City Council has given a final reading this week to two hot topics for residents of Moose Jaw.

One topic of discussion was the new bike helmet bylaw. This would make it mandatory for kids and teens under the age of sixteen to wear bike helmets whenever and wherever.

The bylaw, which was one of the subjects of an online survey, had 77% of respondents approve the change. It used to be outlined that the age be 18 years and under, but after some discussion within Council, the age limit was brought down to 16.

The second topic was garbage collection rates. It could be argued that this is one of the most discussed subjects among some citizens and City Council, and it can be shown by how many changes we've gone through with it.

Now, garbage and recycling collection fees increase to $9.77 per month. This is in response to a push back from the community against curbside collection that was supposed to save money. It also reflects Council's decision to go to weekly collection for the summer months rather than bi-weekly collection all year long.