Recognizing the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ victory in the CFL west final Sunday afternoon, Stettler’s town council meeting Monday night began with a rousing rendition of the Roughrider theme song.
After that, council got down to business.
Two topics were discussed at length.
The first was the malfunctioning fountain pop dispenser in the community hall. Council was told the pop machine consistently breaks down, and either has no syrup or will only dispense syrup. Because the pop machine can’t be used, the town is losing revenue.
“The cost of pop, due to the low volume of product, was getting way too high for our users,” said Lee Penner, the town’s parks and leisure services director.
In 2012, the town lost about $900 on the pop machine. So far in 2013, the town lost just more than $1,500 on the machine.
Penner presented three options: remove the pop machine, continue with the machine and raise the price of pop, or continue with the product and ask Pepsi to provide better pricing and a better machine.
Council voted to not renew the contract with Pepsi and remove the machine.
The other major issue Monday was outdoor rink maintenance. Currently, the town’s only bobcat is shared by three departments, and on days with heavy snowfall, clearing the rink ice drops to the town’s No. 4 priority.
Penner said that because there has been such heavy snowfall lately, the town hasn’t been able to clear snow from the rinks.
He recommended that the parks and leisure services department take over rink maintenance duty, which would necessitate the purchase of a second bobcat.
Penner also added that the bobcat would be useful in the summer for landscaping.
Council didn’t vote on the purchase of a second bobcat; instead, the group voted to direct administration to include the purchase of a second bobcat in the budget. The motion was passed.
“But it’s a pretty sure bet that they’ll buy it,” Penner said.