Shawn Bailey
First 100 days in office have been positive for new mayor, council
Dauphin’s new city council is through the first 100 days of its mandate and for freshman mayor David Bosiak, the last three-plus months in office has confirmed a lot of what he expected heading in, but there have been a few surprises along the way.
“Some of the things that I anticipated, or expected, are absolutely as I thought,” Bosiak said, citing the quality of the people employed by the City as an example. “Staff at city hall, at the shop, at the water treatment plant are all doing a great job. They’re stellar employees and I think the City is very fortunate to have such a combination of enthusiastic, dedicated and experienced staff members. That’s been very, very clear to me and other members of council, how competent the staff is.”
Associated with that realization is one of surprises, a pleasant one, that surfaced for Bosiak.
“I’m surprised a little bit by actually how much preparation staff does for the mayor and members of council,” he said. “I was anticipating having to be doing more homework to be ready for having council meetings and other committee meetings and the homework is pretty simple in that we are so well prepared.”
That support has allowed Bosiak and new councillors Randy Daley, Ted Rea and Steve Sobering to settle quickly into their roles and get up to speed with returning councillors Christian Laughland, Kathy Bellemare and Devin Shtykalo.
“I’m very pleased, generally, with the tone and tenor of council. They all seem to be on a the same page, or a very similar page, that we all have, I think, very similar outlooks on what we expect and why we ran for election and are on municipal council,” Bosiak said.
That has allowed council and City staff to advance one of Bosiak’s priorities heading into his tenure as mayor, looking at the structure of committees the City is involved with and gauging the work being done by those committees.
“Sort of doing a bit of a check, a sense of, is this an appropriate level of City involvement. Should there be more, should there be less,” he said. “And in those situations where we fund external agencies, I’ve asked council to really look carefully at, are we funding these organizations to the appropriate level? Meaning might some need more funding from the City based on what they’re doing and what they’re trying to accomplish, and might some needed a lower level of funding based on what they are supposed to be doing and what they may actually be doing?”
As they attend meetings, councillors are bringing reports back to council as a whole.
“And we’re having very thoughtful discussions on that,” Bosiak said.
In terms of getting council better organized, a planning session is set for early March during which a facilitator experienced in municipal governance will spend a half day with councillors and the City’s senior management team.
“Just to help us understand how do we incorporate the next four years of what each of us thought we could do as we got elected and bring that to some sort of fruition,” Bosiak said.
Tempering those expectations are plans and projects put in place by previous councils that the current edition of City government must fulfill. Bosiak did not fully appreciate the amount of work that was already on the table and quickly came to realize council needs to allow staff to continue to work on those projects.
“That does have an impact on what we intended to do in our first year of our mandate,” Bosiak said. “But we have our own objectives to put into place for the three years, so that’s one thing that we’ll be talking about.”
Going forward, a focus will be on the City’s relationships with other levels of government. In particular, Bosiak would like to maintain and hopefully improve Dauphin’s relationship with the provincial government, an important relationship given the major infrastructure projects the province is helping fund in the city.
However, those efforts have been hampered by recent resignations and restructuring at the cabinet level, he said.
“I was hopeful that we could have more of an ongoing dialogue with the provincial government and we’re attempting to do that from the City’s end and it’s just been a little bit slower than I was hoping,” Bosiak said.
For the most part, however, Bosiak’s time since the Oct. 26, 2022, municipal election has gone pretty much as he thought and he is looking forward to the remainder of his four years in the mayor’s chair.
“We’re just busy doing the regular business of municipal government,” he said. “There is lots of positive stuff, mostly positive stuff and it’s been a pretty decent first hundred days.”
Thank you
The Dauphin Derailleurs Cycle Club held an appreciation for its donors and supporters at the Selo Ukraina Hall, Feb. 3.
More than 200 people attended to learn a little more about the club’s history and its future plans.
Major sponsors, landowner partners, funders and volunteers that assisted with the development of the Northgate Trails system were recognized throughout the evening, interspersed with short films from the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, as well as some locally-produced content.
Dauphin Fire Department operations under review
A review of Dauphin Fire Department (DFD) operations in the search of efficiencies is underway as part of the Municipal Services Delivery Improvement Plan.
The program, which was introduced by the provincial government in 2021, provides municipalities and planning districts with financial support to complete value-for-money service delivery reviews of programs and services searching for improvement which do not raise taxes or reduce front line services.
The work is done in consultation with a third-party consultant and the three-year program is fully funded by the Province to a maximum of $120,000 per project.
The Dauphin Fire Department, with support of the City and the RM of Dauphin, applied to the program during the second intake in 2022 and was awarded funding up to $120,000. Exchange Chartered Professional Accountants LLP was assigned as the consultant to perform an organizational study and operations review of the department.
