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Jean-Louis Guillas is retiring as the director of the Parkland Regional Library and Dauphin Public Library in June.
He thinks it’s time for him to make a change and it’s good for institutions to have renewal.
There are a couple of important things from a regional point of view Guillas wants to reflect on.
They now manage 23 libraries across the Parkland. Guillas thinks the regional method is a strong way to manage libraries.
Other than adding branches in Rossburn, Ste Rose, and Eriksdale, this is his highlight.
“One of the big things is expansion of programming. Particularly the best known regular series is our Third Thursday Music Program which has become a real staple to people’s calendars, once a month. Just last year we attracted over 1000 people to that program.”
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Roads in the RM of Lakeshore are starting to experience washouts and soft spots.
The administration is warning that residents should be cautious around any road restrictions and barricades.
Troubled spots have been marked to alert drivers.
Residents are being asked to avoid the areas if at all possible.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The Dauphin and District Chamber of Commerce will be hosting their Celebration Night tonight from 7-9 at the Countryfest Community Cinema.
Five awards will be given out and a great list of nominees has been given to the chamber from the public.
The five categories are, the business person of the year, legacy business, young entrepreneur of the year, and community appreciation both individually and group.
Stephen Chychota is very excited to be showing off every nominee, as well as awarding those chosen to receive the awards.
He says everyone, in the five categories, is very deserving of recognition and it’s going to be a fun night celebrating with everyone in a fun way.
The focus is on celebrating and honouring people that are doing tremendous work. It’ll be a way to showcase the best of what’s going on in the Parkland.
There will be appetizers and drinks as well.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
The City of Dauphin had small surpluses in both their General Fund and Utility Fund.
The General Fund had a surplus of $367,457.
Scott Carr says it’s even smaller when you consider that nearly half was due to project delays. A few examples he gave included a telephone system didn’t get replaced until January 2019 and some work at the Watson Art Centre is getting done in early 2019.
There were other variances in the fund that helped the General Fund.
“We had greater than expected new construction which increased our tax base. We had some insurance rebates that were greater than expected, and a few other costs such as Dauphin Rec Services and Economic Development were under budget just due to various reasons.”
There were some items that were over budget this year.
“The fire department had an extremely high number of calls this year which resulted in them being 42 thousand dollars over budget. We also spent more on roads and streets than budgeted. Our yard waste cleanup, specifically the spring and fall clean up, were higher than budgeted. We had an early snowfall which took down a lot of branches and the volumes for the fall clean up were very high.”
Dauphin had a relatively small Utility Fund surplus of $256,151. Project delays also helped this fund.
“We had a grinder at Lift Station One that was installed in January 2019 due to a contractor delay.” Carr says their electronic monitoring system was delayed and is being installed this spring. “Plus we’re looking at doing a pressure management design system which was delayed that resulted in about half of the 256 thousand dollar surplus.”
There were also a few items that offset the surplus. “We had higher than usual water main breaks. Specifically in the fall, late fall of 2018. There were a lot of water main breaks. That generally doesn’t happen at that time of year. That meant that we were spending more on main water repairs than what was budgeted.”
The surpluses for 2018 are being transferred into reserves and used to finish off projects that were not completed last year.
The city’s reserve fund is sitting at just over 8 million 668 thousand dollars. Carr considers it to be above average.
You can read the 2018 Financial Analysis presented to coucnil by clicking the link. 6.b)iii) 2018 Financial Analysis (2).pdf.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Today the Dauphin and District Chamber of Commerce held their Chamber Appreciation Luncheon.
Stephen Chychota says these luncheons are very exciting.
The luncheon just goes to show how many businesses are buying in, to what the Chamber is doing and that there are dedicated years of support.
The luncheon shows off the thriving community in this region. It also shows that the Chamber celebrates businesses that have been with them for 5, 10, even 50, and 60+ years.
After luncheon, they held their year in review which Chychota said is basically their AGM.
Chychota says this past year has been great, their events are getting bigger and better, and the Chamber continues to thrive in a very positive way.
As of right now, they don’t have anything massive to announce, they are just doing their regular programming and they are still striving to be the big voice for Parkland business.
