As residents, it is easy to lose sight of what it takes to run a city the size of Yorkton.
On the political side, we have a mayor and council with six members. On the administrative side, there is a city manager, who oversees the directors of nine separate departments.
Each department, of course, has various assistant directors and/or managers, who supervise specific activities of the department and the hundreds of employees who work for the City.
In addition, Yorkton has arms-length oversight of policing through a contract with the RCMP and a special management board for the Gallagher Centre.
This is not the city, however. The city is its residents and ultimately, every single employee, manager, director, council member and the mayor are answerable to the public.
There are various ways residents can participate in managing the city. It starts with voting, which we will get a chance to do this year.
Individuals can also directly talk to staff, department heads, councillors and the mayor or show up for public forums and council meetings, answer polls, write letters etc.
All of this is pretty common sense.
One thing a lot of people don’t realize, though, is they can have an even greater and more direct influence on city affairs by joining a committee.
It is a new year and, as such, the City of Yorkton is looking for volunteers to sit on its various committees, which include: Community Development, Parks & Recreation Committee; Development Appeals Board; Economic Development Committee; Environmental Committee; Planning & Infrastructure Commission; Protective Services Committee; Yorkton Housing Committee; and Yorkton Public Library Board.
Committees play a very important role in the life of Yorkton. They study the issues at a much more granular level than Council ever could on its own. They pass resolutions and make recommendations that are then put to council to be voted on.
In short, committees guide the activities of both the political and administrative arms of municipal government.
Each committee and board is made up of two council members and up to eight members of the public. Each is governed by a specific bylaw.
The purposes and member duties of the individual committees are available in the bylaw section of the City of Yorkton’s website. The bylaws are named the same as the committee.
This is an extremely good opportunity for civic-minded persons to have a say in how the City operates and, most importantly, spends our money.
Potential volunteers are asked to submit a brief letter indicating why they are interested, what they believe they can contribute to the committee and their full contact information by email to either [email protected] or [email protected].
Questions can be directed to the mayor’s office at 306-786-1705.
