By Greg Higgins

New mayor happy with acclimation, says won’t waste any time

Sep 26, 2016 | 2:02 PM

Though North Battleford’s new mayor won’t have to campaign, he said he’ll still treat the next five weeks as if he was.

Ryan Bater was acclaimed to the position when he ran unopposed and will officially become mayor on Oct. 26.

“I do plan on spending the campaign period listening to voters,” he said. “I want to keep my fingers on the pulse of what people are thinking and the questions they’re asking. I’ll be paying particular attention to the candidate’s forums because I want to know which issues are top of mind for residents here.”

Bater said he was surprised when his name was the only one on the ballot. As well, he said he’s enjoyed campaigning in the past for city council positions but he’s looking forward to jumping straight into his mayoral responsibilities.

“I have an entire month to transition to being mayor,” he said. “It is actually a very unique opportunity. Usually after an election the mayor would have about a week before they have to assume the chair. I have the luxury of having some time to prepare so I’ll be able to hit the ground running.”

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He said the obvious issue to address with the new council will be the 2017 budget. According to Bater, the previous council deferred the creation of a commercial taxation investigation committee, which he said will be “top of mind” for the next council.

Reviewing partial taxation policies, Civic Centre replacements and a downtown master plan are on his agenda to address within council’s first few months as well.

Bater said the support he’s received from the community has been “overwhelming,” and he’ll be ready to take over the office.  

Greg Higgins is battlefordsNOW’s city municipal affairs and health reporter. He can be reached at ghiggins@jpbg.ca or tweet him @realgreghiggins.