Kindersley Wildlife Federation Dinner

There was lots of excellent meat last night at the Kindersley Wildlife Federation (KWF) Dinner and AGM. A couple of highlights of last night's celebration:

• Bruce "Bubba" Burke was honoured with a lifetime membership. During his speech Bubba spoke about the importance of community groups like KWF to Kindersley and the need for groups to let the next generation give leadership. It was excellent!
• Second, after speaking with Rick Fries, one of the organizers, KWF is a very healthy club. They are growing, they have new leaders with new energy and new vision. Kallom Hadland is the new club President. I want to wish you the best Kallom!

It was an excellent dinner last and congratulations to KWF for a fine evening and year and I wish you the best for the upcoming year.

Municipal Infrastructure Conference Update

We are optimistic that the Municipal Infrastructure Conference will sell out. There are 200 spaces and more than 150 delegates have registered.



To learn more about the conference click here or on the image.

A Budget Update

The medical leave of the Town's Director of Finance and Business Planning has slowed down the budget process considerably. Public consultations will be in two parts and are tentative:

• Public presentation at Caleb Village on April 8th; and
• Webinar presentation with chat forum capability on April 10th.

In preparing the budget direction has been given to Administration to hold an increase to the rate of inflation. According to the transfer agreement with the province, which is based on revenue collected by the PST, the Town will be receiving approximately 5% less from the province.

Infrastructure Funding Mirage

Municipalities across Canada are facing an assortment of infrastructure challenges. Some that we are facing include:

• infrastructure deficit of approximately $40 million;
• growth demands for facilities such as, this list is not complete but some highlights:
• lift stations,
• increased water plant capacity,
• increased sewage lagoon capacity or moved to another site,
• new solid waste location,
• town square, and
• West Central Community Centre (Phase 2).

After some sober reflection on the proposed new Build Canada Fund (BCF) there are some very serious yellow flags. It appears that:

• requests will take longer to process,
• increased restrictions on projects, and
• increase municipal funding in projects.

Also, for this year there is only approximately $270 million available this year with more monies available in later years. Frankly, I don't see how the new BCF is helpful. Sure the money is helpful but:

• Where is the money for the growth challenges we are facing today? 
• How long can we skimp along slowly repairing our infrastructure deficit? 
• Consider how much it may cost to repair the sprinkler system in the Events Centre.
• How are we to pay more for our increased share of projects when our financial resources are so limited?

Its not particularly helpful that the province's approach at this time is to do what the federal government is doing; the province is not as helpful as they could be.

The money is out there, apparently, like water in a desert; a mirage.

Physician Funding Request Correction

I made a mistake a mistake communicating the funding request of the physicians. Rather than the estimated $500,000 as I mistakenly stated it was a little more than $400,000. These are estimates based on some reasonable assumptions.

I apologize for this mistake.

Adding Audio?

I am considering adding an audio component to the blog. At this time I am thinking of sharing some of my thoughts on various issues plus conversations with various leaders in and around our community.

• What are your thoughts on this? 
• Is there someone you would like to hear? 
• Is there a topic you would like to hear discussed?

Let me know.

March Schedule

This is my tentative schedule for March. Like the other months there will likely be additions. Also included are some past meetings given how late this is being published this month.

March   1 – Health Meetings (2)

March   3 – Health Meetings (5)

March   3 – Economic Development Meeting

March   4 – Health Meetings (2)

March   5 – Health Meetings (4)

March   6 – Special Meeting of Council

March   7 – Dominion Provincial Curling Club Championship

March 10 – Youth Council Meeting

March 10 – Mayor’s Hours

March 10 – Health Meeting

March 10 – Council Meeting

March 10 – Fire Department Meeting

March 11 – George Cuff

March 11 – Health Meeting

March 13 – Media

March 14 – Mayor’s Hours

March 14 – Lunch w/Bernie (CAO)

