We will head back to the polls this fall, this time to determine who will be Yorkton’s Mayor and Council for the ensuing four years.
The actual vote is not until Oct. 26, but it is not too early to start thinking about the election.
Yorkton Council began its preparation Monday setting out the number of polling stations, and a number of other elements of the vote in terms of structure in accordance with provincial requirements.
For the most part, it was very much housekeeping, tweaking boundaries based on a slightly higher population.
But Council did initiate the process to make a couple of significant changes for those running this fall.
The first will track where candidates find the funds to run their campaign.
“A council may, by bylaw, 60 days prior to an election, establish disclosure requirements respecting campaign contributions and expenses and/or establish election campaign spending limits. This requirement has not been established in previous Municipal Elections in the City of Yorkton,” said Kathy Ritchie, Director of Legislation & Procedures (City Clerk) with the City during the regular meeting of Council Monday.
Council was unanimous in supporting Administration to create a bylaw requiring a candidate to disclose campaign contributions and expenses, which in this era seems only prudent.
Secondly, a section of the Local Government Elections Act, 2015, allows for the council, by bylaw, to require that every candidate submit a criminal record check in addition to the nomination paper submitted, with such bylaw to be made 90 days before the date of a general election. A criminal record check would state, for the name indicated thereon, either that no criminal record exists or that one may or may not exist and that the latter can only be confirmed by finger printing records.
Council also requested such a bylaw be drafted for consideration.
Again, Council set in motion the process which will have a bylaw brought before them in the coming weeks.
Given the role of municipal councillors the security of a criminal record check also seems timely.
While Council begins paving the way for the vote, and modernizing the process, residents also need to consider what they might do this fall.
Of course the step we all need to make sure to take is to vote.
But, for some, there is also the consideration of whether they should seek a seat on Council, maybe even the mayor’s chair.
Certainly it seems time for some fresh faces in council chambers.
This is a veteran group, all with multiple terms on Council.
Certainly experience counts for something in terms of how best to operate the City, but it is not the only attribute which can make a good councillor.
A fresh approach, new ideas, the exuberance of someone new to their role, can also offer a different approach to dealing with issues.
There is something to be said for a blended council, one with a mix of experience and new faces.
For that to happen new candidates with strong visions of where they want our city to go, must be ready to throw their hat in the ring this fall. Now is the time to start thinking about being one of those candidates.
