build any kind of warm up and equipment shack, it adds between $50 to 100 thousand dollars the extent you go there.”

There has been no specific recommendation for a location for the complex as the proposal awaited Council’s approval. The dollar value, Day suggested, would allow for the completion of a long-lasting, quality facility with no half measures.

While an outdoor rink has been established on the city’s south side, the Mayor and council members reflected on the loss of the outdoor rink and tennis courts located at the current site of Caleb Village. The Mayor also noted the previous intent on the part of the City to replace those amenities.

Other projects discussed as part of the improvement package included:

  • Turning lanes off Highway 5 at the Centennial Park entrance
  • Turning lanes off Highway 5 at the 21st Street intersection
  • Boiler upgrades at the Uniplex
  • Glenn Hall Park reclaimed water for irrigation
  • Lift station #1 and storm drainage study
  • Allotment for 16th Street water main replacements 
  • Paving portions of Saskatchewan Avenue and 101st Street

The total cost of the listed projects amounted to the value provided by the government in the MEEP funding. Council approved the proposal package for submission to provincial officials.