Esterhazy Mayor ZOOMS in for Grad

Gary Horseman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In Esterhazy at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, June 24th, the Esterhazy Town Council called their meeting to order with Mallory Johnson, a summer student for the FourTown-Journal+ also attending.
Some highlights she reported include the pool re-opening on July 1st with no lessons planned. There will be public swims and some lane swims on the schedule. The spray park is anticipating a July 1st opening as well.The council discussed the cemetery beautification as well as the summer enhancement project which involves cutting grass, planting and painting around town.
The grad parade is to be held to celebrate the grade twelve accomplishments. All guidelines are being followed as detailed and well thought out organizing went into the event.
Canalta was denied tax reductions and Skate Esterhazy will not be doing anything in September. With no major groups booking the ice, a cost feasibility to be open for the month will be conducted. Thank you Mallory Johnson for your enthusiasm and eagerness to cover the first portion of the meeting.
The Community Development & Recreation Director, Brenda Redman was pleased to inform the council that the D.A. Mackenzie Aquatic Center, as well as the spray park, will be able to re-open July 1, unfortunately, there will not be any swimming lessons this season but there will be some lane swimming and public swimming sessions available.
The summer students have been very busy around the town making sure the grass is all cut and also did some planting.Carrying on with Mayors/Councilor reports, Mayor Forster has been invited to speak at the Esterhazy 2020 Grad via Zoom. The council had a short discussion on the Grad 2020 Parade route for Saturday, June 27th.
Moving onto New Business, there was a request for a 10% reduction on a business’s 2020 taxes, the council discussed this and a motion was made by Councilor Petraceck to deny the request which was carried. There was a discussion about the Regional Park and adding a monument or plaque. The display would be in honour of an individual who had dedicated a lot of his time to the park, especially baseball in Esterhazy and the surrounding area, passed on to the Regional Park Board.With Skate Esterhazy not doing anything this fall, there was a group that came forward to possibly use the arena in their absence, the information will be passed onto the Recreation Director.
The council reviewed the Correspondance the town received over the last month. After a short discussion Councilor, Rowland made the motion to accept it which was carried.The council then moved into Committee as a Whole.