You needed a scorecard to keep up with the changes at City Hall in 2013.
The biggest story from North Battleford's municipal government this past year has to be the upheaval in the ranks of city administration, with a number of senior managers exiting for greener pastures.
The biggest change came right at the very top, as longtime City Manager Jim Toye resigned to take on the same role in Prince Albert.
His departure was announced at an emotional meeting of city council in late October. At that time, Toye explained why he was accepting the new opportunity before him.
"A very wise man once told me - my father - that 'if you have opportunity and you don't take it, you'll always question, whatever happened if I had done that,'" Toye said.
"I've decided to listen to my father's wisdom and take a chance on Jim Toye."
Departing in September was the City's finance director Matthew Hartney, who had been in the position for a year and a half before accepting a new position in municipal government in Huntsville, Ont., as their executive director of public infrastructure.
Hartney explained family reasons were behind his decision to move back to the province where he had started his professional career. Still, he told reporters he was sad to leave North Battleford.
"It's one of the few cities where, if you pass someone on the street, they would smile and greet you," said Hartney. "That's a rarity in today's world, especially in Canada."
Earlier in 2013 Hartney had steered city council through its budget deliberation process, with city council ultimately adopting the proposed 4.99 per cent property tax increase and 6.9 per cent increases in water and sewer rates.
There were a few other notable departures, and arrivals, at City Hall.
The City has a new parks and recreation director going into 2014. Keith Anderson announced his retirement in early December, several months after the ribbon was cut marking the completion of a construction project he was very much involved with - the Credit Union CUplex. The NationsWEST Field House was the final component to officially open its doors in early 2013.
Bill Samborski, a longtime city employee who served as the acting parks and recreation director since the summer, was officially announced as Anderson's replacement in December.
The City enters 2014 with a new director of business development. Jennifer Niesink took on that position in November, replacing Denis Lavertu who left his longtime role for a private-sector position with Ironjet Media this past summer.
Finally, Albert Headrick arrived as the new fire chief in August.
Despite the unusual number of changes in administration ranks, the business of governing the city went on. Several important local issues were before Mayor Ian Hamilton and the rest of council in 2013.
One of the biggest challenges was the closure of the Maple Leaf Foods plant in late March. The closure was announced in October 2011.
A Maple Leaf Task Force charged with transitioning the workers to new positions, as well as finding a buyer for the vacant plant, ramped up its activities in 2013. However, efforts were still ongoing to find a buyer as the year ended.
One hot-button issue council had to settle in early 2013 concerned amendments to a new traffic bylaw. That bylaw evoked an uproar the previous year from truckers upset at the prospect of having to pay hefty permit fees to go off the main routes.
Following discussions among city officials, truckers and the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce, changes were made. The revised traffic bylaw went into effect July 15, with some further amendments brought in later to accommodate those providing truck-training services.
A major point of discussion early in the year revolved around the establishment of the downtown business improvement district. Representatives of the downtown BID went before council to seek passage of a BID bylaw as well as startup funding.
Both were approved this past spring. The newly-established BID hired Lisa McEachern as executive director, with the organization taking on the name Downtown North Battleford. The organization went on to stage a series of events in the fall designed to attract people downtown.
The issue of the future of the Agriplex as an ice hockey facility finally came to a head in 2013, as safety concerns forced council to shut down the rink for the entire 2013-14 season.
Whether or not that closure of the ice surface becomes a permanent one or not is expected to be a major topic of discussion during 2014 budget deliberations.
A major discussion emerged in the fall about likely changes to collection of garbage and recycling material. The City moved forward with plans to move away from collection of garbage from communal bins and plans to switch to roll-out carts; there were also plans to bring in mandatory recycling.
Prompting the changes was abuse of the current communal bins that were being filled with large numbers of inappropriate items including furniture, which ultimately ended up filling the landfill.
Further decisions are expected during the upcoming 2014 budget deliberations on specifics on what those changes will be. Still to be decided is whether garbage collection will be weekly or biweekly, as well as whether the City will collect recyclables from blue roll-out carts or from blue bags.
Also expected to be a hot issue in 2014 is the official community plan, with the draft document unveiled in the fall 2013. Further discussion on that document is expected at council in early 2014 before it receives final approval.