March 17 – Mayor’s Hours

March 18 – Health Meeting

March 19 – Medical Arts Authority Meeting

March 21 – Mayor’s Hours

March 23 – 4H Regional Public Speaking Judge

March 24 – Mayor’s Hours

March 24 – Council Meeting

March 26 – West Central Municipal Government Committee Meeting - Neilburg

March 26 – Oakdale Ratepayers Meeting & Supper

March 28 – Mayor’s Hours

March 31 – Mayor’s Hours

Moment with the Mayor: Infrastructure Funding Program Resolution

Hi Everyone:

During our last West Central Municipal Government Committee (WCMGC) meeting February 26^th, I brought to the Committee a resolution for the Provincial Government to develop and implement an infrastructure funding program. The resolution reads as follows:

West Central Municipal Government Committee: Development and Implementation of an Intentional, Strategic, Ongoing, Sustainable and Predictable Infrastructure Renewal and Growth Funding Program.

Whereas the urban and rural municipalities of West Central Saskatchewan, including rural and urban municipalities across the province, have aging infrastructure;

And, whereas the urban and rural municipalities of West Central Saskatchewan, including rural and urban municipalities across the province, have significant infrastructure deficits;

And, whereas many urban and rural municipalities of West Central Saskatchewan, including many rural and urban municipalities across the province, are facing barriers to growth including a lack of infrastructure;

And, whereas good infrastructure is vital to the health and wellness of residents and the liveability of urban and rural municipalities of West Central Saskatchewan, including rural and urban municipalities across the province;

And, whereas good infrastructure is essential to the economic vibrancy and growth of the urban and rural municipalities of West Central Saskatchewan, including rural and urban municipalities across the province;

And, whereas the urban and rural municipalities of West Central Saskatchewan, including rural and urban municipalities across the province, have limited revenue generating opportunities;

Be it resolved that the West Central Municipal Government Committee strongly encourage the Government of the Province of Saskatchewan to develop and implement an intentional and strategic infrastructure renewal and growth funding program that is ongoing, sustainable, and predictable.

Be it further resolved that such funding program be developed and ready for implementation no later than the budget of 2015.

Please write or phone if you would like me to discuss a particular topic. If you have any questions or comments, drop me a line at the town office or email me at mayorenns-wind@kindersley.ca. You can also check out my blog at http://mayorjohn.blogspot.ca/. I appreciate your feedback. 

Kindersley Healthcare and Antigone

A scene from a tragedy has played out in Kindersley this week.

Are you familiar with the ancient Greek tragedy 'Antigone'? Antigone was a young woman torn between a choice: she could obey the state and leave her brothers to rot in the battle field or she could obey the gods to bury her brothers resulting in the likelihood of her execution. Antigone was faced with a no win situation; either way she lost. By the end of the story Antigone buried her brothers and then was sealed in a cave and left to die.

Last Thursday I received an email from the physicians requesting a meeting to discuss financial assistance to cover their overhead/operating expenses. I quickly realized that there were going to be no winners as Council considered a response. If we payed the costs then the Town would be spending money outside of our legislative jurisdiction further stretching our tight financial situation and neglecting our legislated obligations. If we don't pay the costs then we risk angering and alienating the doctors resulting in their leaving Kindersley. In this scenario there are no winners. I feel terrible about the spot the doctors have been put in and how unfair it is to those of us living in Kindersley.

In considering a response I talked with Mayors across the province to learn how they have responded to such requests. There was a wide variety of ways in which municipalities addressed the issue of operating expenses:

• Some communities, like Rosetown, built their Clinic and are now managing development while charging the physicians rent.
• Other communities such as Nipawin, have a P3 model, where a developer is building a new clinic and the Town is leasing the building and then the Town is leasing the facility to the physicians at less than cost.
• Another response is like Shaunavon and Humboldt who contribute no monies to the operations of their Clinics.

To move forward constructively a simple decision to choose one of the above is insufficient. While talking with my mayoral colleagues it became apparent that mayors need to gather to discuss this issue and develop a consensus charting the best way to move forward.

Prompting this idea was the competition that municipalities are forced into to recruit and retain physicians. This 'divide and conquer' tactic, whether intentional or unintentional, is unsustainable and unstable. Municipalities can't continue cannibalizing each other to recruit and retain physicians. The end result is neglecting water, sewage, solid waste, roads, parks, recreation, culture and more that you expect the Town to provide.

