This fall, residents of municipalities across Saskatchewan will have the ability to exercise their democratic right to vote for their town mayor and councillors. Also up for election this fall are reeves and councillors in odd-numbered RM divisions, and school board members.
Municipal election day will be Monday, November 9 for all cities, towns, villages, and RMs across Saskatchewan.
Larry Tomlinson
Earlier in the year, Moosomin Mayor Larry Tomlinson said he wasn’t sure if he’d be running for re-election this fall, but with more to finish in terms of infrastructure, he’s planning to return for his third-term as mayor. Tomlinson was elected to council in 2006 and became mayor in 2012.
“At this point I’m planning on running,” said Tomlinson. “We’ve got a lot of things on the go like infrastructure and a new water treatment plant and other things in town that I’d like to see done. I’d like to be part of getting those things done. I want to finish what this council started and I’d like to be a part of getting it finished.”
Infrastructure was the driving force behind Tomlinson’s decision to run for mayor originally and he feels he still has unfinished business in that department that he’d like to see through.
“Originally I thought there were some things that needed to change throughout town and I thought I could help,” he said. “Our biggest accomplishment at this point in time has been the infrastructure, it’s crumbling and it needs to be done and this council has been good to go ahead and fix it as we go. Infrastructure and the new water treatment plant we have in the works are top priorities going forward. I’d like to be part of those things.
“I think this council has accomplished a lot as far as infrastructure and I think we need to continue that,” he said. “That’s got to be a main concern for us and the town.”
Murray Gray
Born and raised in Moosomin, Councillor Murray Gray, is finishing up his fist term on council having served on the town beautification, recreation, and fire protection committees. It was an easy choice for Gray when it comes to the municipal election in the fall.
“I’m 100 per cent running,” said Gray. “I’ve been running since after the first meeting that we had. I’ve really enjoyed my time on council. There’s a lot to learn and there’s a lot to do within our community, I see the potential of Moosomin and this area. I’ve never had any hesitation whatsoever. The last four years has flown by and I want to represent the taxpayers of Moosomin for four more years. We have made some changes, in any politics it takes longer than you think it should to get things to happen, but I’m definitely 100 per cent going to run.”
Gray’s work on the council isn’t his first exposure to working within the community having served as president of both Playfair Daycare and Moosomin Minor Hockey, becoming a councillor was the logical next step in his goal to help build the community.
“My experience on boards and my love of Moosomin, being born and raised here,” he said. “I love our community and I want to represent the people in a positive manner to make this a better place to live.”
Although it was his first term as a councillor, Gray feels the council has achieved a lot over the last four years, specifically in the economic and recreation realms.
“We’ve got the economic development going, we’ve hired an economic development officer, our rec department has grown—I’ve been very involved in our rec department in the four years—we’ve grown our facilities and our programming. A lot of things administration wise, we went to iPads from paper because we were waisting a lot of paper and that was one of the big things when I first got on that we were able to do, going a little bit more digital and be a bit more environmental that way. The community plan—which we’re still in the works of—it’s close to finished and I think that’s important to have that living document for investors to invest in our community. Those are some of the highlights, there’s a lot of different things on the go.”
With a clear goal for the future of Moosomin, Gray has plans to continue growing the town and the infrastructure in particular over his next four years on council.
“We began to replace some of our aging infrastructure so we’ve developed a plan now where we’re doing two or three blocks a year of replacing our oldest and most worn-out infrastructure,” he said. “It’s nice to see that going and that’s very important going forward. The water treatment plant is something that—probably in the next term—can hopefully be replaced, it’s at the end of its life cycle. Those are some of the big things, obviously there’s day-by-day stuff that happens as you go, but those are the big ticket items I see a need for going forward.”
Chris Davidson
Councillor Chris Davidson plans to run for council again because he wants to see the continued growth of Moosomin as a hub in southeastern Saskatchewan.
