In an effort to not get caught without an umbrella, the City of Dauphin is approaching the Public Utilities Board about a possible increase in its water and sewer rates.

Mayor David Bosiak said the city has been receiving hints from provincial agencies such as the Manitoba Water Services Board.

“And there was a presentation at the last AMM convention again saying don’t get behind. If you ever get behind, you’ll never catch up in the sense that if your rates don’t match your operational costs and provide some funding for the future, just to make sure that your reserve has funds so that when you have to fix pipes or anything else, you have the ability to do so,” Bosiak said.

The City, Bosiak added, has been reluctant to ask for an increase because it is still experiencing a 30 per cent loss of treated water somewhere within its system.

“Because they’ll likely say ‘well you have a 30 per cent water loss still in your system. Fix that, or address that and then we’ll talk about potential rate increase’,” he said.

While the City does not have the problem of some southern municipalities, which are experiencing explosive growth, its issues stem from aging infrastructure.

“We’ve been working to reduce the amount of water loss in the system. Now as you can imagine, half the town has got nearly 100-year-old pipes,” Bosiak said, adding while the underground system is aging the rest of the water distribution organization is extremely efficient. “The guys at the water treatment plant, they do it very well and it’s modern, but our problem is our distribution system.”

It is kind of a Catch 22 situation, Bosiak said, as senior administration is promoting the need to spend money to improve the system, but the costs of doing so are exceeding the City’s ability to pay for the improvements.

“All that income and expense has to be in the water utility side, not on the general revenue side,” Bosiak said, adding he appreciates the efforts of senior administration in providing a heads up for council. “So these are just sort of warning shots, saying it takes time to have a rate increase approved. There’s usually conditions applied to it and then those funds need to match your operations. So all we’re doing is being prepared.”

In its application, the City is seeking an 11.7 per cent increase in 2024, 4.2 per cent in 2025 and 2.3 per cent in 2026.

Also waiting in the wings is the long-awaited expansion of the City’s lagoon system, the cost of which is expected to increase significantly from its original $10 million to $12 million as a result of inflationary pressures.

“So again we will be debenturing to pay for that, but we also have to have enough revenue in our water utility reserve to make sure that other stuff doesn’t kick us in the teeth,” Bosiak said, adding in conversations with other municipalities he is hearing some are struggling to make ends meet.

“What we’re trying to do is to be in front of it. Our rates are generally middle of the pack or maybe to the lower end in terms of municipalities of our size and other jurisdictions. So we believe this is sort of a somewhat modest increase.”

Russell’s “Take a Year Off’ lottery committee drew its winning tickets recently and a local woman won the top prize of $1,000 a week for a year.

The grand prize of $52,000 went to Cathy Yellowaga with Jennifer Zimmer of Russell winning $27,720 on the 50/50 draw.

Check out the other winners in this issue.

With the Christmas season vastly approaching, now is a good time to think of those who may not have someone to spend the holidays with. The Pas Community Renewal Corporation’s (TPCRC) Be a Santa to a Senior Program is now collecting donations for the program.
“Be a Santa to a Senior is a program that works with community partners to provide a holiday gift to Seniors in our community who are isolated, often homebound, and possibly alone during the holiday season,” said TPCRC Community Engagement Coordinator Holly LaJambe. “Our hope is to let them know someone is thinking of them and cares.
“This program has been a holiday tradition for TPCRC since 2016, so this is our eighth year hosting it, and we look forward to it each and every year.”

Christmas parties and outings will be happening over the next few weekends and Operation Red Nose is ready to go make sure people get home safe and sound, after enjoying a night out. Operation Red Nose is run by a group of volunteer drivers and the proceeds go towards a local organization, so it’s a local service, provided by local people and gives back to the community
“Operation Red Nose is a community fundraising program that has a goal of making sure everyone arrives home safely during the holiday season,” said Jen Mathews. “This year Operation Red Nose The Pas started on November 24, and it will be in operation on December 8, 9, 15, 16, 30, and 31. The phone number to call is 204-623-3003, and everyone who uses Operation Red Nose, can enter to win two tickets from Calm Air.”

