Bob Maloney has only been Mayor a few weeks, but he looks back on 2012 a year where he sat as a Councillor in Yorkton as a positive one.
"There's been growth we've never seen before. It's an exciting time for our community and it's exciting to be part of that," he told Yorkton This Week in a year-end interview.
Maloney said as a Mayor and Council you don't directly create the growth, but they do play a part.
"As City Council you can help set the stage," he said. " You have to try and set the table and be prepared to invest in infrastructure when we need too."
The stage includes making sure the infrastructure is in place to facilitate the growth.
That is where something like the opening of the new Water Treatment Plant in the city in 2012 was so important.
At a cost of some $33 million, Maloney said the plant "was by far the biggest project the city's ever done."
Maloney said the water treatment plant facilitated the growth of two canola crushing plants and has the capacity which will allow the city to handle both residential and industrial growth moving forward.
Having the capacity to handle something like the canola plants is important as the plants generate municipal tax dollars, not only directly, but through employees buying homes, and business growth which follows large plants.
While not on the same scale as the water facility Maloney said things such as the new skateboard park initiated by the community, and development of housing subdivisions such as York Colony are also part of the infrastructure development which helps with growth.
As part of city growth preparation the city annexed land from two neighbouring municipalities, through direct negotiation with the Rural Municipality of Wallace and through a provincial review board ruling with the RM of Orkney.
Maloney said getting "the annexation piece finally put to rest," is important to prepare for the future.
He added while the City's relationship with the RM of Wallace has been generally a good one, he hopes moving forward that they can rebuild a more amicable relationship with Orkney in the months ahead.
"I think things are going to improve in that area," he said.
While there may not be any mega-million dollar projects slated for 2013, Maloney said Council will still be laying groundwork for continued city growth.
"A community plan is supposed to be coming forward," he said, adding once Council has seen the plan there will be community meetings to facilitate input from the public, as "to where the community wants to see us going."
A Cultural Plan for the city is also expected to appear before Council early this year.
"I know Council will support it," said the Mayor, adding people in the cultural and arts community have worked diligently to prepare the plan.
Maloney said he also hopes Tom Seeley and Ron Skinner will be continuing their work as co-chairs of the Yorkton Housing Committee. He said the group has done a lot of good work in establishing local housing needs and beginning processes to address some of the needs, and that work needs to continue.
Also ahead in the new year Maloney said while not directly responsible for either, the City will continue to be supportive of two major planning initiatives in the city -- a new Trades and Technology Centre for Parkland College and a new hospital.
In regards to the college expansion Maloney said he is "hoping for a major announcement" from the province in 2013.
He said they have been told to wait until the provincial budget, and while no promise has been made "we're hopeful."
The hospital project may be further in the future than 2013, but Maloney said the City will continue to be part of the process.
As for Maloney personally, he said winning the recent municipal election was gratifying, and has meant change for him.
"It was a big career change," he said, noting that his long involvement with the local television station is over and he is now focused on being a full time mayor.
In the election Maloney won over Richard Genaille in a landslide garnering some 95 per cent of the vote, but he noted that was only 95 per cent of the 28 per cent of eligible voters who cast votes in the election.
"You wish people would get more involved in municipal politics and the city," he noted.
That said that after being a long time resident of Yorkton he is simply "awfully proud to be Mayor."
