News for July 30th

Speed Reduction at Corral Centre
There will be a speed reduction taking place from 70 km/h to 60 km/h on a portion of 18th Street North between John Avenue and the Corral Centre (approximately 900 meters). There will be signs posted notifying the public of the change in speed once the change comes into effect.

Keystone Centre
A lot has happened at the Keystone over the past couple months:
• Hill Avenue (off of 13th street) is scheduled to repaved as soon as possible.
• New scoreboards have been installed in Kinsmen and Optimist Arenas – part of the Coca-Cola deal the Keystone signed a few months back.
• Hockey protective netting has been installed in both the Optimist and Kinsmen - $6,000 received from Community places.
• Replaced carpet in the Pioneer Lounge (east end of main concourse)
• Have replaced old refrigeration units that have been in place since 1990. Cost to replace was $350,000. These units cover both hockey rinks (Kinsmen and Optimist) as well as the curling club.
• Name change of main Arena will be happening over the next couple months. Keystone hopes to have new signs in place on outside of arena by the the start of Wheat Kings home opener on September 21st.

Turtle Crossing (Old Curran Park)
On July 1st, 2007, Turtle Crossing celebrated their grand opening of the newly renovated, former Curran Park. The recent upgrades, valued at over $100,000 include 10 in ground trampolines, two water trampolines, a 30 foot dual land slip ‘n slide, new pool slide, 12 new paddle boats, super-soakers, giant tether ball, floating teeter-totters, water wheels for toddlers, an arcade and renovations to the canteen. Turtle Crossing is under the new ownership of Mark and Joan Kovach, who are considering proceeding with the following initiatives as a means to further enhance the site; hosting events, concerts & snowmobile derbies, creating an outdoor skating area, building a chapel on an adjacent island, water filtration upgrades, pool redesign, waterslides and more. For further information please contact Mark or Joan at 571-0570 or via email at turtlecrossing@mts.net.

Skating Oval
Work continues with the Province in re-locating the skating oval to the west of the current site. All costs associated with the re-location will be reimbursed to the city. This also includes all costs associated with tree replacements at this site.

Boat Launch
The boat launch located at Queen Elizabeth Park is presently under construction for some modifications to the site for future boat launching. This work should be completed next week.

Brandon Heritage Walking Tour
The Heritage Resources Department had their 6th annual Doors Open Brandon Heritage Walking Tour on July 21st and 22nd. The event has owners of older, historic buildings open their doors to the public for two days of viewing. This year’s tour offered 13 sites to view, some of which received over 400 visitors over the two days! The tour was once again a huge success with visitors from as far away as Victoria, B.C. and even Berlin, Germany. Since the tour’s inception in 2002, there have been over 40 sites shown around the Wheat City. Elsie McDermid was the lucky winner of a nights stay at Casa Maley Bed & Breakfast and a $50 gift certificate for Remington’s Seafood & Steakhouse.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
We were notified on Monday, July 23rd around 11:30 AM that if Brandon had room, the Manitoba Association of Native Fire Fighters would like us to host up to 350 people who needed to get out of Tadoule Lake because of the forest fire threat. Later that afternoon we had determined that there was room for several hundred people and that hotel availability was for up to 10 days before people may have to shift to other hotels. The first plane load of people arrived Tuesday morning at 8:00 and by supper time 170 people had been registered and transported to the hotel. On Thursday evening and Friday morning another 80 people arrived and were registered and moved to the hotel by 2:00 AM. This leaves the community of Tadoule Lake with approximately 20 persons who are fighting the fires along with other crews. Work will continue on an ongoing basis to ensure that people's basic needs are met while they stay in Brandon.

Former Councillor Rick Chrest is Honored
At the meeting on July 23rd, his Worship the Mayor presented former Councillor Rick Chrest with his Honorary Life Membership pin and certificate from the Association of Municipal Municipalities and extended his congratulations on behalf of the citizens of Brandon and his collegues around the Council table. I had the pleasure of being on Council with Rick from 1999 to 2002 and he helped me out countless times with his experience and professionalism and I appreciate everything that he did for me personally and for the city as a whole in his terms on council.

Change to the Renaissance By-Law
Tom Rice of Renaissance Station Inc. appeared before City to suggest financial assistance be provided to new construction in the downtown area, similar to what was currently provided for older buildings under the Renaissance By-law. Mr. Rice is currently constructing the Renaissance Station on 9th and Victoria (across from City Hall). The current by-law provides assistance to buildings that are over 80 years old so people will re-invest. Mr. Rice would like something similar for new buildings. This has been referred to administration for further investigation and then report back to council.

LANDSCAPE AND DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS TO 400 BLOCK OF 9TH STREET
Tom Rice of Renaissance Station Inc. appeared before City Council to propose a partnership with the City of Brandon with respect to landscape and design improvements to the 400 Block of 9th Street. Bob Somers, of Scatliff, Miller & Murray, presented a powerpoint presentation to City Council which illustrated the potentail streetscape and landscape options for the area. The presentation included changing 9th street from two-way to one way (south to north); installing cobblestone, angle parking to name a few. This has been referred to administration for further investigation and then report back to council.