“Yeah I’ve been thinking about running,” Davidson said. “I’ve been on council for quite a few years and I’ve always been interested in the good of the town, making sure we’re moving forward and not backwards and trying to keep up with a lot of the major infrastructure issues that we have, we’ve been working away at that over the years. I want to see the town move forward and try to attract more business and try to attract some bigger manufacturing type industry, that would be nice to see happen here.”
With nearly 20 years on council, Davidson says they’ve finished a lot of major projects in his time and going forward there will be a focus on attracting major business to Moosomin.
“I got elected in 2003 and we’ve seen a lot of things happen in that period of time,” he said. “I’ve been involved in a lot. The new hospital was built in 2008, we built the convention centre back around then as well, we’ve done some major upgrades to the water treatment plant, and we’ve got plans for more major upgrades in that department. Getting new pipe in the ground is a major issue that we’ve been working on and will continue to work on. A lot of the sewer infrastructure was put in back in the 1950’s and up until the last few years there hadn’t been much upgrade in that department. A lot of time and effort is going into sewer and water infrastructure as well as streets. We need to continue to work on that and continue to try and attract more business and bigger ticket items. I think we’ve got the location and the infrastructure to handle that and we’ll continue to work hard to attract more business to town.”
Ron Fisk
After one term on town council and serving on five committees, Ron Fisk is planning to return to council for another four years.
“At this point I’m strongly in favour of running again,” said Fisk. “With it just being my first four year term, there’s still a lot of things I’d still like to see accomplished. We’ve done really well, going digital in the office has made a huge difference and been a great saving for council and for the taxpayers, we’re on the verge of having a completed official community plan, the asset management plan is just about to be released, there’s a lot of things we’ve accomplished, like putting pressure on to get Main Street repaved. I’d like to see a number of things in progress finished out like the highway bypass and the new water treatment plant.
“Covid-19 has affected everyone but a community like Moosomin will bounce back stronger than before and I would like to do what I can to help our town grow and keep it as a place people want to move to.”
Calling Moosomin home for so many years, Fisk wanted to give back to the community by growing it through being a councillor.
“Being retired and living in a town that has been good to me—I’ve been here for 15 years—and I thought it was time for me to dedicate my time to being a councillor and try to pay back the town a little bit,” he said.
The top priority as a councillor for Fisk is economic development, supporting current business, and trying to bring new businesses to town while creating more job opportunities for the community.
“My strong interest is on new development,” he said. “One of the things I was after was a grocery store, which still hasn’t happened yet. To quote an old phrase, ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink it.’ The Covid-19 situation has also put everything on hold as far as development and when we do get back to creating new development, you can’t have new development without having increased residential development. You have to have daycare, school facilities are in need of a drastic expansion, and there’s just a long list of things where one leads to another.”
One of the key focuses of the council going forward is continuing to work on the infrastructure in Moosomin, says Fisk.
“I would stress that the strategic plan is one of the most important things we’ve done,” he said. “We didn’t have one in town here for over 25 years. I think we’ve been progressing pretty well, we’ve started working on the infrastructure and it’s been a great improvement. We were mapping out the areas in the worst condition and we know exactly where to go. It’s disastrous so it needs a lot of attention.”
Jason Miller
With eight years on council over two terms, Jason Miller has decided to move on from Moosomin council as he focusses on his family
“I’m going to step away this year after two terms,” said Miller. “There’s a variety of reasons like family. The kids are getting older and busier. We’ve accomplished a lot of things in the eight years I’ve been a part of council. I think politics and politicians in general have an expiry date, some longer than others, but you’ve got to keep things fresh.”
A major reason Miller doesn’t think he’ll return is because he believes it’s time for him to step away and allow for some different representation on Moosomin council.
“We were building a home here and settling down here,” he said. “When I started we had no kids and eight years later I’ve got two boys. It was something I wanted to be a part of to try and shape some things. I wanted to give some representation from the younger generation at the time.”
Over his eight years as a councillor, Miller is happy with all the council has been able to accomplish, specifically with recreation and public works.
“I’ve been a part of the rec side of things,” he said.
