In an unusual year, there was no reason to believe the municipal budgeting process would be anything but different. Council for Boissevain-Morton is trying to balance the changes and challenges due to coronavirus with the major priorities that exist in the municipality.
Council held its public budget meeting on May 19. Due to social distancing, only about half the council was on hand, with the rest involved through social media. The budget presented was one that was a little different than what was originally planned.
“It was difficult to do,” said Head of Council Judy Swanson, “because of the uncertainty of the times, but I think it’s fair. I think we’ve done the best we could.”
Like many in the community, the coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on the various service groups. In many cases, these crucial volunteers have been on hold this spring and are hoping to get going as soon as they can.
The Boissevain Lions Club was in the latter stages of its annual Chase the Ace and meat draw fundraiser when the world shut down. Since then, they have not held any meetings. President Murray Fingas said the head office of Lions International shut down as well. On Tuesday, May 12, they did get together as a small group to do the highway cleanup.
Boissevain residents awoke to a train derailment last Saturday morning just east of town.
At about 7:00am on May 2, a Canadian Pacific train carrying grain derailed. According to CP, there were no injuries or public safety concerns.
By 7:30am, the Boissevain-Morton Fire Department was called out to the scene. There were approximately six cars off of the rails, with some grain spillage, and damage to the tracks. The department conversed with a CP conductor about the situation. There was no fire or safety concerns due to the spillage, so the department assisted with closing streets in the area to traffic and helping the railway in whatever they needed.
Recycling continues in Boissevain-Morton, although it is at least temporarily handled by different people in a different way.
Like almost every other part of society, recycling saw it share of changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly after the outbreak became a Manitoba issue in mid-March, the province and municipalities began shifting the way they went about their business. As well as shutting down public facilities and placing limits on the number of people who could gather, the Municipality of Boissevain-Morton made a decision about the local recycling project – no more senior volunteers involved at the recycling plant.
