Estevan's City Council came to a decision at the latest city council meeting to determine the fate of a parkway nech sponsorship.

The United Mine Workers of America had previously sponsored 16 benches along the pathway system and were looking to sponsor 10 more.

In a letter they sent which was read on September 25th council meeting, they asked for exclusive naming rights for the benches in exchange for sponsoring the benches and accompanying garbage cans.

Some Council members were looking for more info on the deal and had UMWA Vice President Mel Murray come out to discuss the proposal.

"I would think that we should get the first refusal to do it just like we did the recycle cans at Affinity. We put 4 out there and if they wanted more. They were going to come back to us, to see if we wanted to sponsor them. We would want that first chance to put more up if you wanted more."

Murray says that with that first right of refusal, they're hoping to have enough benches to commemorate any more miners who have passed away.

"Right now the 12 that we have up, we do have names on them besides the UMWA. Hopefully, we don't put another miner's name on there because those are the miners who have passed away. So our goal is just to have the UMWA Crest on there for now."

Councilor Shelley Veroba voiced her support for the exclusivity deal, with Councilor Travis Frank also offering support for the first right of refusal.

"I think that the concept of first right of refusal fits fine with me because UMWA has been so valuable to us and bought so many of these benches," said Frank, "I think I would be very comfortable with having that condition that we would say any future benches or need for benches we call you first because we know you've been such great."

Councilor Rebecca Foord echoed a statement of gratitude for the UMWA but says she sees problems with getting other families to support pathway benches.

"The struggle that I have with this is that the exclusive right or the first right to refusal takes away the opportunity for anybody else to put up a memorial bench on the pathway system. I've had a couple of comments from people in the community in the past two weeks now who say 'We weren't quite sure if putting a memorial bench up was a good idea for our family but now we've been thinking about it.' and now, tonight, if we make this decision, it could potentially take away from somebody putting a memorial bench up who isn't with the United Mine workers."

Murray suggested that other spots around the city could host sponsored benches.

“There are other parts in the city that benches can go that are not included in the walking path like over at Torgeson Park. There are some real old benches over there. They could probably be replaced for other people."

In the end, Council passed a motion to accept the proposal with the exclusivity and first right of refusal, with Councilor Foord voting against and Councilor Lindsay Clark not being present.