Esterhazy holding special public council meeting today to determine Yarbo merger

September 29, 2025, 9:01 am
Nicole Taylor, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The town of Esterhazy is holding a special council meeting this Monday, September 30 at 10 am to vote on whether the Village of Yarbo becomes part of the town of Esterhazy.

The meeting is open to the public to attend and will be held at the SN Boreen Centre at 10 am.

Council was notified by the provincial government that the Yarbo merger deadline is set for this Monday, September 30 at midnight, and that the government wants an answer on whether the merger will take place by then.

Mayor Randy Bot said last week that some of the questions the council and residents wanted answered about the merger will be discussed at the meeting on Monday between council members, before a decision is made. The public will not be able to participate in the meeting, but they can attend to see the discussion and the decision.

A survey was sent out to residents in Esterhazy this summer to determine if people were for or against the merger. Bot says the majority of residents appear to be against the merger. The results of the survey were discussed at last Thursday’s council meeting.

“On Monday we are going to talk about all of that. We are going to bring up what the results were and we are going to talk about everybody’s thoughts, we are going to go around the table,” he said. “And we had a bunch of questions that we wanted answers to, things like the infrastructure needs should the merger take place, so that’s all going to come up.

“We are really going to discuss it and get down to making the decision.”
Yarbo approached the town about becoming part of Esterhazy earlier this year after first approaching the RM of Langenburg about becoming part of the RM last fall. That merger never happened, and with the Yarbo administrator looking to retire, they turned to Esterhazy as another option.

“There were a lot of questions from council as well that they wanted Yarbo to answer on infrastructure and tax base, and things like that, so all those questions will be answered at that time as well,” said Bot of the meeting.
After that discussion is held, the council will vote on a decision about the merger.

Request by Esterhazy Ski Club to include registered gun club
At their regular meeting on Thursday, council reviewed a request from the Esterhazy Ski Club to expand the permitted use of their land to include a registered gun club. The long-term vision is to host biathlon events beginning this upcoming season. The first step in that process would be to amend the Planning District Zoning Bylaw 791-24 so that publicly and/or privately operated recreational facilities can be listed as a Discretionary Use in the Agricultural Resource District. The first reading of the bylaw amendment was completed and a public hearing will be scheduled prior to the second and third readings.

Decision on four-way stop tabled
A request was submitted to add a four-way stop at the intersection of 3rd Avenue and Main Street near the post office due to traffic concerns there. The matter was tabled to allow administration to review the request in detail, particularly with respect to parking impacts in the area.