It will be “business as usual” at city hall for the next few months as city administration prepares for an early November byelection to help to find a new mayor.
City council nominated Coun. Dawn Luhning on Aug. 17 to be acting mayor for the next four months after former mayor Fraser Tolmie resigned to run for federal politics. After that special council meeting, city manager Jim Puffalt spoke to the media about the situation from administration’s perspective.
City administration is working on the council agenda for the Aug. 23 meeting, as it normally does, since council is prepared to carry on and has done a good job of providing direction through its strategic plan, said Puffalt.
“It’s really business as usual, as much as we can,” he continued. “There’s a big hole to fill at our council table … and we look forward to having that filled. But in the meantime, we have to carry on business; we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
City hall will provide a report to council on Aug. 23 that has more information about how the November byelection — likely the first week — could look. Puffalt pointed out that city administration usually attempts to stay out of federal politics when running municipal elections. That is why the city clerk’s office won’t call for nominations until Sept. 22, two days after the federal vote.
It was noted during the special Aug. 17 council meeting that a byelection for mayor is something new for Moose Jaw, as usually byelections have been required to replace a councillor.
Since council wants business to carry on, it chose Luhning to be acting mayor since she had the most experience, said Puffalt. Meanwhile, as city manager, he will continue to be a conduit between administration and council and work with Luhning to ensure work is completed.
“We have always an ambitious agenda we are trying to accomplish in a year and we think and expect that’s what council wants us to do,” he added.
It might seem like city hall faces challenges when moving from a federal to municipal election, but it’s the voters who face the most pressure, said Puffalt. A federal election overshadows everything, so residents might experience voter fatigue in a short period. That is why city hall wants to distribute information accurately, so voters know who is running for mayor and when the election is happening.
City hall staff acquired plenty of experience organizing the 2020 municipal election, especially since a provincial election was held two weeks before, he added. So, the municipality knows not to conflict with the federal election since that throws off voters.
While the city clerk’s office will organize the byelection, a temporary city clerk is in place after the retirement of Myron Gulka-Tiechko. It might seem like there will be extra pressure on the acting city clerk, but Puffalt indicated there would be more pressure without a solicitor since Gulka-Tiechko filled that role too.
“We know that our staff is tremendous,” the city manager added. “They’ll be able to handle all the pressure and do the job that needs to be done.”
