News Releases

The Saskatoon Civic Conservatory has an Easter flower and plant display for visitors to enjoy throughout April, which features Easter lilies, snapdragons, stocks, astilbe, and kalanchoe.

The Conservatory showcases a variety of orchids, and tropical and arid plants, along with a new seasonal flower display each month.

The Conservatory is located in the same building as the Mendel Art Gallery at 950 Spadina Crescent East. It is open 364 days per year from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.  The cost of admission is by donation.  For more information, please visit www.saskatoon.ca (look under ”C” for Civic Conservatory).

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca or connect with the City of Saskatoon on Twitter and Facebook.

The future elementary schools in Saskatoon will be an exciting new opportunity for learning and community-based recreation.  The City of Saskatoon (City) wishes to provide residents with information on the possibilities for new community spaces and access to schools in the neighbourhoods of Hampton Village, Stonebridge, Rosewood, and Evergreen, which were made possible by the Community Centre Levy collected through new lot sales.

The City, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Saskatoon Public Schools, and Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools, invites you to come and learn more about the new schools, see models, and have an opportunity to ask all of your questions and provide your thoughts.  For those who cannot make the first presentation, it will be repeated a second time later in the evening.

Future Saskatoon Schools – Community Spaces and Access – Information Meeting
Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m. Doors Open
5:30 p.m. Presentation and Ask Your Questions
7:00 p.m. Repeat Presentation and Ask Your Questions
Council Chambers, City Hall, 222 – 3rd Avenue North

More information is available at www.shapingsaskatoon.ca.

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca or connect with the City of Saskatoon on Twitter and Facebook.
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A 3:15 a.m. fire at a Saskatoon Light&Power wood pole caused a power outage in Pleasant Hill, Mount Royal and Meadow Green neighbourhoods this morning.  The power for these neighbourhoods was rerouted and power was restored around 4:30 a.m.  This pole will be scheduled for repair early next week, but no further outages are expected.

Around 10:30 a.m. this morning, the same neighbourhoods were affected by another power outage.  The cause of this second outage was trees contacting a power line.  The trees were trimmed and the power was restored at 1:00 p.m. this afternoon.

We want to thank everyone for their patience and cooperation during these outages.  Regular updates were provided through the Saskatoon Light & Power service alerts and at saskatoon.ca throughout the outage to keep customers informed.

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Saskatoon Light & Power Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca or connect with the City of Saskatoon on Twitter and Facebook.

The Saskatoon Field House will be closed to the public and lease-holders due to a water main repair on College Drive on Monday, April 14, and Tuesday, April 15, 2014.  The facility will re-open, and regularly scheduled programming will resume on Wednesday, April 16. 

Shaw Centre, Harry Bailey Aquatic Centre, Lakewood, Lawson, and Cosmo Civic Centres, as well as the Fitness Circuit & Terry Fox Track will maintain regular hours during this time.  For drop-in programming information at any of the other six facilities, please refer to www.saskatoon.ca/go/dropinonline.

The City of Saskatoon and Saskatoon Field House thank patrons for their cooperation.  For information on programming and services affected, please contact the facility at 306-975-3354. 

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca or connect with the City of Saskatoon on Twitter and Facebook.

The Information Technology Division has investigated City-web based services and discovered City of Saskatoon services are not vulnerable to the computer bug known as Heartbleed.

“Customers should feel absolutely comfortable to access City online payment services,” says Brenda Wallace, Acting Director of Information Technology.  “It’s business as usual for anyone wanting to pay a parking ticket, renew a pet licence or to subscribe to our green-bin service.”

Heartbleed allows computer hackers to access information that should be securely encrypted on a website such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, banking information and online shopping information.

Heartbleed has existed for a couple of years but is now receiving attention because a fix for the flaw has been publicly released and researchers have now realized how dangerous the bug was.
Current information suggests anywhere from 17 to 65 percent of websites could be affected.
The City website www.saskatoon.ca is safe from Heartbleed.

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca or connect with the City of Saskatoon on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Even though snow is still melting on many residential yards, the warmer temperatures have dried roads and the spring clean-up along major streets can now begin.  Beginning Monday, April 14, City and private contractor crews will be engaged on both sides of the river with the Spring Pothole Blitz and the Spring Street Sweeping Blitz. 