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Announcement a positive one, MVSD working through the details
In general terms, the recent education funding announcement by the province is a positive one, but Mountain View School Division will need a little time to digest the announcement to determine its benefits locally, said secretary-treasurer Lori Slepicka.
“Anytime they’re saying that nobody’s going to see a decrease and everyone’s going to see an increase, that’s definitely positive news,” Slepicka said. “But I haven’t even had a chance to really look at the information. Our details are just coming out. So we haven’t had a chance to work through those at all to see how it all applies to our specific division.”
Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko announced an extra $100 million for Kindergarten to Grade 12 School for the 2023-24 school year, representing an increase of 6.1 per cent over last year’s funding levels.
Since 2016-17, operational funding to schools has increased by $328 million or 23 per cent, the minister noted.
This year’s annual funding increase of $100 million includes:
• a $62.9-million increase in operating support including an additional $20 million to address cost pressures, $5 million for special needs along with increases in other existing grants;
• an $8-million increase in capital support payments;
• a $24-million increase to the Property Tax Offset Grant; and
• an additional $5-million increase for independent schools.
“Our government believes that all students must succeed regardless of where they live, their background or circumstances, and this year’s investment will provide an operating funding increase to each and every school division across the province,” Ewasko said. “Every division will see an increase in funding next year, which will help them engage students and invest in the programs and services that will best meet the needs of local communities.”
It is not that cut and dried for MVSD, however, as there are a lot of unknown variables affecting the budget.
“We’ll definitely see an increase. Whether it’s going to be enough to even cover salary increases, we’ll see about that. We have to crunch some numbers yet,” Slepicka said. “All of our contracts expired in June of 2022 so we don’t know what this year holds for increases. We have seen huge increases in interest and fuel, like everyone else has. Just supplies in general are all going up.”
The province is also investing another $106 million to make one-time funding provided to school divisions last year permanent. This includes $22 million to support student presence and engagement to facilitate the implementation of Safe and Caring Schools, the new policy directive and action plan for enhancing student presence and engagement.
“They’re going to use the old funding formula for this year, but by next year we’ll have a new funding formula so it’s all going to be recalculated,” Slepicka said. “But the dollars should stay unless they do decrease funding.”
Making this funding permanent will help divisions respond to financial pressures, strengthen student learning and supports, and provide additional support for students with special learning needs. Building these increases into the annual funding allotment to schools will ensure these funds remain available now and into the future, Ewasko said.
“This significant investment in Kindergarten to Grade 12 education keeps Manitoba among the highest per-pupil funded provinces across Canada,” he said. “This investment continues to highlight our ongoing commitment to improving literacy and numeracy and strengthening Indigenous education.”
Work continues on the development of a new education funding model, with one-to-one consultations planned with each school division post-budget.
This year’s funding announcement is an important piece in the division’s budgeting puzzle, Slepicka said, adding the process is progressing well.
“We should have a draft put together shortly, especially now that the (funding) announcement is out,” she said, adding a public presentation of the draft budget will be held sometime in early March.
Area fire departments supported by Ag Gives Back program
Three area fire departments are on the list of organizations receiving a $2,000 grant from Manitoba Ag Days this year.
Ochre River Fire Department will receive funding to help purchase a side-by-side grassland attack all-terrain vehicle to help in protecting the vast farmlands with difficult terrain under its care.
In addition, Ste. Rose Fire Department and Roblin Fire and Rescue will put their grants toward the purchase of grain rescue equipment.
The funds are supplied by the Ag Days Gives Back program through Manitoba Ag Days, which ran Jan. 17 to 19, at the Keystone Centre in Brandon. One hundred per cent of the 50/50 funds raised at the show are returned to community organizations throughout the province invested in agricultural education, as well as community fire departments.
This year the program awarded $29,000, bringing the total in its 10-year history to $376,500.
Other fire departments receiving support include Glenboro South Cypress Fire Department, Ste. Anne Fire Department, Whitemouth Fire Department, Edward Fire Department and Clandeboye Fire Department.
The Education and Leadership Grant of $10,000 was awarded to Agriculture in the Classroom - Manitoba, while $1,000 scholarships were provided to Rhett Grieve in the ACC Diploma program, Lacey Shirley Calder in the U of M Diploma program and Emily Rob in the U of M Degree program.
Manitoba Ag Days show is an annual three-day exposition of agriculture production expertise, technology and equipment that attracts exhibitors and visitors from across Canada and the U.S. held at the Keystone Centre in Brandon. Applications for the next round of Ag Days Gives Back grants and scholarships will open in the fall and be awarded at the 2024 show, which runs Jan. 16 to 18, 2024.
City requests a minor change in makeup of local RCMP detachment
Some minor changes are being made to the structure of policing in the city with an officer currently assigned to the Crime Reduction Enforcement Support Team (CREST) being reassigned to general policing duties.
City council approved the plan at its Jan. 13 regular meeting and will officially be making the request under the Municipal Policing Agreement.
