Derek Sabourin, reeve for the RM of Montcalm, said 2017 has been a good year for council.

He noted the lagoon and drainage projects were positive aspects of the year.

"The lagoon construction in St. Jean, it's not operational yet but it's imminent," said Sabourin. "That's something that's good to see get done."

"Our drainage plan went very well this year. We did about 50 miles of municipal drainage," he added.

Sabourin also looks forward to implementing the draining plan on a annual basis.

"The drainage program is something we put in place and it's something we intend to do every year, to do about 35-50 miles of municipal drainage."

The RM's drainage tile policy is also running smoothly. "We've put in a very good drainage tile policy," said Sabourin.

This policy was the result of a local farmer asking to install tile drainage in his field back in 2015.

As far as challenges go, Sabourin said he's pleased with municipal progress, but said it's hard when provincial project timelines are out of his control.  

"The things we... have control over, we're happy with the progress we've made," he explained.

One example is the major highway flood-proofing construction, which shut down due to cold weather.

"The highway 75 project's been a challenge," said Sabourin, "It's not going as quickly as they led us to believe it would."

The same goes for provincial drainage, which directly impacts farmers and their quality of field drainage.  

"We need their infrastructure to work properly so we can put our infrastructure into it," said Sabourin in regards to provincial drain cleaning.

However, he noted the past year has been a successful one for the municipality.

"Recreation, public works, fire emergency... we make decisions and we can enact them fairly quickly," said Sabourin.

"Our staff has been great, our public works has been very good," he added.  

Related Article: RM of Montcalm Developing Tile Drainage Policy

Related Article: Cold Weather Shuts Down Highway 75 Construction