The Pas Culture Days is nationally acknowledged once again for their efforts and has been ranked seventh in the Top Participating Communities in Canada for 2023, in the Towns and Rural Areas category. This year’s The Pas Culture Days saw a boost in participation, with new events that many enjoyed and appreciated.
“The feedback this year was overwhelmingly positive and the event turnout was significantly increased,” said The Pas Culture Days Organizer Gabrielle Swan. “I heard a lot of people buzzing with excitement after the opening night event with Young Voices of The North Podcast; people were blown away by how much young local talent we have in The Pas.”

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a call to action to raise awareness and is also an international movement to call for an end to violence against women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals. The Pas Family Resource Centre (TPFRC) has been taking part in the 16 Days of Activism and engaging with other community partners as well about the issues on hand.
“The 16 Days of Activism is an annual international campaign to eliminate violence against women,” said TPFRC Executive Director Renee Kastrukoff. “The campaign started on November 25, 2023, which is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and concludes on December 10, 2023, which is Human Rights Day. The campaign started in 1991, to speak up and call out GBV and to request commitment to end violence against women, girls and individuals who are 2SLGBTQQIA+.

Houses in Swan River where some of the area’s most vulnerable persons resided have been emptied and boarded up, beginning with the ‘White House’ on the corner of Seventh Avenue South and First Street South that was closed on Nov. 23, followed by a home on Duncan Crescent that was closed on Nov. 30.
The closure of the White House followed an investigation under the provincial legislation Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act, which allows several confidential complaints to trigger an investigation and permit relevant authorities to enter the property.
“In response to a confidential complain, Manitoba Justice Public Safety Officers visited the residence accompanied by representatives of the Swan Valley Fire Department and Public Health,” said a Manitoba government spokesperson. “Based on the conditions observed, and as a result of numerous safety and health violations, it was determined that the residence was uninhabitable and required to be closed down immediately. Given the significant safety concerns, Public Health issued a health hazard order and residents were given some time to pack up their things, but were told they had to leave almost immediately.”
At the time of the investigation, eight individuals appeared to reside in the home, but there were at least 15 occupants there at the time of the inspection and everyone was asked to leave due to the conditions observed.
Swan Valley Fire Department acting Fire Chief Darren Fedorchuk attended the property as part of the investigation, and also issued an order to close under the provisions of the provincial Fire Prevention and Emergency Response Act.
If the property owner chooses to improve the property to a reasonable standard, both Manitoba Justice and the Office of the Fire Commissioner will have to be satisfied by inspection.
“Because of the life safety issues in (the house), we had to close it and board it up,” said Fedorchuk. “If the owner of the property wanted to appeal, they would appeal to the Fire Commissioner.”
While Fedorchuk couldn’t explain specific details, he did outline the life safety hazards with lack of smoke detectors, egress issues with blocked doors and lack of exit windows in some bedrooms, electrical issues, among other issues.
“There were some general fire safety things where we’d be looking at fatalities (in a serious fire emergency),” he said.
Fedorchuk also explained that the property was also tested according to a commercial standard because it was being operated as a rental property, despite being zoned and built as residential. He explaind this is common when it comes to rental properties.
Fedorchuk also noted that while the property did violate some of the Town’s bylaws, many of the infractions coincided with existing provincial legislation and were incidental to the investigation and actions taken.
The home on the south end of Duncan Crescent was boarded up under an order from Manitoba Public Health, and Fedorchuk said he was asked to board it up because people continued to enter the property after being evicted.
“We initially got the rerport that (the house) had no water or heat, and that automatically triggers an occupancy issue,” said Fedorchuk, noting that there have been some other developments going on with it since, but isn’t aware of all the details.
For more details on some of the people that have been affected by these evictions, see next week’s edition of the Star and Times.

The Temple Baptist Church was the site of the annual Carol Festival this past weekend (Dec. 3), with many different entertainment groups performing in front of the Swan River faithful...

The Dauphin Clippers senior girls volleyball team entered the Manitoba High School Athletic Conference AAA Volleyball Provincials as the third seed and that is exactly where they finished, capturing the bronze medal on their home court, Saturday.

