After a challenging campaign, Steve Sobering is looking forward to setting the City of Dauphin on a course for four more years of progress and prosperity as its new mayor.
Sobering earned the top council job in the Oct. 28 municipal election with 1,136 votes, or 57.4 per cent of votes cast, ahead of challengers Keith Durston with 752 votes and Carter Taylor-Luke with 91 votes.
“We have a great community. We have businesses relocating here. We have population growth. We have people moving here,” Sobering said
“So I think there’s always those things that every community would like to improve, but we’re definitely in a great position in the City of Dauphin.”
With some new faces around the table, Sobering is looking forward to sitting down with his council to reaffirm priorities and discuss issues which he heard a lot about while campaigning.
Sobering heard from a lot of people leading up to election day and they were very clear about the issues they felt were important.
Crime, safety, homelessness and addiction and affordable housing were always a main topic, he said, and the City will continue to make those issues a focus of their operations.
“Every conversation always ended with that,” Sobering said.
“But there were also a lot of people who were just really excited to see some of the hopeful projects that are moving forward.”
A lot of that hope centres on building the tourism industry in the community and the area through partnerships with groups like Northgate Trails and businesses in the Second Avenue Northwest Craft District.
“There’s always room for improvement in everything we do,” Sobering said, adding he is excited for the City to get started on the Craft District project
“I’m looking forward to seeing us break ground on that. And then on to the next project. We have lots of potential here.
“I’ve also been talking to the organizers about getting a tour of the development at Northgate. Sounds like a lot of work has been done in carving out the trail network, and I want to make sure we do a good job of taking advantage of that project, tying it into our tourism, and just our overall making Dauphin a great choice for livability.”
When it comes to the Craft District, Sobering is a little confused about the strong opposition to the project among some groups.
Boiled down, he said, the concept is basically a sidewalk renewal, which would cost the City about $400,000 for a simple remove and replace. The budget for the project was set at $700,000, he said, with a contingency of $200,000, so if cost overruns materialized there would not have to be another round of council approvals stalling work.
People took that “possible” $900,000 budget, rounded it up and used the $1 million figure to fuel their opposition.
“But in reality it’s a $200,000 to $300,000 add-on to probably a $400,000 spend, which we would spend anyways if we’re doing curbs and sidewalks,” he said, adding the scope of the project pales in comparison to the Justice Centre, the Prairie Park Place Early Learning Centre or the Northgate development.
“Yet it’s probably going to have one of the biggest impacts, the best bang for our buck, out of all of those projects as far as the city is concerned.”
It’s all part of making Dauphin the best community it can be, full of opportunities and proud residents.
“My dream, if I looked at Dauphin 10 years from now, what I’d love to see is, when you drive in from the south, all the buildings are full on Main Street. We have a prosperous commercial district. All the buildings are in good shape and look attractive and inviting,” he said.
“There’s a multi-use path system that connects everywhere. So if you’re just a mom pushing a stroller for a newborn, or an elderly person zipping around on your mobility scooter, or just somebody out there enjoying a beautiful sunny day, you can get to wherever you want in the city safely and in a way you can enjoy. You’re going to find an attractive little tourist hub of our downtown. It won’t be a scary place to go, it’ll be an exciting place to explore.
“You’re going to have recreation. Whatever it is that means to you, you’re going to have it.”
Such lofty goals cannot be realized by one person, or seven around the council table, Sobering said. It will take the effort of the entire community pulling together so Dauphin can realize its potential.
“I would really encourage people, now that the election is over, people that were making posts on Facebook and really engaged in stating their opinion, positive or negative, just to get out there. If there’s something they’d like to see in Dauphin or something they don’t like in Dauphin, get involved and help out,” he said.
“There’s always groups looking for people to contribute. The food bank could always use more volunteers, more donations, more help filling those shelves. We have groups that are trying to do what they can for the people that don’t have homes and need care. We always have projects on the go, like Maamawi Park, they’re doing a next phase that you could get involved in. Northgate’s always taking on volunteers to help trail build. There’s so many things. Whatever it is that people are excited about, just go out there and contribute.”