“The leisure centre was a big win and it’s a huge part of the community. Recycling bins, we were a part of that. On the public works side of things, for long term planning we’ve got something on paper that we can use going forward. When I came into it there was a lot of hodgepodge and a lot of missing links. Going forward there is a plan and if everyone was to get hit by a bus, the knowledge doesn’t die with them so to speak. We’ve come a long way and we have a long way to go with infrastructure, but we got the ball rolling on the water treatment plant and highway bypass is going to be another huge thing for our area.
“I think it’s one of those things where you try to leave things better than the way you found them,” he said. “I think we can honestly say we did that. I think with municipal politics, the demographics in the town are constantly changing and growing and it’s important to have a change of faces when the town election comes around.”
Garry Towler
Councillor Garry Towler is planning to run for another term because he wants to finish infrastructure work and continue expanding Moosomin.
“I believe I am (running again),” said Towler. “There’s still so much to do with infrastructure, the water treatment plant, street work, and a few other things. I think getting more of the paving done to get the town back in shape again is a key thing. Not only do I want to see everything through, but also keep expanding. People have talked to me about how they can’t believe we keep growing and growing. One thing I’m going to continue to push for—I think quite a few members of the council have—the expansion of the school. They put pods in the elementary school, but they haven’t followed it up and as the kids get older where are they going to go? That’s an issue there.”
An important factor for Towler in running for council again is ensuring the future of the town is in good hands through the strategic plan.
“I was on council for nine years and then I was off for 10 and now I’m back on,” he said. “I’ve been pushing council to get a strategic plan up and going and with our community planning we’ve had a few little set backs with Covid-19. That’s a very big thing, we have to start planning for the future. We’re in good shape right now with some expansion, but we have to find more land for residential and to bring more businesses to town.
With the strategic plan, it doesn’t matter who goes on council if we have a good strategic plan then they can keep following it and go from there. There’s one in place, but we have to continue to update it and renew it and I don’t think we follow it enough. If you have a good strategic plan it will run itself.”
Greg Nosterud
With his family in Moosomin, Councillor Greg Nosterud wants to continue to promote the town he loves, and is planning to run for council again.
“I’ll be running,” he said. “Most of my children are living in Moosomin and I feel that I’ve done a pretty good job making Moosomin look like a place people would want to live. I feel that on council it’s my job to be promoting and working on behalf of Moosomin. I’ve worked with my kids to make them believe this is a great place to raise their families and I want to keep promoting that through council and working for the town. I consider Moosomin to not only be my home, but my family. I’m trying to make sure everybody here is treated well and fairly and I think I have a good handle on that.”
After one partial term on council (he was elected in a by-election in 2018), Nosterud says he wants to return because there are many more projects and plans he wants to ensure are completed.
“There’s so much we still need to focus on,” he said. “A big thing is putting more into our senior community. We need to ensure there’s a facility for seniors to go when they can no longer be at home. Having to drive to Regina or Wolseley from Moosomin to see your family just isn’t right. We also have to continue working towards upgrading the airport and finishing that job. A big thing for me is getting a pond up around the highway with a pathway for people to stretch their legs. Another thing I’d like to see is more historical monuments or information. I think it’s important that we start showing the history of the town more. There’s so much interesting history around Moosomin.”
Nosterud says his love of the town is why he wants to continue to be a part of council as he helps continue to build the community and its future.
“It’s about giving back and expanding the community,” he said. “There’s so many things that we offer, but many more things that can be added. I’m a business man and I want to promote business and add new businesses. There’s a lot of organization and research that goes into attracting businesses, and I think I’m a good person for that job to make sure there’s good reason for businesses to come to Moosomin.
“I also think like a businessperson, I’m concerned about how money is spent and planning for the future so when future council takes over, they’re in good shape. It’s so important to be prepared for different circumstances as a business—Covid-19 has made that clear—and it’s got to be the same way with the town. The present council is doing a good job preparing for the future. We’ve been developing a strategic plan for how we’re going to go forward and that’s something I’m very proud to be a part of as a council.”