SUPPORT FOR BRANDON UNIVERSITY STUDENTS UNION ROCK THE BLOCK STREET PARTY
Council gave support to Brandon University Student Union Rock the Block Street Party. It included:
(1) shutdown Rosser Avenue between 7th and 9th Street from 1:00 PM on September 5, 2007 until 3:00 AM on September 6, 2007;
(2) contravene Nuisance Bylaw No. 5806/81/90 during the event; and
(3)provide gift in kind contributions in the form of no parking signs, barricades and garbage containers/pickup for the event;
and further, that the Rock the Block Street Party being held on Rosser Avenue between 7th and 9th Streets from 1:00 p.m. on September 5 to 3:00 a.m. on September 6, 2007 be deemed a Community Event in the City of Brandon.

News for July 23rd

Contest
I am in the process of delivering a paper newsletter to all the residents of Linden Lanes. It should be delivered to you within the week (or early next week). In the newsletter I am having a contest to try to get more people signed up to receive this electronic newsletter. If you are already receiving an e-mail from me, there is no need to enter (you are already entered). It is my intent to try to keep as many people as possible within the Linden Lanes Area informed of things happening in the city as well as your neighborhoods. This is one attempt to try to do that. I will also be walking the ward in the fall to try to talk with people one on one. I believe it's a councilors responsibility to communicate with the people he/she represents. I am going to try as many things as I can to accomplish that.

Ward Meeting
I will be having a ward meeting on Tuesday, August 7th at 7:00 PM at Westridge Community Centre (behind Linden Lanes School on Willowdale). We will be discussing the traffic circle that will be going in on 34th and Richmond as well as anything else you wish to discuss.

2006 Crime Stats
On Wednesday, July 18, 2007, Statistics Canada released the 2006 crime statistics for Canada. Nationally, the crime rate reached its lowest point in over 25 years by dropping 3% to a rate of 7,518 per 100,000 population. Provincially the crime rate dropped 1% to a rate of 11,678 crimes per 100,000 population. Brandon experienced a 2.8% decline with a rate of 10,680 per 100,000 population. This represents the lowest crime rate Brandon has experienced in the 30 years of available statistics. Both violent and property crimes declined by 11.2% and 4.3% respectively. Criminal code driving offences and drug charges were up 4.8% and 18.7% respectively.

Our local statistics to the end of June indicate further declines with violent crimes showing a decrease of 20% and property crimes declining 5% from the same time period in 2006.

New Keystone G.M. Hired
After three months of examining organizational structure and identifying candidates, the Executive Committee of the Keystone Agricultural and Recreational Centre Incorporated has interviewed and selected a new General Manager. Dan Robertson, B.A., C.G.A., is the centre’s new General Manager. Dan joined the Keystone Centre management team as the Controller in November of 2002, following the restructuring of the Board of Directors and has been the organization’s Acting General Manager since April 13 of this year. Dan also worked for the Keystone Centre from May 1996 to April 1999 as an Engineer. View the full announcement by clicking on the following link: New Keystone GM Appointed

Boat Launch on Assiniboine
The boat launch at Queen Elizabeth Park is temporarily closed to allow for some modifications to the base. Individuals had been asked to use the launch at Dinsdale Park; however it has been decided to re-open the launch off Kirkcaldy until such time as the Queen Elizabeth site is ready. This decision was made as of 12:00 noon on Friday, July 20 and is felt to be the fairest solution for both the Brandon Water Ski Club and the general public. Appropriate signage will be installed.

Canad Inn Assessment Appeal
As you may or may not be aware, Canad Inns had appealed their assessment for the years 2005 and 2006 to the Municipal Board (provincial). We have just received the Board's decision with respect to this matter and the assessment on the property was reduced from $13,792,600 to $11,173,000 for 2006 and future years. This change results in reduced taxes of about $100,000 per year in each of 2006 and 2007. The City of Brandon has committed to forward all municipal taxes relating to the Canad Inn to the Keystone Centre to assist in their operations. This will reduce the amount of money we forward to the Keystone on an annual basis by about $40,000.

Street Resurfacing
This summer we are experiencing a delay in asphalt paving both on the street resurfacing program as well as the reconstruction program. The delay has been caused by not receiving an asphalt product from our contractor that is in compliance with our construction specifications. The contractor has changed the manner in which the aggregate is processed and the paving program has begun. To date a number of streets such as Sun Set Blvd have received their base coat of asphalt which enabled the contractor to further refine his asphalt product. Governors Road from Victoria to Centennial was paved on Thursday,July 19 and Rosser from 34th to Dominion is scheduled to be paved today, Friday, July 20. The balance of the resurfacing program and the reconstruction program streets will be paved within the next two weeks. We do not have a detailed schedule at this point so paving dates can not be offered.

