(file photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Ben Tompkins

Yearly Preview

City infrastructure, cultural diversity and recreational activities, all priorities for Humboldt in 2023

Jan 3, 2023 | 5:41 PM

The City of Humboldt is building off its 2022 year, as they now move into 2023.

The city has some main focuses at the top of its mind, as administrators plan out the next 12 months.

According to Mayor Michael Behiel, key initiatives include “identifying and replacing aging and failing infrastructure, creating more inclusivity and cultural acceptance, and continuing with the development of walking trails, parks, and outdoor activities, which maintains a balance between our core values of work, live, and play.”

In 2022, they worked with truth and reconciliation to create a mural, which is currently mounted on the side of city hall, they had a handful of cultural guest speakers throughout the year, and they hosted their first-ever Filipino Culture Festival.

As for this year, they are set to host the third annual Saskatchewan International Film Festival.

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Meanwhile, the city has already identified some of the oldest areas of the community, which are seeing “massively failing sewer lines and water mains that need to be desperately replaced.”

Behiel explained the city will “continue to work that way forward, while still recognizing the need to maintain a lot of our other infrastructure, city roads, city structures, and so forth.”

Other projects include storm drainage and water retention and removal, as the city has identified a solution to flooding/excess water problems, which they hope to ‘take a shovel to’ in 2023, however, aren’t holding out, as there is still planning to be done.

To help with the future cost of such projects, the city has continued and will continue to do studies and use whatever grant money they can get.

Such studies were pivotal in the new budget, as the public identified how they felt regarding ‘several key areas of operation.’

Behiel mentioned this led to just a 5.1 per cent tax increase for 2023, which was originally thought to be in the area of as much as 20 per cent, back in the early summer.

And with inflation still such a big issue, the city has scaled some of their projects in 2023, back a year or two, simply so they can afford the ones they’ve already begun.

Projects such as the community walking trails will remain a go, however, as the city looks to also increase the development of park and recreational activity space, which also includes indoor and outdoor rinks and skating facilities to “focus on helping create a healthy balance of life for our citizens.”

Humboldt has also begun looking into alternative transit services after their taxi service closed.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8