A tumultuous year that saw numerous challenges, several successes, and a bit of turnover thanks to an election is all wrapped up at Estevan City Hall. Councilors met for the final time in 2020 this evening and reviewed a number of year-end issues. 

One order of business for the city was the appointment of new members of the board of police commissioners. Councilors were asked to cast a private ballot tonight, and in the end Geoff Thiessen and Bernadette Wright were named as the new members. 

"We've got councilor (Shelly) Veroba coming on who's been on the police board before," said Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig. "We've got councilor (Lindsay) Clark, a new council member, on the police board, and we've got Mr. Geoff Thiessen and Bernadette Wright. Bernadette Wright has served on the board before, so we'll have some experience and some (people who are) new."

Also on the docket was a discussion of several of the issues concerning city's wastewater treatment plant. The switchover to water at Rafferty Dam received a thumbs up from council, and the water treatment report from November showed positive signs across the board. The city's water tower, meanwhile, was found to be due for some upgrades. 

Upgrades to the tower, according to the report from WTP manager Shane Bucsis, will include a general facelift, new piping, new hatches, and replaced walkways among other things. The city is already beginning to take tenders and has seen some promising offers.

"We've been working on the rehabilitation of the water tower for a few years now," said Ludwig. "Shane has been very involved and now we're at the point of getting consultants. This will come out of the federal gas tax money, so the money, for the most part, has already been set aside for this project."

Ludwig added the city could see this as being one of their major projects next year, but it's hard to say how far off the ground it might get if COVID-19 doesn't improve. He also said the water tower is one of several smaller projects they're looking at after completing the larger project of transferring water sources for the entre city.