REGINA - The first executive committee meeting for the new term got underway on Wednesday, with Mayor Chad Bachynski and the 10 councillors at City Hall.
The mayor and the majority of councillors who are new had a few weeks to prepare for their new positions. Bachynski has felt "really good [and] optimistic [so far]. He added, "It's been a great onboarding session, and yeah. It's a lot to take in, but it's been going really well."
In terms of the learning curves, Bachynski said nothing has surprised him so far. He expected to anticipate "drinking through a fire hose, so… that has met expectations. I'll say, but no, nothing overly surprising."
When talking about the executive committee meeting today, Bachynski "thought it went great. I was anticipating it, to be honest. I was optimistic given the conversations that we've all had through orientation, and it really kind of came to fruition today."
One noteworthy agenda approved at the executive committee meeting that will be discussed at next week's city council meeting was the 1.39 per cent mill rate increase that would be on the 2025 budget to help cover the debt from the Water Network Expansion (WNE) project.
The project, as noted by the city, will help ensure Regina's infrastructure can handle the increasing population of 300,000 people when it likely gets to that mark by 2040.
Ward 8 Coun. Shanon Zachidniak mentioned during the executive committee meeting that the city recommended not only a 1.39 per cent mill increase in the 2025 budget but then a 1.68 per cent mill increase in the 2026 budget.
City officials clarified that with the increased debt, the city knows the mill rate will have to go up.
Another topic on the agenda was the advanced approval for the capital fund projects. The city recommended that council move the motion that over $92 million would be funded toward capital projects in 2025 and 2026.
The mayor and councillors asked for clarification on budgeting for the projects, which is typically not done during this time of year.
Jim Nicol, Regina's City Clerk, talked about why the city needed to push forward to get the funding approved at the city council meeting next Wednesday.
"This is done as a one-off this year to facilitate contracts being, you know, getting going on things so that everything isn't held up until the budget is completed in March. So, if these advanced approvals for whether it is furniture, acquisitions [or] other capital projects is not given today, then we are essentially in a standstill until March. So that can affect pricing [and] job completion."
The city also clarified that if the council approved the capital projects and something changed between the times of approval and budget, the city could bring it up during a council meeting,
Bachynski was asked during the media scrum if he was worried about the capital funding, to which he replied. "No, I don't have any concerns. Like I said, we got a pretty good briefing on that. I'm confident that we've gone through quite a bit of detail there. Again, questions come up between the first conversations that we have and now, and that's what you see today, which is great. I mean, that's the whole intent and purpose to make sure people are seeing and feeling like it's a transparent conversation, open conversation, you know, budgets [are] a big, big conversation."
One other topic on the agenda was how Regina would use the money they received from the federal government under the Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampment Initiative (UHEI).
Council passed the motion to next week’s meeting that, if approved, would provide funding to the YWCA so they can renovate the future new home of Joan’s place to ensure women can have a well-kept temporary place for themselves.
Additionally, the money would go towards the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District (RDBID), which they believe will help their organization tackle the increasing number of people in need, notably from the Regina Eagles Club being turned into an emergency shelter located in the downtown area.
While the funding from the government is currently available for the city, it’s possible Regina could soon lose the money.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has stated if he’s elected, he would scrap the housing initiative.
Bachynski is focused on taking "advantage of what we have in front of us [right now], [so we can] get it on the books, get it in the right people's hands so we can really take advantage and support those programs. So [that is] really the focus right now."
All the topics that passed the motion will be discussed at the first official city council meeting of the new term, happening next Wednesday at 1 p.m.
