Marlon Zacharias was elected as mayor in October. (submitted photo/Marlon Zacharias)

By Cam Lee

Year in review: Town of Nipawin

Year in review: New Nipawin mayor looking to move past controversy

Dec 29, 2023 | 10:00 AM

As 2023 draws to a close, northeastNOW is taking a look back on the most important and impactful stories of the year, as selected by our reporters and editorial staff.

The mayor of Nipawin is looking forward to a strong 2024 after a busy year in the community – one not without controversy.

Of course, the elephant in the room is the fallout from the investigation into the conduct of former mayor Rennie Harper, and her resignation prior to its presentation. The investigator found that Harper breached the code when it came to respect, transparency and accountability, and leadership and the public interest. The investigation also showed a history of previous complaints regarding Harper.

“I guess what I would say to that (controversy) is everybody has always wanted to make Nipawin better,” Mayor Marlon Zacharias told northeastNOW. “What I want to do myself now is to bring a cohesive team atmosphere together, bring us all on the same page, and just move forward,” Zacharias explained.

The mayor has only been in his position since October’s by-election, but he said his work is well underway.

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“My personal thing that I’ve done is taken the opportunity to go out and re-build and renew the relationships with surrounding municipalities,” Zacharias said. “I have really taken that upon myself to be out there and make those connections so that in the coming years we’ll all be able to work cohesively as a unit.”

Zacharias said it benefits everybody to have all local municipalities succeed.

There are also several local projects on the go in Nipawin. One that just wrapped up is the renovation to Jubilee Arena.

“It’s going to be such a great facility for the community,” Zacharias said, “and for the people that are going to come into the community to use it as well.”

Another significant ongoing project is the Helipad, to start construction in the spring. He said the Helipad project is the ‘A’ priority for the community for the time being.

There will also be a change to the town’s brand debuting soon.

“Going forward here very soon we also did some branding changes so you’ll see some new branding coming out of the community in terms of our tourism and things like that,” Zacharias explained.

For the coming year, Zacharias said the town will be looking at revisiting their strategic planning and long-range planning for the coming years. He also wants to address growth in the community through economic development, something he said he was a fan of back in his time with the Chamber of Commerce.

A significant challenge for all municipalities, and the majority of Canadians in general, has been the increased cost of living. Zacharias said he’s thankful for organizations like the Salvation Army and the Oasis Centre that have been gathering donations and helping those less fortunate during these challenging times.

As for 2024, Zacharias said he’ll continue to try to acclimatize himself in the mayor’s chair.

“Just getting my feet wet, we’re getting ready for the budget season, to really hit the ground running,” Zacharias explained. “Once [the] budget season gets rolling along, hopefully, we’ll have some really good news for the coming year, and then going forward from there beyond one year with the announcement of maybe some other projects and a direction for the community.”

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cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com