Youngsters can look forward to a new and improved play structure in Lions Park in the future.
The current aging park doesn’t meet the public playground safety standards of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities.
“The municipality’s insurance provider has developed a Playground Safety Guide designed to help municipalities maintain safer playgrounds,” said CAO Kaitlyn Griffith. “The existing play structure in Lions Park requires significant improvements, or replacement, to meet the standards in the guide.”
Council authorized the Woodlands Community Development Corporation to transfer $40,000 to the municipality’s economic development reserve to be used to fund 50 per cent of the Lion’s Park play structure replacement. The LUD of Warren committee requested the funding. If there’s additional funds left over, they will remain in the economic development reserve.
In addition, the RM submitted an application for the provincial From the Ground Up grant to help pay for the replacement of the existing playground equipment with safe and accessible equipment and surfacing.
Council also authorized submitting an application for the 2026 Kal’s RePlay grant to help cover costs of replacing the existing playground surface with poured-in-place rubber.
In other council news:
• Garbage and recycling pickup in the LUD of Warren is changing to Thursdays from Wednesdays starting Feb. 19. There will be no pickup on Feb. 18.
• Council appointed Lorna Broadfoot as deputy reeve for 2026.
• Council voted unanimously in favour of widening a portion of Broadfoot Avenue, Good Street, Porteous Avenue and Parker Street in Woodlands.
“The Interlake School Division transferred a four-metre-wide strip of land bordering Woodlands School property to the municipality for the purpose of developing sidewalks along those streets in the future,” Griffith said.
• Marlo Carlson has been contracted as the facility caretaker for Warren Hall.
• Council is requesting that the provincial Department of Transportation and Infrastructure resurface Railway Avenue, or to fund the municipality to undertake the work, before transferring it to the municipality. Railway Avenue is mainly a locally used road, and the RM will take over the long-term maintenance once it’s brought up to a safe and acceptable standard.
“The municipality has requested that the province transfer jurisdiction of Railway Avenue in Woodlands to the municipality, but this has not yet been approved by the province,” Griffith said.
“Transferring this roadway to municipal jurisdiction would enable the municipality to maintain and improve the street rather than having to request maintenance and improvements through Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure. The existing street needs to be resurfaced, which would be negotiated as part of the transition.”
• Council authorized Woodlands Park150 Inc. to apply for grants to develop and improve the park, which is on municipal property. One of these opportunities is the provincial From the Ground Up grant to help cover the costs of relocating a picnic shelter and developing the central courtyard. The Park150 Committee also requested $52,440.70 from the RM towards the landscape design of the park. The Woodlands Community Development Corporation has been authorized to transfer the funds to the municipality, which is the sole shareholder of the community development corporation.
• Coun. Lorna Broadfoot is authorized to attend the 30th Annual Provincial Recreation Conference in Winnipeg from Feb. 25 to 27.
• Donna Zinkiew, general manager of TAXervice Inc., and Tyler Burnside, associate of TAXervice Inc., are appointed as the tax sale managers for the RM of Woodlands. The municipality has hired TAXervice to manage tax arrears recovery for the municipality.
• Council agreed to extend the mutual aid memorandum of understanding with the RM of St. Laurent for another two years.
• Council gave second and third readings to a bylaw to close Road Plan 620, which refers to an old unused road plan that divided a parcel of farmland in the Municipality. Coun. Valerie Stelck was absent from the vote.
“The road plan did not form part of the municipality’s road infrastructure and has been utilized as part of the surrounding farmland for many years,” Griffith said. “The municipality legally closed the road plan at the request of the adjacent landowners.”
• The RM of Woodlands is placing a quarter-page ad in the 2026 Interlake Travel Guide at a cost of $425 plus tax.
• The municipal fire department received provincial funds when its fire truck and firefighters were deployed to help with wildlife suppression efforts last year. The fire department asked that $29,400 in excess funds could be used towards future fire protection equipment needs. Council approved transferring these funds into the fire equipment reserve.
• Council accepted a $9,000 quote from MicroAge Manitoba for a cybersecurity bundle for equipment and onboarding, plus $2,480 in monthly fees for the fully managed support package. The municipality experienced a cybersecurity breach in 2025 and it’s committed to meet the baseline goals for small and medium organizations set out by the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security.
• In December, council authorized an extra $15,000 in contracted drainage work. The municipality had budgeted $25,000 in contracted drainage work in 2025, and then approved an additional $10,000 in November. The value of the work approached the budgeted amount and the ditching work wasn’t done yet. The RM expected to be under-budget in other drainage areas.
• Council accepted a $13,675 quote for a Phase 2 environmental site assessment of a former landfill site.
“The province requires an environmental site assessment to be completed before any residence can be developed within 400 metres of a landfill or a former landfill,” Griffith said.
“There is interest in residential development on a site which had been identified as a potential former landfill; therefore, the site assessment was completed to confirm whether the property is safe for development.”
