After a little over three months in office, Mayor David Bosiak says he's really starting to settle into his new role.
He says there's been a lot to learn in a short period of time, but the people surrounding him have made the transition easy.
"It's been a learning curve. I knew going in that there was a lot of stuff in the blender, and that we have to figure out how that works. The thing that's been more interesting is getting a sense of the capacity at City Hall, both on the council side of the table, and on the admin side. So I've been very pleased to find out we've got a very capable administrative team, management and staff, and then the council has pretty much been onside, in the sense that we all want to think, or are thinking of the same kind of things going forward, so that's been the pleasant part of the first three months. Just getting a sense that we're all on the same team, all pulling in the same direction."
Bosiak says that there's an interesting dynamic when it comes to the council, as there are three experienced, and three first-time councilors.
"The three incumbents have all been there for a while and understand what's going on. So we've been relying on them a little bit for some of the protocols and process type of things. Also, provide us a little bit of the backend information on projects that are in the works, or things that the city has had on their books for a while and we're now getting down to dealing with."
He says the new councilors bring the experience of their own to the table as well.
"There's a really interesting mix. You know we have a councilor who was employed by the city on a contract for many years as a safety officer, or as our EMO coordinator, Councilor Daley. And then you've got another councilor, Councilor Sobering, who also was employed by the city on a contract as our efficiency and energy advocate. So it's really great to have that mix. Another real positive surprise is Councilor Ray coming in with a really astute point of view on things. He's generally been a little bit quiet but analyzing and very engaged in all the committees and things he's been involved with."
One of the important roles of a councilor is sitting on committees, and Bosiak says he's trying to take a different approach when it comes to committees.
"I've really encouraged the council to try and look at where the organization fits in the city's future, and where the city plays a role in helping the organization in its future. Not to be critical, but to actually analyze where the most efficiency is. And I use that in a number of ways, but mostly, efficient use of time for the council and for the organization, efficient use of resources if the council is in fact funding some of these organizations, and then the efficiency of time of the collective. The whole notion of, are they achieving their mandate, if they are, great, how can the city continue to support that, and if not, how can the city help them to better achieve it."
Bosiak says it's not about restructuring or elimination of committees if it's not necessary, but that is an option if that's what the collective think needs to happen.
"In the current realities of tight budgets and inflation and everything else, it's not that the city doesn't want to fund organizations, it wants to make sure that whatever funding or supports that the city provides, be it staff time, council time, or funding, that it's used as effectively as it possibly can be."
As far as looking into the near future, Bosiak says there is a lot of work that the last council was working on, that's being finalized now.
"What we know from past councils mandates, the whole notion of the support for the enhancements to the lagoon, our sewer system, and the Main Street South Highway redevelopment stuff. That's very complicated and we're right in the middle of finalizing a lot of the details on those two things. So if all goes well, that's what's likely going to be happening this summer."
Bosiak says those projects aren't the only thing to look forward to, however, as the city gets ready to celebrate its 125th anniversary.
"This is also Dauphin's 125th Birthday, so we're trying to do a little bit of planning and work with the Museum, the Arts Centre, the Train Museum, the Historical Society, and others, to try and figure out what we do for our 125th Birthday. That's something that we can really latch on to."
Bosiak finished by talking about the financial situation of the city, and how the area has dealt with finances through the pandemic.
"Just the notion of, we're coming out of the pandemic, we're learning how to live in a world that's been affected by a global situation. So we're figuring that out, the impacts of inflation and all of those other things are impacting our budgeting process for this year. The summaries from last year's budget are looking like we probably are going to be really close to having no deficit or no major surplus, but we're not in the situation like other municipalities that were really blindsided by inflation and things from last year and are dealing with some significant budget deficits from their 2022 operations."
