YORKTON – The 2024 Municipal Election set for Nov. 13 will see the public cast their votes with two mayoral candidates and 10 councilors to choose from.
SaskToday.ca reached out to each candidate with a set of questions to help inform the public of who they're voting for.
Mitch Hippsley, Candidate for Mayor
First, a brief history of your time in the city. How long have you been here, work experience, political experience, etc.
I was born, raised & educated in Yorkton. While growing up I began working as a paper boy at 8 years old and continued having numerous jobs. I pretty much did anything & everything. At a very young age, I started learning about commitment, responsibility and business. At age 22, I married my high school sweetheart and began our family. We were blessed with 4 daughters who all grew up, went to school and graduated in Yorkton as well. In 1984 my wife and I opened our photography studio. While operating, I spent much time apprenticing with the photography masters from all over North America. I earned my Masters degree at age 28(one of the youngest in Canada). I have been on the Board of Directors for the former Credit Union, church committees, mentored numerous university photography students to tenure, annually judged the Professional Photographers of Canada’s all over our country for 27 years. Our studio was our sole source of income as well as navigated our daughters to adulthood helping them get started. We were constantly renovating our houses, selling & moving up to acquire assets. Money, business, hard work, long hours and responsibility were engrained in me for life.
In 2016 , I felt I could offer my business savvy & city knowledge as I could see deficiencies. I ran for councillor in the biggest election of candidates in Yorkton’s history and was elected. While there, I learned a tremendous amount about how municipalities operate. In 2020 after serious consideration & consultation, I knew I could bring our city some fresh eyes, life and business experiences to help make it a better city. Having so much perspective at this time in my life, I saw incredible opportunities for the city I love.
Why do you feel you're qualified to represent the public on City Council?
Being born in Yorkton, having 40 years of small business experience, that was our only source of income & raising 4 daughters to adulthood is most certainly a life lesson. Seeing Yorkton from the past to present gives me perspective and incredible understanding of the peoples that built our city. I have worked for and been mentored from many former Yorkton business pioneers such as Ruth Shaw, Ted Hearn, Norm McKeeman, Gord Obuck, Morris Stakiw, Yorkton School Division- (summer work), Tower Theatre, & others. My father was the parts manager for 27 years working for Brown Bros. Implements My father-in-law was a farmer whom I assisted when needed.. All of these influential people groomed me to attain the experience I have acquired & I am very grateful. I do feel if anyone is qualified to represent out our city, its me.
What issues do you feel are the most pressing for the city?
Without a doubt, the most pressing issues is our Health and Safety paralleled with our infrastructure IN and ABOVE the ground. The aging infrastructure below goes unseen until some homeowner becomes affected with water or sewer & then it becomes unnoticed to urgent. Our council must allocate more dollars each & every year. In fall of 2024 we hired a robotic street scanner service that mapped each crevice in our sidewalks, curbs & roads. This data will help provide specific details for determining cost effective measures where taxpayers’ money should be spent in priority of need. Fortunately, both council and administration has been addressing this in the last four years. We have many amenity needs & asks from our growing community such as sport activity spaces. With the NEW incoming council, this will need constant addressing as the cultural landscape is changing quickly.
Now, there is the Saskatchewan Regional Health Center (presently referred as the Yorkton Hospital) that is badly in need for Eastern Saskatchewan. Our government has been promising this for 15+ years and will be started in the very near future. This areas contribution is a pinnacle player in the financial support for our share of the build. The total has not been defined yet only because the footprint of the build will be determined by what services it will have. Those services are presently being investigated as to what the province needs wholistically. This southeastern region’s obligatory contribution will be major dollars & we must do more saving. With proper services & equipment in place, our health services will draw the medical specialist to move to Yorkton, stay & raise their families. Yorkton is a MAJOR location for the province’s success.
In Yorkton we're experiencing concerns with homelessness, drug abuse, mental health, and crime. Though separate issues they're often intertwined and something that falls on the shoulders of the provincial government. What steps would you, as a city councillor, take to ensure a closer working relationship with the provincial government so that a meaningful impact on these issues can be made? What work or education do you have that qualifies your answer?
The social landscape of Canada has seriously changed in the last few years & Yorkton is no different. Over a year ago we saw this developing and began a definitive plan to address this issue. Our fire chief with the help of our Protective services committee that council & myself are acting on it. Our city employees are dealing with it daily one issue at a time. Homelessness, although NOT always, is often directly tied to mental health & addictions. As your Mayor , I have been chairing the province’s City Mayors caucus on this, meeting every month for 4 years now. We meet with numerous & insightful organizations to help develop a plan bringing much data & information directly our provincial government. The 16 city mayors of Saskatchewan are most certainly heard, with SUMA advocating this as a top priority as well. Together, collectively, we are making a difference, but he processes are too slow. This is a Saskatchewan Health responsibility, yet we are the people who deal directly with the homelessness in our city. Our Fire Chief has just returned from a very direct & intense symposium on this very issue federally in Ottawa. There is no simple solution here, but I am optimistic we will find a solution by daily working on it.
What would you do to improve on transparency to maintain the public's trust in their municipal government?
Transparency has always been & should always be a concern by the people who pay the bills, the taxpayers. The provincial “ Cities Act” states that topics of Personelle, Land & Legal must always be done “In camera” to protect the confidentiality, which in itself is a very good reason. As being your Mayor for four years now, I can see how meetings can be sorted better. This approach will allow matters that can be discussed more openly & will be done into the future.
