Maple Creek's flood wall is nearly complete. Mayor Barry Rudd reported to council during its regular meeting on July 12 the barrier is expected to be finished by the end of the week.
"They're just putting the top crown on it now," Rudd said of the berm, which is constructed out of HESCO flood containers.
After the initial row of containers was laid, stretching along the west side of town from Second Avenue to the foot of the railway tracks, a second stack was made around the northwest corner of Willowbend Campground. A slope is now being built up around the structure with dirt.
Work on the barrier began in early May, with dirt to fill the containers supplied by Joe Davis.
Town administrator Mark Caswell said the next step in the flood protection plan is to gain approval from CP Rail to extend the berm onto the CP Rail property as close to the bank of the railway tracks as possible.
"We're still waiting for approval from them," he explained, noting large sandbags are on hand should the area need to be blocked off if a flood situation arose.
The flood barrier is expected to cost about $500,000, with 75 to 80 per cent covered by the province’s Emergency Flood Damage Reduction Program.
The town is expecting to receive more information on a plan for diversion channels leading from the creek in the coming weeks. This would eliminate the need for a low-level crossing to replace the bridge at the west end of Second Avenue.
A request was made by a resident to allow people living in both even and odd numbered homes to be able to water their lawns on the last day of summer months with 31 days. The resident stated anyone whose property has an odd number gains the extra day of watering during those months, as they are are permitted to water their lawns on odd numbered days and even numbered houses on even numbered days.
"On those months that have 31 days, the odd numbered houses are able to water two days in a row and the even numbered houses get missed for a day," Caswell explained.
Rudd said the request has come up nearly every year, but he does not believe a change is viable or worth pursuing for the few months that it affects.
"We can't let everyone water that day, otherwise our reserves will not take it," he explained.
Council agreed it was not a feasible option.
The owner of a business on Heritage Avenue brought forward the concern that weeping tiles at the baseball diamonds are causing water to drain onto his property.
Caswell said the issue has been looked into and it was found the tiles do not lead water to the property and are not the source of the problem.
Councillor John Andreas said the problem is that the business is located in a low-lying area where water collects.
Councillor Ray Broderick said a paving crew will be coming next week to pave over portions of streets that were dug up for water break repairs and along some curbs.
The town passed a bylaw to authorize the borrowing of money to meet current expenditures.
Caswell stressed this is not to authorize a loan, but to establish an operating line of credit. He said he does not believe the town will require the use of it, but it is good practice to have it.
"The reason this became a bit of an issue just recently is with the postal strike coinciding with the levying of our taxes, we weren't sure if we were going to have cash flow from people paying their taxes to be able to meet our obligations in the short term," he explained. "This was undertaken just as a way to make sure that we weren't going to default on any of our debts owed to creditors."
Caswell said the town is in good financial standing.
A bylaw to sell a lot on Murraydale Crescent back to its rightful owners was given first reading by council.
A lot on  the west side of the crescent was sold to the town for $1 to create a common title holder for the town to subdivide the area.
"The agreement at the time was that (the owners) would get that land back when everything had been finished," Caswell explained. "Somehow in the process it got flagged as green space – municipal reserve (land). It was an error."
After a year-and-a-half process with Municipal Affairs, the suggestion was to take the issue through the bylaw process.
The bylaw will go into public notice for two weeks before receiving second and third readings.
A bylaw was approved for the town to establish property tax incentives for new commercial construction.
Caswell said this has been a long-standing practice of the town to abate taxes on the building of a new commercial structure for the first year, and then phase the tax in over the next three years.
"You'd pay 33 per cent of your taxes in year two, 66 per cent of your taxes in year three, and then you'd pay your full tax levy in the fourth year," he said.
Although it has always been standard practice, Caswell said he would be more comfortable in establishing a bylaw for the procedure.
Council's next regular meeting scheduled for July 26 has been cancelled. It's next regular meeting will be held on Aug. 9.