Saskatoon City Council will discuss lifting its mask mandate for City facilities and on public transit during today’s (mon) regular meeting. If approved the proposed change would take effect on April 4th. The report from City staff says mask use would still be encouraged after the mandate is lifted to help slow the spread of COVID-19. The report says “Given this adjustment, changing from a mandatory approach to a discretionary approach appears to be a reasonable step for the city to take.” While the provincial government lifted the mask mandate at the end of February, the City elected to keep it in place at the facilities and on buses.

Council will also discuss the return to in-person meetings at City Hall. For the majority of the last two years, meetings have been conducted online via video conference.

Also on tap is a vote on changes to school zones. Mayor Charlie Clark and fellow councillors will be asked to adopt a series of changes that will see new playground zones added near various parks in the city along with new hours for school zones from 7a.m. to 7p.m. The changes if approved would also see school zones near high schools axed. City administration is hoping to have these measures in place come the fall.

Mayor Charlie Clark and his fellow councillors will also be asked to give approval on reducing the hours at the Lakewood Recycling Depot in order to curb illegal activity and illegal dumping at the site. City staff is also looking for City Council to sign-off on increasing cleaning efforts at the City’s three depots along with emptying the bins on a more frequent basis. Last spring, the Meadowgreen Recycling Depot was permanently closed due to similar issues.