The past year saw some significant stories in the Estevan area that shaped not only the community today, but its future direction as well. These are our choices as the top five stories of the year.
听
5: The future of CCS:听It was a challenging year for the integrated carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility at SaskPower鈥檚 Boundary Dam Power Station. A planned shutdown was expected to last for a few weeks in June and July, but instead it stretched for three months, and ended in September.
Once it came back online, the plant operated very well, and had its best month ever in October, capturing 85,375 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
But in early November, SaskPower president Mike Marsh said it was highly unlikely SaskPower would recommend retrofitting Units 4 and 5 at Boundary Dam with CCS technology. Instead SaskPower would push for natural gas as a baseload power option due to affordability.
Marsh later backtracked, and Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for SaskPower, said the Crown corporation is still deciding whether to retrofit the two units.
Duncan said he supports CCS, and the five candidates in the SaskParty鈥檚 leadership race also back CCS.
4. Provincial budget fallout:听The provincial budget drew plenty of criticism after it was released in March.
There was an increase in the provincial sales tax (PST) from five per cent to six per cent, along with an end to PST exemptions for restaurant meals, insurance premiums, children鈥檚 clothing purchases and other items. The Saskatchewan Transportation Company bus line closed for good in late May, even though a replacement company wasn鈥檛 ready to step in.
Municipalities felt the pinch as well. While the government didn鈥檛 tinker with the municipal operating grants, the City of Estevan suffered a decrease because its population increase in the 2016 federal census was below the provincial average.
More significant was the elimination of the grants in lieu program for SaskPower and SaskEnergy. While the government restored a third of the grants in lieu funding, the city had about a $900,000 in provincial funding in 2017.
Communities were also hit with an increase in the education portion of property tax.
Perhaps the biggest outcry, though, was a reduction in funding for the province鈥檚 regional library system, threatening the regional libraries future. Estevan MLA Lori Carr said she received more calls regarding the library cuts than any other issue in the budget.
A rally was held on April 7 in front of Carr鈥檚 constituency office.
鈥淭hese people are very passionate about their libraries and what they do and the services they provide, and they don鈥檛 want to see any of that gone or lost,鈥� Carr said at the time.
Funding was eventually restored to the libraries.
3. Passing lanes, not twinning:听Local residents learned the future of Highways 39 and 6 from Estevan to Regina.
In the 2016 and 2017 provincial budget, the government hinted at a combination of passing lanes and twinning from Estevan to Regina, and this past July, the addition of passing lanes was confirmed.
David Marit, the provincial minister of Highways and Infrastructure, predicted there would be at least 15 sets of passing lanes between Estevan and Regina. The passing lanes would be around two kilometres in length.
Marit expects the passing lanes will significantly improve safety.
鈥淚 think we can alleviate a lot of our pressure with the passing lanes,鈥� said Marit.
The local Time to Twin committee, which has been lobbying for twinning Highways 39 and 6 from North Portal to Regina since 2009, criticized the decision.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to change the fact that we have all of these semis carrying freight from North Portal through to the No. 1 Highway or Regina,鈥� said committee co-chair Marge Young.
The two sides met in early September. After the meeting, Young said the committee was now on hiatus.
Local motorists did get some good news in late November, when the government announced that the Highway 39 twinning project east of Estevan was complete and the new set of lanes was open. Also included was relocating the junction of Highways 18 and 39, and an overpass east of the twinned lanes above a new coal haul road.
2. Teacher arrested on several charges:听Troy Ruzicka, who was a shop teacher at the Estevan Comprehensive School, was arrested on a dozen sex-related charges on March 3 for crimes committed against three female students.
He was charged with five counts of child luring, three counts of sexual exploitation, and one count each of aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, transmission of child pornography and accessing child pornography.
In a news release, the Estevan Police Service (EPS) said it was contacted by the 麻豆视频 East Cornerstone Public School Division (SECPSD) on Feb. 8, regarding allegations of inappropriate conduct by Ruzicka.
鈥淭he 麻豆视频 East Cornerstone Public School Division has co-operated fully with police throughout the investigation,鈥� the police stated in a news release.
The most serious charge of aggravated sexual assault was reduced to a sexual assault charge, which Ruzicka pleaded guilty to, and he pleaded guilty to a second charge of sexual assault. He also pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual touching while being in a position of trust or authority, one charge of accessing child pornography, and three charges of using telecommunications to communicate with someone under 18 years of age for the purpose of committing an offence.
Ruzicka was sentenced to five years in prison on Nov. 20. He will also be subject to a 10-year firearms prohibition, and an eight-year no-contact order for anyone under 16 years of age. He will also have to submit to a DNA order, and will be registered with the national sex offender registry for 20 years.听
1. Civic鈥檚 future in doubt: The story that dominated the news in the last two months of the year was the future of the 60-year-old Civic Auditorium.
Estevan city council voted on Nov. 7 to close the arena, after receiving a structural, mechanical, electrical and architectural report from the WSP Group engineering firm. While the report cited nearly $5 million in needed renovations, the biggest concern was the state of several glulam columns on the south and northeast sides of the arena.
鈥淚f the facility owner does not intend to follow up shortly with additional structural assessment and selective replacement-reinforcing, we recommend that the public occupancy be restricted on an ongoing basis for this facility,鈥� WSP said.
The closure forced several organizations to revamp their schedules, including Estevan Minor Hockey Association, the Estevan Figure Skating Club and local recreation hockey leagues. Many users have been forced to travel outside the city for ice time.
Estevan city council received a report recommending closure of the building at its Nov. 20 meeting, but chose to table the motion. Several dozen people showed up at the meeting to show support for the Civic, including Warren Waldegger, a local resident and arena user.
He called the Civic closure a 鈥渒nee-jerk鈥� and 鈥減remature鈥� reaction.
Council again tabled the closure motion on Dec. 4, after local residents paid to have a second opinion on the building. That report, by C.A. Reed and Associates, found the arena could open again, as long as necessary work is completed on the columns.
Council voted at its Dec. 18 meeting to open the Civic again for the remainder of the 2017-18 ice sports season, as long as the city receives the necessary insurance coverage. Capacity would be limited to 300 spectators, and only bleachers on the north side of the building would be used.
If the city receives the insurance, then work on the columns will take place before the building reopens. That work should only take a few days.
A comprehensive structural survey will be completed this winter as well.
Council will revisit the building鈥檚 future in the spring.听
