ROTATELLER

Submitted by Will Arscott

 

 

We met in the Main Dining Room of the Saskatoon Club. Past-President Gary Rusu was our MC.  The meeting began with members singing O Canada led admirably by the MC. The blessing was asked by Avis Hardy who surprised us with a rhyming verse. Maybe in the future we can have a rap-style blessing.  The meal was grilled cheese and soup.

 

Cashier was Donna Gauthier. Paul Gauthier handled technology. Greeter was Kent Smith-Windsor. As always, a special thanks to Avis Hardy for organizing and communicating the roster.

 

Our only guest was Zack Jeffries our guest speaker who was introduced later in the program.

 

 

No report at this meeting.

 

 

The regular Board meeting will be on the third Thursday of the month May 21.   At that meeting the board hopes to approve the budget and fees to be brought to the membership at the May 25 meeting.

 

Donna announced that grocery cards are now sold out.  This is a simple fundraiser.  Thanks to all who participated. There will be grocery cards available again in the early fall.

 

Craft Fair: Linda Petrow confirmed that this event will be held again this year on November 7 in Salon B of Prairieland Park. The cost for vendors will be unchanged if they register and pay early.  Admission will remain at $5 per person. Watch for more information as the event approaches.

 

 

A very generous Jack Brodsky put in $100H for the fact that spring finally seems to have arrived in Saskatoon. He put in a second $100H for the successful Gourmet Burger Night and the happy buzz in the room at that event.

 

Avis put in $20H for Mother’s Day and a wonderful brunch with her daughter.

 

A very proud Gary Rusu put in $100H for his grandson’s selection to an elite under13 hockey team and having caught the attention of the Hockey program at Notre Dame.

 

 

The Community Safety & Service Awards/Dinner is the new name for the Badge Shield and Star Dinner which was a major fundraiser for our club and for the RAP program. The re-named event is going ahead this year jointly sponsored by our club and by the Kinsmen Club of Saskatoon. It is being held on Tuesday June 9 at the Prairieland Exhibition.  The brochure for the event is attached to this Rotateller.

 

Kent Smith-Windsor is taking the lead on behalf of our club on this event.  He spoke to the club.  Kent reported the event is a go.  Things have been just a little slow getting started as the Kinsmen organizers were tied up finishing tax season.   This is a very good opportunity to raise some serious money for RAP and for our club.   New additions include raffles just for the first responders to encourage them to attend the event.    There will be a dynamite speaker in the person of Chief Tammy Cook.   If we can sell tickets the profit will appear as the dinner and speaker are already underwritten by sponsors.   Please review the sponsor information in the brochure attached.   There is still time to become a sponsor.   There are likely people or businesses you know that would make good sponsors.   One area of particular interest will be the property insurance community in Saskatoon.  Try to encourage the insurance people you deal with to support this event.

 

 

Zack was introduced by Avis Hardy.  Zack has represented Ward 10 in Council since 2012. Ward 10 is in the Northeast part of the city and includes Sutherland. When first elected Zack was the youngest councilor to ever be elected to Saskatoon City Council.   He grew up in his Ward and attended Sutherland School. His first political involvement was as an elementary school student successfully convincing adults that upgrades were needed to the Sutherland School playground. He has remained connected with his electors throughout his career through coffee with council and other events.   Zack is a business owner and is a director with the Canadian Association of Municipalities.

 

Saskatoon faces a time of great opportunities and challenges. The city reached a population of 200,000 in 2006, twenty years later and our population is about 320,000. Planning is now underway based on a city of 500,000. A major survey was undertaken in 1999 called ‘Saskatoon Speaks.’ This survey still forms the basis of planning though it has been updated with the 2016 Strategic Plan. A good example from the plan is the need to develop mass transit in Saskatoon.  Currently only about 4.5% of residents use public transportation. Those that use it complain that it is unreliable, slow, and occasionally dangerous. If this rate of public transportation usage continues the city will soon face gridlock as the population increases. To avoid gridlock, ridership must be increased from 4.5% to 9.0%.  This seems like a small change, but it will have big effects as the population approaches 500,000. For this to happen public transit must become faster and more reliable. To accomplish this Saskatoon Transit is moving towards a wheel and spoke system with express routes that run as often as every five minutes. Current funding requires the city to pay about $0.29 for every dollar invested in public transport with the remainder coming from the province and federal government.

 

Zack went on to discuss several additional areas of public concern. Everyone has become aware of the issue of homelessness in Saskatoon particularly in the past few years. This problem is a result of income distribution in society in general, the unavailability of low-cost housing and housing prices in general. The problem is greatly exacerbated by the prevalence of untreated mental health issues and addiction. The problem of homelessness is a real concern and is impairing general access to areas of the city due to perceived dangers. The power of the city in this area is quite limited.  Most of what the city can do is at the margins and addressing the central problems requires the province and federal government. The city is trying to monitor police response time, but this only addresses the problems after they occur. What is needed is a full program of wrap-around services for those that are vulnerable.

 

City tax rates are also a concern.  Nobody likes paying taxes, so it is of limited value to say that we have the lowest city taxes of any western Canadian city except Calgary.  Our taxes are considerably lower than those of Regina. Of the civic taxes we pay 35% goes to the province for education with 5% going to public libraries. With the remaining 60%, 25% for police, 15% for fire, and 20% for roads. There is very little that can be cut without reducing services. The city is always looking at ways to improve productivity. We have some advantages over other jurisdictions in owning a power utility that returns a dividend of $20 million to the people of Saskatoon and we have a landbank that protects us from having to purchase land at a speculative price. Without these two things in place Saskatoon taxes would have to be higher.

 

There were several questions.  Zack voiced his support for the proposed entertainment district but said it should proceed on a use-pay basis.

 

Zack was thanked by Past-President Gary and the regular donation will be made to Bethany Homes.  Zack seemed quite pleased as Bethany Homes is in his Ward.

 

 

 

Next Meeting is on May 25. Speaker is Arnel Mendoza, Volunteer Coordinator for Saskatoon Meals on Wheels.