Having attended approximately 500 Weyburn City Council meetings in total, Councillor Bill Rudachyk has announced that he will be retiring this fall and that he and Donna, his wife of 45 years, will be moving away to be closer to family.
Mayor Debra Button has expressed her sadness to see Mr. Rudachyk go. She describes him as the wise man on Council, adding that he provides a calming effect to the group dynamic.
"It's going to take a big pair of shoes to replace that aspect of him," said Mayor Button. "We have been so fortunate through these changing times in our community to have such a solid, strong leadership on Council. His voice and his presence - and I truly mean this - are going to be missed."
Rudachyk served on City Council for a total of 21 years. The first stint was from 1982 to 1988, after which he left Council to manage the Weyburn Red Wings. He returned to Council in 1997 because he wanted to see improvements made to the hockey rink.
"I've seen a lot of things happen in the city over the course of my time here," he said. "I have been primarily involved in recreational types of activities, but obviously, when you're on City Council, you get involved in a whole lot more than that!"
Rudachyk originally got into politics because of a general interest as well as the influence of his own father, who had been a Reeve and RM councillor.
"To me, (local) is the best type of government you can get involved with," he said. "You're dealing with your own feelings and then you talk to people, see how they react and you make decisions based on that. Not like the other end, where the political party tells you how to make decisions."
Rudachyk said that he knocked on every door in Weyburn a total of four times when he was running in provincial elections more than twenty years ago.
"You get to know a lot of people that way," he chuckled.
He said that throughout life, one's political ideals change.
"I have said it time and again, you begin on the left, think on the left and then as life goes on, you move more to the middle and then when you get older you start to lean toward the right. Then you don't tolerate as much," he said.
To complement his jovial and fun-loving demeanor, Rudachyk is a very level-headed and practical man who is known for thinking before he speaks and for being willing to critically evaluate and challenge ideas.
The skill set for a City Councillor is not much different than for a high school teacher.
"As a teacher, you have to sometimes challenge students," he said of his thirty years of teaching practice. From 1971 to 2001, he taught business and social studies at Weyburn Comprehensive School. Rudachyk was the teacher whose students were required to attend City Council meetings.
"All of my teaching career was here in Weyburn," he said. "It was my only teaching job. I was so fortunate to have just the one location."
He also noted that it has been nice to have seen so many of his students move on to running successful businesses.
The Rudachyks had originally moved to Weyburn with the intention of staying two years, after which they would return to their home area near Yorkton. Weyburn, however, has become a more deeply-rooted home for their family.
"Now, picking up and leaving is going to be tough for us," said Rudachyk.
Their new home in Warman will be a condo, which is still under construction. The move will put the Rudachyks in closer proximity to their three grown kids and six young grandchildren.
"(Weyburn) will really always, for us, be home," he said. "People have treated me and my family very well."
Donna Rudachyk will be retiring this year as well, after working for more than forty years as a pharmacist in Weyburn. The two plan to take advantage of retirement by travelling more. In fact, they plan to spend more time this winter in Arizona, where they both enjoy golfing.
Bill has made a lot of friends as he has served the community through his involvement with the Weyburn Golf Club, the Weyburn Curling Club, the Kinsmen, the Youngfellows and, of course, Weyburn City Council.
"It's a huge loss to our community to see a man who has been such a community builder pulling away," said Mayor Button. "Not only will we miss him in Council Chambers but we will miss him on committees and we will miss him as he has put so much of his heart into this city."