Tomorrow night at the Countryfest Cinema, the Chamber is hosting their celebration night.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Manitoba's children's advocate says social workers and others ignored multiple signs that Tina Fontaine was spiralling downward and in danger.
The report, released today from the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth, says she wasn’t invited to participate in counselling after the homicide of her dad in 2011.
The 15-year-old was left homeless and at risk for sexual exploitation when she asked for help in the weeks before her body was dumped in the Red River. She was told there were no beds available.
Daphne Penrose, the advocate, made five recommendations which she says need to be acted on quickly. Her recommendations included establishing new secure facilities for children at severe risk.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The Mountain View School Division approved their budget for the 2019-20 year.
It happened last night at the board's regular council meeting.
The mill rate is set at 15.63, that’s up from 15.34 last year.
The division says the impact on a home assessed at 150 thousand dollars would see an increase of $19.03.
The budget will increase by 0.84 per cent to $43,364,760. The Special Levy approved for 2019 is $16,992,673, an increase of $455,091.
Secretary-Treasurer Bart Michaleski says it was a difficult budget process with little room for increased costs. He also says the desired goal is to channel resources to support initiatives identified in the Davison Plan. The plan focuses on literacy, numeracy, career education, mental health and safe and caring schools.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
In the near future; it will be illegal in Manitoba to carry 30 grams of non-medical cannabis in a public place.
Proposed amendments to the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Control Act were announced by the province yesterday. The changes will also make it an offence to possess cannabis that isn't packaged and labelled according to federal requirements.
Police will also have the ability to give out a ticket for possession of over 30 grams of cannabis, instead of going through the process of charging an individual criminally.
For more information on the current cannabis laws in Manitoba, click here.
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- Contributed by Alec Woolston
The Mossey River Municipality is monitoring the potential for spring flooding.
Kevin Drewniak says there's a lot of snow on the lake at the moment.
But they’re also better prepared following the last eight years they’ve dealt with flooding.
Drewniak says there shouldn’t be much flooding in Winnipegosis since the completion of the dyke.
There might be some higher levels on the lake, but the dyke should protect the town.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Starting this spring; a lot of economic development is coming to Main Street South in Dauphin.
Highway 10 Developments Ltd. has developed 22 acres of land for commercial use between Reit-Syd and the Dauphin Vet Clinic.
“We’re very excited for it, and it indicates that Dauphin is moving forward and encourages entrepreneurs to invest in our community,” said Mayor Dowhan after the city council meeting last night.
Phase one of the project will see a subdivision of three smaller lots with the remaining land to be subdivided in the future. The first three will be developed this year for commercial use.
Mayor Dowhan is very excited to add that a restaurant and a Best Western Hotel are being built on the site.
“There is quite a bit of interest. So we’ll just wait and see," said Dowhan.
Now that a confidentiality agreement has been lifted, the city’s Economic Development manager can discuss the availability of the remaining land to incoming and existing business as possible locations.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
The Dauphin Friendship Centre hosted the Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres quarterly meeting this past weekend.
David Grey, the Provincial President, says these meetings try to advance the situation for friendship centres.
This is an opportunity for each centre to bring what they do specifically and share their successes.
“Every centre has unique programming and that’s based on the funding that’s available, the need that’s available in those communities and it’s based on the ability of those centres to be able to deliver those. Because all of us have a limited budget. And so centres have to choose what those things are priorities, and Dauphin obviously has done a good job of choosing priorities for its centre, its population.”
Grey gave the example of Dauphin having the lunch program and the way our centre presents educational programs.
“We have had a consistent structure of quarterly meetings. That is, all of the centres in Manitoba get together every three months, meet and discuss those issues and try to advance the situation for friendship centres whose goals university are to improve the conditions for the urban indigenous community.”
Federal and provincial funding was a topic for Friendship Centres across the province.
“A new model for the delivery of funding, because the Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres, receives funding from the provincial government and from the federal government and then distribute it. We’re going to be talking about a new model for the allocation of those recourses and a new model for the assessment of how they’re expended. So that we become much more attuned to measuring the advances that are being made and the deliverables that are being achieved by each centre.”
There are 10 friendship centres in the province.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