The problem is that if everyone is playing a game you have to play by the rules to: understand success and what winning means, sustain the game to its natural end, and provide stability by preventing cheating. The same applies to physician recruitment and retention. We have to ask: what does it mean to have success recruiting and retaining physicians? What do we do to make it sustainable? How do we keep our, and our municipal neighbours, healthcare services stable? However, there are no rules so everyone operates according to what they think is best.

This line of thinking led to the decision to ask my mayoral colleagues to discuss some of these issues as a group. The physicians are talking with one another and comparing notes. As a result they seem to be asking for the same incentives from their respective communities. From a municipal perspective this is unsustainable: we have to spend more and more to recruit and retain our physicians. This is unstable because physicians may choose to go where they think they can earn more and municipalities are spending money on health for which we don't have sufficient resources.

The only norm in speaking with my mayoral colleagues is that physician turnover rate is high. I would say that in rural urban communities retention is a failure. In one community I spoke with they have lost 50% of their physicians in the last 5 years even after meeting the requests of the physicians.

The madness has to stop. It is unreasonable, or insane, to keep doing the same thing expecting different results. That is why we are going ahead with the SK Mayor's Health Summit and the Kindersley Health Services Needs Assessment.

The need for the Kindersley Health Services Needs Assessment is because of our local situation. There seems to be no agreement by the three primary stakeholders: Ministry of Health, Heartland Health Region, and our local stakeholders, particularly the Foundation and physicians, on what the real need is for health services in Kindersley. Engaging an independent health consultant is a means to developing trust among the stakeholders so a foundation can be built for future health services development. Here are the objectives of the study:

Ø  Complete an assessment of current and anticipated demand for primary care, acute care and long term care services in the service area;

Ø  Identify strengths, weaknesses and major issues relating to access to health care services, including the attraction and retention of family physicians within the region;

Ø  Engage physicians, other health care providers, the public, the Foundation and other key stakeholders in identifying health services issues to be addressed and potential solutions;

Ø  Identify creative options and approaches to organizing the delivery of health care and physician services, which may improve access and enhance quality; and

Ø  Evaluate options and recommend specific approaches and strategies within the context of the legislative and policy frameworks of Saskatchewan Health and the Province.

This study was requested by the Town at the SUMA Convention during our meeting with the Minster of Health and the Minister of Rural Health. The province has committed funds and a senior adviser to oversee the project. The senior adviser is also overseeing a very similar project in Lloydminster. Will this study fix all of our problems and challenges? No. Is it a start? Yes. As I have said we can't keep doing the same thing expecting different results and pointing fingers at one another when things don't change.

To stop the circle of madness present in our health care we have taken two steps which are looking at mid and long term solutions. How about the immediate request by the physicians? We can't afford it. Their request was for over $400,000 per annum. To cover this cost the mil rate would go up more than 1.5 mils. However, should the study indicate that Town assistance is needed, and should the Mayors at the Summit agree that municipal money should be given, then Council has to fully consider any request for assistance the physicians bring before us.

Another step taken is to invite our Health Authority representative Mark Stockford to address Council on a quarterly basis. The purpose of the invitation is to ensure Council is kept abreast of the issues and challenges and understand how Heartland is addressing the them. The first such presentation is expected to be March 24th.

I can't promise that our steps will lead to solutions; but I am confident that doing nothing or doing the same thing will not solve it either. I feel terrible about the difficulty the doctors are experiencing. However, the Ministry of Health and Heartland Health Authority have the legislative and ethical jurisdiction and responsibility to address the immediate needs of the physicians. However, we are committed to working with our healthcare partners to ensure Kindersley has sustainable and stable healthcare services.

Finally, the Town can not accept responsibility for the decisions and choices made by other organizations over whom we have no legislative mandate.

Sanding Truck Down

The Town's truck to put sand on the road is not operating and under repair. It is expected to be operating sometime tomorrow.

Drive Safe!