The Kerry Vickar Centre in Melfort welcomed leaders from about 20 local communities for the Northeast Regional SUMA Meeting. (File Photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

SUMA Regional Meetings

Melfort welcomes leaders for Northeast Regional SUMA meeting

Oct 5, 2019 | 2:00 PM

The Kerry Vickar Centre in Melfort was the site for the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities (SUMA) Northeast Regional Meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

Municipal leaders, including Mayors, Councillors, Chief Administrative Officers, and SUMA staff were all in attendance to discuss matters important to their communities.

Glenn George is a Councillor in Melfort, and is also the Northeast Regional Director for SUMA. He said that the meetings are crucial to have.

“We have to work together, is what it amounts to,” George told northeastNOW. “Towns and villages and cities pay a fee to SUMA for advocacy work and they want to know what we’re doing, so it’s sort of like a report card.”

SUMA works a large deal with resolutions. If a resolution comes before the convention and passes, then that essentially gives SUMA directions of what needs to happen in the coming years. George said it’s very important to let the people know what SUMA is doing.

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At the meeting on Wednesday in Melfort, a large topic of conversation was infrastructure.

“Everybody has a deficit in infrastructure,” George said. “Infrastructure is aging, it’s old, it’s breaking down. We need to fix it, and it costs a lot of money to fix stuff, so what are we going to do about it.”

Meanwhile, women on councils were another topic that was mentioned. According to a release by SUMA, 14 per cent of Mayors in Saskatchewan are women, while 28 per cent of Councillor seats are filled by women. George said with about half the population being females, they talked about how to get more women involved in local politics.

Leaders from about 20 communities in the northeast were in attendance at the meeting. The meeting is one of seven regional meetings being hosted by SUMA over a span from Oct. 1 to Oct. 9.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6