“We want to get out there and clean things up as quickly as possible, so everyone can put the long, cold winter behind us and we can all enjoy the early benefits of being outside again,” says Director of Public Works Pat Hyde.  “Fortunately, the improved snow grading and removal programs this winter were effective in helping to speed up the spring melt and reduce the development of potholes.  This, along with the fall street sweep program in October, will help to improve the effectiveness of both the pothole and sweep programs.”  

Your Tax Dollars at Work – Building Better Roads
Part of the new 4.29% dedicated tax levy is for improved roadway repairs and maintenance.  Residents and businesses will see improvements as a result of an additional $605,000 for the Spring Street Sweeping Blitz and the Accelerated Residential Sweeping programs; and an additional $550,000 for the Spring Pothole Blitz program. Learn more about Building Better Roads.

Spring Street Sweeping Blitz
The Spring Sweeping Blitz is designed to collect as much of the heavy dirt and debris as possible from the Priority 1, 2 and some Priority 3 streets, over the next three weeks.  Additional parking restrictions will not be applied and ticketing and relocation towing will not be engaged during the blitz.  As a result the sweepers will be going around parked vehicles and focus mainly on the driving lanes of the roadway. 

Sweepers will be on the higher traffic volume streets, such as Circle Drive, Idylwyld Drive, 22nd Street, 8th Street and College Drive (Priority 1 streets); and the majority of the priority two streets.  The schedule is dependent on the weather, but if time permits, some Priority 3 streets will also be swept. 

The purpose of the spring sweep blitz is designed as a quick pass through in order to remove the heavier dirt and debris so that once the Accelerated Residential Sweep program commences in early May, it will enable a more effective and complete curb-to-curb sweep program and cover all streets including those from the Spring Sweeping Blitz.  

Civic and private contractor crews will also be cleaning the boulevards areas adjacent to the sidewalks/curbs, and centre medians to remove the debris that collected over the winter from snow storage.  The debris will be swept onto the street and hauled away as part of the clean-up, with any remaining dirt being picked up by the sweepers.  

Spring Pothole Blitz
Aggressive pothole patching will also begin Monday, April 14 and will involve both civic and private contractor crews.  Hot asphalt mix material is now available and will be used because of its permanent bond and longer lasting patch for potholes.  Crews will be focused along many of the same priority one, two and three streets as the sweeping blitz.  The Spring Pothole Blitz is designed to patch as many of the potholes within the driving lanes of the priority streets in order to provide a smoother, comfortable ride on these higher traffic volume streets.  Pothole patching will also be continued throughout the Accelerated Residential Sweep program and throughout the summer months until winter freeze up as potholes can develop even during the summer months. 

Pothole patching will also continue throughout the spring blitz on the non-priority streets for emergency requirements.  Residents are encouraged to please continue to report locations with the online Report a Pothole map or call our customer service centre at 306-975-2476 to report any dangerous locations. 

Accelerated Residential Street Sweeping and Pothole Patching
Upon completion of the Spring Sweeping Blitz, the Accelerated Residential Street Sweeping program begins, where every street will be swept curb-to-curb by neighbourhood including the business improvement districts.  This six-week program will use relocation towing and a $100 fine will be applied for parking on a scheduled street.  The yellow ‘sandwich style’ No Parking signs will be used and augmented with yellow replica paper signs throughout the program where on-street vehicle parking is an issue. 

Weather permitting, the scheduled start of the program is Monday, May 5.  Further information will be provided closer to the launch date of the Accelerated Residential Street Sweeping program.

Schedules and more information are available at saskatoon.ca as part of the Building Better Roads campaign.  Saskatoon’s Road Plan is a coordinated approach to repair, maintenance and construction, Building Better Roads in Saskatoon.

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca/go/traffic. You can also follow us on Twitter @cityofsaskatoon and with #betterroads and like Saskatoon City News on Facebook.  

Starting at 9:00 a.m on Monday, April 14, the Circle Drive westbound curb lane near Avenue C will be closed for water main repairs. Access from Circle Drive westbound to Avenue C northbound will be maintained.  

