Across the province, municipal councils are having their final meetings before the upcoming Nov. 13 civic election.
You'll find calls for nominations in this week's edition of the Mercury. Urban and rural municipalities alike are seeking candidates.
In Estevan, nomination papers can already be picked up from city hall. City council's final scheduled meeting before the election will be Sept. 23. People can start submitting their nomination papers the following day; the deadline is Oct. 9 at 4 p.m.
We're pretty confident there will be enough interest in the mayor's seat and the six councillor positions to force an election for both. It's just a question of how many we'll have. (Four years ago, there were two mayoral and 11 councillor candidates, and some good people were among those defeated).
As we've stated before, municipal councils are the bedrock of democracy, especially in smaller communities. We have a mayor and six councillors in Estevan and in many other municipalities. Rural municipalities have a reeve and six councillors. In Estevan, there's a very good chance you know our mayor and/or at least one councillor. We don't have the ward system for councillor like you see in Regina and Saskatoon, and that's the way to go in smaller communities.
On the other hand, the person who will be elected as the MLA for Estevan-Big Muddy in next month's provincial election will have a large area to cover. Estevan's the biggest centre, but the riding's territory is still pretty big. And our federal constituency, Souris-Moose Mountain, will be nearly the size of P.E.I. after changes to the constituency take effect in the next federal election.
Being on a municipal council is not easy and it's not for everyone. In Estevan, members of Estevan city council have to dedicate hours a week to their duties. Their duties extend well beyond the open council meeting and the subsequent committee meeting that occur once or twice a month; they sit on numerous committees that meet regularly.
And since they're known in the community, they're constantly approached by members of the community. A nice family dinner at a local restaurant can be interrupted by someone who doesn't have enough common sense to know when to stay away.
The challenges of being on council have grown in the past 15-20 years due to keyboard warriors who think they can say what they want on social media, and often won't put their name to it.
If you think a plebiscite on a third ice surface for Estevan means we're definitely going to get a new arena, then maybe council isn't for you. If you have a penchant for believing everything you read on social media, or if you think Facebook is the best avenue to express your thoughts, then maybe you shouldn't be running for council.
But there are a lot of people who would be very capable candidates, who would generate interest in the race and would bring a lot to council chambers if they're elected.
It's not just city, town and village councils that will be decided during the civic election. There will be votes for RM reeves, and councillors for divisions 1, 3 and 5 (and for any other vacancies). The RM council plays a role that is every bit as important as an urban council.
Also to be decided will be school division trustees. It's been a long time since we've seen an election for South East Cornerstone Public and Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Divisions in Estevan, at least during a regular election. It would be nice to have a local vote for one or both of these boards, because that would help build engagement.
The next few weeks are going to be really interesting. There's rumours of who will run. And there will be nomination papers filed from people who weren't necessarily on the public's radar.
It's the joys of election season.
