The nomination period for this year's municipal elections are ended and races for mayor and for city council are set for the City of Weyburn.
The candidates now have about a month's time before election day on Wednesday, Oct. 24, to talk to city residents about issues that matter to them, and for new candidates, to help people learn about who they are and what they stand for.
One of the best avenues for residents to find out about new candidates (and the veteran ones, where they stand) will be at the all-candidates forum to be hosted by the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Oct. 11 at the Legion Hall.
If residents have particular concerns from how issues are handled by the city, or have been handled by the city in the last couple of years, this is the forum to raise them and hear how each of the candidates would handle them, or what their opinions are on how the issue should be handled.
Some issues which could be raised with candidates include how the city handled the flooding of last year and the boil-water advisory the city was under during that stressful time, as well as when the advisory was on afterwards; the condition of city roads; and the painting of new traffic lines at major intersections around the city. All of these issues garnered much discussion at the time they arose, and it might be worth revisiting them to see how those issues were resolved, or how they should be resolved.
There are also some ongoing issues, such as the level of taxes in the city, ongoing development and growth of both residential and industrial-commercial areas, and the attraction of new businesses to the city and area. What are the views of our candidates, both those running for mayor and those running for council?
The development and maintenance of city infrastructure, such as city facilities, water and sewer services, park facilities, and roads, is always an ongoing concern for the city; do candidates have a particular stance or opinion about how they're being handled, or how they should be handled?
Or there may be particular concerns that a resident or group of residents have had for a while that they haven't seen addressed, and they want to know how these issues will be handled. This is democracy in action, and voters are best served when they are fully involved in the whole process.
