Kenneth Brown
of The Crossroads

Saskatchewan’s rural municipalities are preparing for elections this fall. The call has gone out for nominations from candidates in even-numbered divisions.

Rural municipalities hold staggered elections every other year and council members end up serving four-year terms. Councillor seats in even-numbered divisions are up for election this fall and municipalities have advertised a call for nominations.

The municipalities have different numbers of seats depending on their size, past amalgamations with urban municipalities and other factors. Regardless of the number of seats, all even divisions are up for election. Reeves and councillors in odd-numbered divisions will be up for election in 2020.

Nomination papers are being accepted until either Sept. 18 or Sept. 19 depending on the municipality. People could pick up and drop off their nomination papers at their municipality’s administration office during regular hours until either Sept. 18 or Sept. 19 at 4 p.m.

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To be eligible to run, people must be a Canadian citizen at least 18 years of age on election day, have lived in the municipality for three consecutive months and lived in Saskatchewan for six consecutive months before the election.

Candidates do not have to live in a division to run in the division, so people who live in odd-numbered divisions could run for office in an even-numbered division. The candidates have to meet the other eligibility criteria. Elections will be called if needed, but candidates will be elected by acclamation in other cases.

Rodney Wiens, the reeve of the RM of Mountain View, is the Division 6 director for the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM). He said local government has more direct involvement with the citizenry than other levels of government.

He noted that people elected to municipal governments live in the communities where they serve, so they are among the citizens every day unlike provincial and federal elected officials that travel to Regina or Ottawa at different times of the year.

The SARM director said reeves and councillors are the grassroots, and he finds the role to be appealing for that reason. Wiens, who has served on council since the late 2000s and as a reeve since 2010, said municipal governments have an impact at the local level and it is where citizens get to have a say.

“You have an opportunity to make a difference in your community,” Wiens said, recognizing that people have a chance to help improve their communities in the position and he encourages people to consider running for municipal office.

He said municipalities are bound by certain provincial and federal legislation, but there is a lot municipalities are able to do for the people. For example, there are regulations for landfills and roads beyond a municipality’s control, but a council could still make improvements in those areas.

Wiens said there has been a lot of oil and gas development in the west central region, and it has positive and negative impacts on municipalities. The oil industry has an impact on the roads, but so does the agriculture industry.

Residents, producers and companies in the oil and gas industry are all ratepayers in the municipality, so municipal governments must find a balance between all of the ratepayers, Wiens said. He recognized that the cost to maintain infrastructure has to be shared by all ratepayers, so councils get to decide how it is done.

Admittedly, the SARM director said not all municipalities have perfected that balance between people and industry, but the key is to spread out the cost as fairly as possible given the impacts made by the different groups of ratepayers.

He said, in general, he believes municipalities in the region are doing a good job of finding that balance, but every municipality is different. According to Wiens, local government is where citizens get the chance to make decisions on behalf of their friends, family and neighbours.

“If people see things wrong with their community, or want to make changes or just want to be part of the decision-making process, it’s just a good way to get involved,” he said, adding that people could learn more about the possibilities and limitations of municipal government.

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