Ryan Bater was sworn in Monday night as the new mayor of North Battleford.
Bater and the six members of council were sworn in during what was a ceremonial first council meeting of the 2016-20 term.
Judge Dan O’Hanlon administered the oath of office to the six council members, who each signed their names and took their seats.
The new council consists of returning incumbents Don Buglas, Greg Lightfoot and Kelli Hawtin and newly-elected councillors Kevin Steinborn, Kent Lindgren and Len Taylor, with Taylor previously on council from 2000 to 2003.
O’Hanlon then did the same with Bater, who was then presented with the chains of office by the outgoing mayor Ian Hamilton.
Bater then gave an opening address for the first time from the mayor’s chair.
“We live in a great city, a city that is vibrant, diverse, inclusive, caring and whose citizens enjoy a very high quality of life,” Bater said.
“We have some of the best recreation facilities in the province, one of the highest per capita green space ratios in western Canada, a beautiful and scenic river valley, thriving arts community, entertainment centres, the best tasting water and a thriving and strong economy. We are North Battleford and we love our city.”
He thanked all of those who ran, and also thanked the departing councillors Cathy Richardson, Ray Fox and former mayor Hamilton.
Bater said he looks forward to “strong, vigorous debates. In fact, I’m going to encourage vigorous debates because I think they make public policy stronger.”
Bater also noted some of the challenges facing the city in his address.
He spoke on addressing community safety, noting the consistent first-in-Canada Crime Severity Index numbers.
“We know this paints an incomplete and inaccurate picture of life in our city,” said Bater. “And because of that we need to continue to address it and continue to focus on it.”
But he added finding the solution “is not a sprint,” but “a marathon,” and pledged to focus on finding the root causes of crime in the city.
He also spoke about the need to address the infrastructure deficit facing the city.
“The pipes under the roads and the roads themselves in many areas of our city are of an unacceptable age and condition.”
He said the future of the UPAR program — underground pipes and roads — will be something discussed as part of budget 2017 deliberations.
He also pledged to “stay focused on affordability for businesses and residents here. We are the stewards of other people’s money. This isn’t our money. And during our discussions we need to balance wants with needs and to focus on keeping tax increases modest to ensure livability for our residents, especially those on a fixed income.”
Another challenge he identified was the downtown.
“If you’re a visitor and you’re coming from the south, it’s the first thing you see.”
Bater said what is needed downtown now is an anchor and said “the recent cinema announcement has the potential to be that anchor”.
He also said that in the new year council will be presented with the Downtown Master Plan.
“And that gives us an opportunity to debate and discuss it and to set out a plan and a vision to make the downtown great again.”
Bater also said residents were “not left wanting when it comes to leisure and recreational opportunities” and made clear that “the formation of a concrete strategy for replacing the Civic Centre will need to be a focus of this council in the years moving forward.”
After his remarks Bater entertained a motion from Buglas to adjourn the meeting, and banged the gavel to end his first council meeting as mayor.
Council chambers were packed with family members of the newly-elected council members.
Bater’s parents were there as was his wife Heather and others from his family, and there was plenty of picture taking and smiles from those present.
In speaking to reporters after the meeting, Bater was clearly happy to finally be on the job as mayor.
“I feel the same way I did four years ago,” said Bater. “We just took a very serious oath. Everybody in the room that took the oath has very serious responsibilities, and looking forward to getting to work.”
The transition has gone smoothly, he said, due in part to the fact Hamilton was not running again and because Bater himself was acclaimed.
“That provided us the last four or five weeks to be able to work together. Mayor Hamilton has been a great mentor and helped familiarize me with all the matters that I needed to be familiarized (with). It was a lot smoother, I think, than it would have been otherwise.”
The transition is still happening for the mayor and council, with a joint session planned with the new council from Battleford to discuss such governance, decision making and conduct.
“It’s very much about the role of a councillor, the role of a mayor, and how they interact with city administration,” said Bater.
The plan for the new council is to get right to work with their next council meeting Nov. 14. Bater said budget deliberations will be starting soon as well and those are due to happen the first week of December.
