New municipality working out the kinks

Creativity and patience are key as the first-ever Sioux Narrows Nestor Falls council works through its transition and heads towards its budget process.
“So far so good, we’re just getting into it,” noted Coun. Doug Davis. “We’ve had some meetings with just council to set our course, where we’re going, and how we’re going to get there.””
With two regular council meetings and several special ones under their belts, the new municipality’s leaders appear to be working well together as they pore through the transition material.
Especially considering all five members of council are new to municipal politics.
“Because the whole council is new, it’s a learning process. We’re all learning together,” noted Coun. Davis. “It’s interesting but it is certainly very time-consuming.”
“We’ve had a very seamless transition. Now we have the B-word coming up–the budget,” said Mayor Jerry O’Leary, who added council is working creatively to take advantage of any loopholes and opportunities.
“Hopefully, we can come up with a balance,” he added.
“It’s an education process for the staff, too, because they have to educate us and keep us from going to jail. It’s possible to be too creative,” he laughed.
“Our knowledge of municipal affairs is very minimal. We just want to make sure everything is done correctly,” Mayor O’Leary continued.
When the province announced the amalgamation of the two municipalities, there was concern whether all residents would get fair representation. But that concern has not yet produced any rifts among council members.
“It’s worked well with the council we have. We’ve got a good mix and a level-headed group,” said Coun. Davis.
“I guess it’s going better than I anticipated. I’m sure down the road we’ll run into certain conflicts but right now it’s going good,” he added.
As they work through the guidelines set up by the transition committee, council has divvied up responsibilities among each representative and, for now, many long meetings are par for the course.
“We’re still basically a reactionary council until we get to a comfortable level,” admitted Mayor O’Leary. “Then we’ll be chasing people down and seeing what they think and what they want us to do–probably in the spring.”
Mayor O’Leary added council also has met with leaders of area First Nations, and he feels both groups will benefit as they agreed to work together on future initiatives.