1) The issue of doctor recruitment is one of many that has plagued both our City and most of Manitoba for the past decade or more. It is a most pressing issue for Steinbach as we could use, at a minimum, another 10 or more doctor’s due to our continued population growth. As a result I was pleased to support a Council directive, this past year, to establish the Steinbach Community Health Committee which was to address a variety of medical issues including:
• the issue of Doctor recruitment
• the enhancing and modernizing of our existing Medical facilities thereby attracting medical specialist’s to locate in our City. These include a new primary health care centre, upgrades to the Bethesda operating rooms, and an addition to the Rest Haven Personal Care Home, etc
• to solicit the support of the RHA to promote Steinbach as a Regional Medical Centre thereby enhancing our profile in the medical arena and making recruitment easier
• to enlist the support of both citizen’s and the business community to become a welcoming and inviting place for all new comers especially doctor’s who are in such high demand. An informative welcome packet was developed which was provided to 53 prospective new doctor’s at a recent health fair. It is hoped that this and further initiatives will see positive results in the next 12 to 24 months.
Should further supports be requested of City Council by the Community Health Committee I would give due consideration to same as other communities have provided direct financial supports as well as the creation of public clinic’s, etc in their quest to attract doctor’s. These types of solutions among others are to receive close scrutiny by the committee with recommendations then to come to Council for their consideration in the coming year. No one easy fix is present. It will take a concerted effort by all interested parties for this to become a reality. By working together we can make it happen. Help us by supporting the Steinbach Community Health Committee in it’s efforts.
2) The Library expansion has precipitated concerns on behalf of a segment of our City.
Worthy of note is that the library continues to be the most used public facility in Steinbach with readership volumes up 5% in the past year alone and membership up an amazing 700 people. A true indication of the ever growing use and in turn need for expanded space. Yes, the majority of City Council is on the right track when it decided to expand the library this past year.
The Jake Epp Library was constructed some 13 years ago and was found to be lacking in size from it’s inception. I and my fellow Councilor’s have thus been considering an expansion for the past several years and decided upon 3 options to accommodate this pressing situation
• Option A was a 5,323 sq ft addition which would address the immediate space pressures
• Option B was a 10,205 square foot expansion which would address space requirements for the next 20 years or more.
• Option C was a 13.603 square foot expansion to provide the greatest amount of space to accommodate future growth as we are forecasting to have a population of 20,000 by 2020.
In the end due to budgetary constraints and the benefit of significant grant monies ($7.6 million) for two of our 3 larger capital projects it was decided by a majority of Council that Option B was indeed the best choice as it not only addressed today’s space requirements but also those into the next decade. This coupled with the knowledge that construction costs continue to rise annually, having more than doubled from when the library was originally built and in that interest rates were also at an all time low made this decision all the more plausible.
As a result if the Municipal Board provides it’s approval I will continue to support the decision of the majority of Council and proceed with construction of the Library expansion into 2011. This as the City remains on solid financial footing and the Library will be a beacon of learning and literacy for all citizen’s.
On the other than should Municipal Board approval not be provided the entire project would need to be re-evaluated in the coming year along with our other capital projects. No expansion would commence until appropriate approval’s are present.
One area that the Library will need to explore as it continues to service the south-east is that of becoming a Regional facility by soliciting the financial support of neighboring Municipalities whose citizen’s already recognize the benefit of having a facility such as ours at their disposal.
Of note also is that the Library Board has been fund raising for the added furnishings, for the past number of years, that will be required in any expansion with the Cities involvement thus limited to the actual construction costs alone.