Dauphin opened the tournament in the power pool, with the other top four teams. When all was said and done, the Clippers came out in fourth place, losing to Westgate (25-14, 14-25 and 12-15), Neelin (16-25 and 18-25) and Linden Christian (25-23, 22-25 and 6-15).

All four teams earned automatic berths into the quarterfinals.

That is when Dauphin faced Balmoral Hall, earning a 25-20 and 26-24 victory.

In the semifinals, the Clippers again faced Linden Christian, losing, 18-25 and 21-25.

In the bronze medal game, Dauphin defeated Westgate, 17-25, 25-22 and 15-13.

Clippers coach Chris Wolfenden was proud of his team and what they accomplished on their home court.

After losing the first set, Wolfenden told his team to just have fun.

“And they just rallied around that. It didn’t matter where we were in the match. They were dancing on the bench and they kept it light, which meant they were loose in the match and they were able to play free. And they played freely and did awesome. So I’m proud of them, for sure,” he said.

In the final two sets, the Clippers stepped up their blocking game, scoring several points off blocks.

Check this week's Dauphin Herald for the full story!

Dauphin Fire Department has been less busy so far in 2023 compared to the same period last year and fire chief Cam Abrey is okay with that.

Between Jan. 1 to Oct 31, the department responded to 201 calls compared to 206 during the same period last year, Abrey told Dauphin city councillors at their regular meeting, Nov. 27.

“So only a 2.4 per cent decrease in calls. But any downward trend is always a good trend in emergency services,” he said.

False alarms continue to account for the largest volume of calls at 37 per cent, Abrey said, followed by motor vehicle collisions at 18 per cent.

In total, 3,628 hours were spent at calls with responses to the Rural Municipality of Dauphin accounting for 19 per cent of those hours and city responses accounting for 80 per cent. The final one per cent of time was spent offering aid to neighbouring departments in the Riding Mountain Mutual Aid District.

In addition 1,854 hours were dedicated to training during regular Wednesday evening training sessions, Thursday evening classes and Manitoba Emergency Services College sponsored weekend seminars.

“We continue our firefighting level one and two class held each Thursday evening for members of the Riding Mountain Mutual Aid District,” Abrey said. “We have several members from Dauphin, as well as members from Gilbert Plains, Ochre River and Ste. Rose fire departments attending this weekly training here.”

Looking back at the year so far, Abrey said among the workshops the department has hosted was Incident Command 200 training.

“It’s an excellent training opportunity for personnel that are likely to assume a supervisory position within the incident command system,” he said. “And we believe in that, training our members for the potential of assuming that role of command.”

A vehicle extrication seminar, an advanced fire dynamics program, a Pumps Basic seminar, a Pumps Advanced seminar and an emergency vehicle driving skills seminar were also offered throughout the year.

Recently, the department hosted an instructor from Alberta, who provided 40 firefighters from across the region information about fires and extrications involving electric vehicles, Abrey added.

“We were the second location that he was instructing in Manitoba, teaching us about the electric vehicle safety regarding extrication and the fires that are associated with the lithium ion batteries,” he said. “He uses a combination of classroom theory and he actually has a cutaway vehicle of a Tesla which shows where the access for extrication is possible, the location of the batteries and what our methods of control and attack may be.”

Finally, Abrey updated council on the status of the new pumper truck, which has been ordered from Fort Garry Fire Trucks. A recent meeting with the manufacturer resulted in some changes which might affect the $828,447.90 purchase price. Abrey told councillors the emergency lighting system has been upgraded, while some equipment has been eliminated to allow for additional storage in the cabinets.

“We are currently waiting on the pricing adjustments from Fort Garry Fire Trucks and we will advise once those changes are there and how that will affect our original pricing,” he said.

Abrey added while the new truck was originally slated to replace the department’s 2002 Freightliner pumper, a decision has been made to instead replace the department’s 2011 Spartan pumper, which has been costing the department thousands of dollars to continually repair its emissions control system.

“We do have two years until the delivery of the new pumper to come up with the final decision,” he said.