Funding a new sewage lift station is likely city council’s No. 1 priority in the 2024 budget, which means upgrading Crescent Park’s serpentine will have to wait a few years, the mayor says.
Mayor Clive Tolley spoke about the algae- and duckweed-filled downtown creek during a media scrum after the Sept. 11 council meeting. Council had received a report indicating it could cost roughly $600,000 to fully upgrade the serpentine.
The city built Crescent Park and its accompanying serpentine as a make-work project during the tough times of the Dirty Thirties, while it also installed street drainage that connected to that body of water, the mayor explained.
“When it rains on Langdon Crescent, the rainwater goes into our serpentine,” Tolley remarked.
Upgrading the serpentine is a huge infrastructure project that will likely cost millions of dollars in the end, and currently, the municipality is unable to tackle that initiative, he said. He hoped that, in the future, council could pursue that project — with the help of SaskWater and Water Security Agency — and make it a beautiful feature of Crescent Park.
“We’re all faced with escalating costs with every project … . Most of the projects we have on the books are going to cost a lot more than when we originally put them on the plan and estimated them,” Tolley remarked. “And that’s the same thing with the Crescent Park serpentine.”
Derek Blais, director of parks and recreation, noted in his report to council that his department has some ideas of how to clean up the creek and improve it in the medium-term, while he plans to work with staff to see how else they can improve that feature.
“But long-term, it’s going to be a major project and very expensive,” the mayor said.
Tolley said city hall would pursue federal dollars to fund this project. He pointed out that parks and rec has regularly pursued — and received — federal funding for other projects during the past few years. Moreover, the city would watch for other opportunities that arise and jump on them quickly.
It also doesn’t hurt to have an MLA — Moose Jaw-North’s Tim McLeod — who was recently made a provincial minister, the mayor continued. While that’s “a feather in (McLeod’s) cap,” it also helps Moose Jaw since it now has a representative in the government’s cabinet.
Council and city administration regularly meet with the community’s MLAs and MP, while if the three levels of government can come together and focus on certain areas, then Moose Jaw will see projects happen, Tolley stated.
“But Moose Jaw residents are going to have to be patient with Crescent Park because the serpentine is a major project and it’s not at the top of the list and it’s going to take a few years,” he continued.
“I think the (Crescent View) lift station is probably No. 1 currently (for projects). Having the lift to lift our sewage to the lagoons is essential for our community. I don’t think anything tops that. We need to have working bathrooms and sewer systems, so I think that’s No. 1.”
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Sept. 25.
