One of the major issues currently faced by the city of Moose Jaw is one new city manager Jim Puffalt has already dealt with multiple times in different cities

– cast-iron watermain replacement. Puffalt has already had discussions with previous managers and councillors to that effect and is happy with what he’s seen initially. The key will be how things stand up to further scrutiny – when a similar situation was taking place in North Battleford a few years ago, Puffalt realized changes were needed. “Looking back at North Battleford, when I looked and I did a study on the system, we realized what was being done wasn’t going to be enough, we were getting rapidly worse instead of better,” he said. “So we had to ramp it up in different ways and find different funding sources to be able to do that. “You just can’t waste that money, it’s $10,000 to $15,000 a pop that you’re wasting. Not to mention that you’re bothering people, they need water, they can’t go without.” Puffalt is very much aware of the costs associated with such a project and what it’ll take to get things done, even in a much more expensive climate than what he’s worked with in the past.

“If we do local improvements it gets so expensive,” Puffalt said. “When we started doing it down south in 2002 and 2003, prices were reasonable, $3,500 to $4,000 to do a local improvement outside your house. But in 2007 and 2008 those prices just skyrocketed. Property taxes don’t cover undergrounds, so we have to find a way to cover those costs.

“You just have to have the willingness to be creative and find different ways to do things.”