First, I would like to extend our community’s condolences to the province and communities of Nova Scotia in their time of grief.
On April 15, 2020, I received a letter from Dustin Duncan, Minister in charge of SaskPower in response to our letter regarding our concern over the Golden South Wind Project and COVID-19. He wrote that SaskPower has reviewed the safety protocols and procedures that are in place and determined that Potentia and their contractor, Borea Construction, have developed comprehensive COVID-19 response plans that meet those that SaskPower uses for its operation and construction projects.
At our May 4 council meeting, council approved COVID-19 financial considerations in an effort to assist during this time. The Town of Assiniboia will be reversing the charges for the infrastructure fees and administration fees on four months of utility billings for both businesses and residential. Also, there will be no interest charged on utilities, taxation and other accounts receivables from May until the end of September. These financial considerations are valued at an approximate total of $211,000.
In addition to this, the Assiniboia Town Council chose to redirect budget dollars from the cancelled volunteer appreciation event to a $4,000 donation to the food bank. We understand that not everyone that is being provided with the utility bill credit may be experiencing financial difficulty. Therefore, if you are one of those that are fortunate, we urge you to pay it forward, either by donation to the food bank or another local organization that would appreciate the assistance.
The province has a plan in place to re-open Saskatchewan that started May 4 – hopefully, it will be successful. So good luck to all our businesses that have reopened or are planning to.
Stronger Together,
Mayor Bob Himbeault.
