It was a momentous night for the six councillors sworn in Monday night in North Battleford.
Returning councillors Don Buglas, Kelli Hawtin and Greg Lightfoot and new councillors Len Taylor, Kent Lindgren and Kevin Steinborn were sworn in and took their seats along with new North Battleford mayor Ryan Bater.
Taylor’s seat will be to Bater’s immediate left, while Lindgren will sit between Taylor and Buglas, in Bater’s old council seat. Steinborn’s seat is the one Ray Fox used to occupy, right between Lightfoot and Hawtin.
Lindgren said he welcomed the chance to finally be a member of council after winning the final council seat by a razor-thin 11 votes over incumbent Cathy Richardson.
“It’s a very surreal feeling,” said Lindgren of taking the oath. “I’ve never run for office before, it’s been an interesting buildup till tonight from actual election day. Surreal is a really good descriptor, I find right now.”
Yet Lindgren is not new to the political arena, having worked behind the scenes in a number of capacities including as a summer student working for Len Taylor years ago when he was minister of Health. Now, the two are colleagues on city council.
“So it’s exciting to work alongside him and have that experience working alongside him this time,” Lindgren said. “It will be different, but I’m very excited.”
For Buglas, Monday night marked the fifth time he was sworn in to a seat on city council.
“Looking forward to it,” was Buglas’s reaction. “I think we’re going to have a great group of people working together, and as his worship said, this evening, that team is really going to be crucial. We won’t always agree upon the different issues and motions that we’re going to have in the near future, but we’ll be able to have great discourse and debate and come to wise decision-making and lead the city in a direction that it truly needs to go.”
Buglas also noted some hard work was ahead of the new council right away, pointing to budget time coming up within a few weeks.
“The amount of reading, and studying and research that a person is going to have to get prepared for that is going to be immense.”
For Hawtin, this swearing-in ceremony was a different experience from the previous time she took her seat. She had just won a byelection, and Hawtin was sworn in on a night of lengthy debate and submissions for the city’s Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw.
“There were probably a hundred people here in Chambers,” Hawtin said of that contentious night.
Hawtin described the new council as having “a great mix of people,” with a mix of experience.
“I’m sorry to be the only female here, but I’ll try to provide the best I can in that role, and having a young family I’m the only one in that fashion, so I think we’ve got a good, unique and diverse mix here.”
For Steinborn, the last time he was in council chambers was on election night in October, when he topped the 15-person field of candidates to be elected.
The swearing-in was also exciting, but in a more serious way for the former deputy fire chief.
“It’s starting to sink in now,” said Steinborn.
“Sitting here in chambers tonight, it’s kind of coming home and the reality is setting into place. It’s different sitting on this side of the table from the time when I worked for the City of North Battleford and sitting on the other side of the desk. I’m looking forward to the next four years and the challenges ahead. I’m very pleased with the team that we have that’s sitting on council representing the city of North Battleford.”
