North Battleford city council at Monday's meeting. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

NB council

City discusses SUMA proposed resolutions for upcoming convention

Mar 12, 2024 | 12:23 AM

North Battleford city council eyed the 11 Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) resolutions proposed by various municipalities, at their meeting Monday.

The annual SUMA convention will take place in Regina from April 14 to 17 this year.

City Manager Randy Patrick presented the resolutions for council to discuss.

Among the various resolutions that particularly interested them was a request for funding for Saskatchewan Urban Parks that was submitted by the City of Prince Albert. The proponent is asking SUMA to advocate for the provincial government to re-establish grant funding and partner with Saskatchewan municipalities “in order to sustain and grow our beautiful urban parkways and open spaces.”

It was noted provincial grant funding has been cut, affecting urban parks throughout Saskatchewan, including the Battlefords River Valley in the Battlefords.

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The picturesque river valley, located between North Battleford and Battleford, offers recreational trails that run along the North Saskatchewan River.

This proposed resolution in particular stands out for North Battleford city council.In the past the province used to be a funding partner with the town and city in the river valley upkeep, but in 2016 the province cut its funding due to provincial funding constraints.

“Through budget cuts of the province, they said they are not going to be investing anymore into these urban parks,” Mayor David Gillan said. “That affected us. We were just left with the city and the town looking after the river valley.”

He noted while the city and town still do care for the River Valley, they miss the province’s funding because “we’d like to do so much more.”

“This [resolution] is one that obviously resonates with us,” Gillan said. “This one is the one we noticed the most and has the most relevance for us at this point.”

Some other resolutions North Battleford council was especially interested in included one for increasing numbers of nurse practitioners, in response to a critical shortage of family physicians and nurse practitioners in Saskatchewan, submitted by the City of Lloydminster, as well as a resolution calling for increased financial support for fire services, submitted by the City of Prince Albert.

SUMA will put forward all 11 proposed resolutions at the upcoming convention.

“Each community that is going there representing their community will be able to vote on each resolution. Usually, these resolutions are already vetted by the SUMA board. So there is already a process there, looking at these to vet them,” Gillan noted.

The city is looking at which resolutions may more directly affect North Battleford.

“[Tonight] it was giving council a bit of background into each one, so they are prepared when they get to the convention to vote appropriately,” the mayor said.

After the resolutions are voted on by SUMA delegates, then SUMA will advocate to the province for these bylaws to become law, or receive support from the province.

“The province controls the Cities Act, the Municipalities Act and the Northern Municipalities Act, the three parts of legislation that we all work underneath, so we have to go to the province for changes,” Gillan said.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @battlefordsnow