Civic politics in Weyburn will see a change in the coming four years, as city council has four new members out of seven, including a new mayor, presenting both challenges and opportunities.
One of the challenges right off is the inexperience of the newcomers to council, as mayor-elect Marcel Roy, and new councillors Brad Wheeler, Jeff Chessall and Jeff Richards learn the ropes and get familiar with their new roles. This will be more crucial for the new mayor, as he undertakes a new leadership role at the helm of city council.
As a new team, it will take a period of time of adjustment as each council member figures out what their areas of interest are, and what they’re best suited for in terms of city committees and boards.
For some of the new candidates, they come with some experience from their roles in business and the community, such as Chessall, a former president of the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce, and Richards, the former manager of the chamber and chair of the Weyburn and District Planning Commission. This is experience they can parlay into the various boards that are under the council’s purview, not to mention the three incumbents have experience in various areas of the city’s activities they can bring their wisdom and insight to.
One shortcoming to this council is something that can’t be reversed for another four years, namely there are no women on this council. This is not the fault of those elected, but was rather due to the way the electorate voted. There were four women altogether on the ballot, with three of them very hard-working, worthy candidates for council, but for whatever reason they did not garner enough votes to be elected.
This presents an additional challenge for the new council, namely they need to make sure that any issues or decisions that pertain to women are dealt with fairly and equitably, and that there is some consultation done to ensure their point of view is actually represented at council.
Some of the issues that have been brought up during the campaign include the city’s development levy, the city’s water system and the proposed new hospital for Weyburn, in addition to concerns about business development in general and the state of the city’s roads and sidewalks.
Starting with a new group around the council table, this is an opportunity to have a fresh approach to these and other issues, including the budget for 2017, as the new council has their work cut out for them. — Greg Nikkel
