Before it was even made ‘official’, Michael Fougere could not wait to try out his new Mayor’s chair.
“I think it will sink in once I actually take the oath,” he said.
After winning the election on October 24, Fougere had been looking forward to the day he would be sworn in. On Monday, that time had come. With much fanfare, he and his 10 councillors took the oath of office.
This term’s city council is quite different than last. Five faces were returned to office, another – Jerry Flegel – regained the seat he lost in 2009, and four brand new representatives are getting their feet wet.
“I think that’s a good balance,” said Bryon Burnett who won in Ward 4, replacing Fougere, who, of course, ran for mayor. “It brings new blood, new life, new ideas to the table, but it still has that balance of experience, because there’s a lot of challenging issues ahead of us.”
Last term’s council had a good working rapport, and that’s something Fougere and the returning councillors hope will continue, with big issues like infrastructure, affordable housing and planning for growth on the agenda.
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“We work as a team, we all benefit from that,” Fougere said. “That intent is to have a team effort to move our city going forward.”
Returning councillor Mike O’Donnell said five new faces is a big turnover, but he hopes they can all find some common ground.
“I hope what we have this time is a very open minded, open speaking council, and that we can find consensus. Consensus to me is what we’re looking for,” he explained.
The night was not just about music and taking oaths. Afterwards, there was business to take care of. A brief council meeting was held to figure out a schedule for how to split the role of deputy mayor.
O’Donnell felt everything is getting off to a good start.
“We’ve had a little bit of introduction to one another and I’m very impressed with first impressions,” O’Donnell said. “I think we have some people that have very diverse backgrounds, very strong backgrounds. I think we’re going to have a very strong council.”
Fougere said there is a lot of work to do. The next step for the new council is to talk about the issues they heard about on the doorsteps. Then work on a housing summit will get underway and discussions about the Regina Revitalization Initiative will continue.
The first regular city council meeting will be held on November 19.
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