(Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff)

By Cam Lee

Lang running again

Melfort’s mayor to seek re-election in 2020

Dec 18, 2019 | 12:00 PM

Rick Lang has decided to seek another term as Melfort’s mayor.

Lang has been mayor for seven years, and by the time the election rolls around next year, he will have been on council for 17 years.

“I still enjoy the job, surprisingly enough,” Lang told northeastNOW. “I’m going to give it one more shot to see where we can take the city in the next four years after the election.”

Lang said he feels he has some unfinished business he would like to see through as mayor. One of the outstanding items on Lang’s agenda is having a Computed Tomography (CT) Scanner installed at Melfort Union Hospital.

“I’ve worked hard on making sure that the [provincial] government knows that that’s a promise that needs to be kept,” Lang said. “If I’m in this office, I’m going to keep talking to them until that actually happens because as far as I’m concerned, there’s no negotiation there anymore. That was a promise that was made, and it’s a promise that needs to be kept.”

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Lang said the provincial government promised in 2010 that Melfort would get a CT Scanner and it hasn’t materialized yet.

The city has also applied for federal and provincial funding for water line replacement, and Lang said he would like to see that project through should the funding be approved in 2020.

“Even when we get that funding, it’s not going to be a one-year fix, it’s going to be probably a three or four-year fix,” Lang said. “I want to see the commitment of that funding, and I want to see that that’s a problem that’s being addressed.”

There is an additional reason Lang still has interest in leading Melfort. He said the people he works with in the city are exceptional.

“That’s all the way from our works and utilities people to our community services people to our firefighters, certainly to the administration in this building,” Lang said. “I’ve worked with some very good city managers, and Ryan Danberg is an exceptional city manager and so I’m working with him right now. He’s really putting in a great effort and succeeding in a lot of ways.”

Lang also commends past councils and the current councillors for their efforts.

“This council has been exceptional and so you can’t have a good mayor without a good council, so some of the credit has to go to council,” he said.

Business and residential expansion have helped the city keep tax increases reasonable, according to Lang.

“If those two things happen, then you can provide the services that you need to without excessive tax increases,” he said. “Over the last seven years that I’ve been mayor, and it looks like this coming year, our tax increases that we’ve done have never been on the high side when you relate them to other cities in the province.”

Lang said the aim of council is to provide the best service for the lowest possible tax increase.

The next municipal election in Saskatchewan is Nov. 9, 2020.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974