'Rewarding, but grueling': Regina's city council reflects on past 4 years following final meeting together

Regina city councillors spent part of this week reflecting on their past four years in office with the civic election just over one month away.

While they remain councillors until the next group is sworn in, their term essentially came to an end with the conclusion of Wednesday’s meeting. The last as a pre-election break begins for campaigning.

The City of Regina said it will be releasing a full list of candidates for mayor council and school board spots Friday morning.

“This last four years has been grueling,” Ward 1 Coun. Cheryl Stadnichuk said. “Rewarding, but grueling.”

Stadnichuk is one of the six councillors not seeking re-election in their respective wards next month, meaning more than half of the current seats in city hall will have new faces.

Couns. Andrew Stevens, John Findura, Dan LeBlanc and Landon Mohl are also not seeking re-election.

While Ward 4 Coun. Lori Bresciani is surrendering her council seat to challenge incumbent Sandra Masters for mayor.

“I do care a lot about the city and I care a lot about the residents,” Stadnichuk said, explaining her reason for not seeking a second council term. “I was finding it was no part-time job. It was taking a lot and our meetings were quite exhausting.”

“I feel relief more than satisfied about what we did as a council,” Stevens said. “It’s heavy lifting.”

Stevens says he always planned to end his run on council after a second term.

“Everything I did was build around what I could do in eight years,” he said. “It’s been a lot of work.”

“It is a better city for the work of this council,” incumbent Ward 2 Coun. Bob Hawkins told CTV News.

The past four years

City Council has been charged with many successes and controversies since November 2020.

It began with a pandemic election which forced COVID-19 restrictions on meetings and city services around Regina.

“There were end of days kinds of attitudes and for right reasons,” Stevens said. “[We] were trying to balance the reality of a pandemic and people still wanting potholes fixed and their parks to look nice.”

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The pandemic also brought near record inflation with it. Creating cost pressures on city projects, savings and the use of debt.

As council weighed investment into core services and keeping property taxes low for residents.

“You can only judge affordability if you can measure it,” incumbent Ward 9 Coun. Jason Mancineilli said. “And that measurement has always been hidden.”

“[Council] has to start measuring, understanding and knowing what success looks like,” he added.

Council took heat of a failed infamous Tourism Regina rebrand in 2023 that made headlines around the globe.

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“[It] could have been better,” Stadnichuk said. “It was a huge shock to us because we all love our city and want it to shine. Not embarrass it.”

Despite the many challenges, some progress was also made.

The city has been dealing with a growing homelessness and mental health crisis for years. However, steps are being made as council approved the purchase of a permanent homeless shelter in September.

Stevens said there’s still lots of work for the next council to do.

“We need to do a lot more when it comes to the social crises in this city,” he said. “I feel I could have done more. I just don’t know how to channel that into specific policy.”

“Some parts of the city are worse than they’ve ever been,” Stevens added.

“We do have to spend money on our roads and finding new ways of doing it because it is so expensive,” Stadnichuk said. “But so is building community and supporting community organizations.”

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Catalyst projects were also of importance for this council.

In 2020, Masters promised to bring a new indoor aquatic centre to Regina.

On Wednesday, council approved construction and funding plans to move forward with the project.

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Additional investment was also made into below ground infrastructure. Some of which is over 100 years old and failing.

“We started to address some critical problems,” Hawkins said. “Those are huge projects we got on with that needed to be addressed.”

“And over the next three years, we’ll finish the job and get them open,” he added.

'A little too much drama'

Debate and discussion inside Henry Baker Hall also got heated at times.

“This term was hard,” Mancinelli said. “Personal goals often overtook [the city’s] and it really shook the public’s confidence [in us] at times.”

Long, emotional debates became a normal practice.

“There was a little too much drama,” Stadnichuk said. “Maybe if we spent a little more time figuring out how to work as a group we could have gotten through some those meetings a little quicker.”

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Stevens looked towards the debate on the homeless shelter as an example.

“It created division,” he said. “I think all of it was needless if the provincial government was doing its job.”

Hawkins says the conflict was an important aspect of the difficult decisions council made.

“It wouldn’t have worked if we always agreed,” he said. “We found solutions that sometimes were compromises.”

Masters said residents elected 11 very different people in 2020 which brough varying opinions to all decisions.

“It wasn’t always pretty,” she told reporters following Wednesday’s meeting. “But in the end, you get to a place where [we] don’t agree, and I’ll vote this way and you vote that way and we move on.”

“Frankly, that’s the way it should be,” she added.

Looking back, those on council say they respect their colleagues for having to make the same decisions they did.

“The public should be worried if you have 11 people there putting up their hands at the same time, the same way,” said Stevens. “That would be a hard reality we should face, Regina has many different opinions and those were reflected at the council table.”

“They were all committed to the public and the conflict you saw was because we were so committed and invested emotionally,” he added.

Advice for successors

Regardless of the results of the upcoming civic election, more than half the faces around the horseshoe at Henry Baker Hall will be different.

Only Coun. Hawkins, Nelson, Zachidniak and Mancinelli are seeking re-election in their wards.

In total, more than 60 candidates have put their name forward for either Mayor or Council seats.

“This is no easy feat,” Masters said. “You will walk into this and have a very steep learning curve.”

“Your job is to make the best decisions for the City of Regina with the information you have before you,” she added.

Councillors CTV News spoke with on Thursday had some tips for those who are elected in November.

“Treat your colleagues with respect,” Stadnichuk said. “Understand where [they’re] coming from.”

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“Make sure you’re committed to the community but make sure you have friends and family and loved ones you don’t neglect,” Stevens said.

“Come ready to work,” Hawkins added. “It’s wonderfully exciting to build a new city and to work with the population.”

“Leave room for sober second thought,” Mancinelli suggested. “The confidence of the public is important.”

Regina’s civic election is Nov. 13.