Election mayor’s 2016 highlight

In terms of municipal politics the election of October stands out as the big story of 2016 for Yorkton Mayor Bob Maloney.

The election locally saw four seeking the Mayor’s chair, and 24 wanting a seat on Council.

Maloney said interest in running was certainly not unique to the city, with long lists of candidates in cities, towns and villages across the province.

And when ballots were cast, many new faces took seats on various Councils.

“It was a provincial wide thing,” said Maloney. “There were seven of eight new city Mayors.”

The changes included Don Atchinson losing his seat in Saskatoon, and former MLA Deb Higgins in Moose Jaw also losing out.

Maloney was returned, but there are five new faces on Council, with four incumbents losing out on election night.

“The brooms were out. People obviously wanted change,” he said.

Maloney said he feels he was returned because he never has seen himself as a politician.

“I don’t really feel like a politician,” he said, adding he feels those seeking municipal seats “run on who they are and what they stand for.”

That said Maloney noted the vote in October “was a most difficult campaign based on the sheer number of people running.”

Maloney said with so many rookies on the current Council there has been a learning curve, but added the newcomers have been involved in orientations and are asking questions as they get up to speed.

That will be important moving forward, offered Maloney, because as new Councillors they all “have ideas of what they want to do,” in their first term, but those have to be tempered against financial realities of the city.

Beyond the election, Maloney said the story on 2016 is how Yorkton managed to stay on an economic bubble at a time the economy has generally slowed provincially and beyond.

“We’re still seeing growth,” he said. “Building permits are still holding.”

Maloney said 2017 should continue showing a robust economy locally, with projects such as a new Maple Farm Equipment building, and a new Save-On-Foods location already under development.

Growth in existing businesses is always important, he added, in particular small business growth which is a key to a community.

And, “I think we’ll see more announcements – hopefully some good news coming,” said Maloney.

At the same time the City’s finances are going to be more constrained, as provincial revenue sharing declining by some five per cent, resulting in tighter local budgets.

“On the City side we’ll have to watch our dollars,” said Maloney.