ESTEVAN - Coun. Tony Sernick was the first person to file nomination papers to be the next mayor of Estevan.
Sernick, who is wrapping up his first term as a councillor on Estevan city council, filed the required documents on Sept. 25, the second day that forms were being accepted for the Nov. 13 civic election. He then publicly announced the move in a social media post that day.
Nobody else had filed as of Friday afternoon.
Sernick said he decided to run for mayor because someone else has run for mayor previously, and he wants to pay it forward by doing the same. He credited outgoing Mayor Roy Ludwig – who is not seeking re-election after 12 years in the role and 30 years on council – and anyone else who has let their name stand previously.
He noted that when he first ran for council for the first time in 2020, people in the community seemed to have a "bad attitude", waiting for the city to fade away because of the phase-out of conventional coal-fired electricity.
"I didn't like the messaging, I didn't like the leadership that I was seeing in 2020, so that's why I got involved in 2020," Sernick said in an interview with the Mercury and SaskToday. "A lot of things have happened in the past four years, and that's why I want to continue down a path of making our city a better place."
The past four years have been a learning experience, he said. Becoming the mayor would be like becoming a councillor in some ways; there would be a lot of new things to learn and he would have to do a lot of listening, especially in the first year.
"The second year, you get a little more comfortable," said Sernick. "In the third year, we can see where things go, and just ramp things up in the third and fourth years. There was lots of stuff happening."
The biggest thing he has learned is the city is in a much better place than he thought in terms of the budget and the improvements that have been made. He believes the city is being well run.
Sernick first contemplated running for mayor a few years ago, but he really started to think about it last year.
"When I started the journey [on council], I didn't really have the mayor's chair in sight, but in the past couple of years, everywhere I go, there's support," said Sernick. "People are asking 'Are you going to run for mayor' or [they're saying] 'I hope you run for mayor', so that … definitely got the ball rolling and kept it going."
When Ludwig announced last December that he wouldn't seek re-election, Sernick said he knew he would let his name stand.
He said he is going to base everything on four planks: professionalism, leadership, business development and continuous improvement.
"Basically, what I have learned the last four years is everything really revolves around those four things. Professionalism, there was a lot of situations where I thought to myself 'Is this for real'? I didn't really agree with what was going on, so in that sense, plain and simple, we're going to be nice to people, we're going to be respectful and we're going to build relationships," said Sernick.
In terms of leadership, Sernick said he wouldn't be a vocal leader. Rather, he would listen and he would share his expertise when possible.
Sernick hopes Estevan can be better solidified on the business development front at the end of the upcoming term.
"On the ec-dev side of things, there are a few good seeds planted for the future of our city, and I just want to be able to get involved and share my expertise and help try to bring some of these projects to life," said Sernick.
As for continuous improvement, there are bigger projects that are coming or are being discussed that he said would attract people and attention to the community.
Regardless of who is elected, Sernick said there would be a culture change in the city with a new mayor.
He expects at least one other person will oppose him.
Sernick said he has some people in place for the campaign and a lot of individuals have expressed their support, and he described it as "overwhelming". He expects the work will ramp up after the deadline for nominations Oct. 9, and will continue until election day.
