Estevan's city council looked at how they're spraying down weeds at the most recent meeting with an upcoming herbicide tender.

That's set for a three-year term, with non-selective and selective herbicides being ordered.

The city has around 76 hectares of land that see herbicides applied, including parks, green spaces, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, and other areas that need to be sprayed.

Three companies put up bids for the tender:

  1. Pride Upkeep Ltd. - A one-person crew costs $85, a two-person crew costs $145 with herbicide costs extra
  2. Southeast Tree Care Ltd. - A one-person crew costs $125, a two-person crew costs $175 with herbicide costs extra
  3. Turf Tenders Inc. - A two-person crew costs $200 selective and $220 non-selective with herbicide included in the cost

Pride Upkeep Ltd. and Turf Tenders Inc. provided references to the city, whereas Southeast Tree Care Ltd. did not.

Of the three, Pride Upkeep Ltd. was the only company to provide proof of a valid pesticide license from the Saskatchewan government.

Shannon Wanner, Parks Manager, recommended accepting the bid of Pride Upkeep Ltd., which fulfilled all the city's categories and had the largest fleet of spraying vehicles.

Councilor Rebecca Foord made the motion to move forward with the recommendation but also said she wished to see better communication from the city when it came to spraying.

"Can we, Shannon, and our communications just work really hard this year to let people know what parks are being sprayed? I know that in past years signs have been put up in the park, but then, you know, the wind blows them away, just various things happen where people don't get to see the signs, and then they're upset their dogs are playing on the parks, whatever it may be."

Councilor Shelley Veroba also mentioned that more communication with the RM of Estevan would do well as they fight their own battles with weeds.

"If we can also - I'm sure we already do - work with the RM of Estevan just because they surround the border of the city of Estevan and there's a lot of invasive weeds that they battle every year. I just think good communication between the city and the RM will go far in making sure we get ahead of all the weeds that blow our way or their way."

Wanner brought up that Pride Upkeep Ltd. also works with the RM of Estevan, so coordinating between the two organizations should be easy. 

Council then passed the motion to accept Pride Upkeep Ltd.'s bid unanimously.

After the bid, councilor Kirsten Walliser suggested that the city could use the Voyent alert app, used mainly for road construction, as a way to alert people to when an area was sprayed with herbicide. The suggestion was then added to the motion.