Brandon Hotel/Motel Occupancy Rates
Brandon motels / hotels confirmed a slight increase in year to date occupancy rates, compared to the same period in 2006. For the five months ending May 2007, the year to date occupancy rate increased from 53.5% in 2006 to 55.3% in 2007. The May 2007 occupancy rate (52.8%) rose 5.2% compared to the May 2006 rate (47.6%).

E-Waste
The Eastview Landfill Site commenced e-waste collection on June 1st, for residents of the City and surrounding area. Currently, we are half way through the pilot program. The program has been such a success to this point, our first shipment of 26 pallets, six feet tall, weighing 9,330 kg’s, was shipped out to Noranada Recycling in Brampton, Ontario. Funding for the program is provided by GREEN MANITOBA and the City of Brandon. Noranda confirmed all the material shipped will be recycled into new usable products.

New hours for accepting these products at the Eastview Landfill Site are: MONDAY – FRIDAY 9 am to 7:45 pm And SATURDAY 9 am to 4:45 pm. You will be asked by the scale operator to provide your postal code and the items you are dropping off.

Youth Activity Centres
The UCT Summer Fun Club and Y.A.C. activity centres both opened on Tuesday, July 3rd. Each centre has been maintaining an average daily attendance of approximately 40 youth. In addition to the various activities offered at the centres over the past two years, this year also includes cultural days and drama activities. It is hoped that those youth involved in the drama component will perform a skit or mini-production for their peers, parents and special guests attending the year end windup. Cultural days to date showcased the Aboriginal culture. The day included hoop dancing, story telling, bannock making and numerous Aboriginal games. Throughout the summer other cultures will also be featured.

News for July 16th

Meeting with Operations
I had the opportunity to talk with operations on Thursday of last week. I have updated a lot of the issues dealing with parks and pathways etc. that operations deals with directly. I hope to talk with the other departments in the next couple weeks to get an update on some of the other outstanding issues.

Renaissance Brandon Committee - Update from the Mayor
The second meeting of the Renaissance Brandon Committee was held July 12 in City Hall with 8 members present. I am pleased to report that this is a very enthusiastic committee dedicated to the betterment of downtown Brandon. The committee is diligently working through the summer assimilating material from different cities that have taken significant steps for renewing their core areas. A lengthy planning session is being scheduled in early August.

Re-Surfacing of City Streets
Zenith Paving has worked out the problem with meeting the specifications for asphalt overlays and would expect re-surfacing to commence on or about the 18th of July. It is anticipated that it will take about 10 working days to apply asphalt to those surfaces that were ground early in June.

18th Street Bridge
Manitoba Highways has advised that Lamb’s Construction from Newdale, Manitoba has been hired to prepare the bridge construction sites for installation of vertical drains and the future embankment work. Their activities in the area should commence the week of July 16th. There will be additional contracts during various phases of the work such as embankment installations with Manitoba Highways expecting construction of the bridge structures commencing in late November, 2007.

Transit Customer Appreciation Day
Transit held its annual Customer Appreciation Day on Saturday June 30th in conjunction with the 125th Anniversary event. Rides were free all day and a hot dog BBQ was held at Richmond Terminal. Over 130 people entered their name into a draw to win fabulous prizes that were all donated! Transit donated the entire proceeds from the BBQ - over $157.00 to the Sun Fund for Kids!

Youth Development Project
Throughout the months of July and August the City of Brandon in partnership with Service Canada is offering job skills training to youth living with barriers, between the ages of 12 and 17. This project partners youth with non-profit community agencies/service groups to complete a project lasting no longer than 30 hours in duration. The City of Brandon provides an $8.00/hour training allowance to the participating youth.

To date nineteen service groups or non-profit agencies have registered and are willing to mentor the chosen youth through a job skills training project. Sixty-six eligible youth have applied, eighteen of which have been matched with a suitable project. Ten positions are in the process of being filled within the existing data base of registered youth. It is anticipated that more service clubs and non-profit agencies will register as participating mentors throughout the remaining summer months.

Brandon Area Road Network Development Plan Study Update
The Brandon Area Road Network Development Plan Study undertaken by the Province and the City of Brandon was originally scheduled to be completed by the end of 2006. Unfortunately due to the overall scale of this study and various issues arising from three party projects, the consultant involved in this project MMM Group Limited (formerly ND Lea Inc.), was not able to complete this study until 2007.

This meeting will allow the consultant proper time to present the overall components of this plan and provide insight to the recommendations for the next 20 years of the City’s transportation issues. In addition, the meeting will allow for a question and answer period for the consultant as well as Provincial and City representatives in attendance. Our office will supply Council with additional information as a date is chosen for this presentation.

News for July 8th

Meeting, Tuesday August 7th
As promised last year, we will be having an information session on the traffic circle going in at 34th and Richmond. It will be held at the Westridge Community Centre (off Willowdale) on Tuesday, August 7th at 7:00 Pm. We will also have an opportunity to talk about other things that are happening within the City and the ward.