From the Portage Daily Graphic

A special council meeting of the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie, intended for 9 a.m. this morning, was cancelled suddenly, although 16-20 concerned citizens from the RM and the city were prepared to attend.

Many of them were there to witness the RM council’s plan to move forward with decisions regarding the new multiplex, which is about to begin construction at the Island Park fairgrounds.

The meeting was called, the reeve said, to vote on a long-term lease agreement with the Portage Industrial Exhibition Association and to approve the first tender for construction of the multiplex.

Reeve Toby Trimble said the meeting was put off to next week because the fair board’s lawyer is not available and the replacement lawyer did not feel comfortable with some of the items in the contract, and asked to wait for the primary lawyer’s return.

He also said the tender came in on budget, but there were still a few outstanding issues the project manager wanted to iron out.

In the place of the RM meeting, the RM council held an impromptu, 20-30 minute question and answer session for the citizens who had lined up outside the RM office this morning to attend.

A separate City of Portage council meeting was also scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday. The results of that meeting were not known by press time.