The work should be completed and restrictions lifted by 3:00 p.m., weather permitting and barring any unforeseen circumstances.   

Know before you go! Find up-to-date traffic detour information at www.saskatoon.ca/go/traffic and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Starting at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, April 14, 2014, the College Drive westbound curb lane west of Preston Avenue will be closed while crews repair a primary water main. Turning in all directions at the College Drive and Preston Avenue intersection will be maintained.

Motorists are strongly advised that delays are expected and to please allow for extra time when travelling. There will be water service disruption to the Field House and parts of Innovation Place for the duration of repairs. The scheduled maintenance is not expected to affect the nearby residential neighbourhoods of Varsity View and Grosvenor Park.

It is expected that this work will take three days to complete, weather permitting and barring any unforeseen circumstances. 

The City thanks drivers for their patience.

Drivers are reminded to allow extra time when travelling through the orange zone, watch for pedestrians and work crews, and for everyone’s safety, please obey all detours, signs and barriers.

Know before you go! Find up-to-date traffic detour information at www.saskatoon.ca/go/traffic and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

For Release:  April 10, 2014

Tonight at the 2014 Badge, Shield and Star Dinner Doreen Brown, Scott Wright and Gord Thompson will all receive awards for their outstanding contribution to emergency services in Saskatoon.

Doreen Brown will be presented with the Badge Award by Saskatoon Police Service Chief Clive Weighill. Doreen is being honoured for an exemplary life of service to her community. After a long career at St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon, Ms. Brown has played an integral role as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Saskatoon Police Service Volunteer Program. She has consistently made a special effort to get to know the volunteers and ensure that the police service is well represented at every event. Doreen has limitless energy and patience when coordinating people and tasks and always makes sure that every event is well staffed and supported. It is said that Saskatchewan is known for volunteer spirit. Ms. Doreen Brown is one of the people who have helped create that reality.

Scott Wright will receive the Shield Award from Chief Dan Paulsen of the Saskatoon Fire Department. Scott is being honoured for his leadership roles in search and rescue in Saskatoon in particular but also throughout Canada. Scott was a founding member of Saskatoon Search and Rescue. He has held a variety of leadership roles in the organization and remains an integral part to this day. Scott has also been the president of Search and Rescue Saskatchewan Association of Volunteers (SARSAV), the Secretary and now Vice-President of Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada (SARVAC) and the chair of the CSA Technical Steering Committee for the development of GSAR Standards in Canada.

The Star Award will be presented to Gord Thompson by Dave Dutchak of MD Ambulance. Gord has a long history of partnership with MD Ambulance. Over the last number of years, he has delivered joint training sessions to rural fire departments and first responder groups across Saskatchewan. He was key in implementing the 310-5000 telephone number, a 911 system for rural residents surrounding Saskatoon. Over the years, Mr. Thompson has attended hundreds of calls as a first responder with the City of Warman where he currently holds the position of Fire Chief of the Warman Fire Department. 

As negotiations with civic unions and associations continue, the City would like to provide the public with an update on the progress of all its contract negotiations so far.

“I think the negotiations have gone exceptionally well,” Director of Human Resources Marno McInnes says.  “We have resolved some very complex issues with most of our bargaining units already and we look forward to fruitful discussions in the near future with those units with outstanding matters to discuss.”

Firstly, no job action on the part of the City or any of its unions or associations is happening right now.  For public clarification, if a union or association holds a strike vote, it does not trigger immediate job action.  A formal notice must be served by either party prior to that.

The City has offered all of the nine civic unions and associations the same proposal on wages and pension matters.  Five of those nine have already settled on that offer, while talks continue at the four remaining bargaining tables.

A crucial element to negotiations in the current round of contract offers is a deal to manage the sustainability of employee pension benefits.  The City is pleased to report eight out of nine bargaining units have ratified the wage and pension component of this offer.

“The deal offers competitive wage increases and more importantly, agreement on how to keep the pensions viable,” McInnes says.  “This was a serious challenge that both the employer and employees were facing and we’ve arrived at a solution.”

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca or connect with the City of Saskatoon on Twitter and Facebook.