The year 2014 was one of the busiest 12 months Mayor Debra Button has ever had, and she is optimistic that the year to come will be a good one for the City of Weyburn.
In a year-end interview at City Hall, Mayor Button reflected on some of the challenges and victories she’s seen along the way this year.
“In many ways it was a year of change. We had a lot of changes in our staffing at the city,” said the mayor, noting the city was able to finally fill the city engineer position with Sean Abram, but pointed out there are a number of key positions that are yet to be filled as well.
“Sean fits in nicely and brings a fresh outlook to the community. It’s always interesting to hear what the thoughts are of someone who drives in for the first time, both good and bad,” she said.
The City staff were sad to see the director of planning and development, Martino Verhaeghe, move back to a position in Alberta, and the mayor noted that he “really did set a direction for planning and development in the city. It was hard to see him go.”
She added the City is now finding out just how hard it is to find a good municipal planner as they try to recruit a replacement.
Other vacancies that need filling include the assistant engineer, parks coordinator and deputy fire chief. The City is reorganizing and reworking some of the job descriptions for these positions as well, she noted.
In terms of growth and development, Mayor Button noted there were more building permits issued for 2014 than the year before, although the dollar value is down, and one of the major projects for 2015 will be moving ahead, the new water reservoir for the water treatment plant.
The City of Weyburn has kept a close eye on the water quality ever since experiencing the boil-water advisory in the wake of the floods of 2011.
“We’ve kept that on our agenda with regular reports from the water treatment plant. We’ll still be making some changes as we bring in the reservoir. We have very hard-working staff at the water treatment plant, and we have to give them full credit for what they do,” said the mayor.
The Weyburn Police Service has also seen some changes in personnel, as three long-term officers with a lot of experience have retired, and recruitment is ongoing for new constables.
Inspector Russ Chartrand retired last May, and was only recently replaced with the promotion of Rod Stafford, while Sgt. Garth Oberkirsch and Sgt. Trever Hughes both took retirement late in the year.
“We are recruiting meanwhile,” said Mayor Button, who also chairs the Police Commission. “We had over 20 candidates apply; it’s great to see there is such interest in policing in Weyburn. We’ve got a great police service here.”
The changes have a good side to them, said the mayor. “There are fresh ideas and new opportunities coming forward; that’s the lesson I’ve learned sitting in this chair. We’ll see how they adapt to the changes.”
Relations have continued to be good with the neighbouring RM of Weyburn, as Mayor Button pointed out, “We were one of the first cities in the province to get our District Plan approved with the RM; we’ll move forward with some of the planning to grow the region.”
One of the projects with the RM is to get the new reservoir in place, as the RM is going to build a septic receiving station along with the city’s new facility.
