Community involvement, support of one another, and community partnerships that were created, are things that really stand out as highlights for Winkler Mayor Martin Harder this past year. 

Harder said a number of key partnerships were formed during the months of 2017.

"When I look at the whole situation with Central Station together with the Safe Community Initiative and putting that all together, and then hiring the community safety officer, and then involving the other service providers into that same group...it's a tremendous sign of community effort that has brought this community together," said Harder.  

He said when looking at all of the facilities that have been built and created, that's where some of the partnerships really shine. 

He points to the new basketball courts west of 15th Street, and new outdoor arena and warming shack near Emerado school as examples. 

Harder said it's because of the generosity of the community that those things all came together.

Meanwhile, on a more challenging note, a number of roadblocks preventing the start of some key projects in the City of Winkler in 2017 will follow council into the new year. 

"We still don't have approval for the construction of the wastewater building project, so we'll have to have a little more patience there," said Harder. 

He said they will also need to be patient when it comes to the new Meridian Exhibition Centre project. 

"The funding is committed by Meridan, and unfortunately we still haven't seen any movement as far as the Stanley Ag Society relating to the land. And we certainly haven't seen any indication from the province or the federal government about the funding application we have in place for that."

Based on the city's initial application for the wastewater project, it was assumed the cost would be split equally three ways, between the city, province, and federal government.

Harder said if the federal government does what they said they might do by contributing 40%, and the Manitoba government does the same, that would leave 20% for the city to pay. He said that would leave the city with a half million dollars a year available for them to invest in something else.

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