REGINA - Wednesday's council meeting at Regina City Hall is the last scheduled meeting of the term, and it promises to be a long one.
Council members have agreed to start the meeting at the earlier time of 9 a.m. instead of the usual 1 p.m., to allow time for council to get through a multitude of items remaining on the agenda.
Among the items on the agenda for Wednesday are an amendment to the Election Bylaw for mail in balloting, zoning bylaw amendments, tax title sales, a long term 25-year lease of Currie Field to the Regina Red Sox, a renewed Canada Community Building Fund Agreement, a report on the New Indoor Aquatics Facility, Flag and Proclamation Protocol, establishing respectful communication at City Hall, Senior Men's Hockey Ice Time at Brandt Centre, and a pilot project for Fare Free Transit at a high school in Regina.
The Indoor Aquatics Facility is expected to have 11 delegations speak in person, Senior Men's Hockey will have nine delegations scheduled, and fare free transit will have six delegations scheduled to appear.
The meeting will also be notable as the final council meeting for several incumbents. Councillors Cheryl Stadnichuk (Ward 1), Andrew Stevens (Ward 3), Daniel LeBlanc (Ward 6) and most recently John Findura (Ward 5) have confirmed publicly that they are not running again, Meanwhile, Ward 4 councillor Lori Bresciani has now officially filed to take on incumbent Sandra Masters for the mayor's chair.
With Ward 4 also open, it means there will be a minimum of five vacant council seats to fill in the Nov. 13 municipal election -- a turnover of at least half of the 10 councillors.
There is still potential for even more councillors to decide to either run or not run for re-election, with a nomination filing deadline of 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon at City Hall. As of Tuesday night, neither Jason Mancinelli (Ward 9) nor Landon Mohl (Ward 10) had been listed at the city's website as having filed nomination papers seeking re-election to council.