In 2019, the City increased its compliment of officers from 14 to 15 in order to support a newly-created Investigative Support Team, which was tasked with combatting drugs and gang activity in the communities of Dauphin, Winnipegosis and Ste. Rose.
In 2020, the IST evolved into CREST, which is provincially funded and does the same type of work, but on a provincewide basis.
The City continued to fund the CREST position - the only municipality on the hook for funding - after the provincial government indicated that removing City dollars would result in that position being removed from CREST, a reduction the City did not want to see at the time.
“Council at the time said, ‘okay we’ll let it play out and see how it goes, right, wrong or otherwise,’” city manager Sharla Griffiths said. “This council is looking at more of a community policing. We want more boots on the ground in our community. We want to have that 15th officer in our community.”
The move, she said should not affect the service the City receives from the CREST.
“Each district has its own, and when other areas of the province need them, they go," Griffiths said. "So the process should be if Dauphin needs something, they’ll come from other parts of the province.”
The time was right to make the move, Griffiths said, as the city is preparing for the development and implementation of a Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan later this year.
A new way of doing things?
The world of community service has evolved and Dauphin’s new mayor is hopeful that not only will his council be open to new possibilities, but that other community organizations will take a critical look at their operations.
From a City perspective, David Bosiak would like to see councillors spend their time on projects they are passionate about and that they actually add value to a group or organization with which they are working.
“I don’t want councillors to grudgingly have to go to inefficient or ineffectively operated meetings, to sit through meetings that information could have been shared in a different way,” Bosiak said. “Councillors’ time is valuable and we have lots of things on our plates. I want the time they spend engaging with groups to be as effective and efficient as possible.”
Like any municipality, the City of Dauphin has to make decisions based on available resources, Bosiak said, adding he wants to ensure those resources are properly targeted.
“So I want to ensure that council and staff time is spent very effectively, but also those organizations which we fund, whether it’s with operating grants or special grants, even things like letters of support, I want to ensure that it’s all legitimate,” he said. “That the organizations are running as effectively as they possibly can to meet their mandate. Not to bow down to the City, but to meet their desired mandate.”
As part of that, Bosiak is hoping all community organizations take an open and honest look at their operations to ensure the time they spend in meetings and the time spent engaging with volunteers is effective. Volunteers are a valuable resource, Bosiak said, and organizations across the board are struggling to attract and retain them.
“In my work history of dealing with organizations who are functional and dysfunctional there’s a common thread. Many of the dysfunctional organizations have an inefficient and ineffective use of their resources, be that people or time or money ,” he said. “So I’m just trying to get organizations to take an honest look to see if there are more efficient ways of being. I want groups to willingly, not forced, but willingly look at themselves and determine are we being as effective as we possibly can be? Because resources are tight. That’s people, money, time, it’s all tight.”
Bosiak added he did not undertake this exercise presupposing any outcomes and whether those reviews will result in any changes is unclear.
“That’s the irony or the uniqueness of this. I have no motive . . . not to reduce funding or to reduce the number of meetings or the length of meetings, if that’s not necessary. My real goal is to determine what is necessary and to spend as much time and energy on those things and not the distractions,” he said. “I’ve had meetings with all of the councillors to discuss their roles on the various committees they’re on and (encourage them) to work towards making them efficient. And efficient doesn’t mean less, necessarily, because a lot of people get scared. ‘oh you’re going to cut our funding.’ No it’s about making you be as good as you can possibly be.”
RIDE results encouraging: Shuttleworth
If there was any question that Dauphin residents were ready to celebrate the recent holiday season with family and friends following two years of pandemic lockdowns it was answered by the successful return of the local Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) program.
While the numbers were still not quite at pre pandemic levels, program spokesperson Sarah Shuttleworth is pleased with the results.
“I was expecting the results to be a little bit lower than past years, of course, just because of the pandemic,” Shuttleworth said. “But I am happy with with the statistics for this year.”
This year, 48 volunteers worked a total of 725 hours during 145 shifts and safely transported 282 holiday revellers to their destination through 141 trips.
During RIDE’s last season in 2019, 47 volunteers worked 134 shifts during which they transported 357 passengers through 163 trips.
While the total number of trips decreased by 16 per cent and the average of 35 passengers per night in 2022 was down from the 51 counted in 2019, Shuttleworth was pleased to see the number of volunteers attracted by the program increase.
“I saw a lot of younger volunteers this year which was really nice. In past years, the age demographic has definitely been older when it comes to our volunteers. But this year there’s a lot of new volunteers and younger volunteers which was also nice,” she said, adding the number of people utilizing the Dauphin RIDE program reinforces the demand and need for the service.
Community support, awareness, promotion, and volunteerism is the driving factor of the program’s success, Shuttleworth said.
“It’s been 30 years and we’ve done well and it’s definitely nowhere near the end,” Shuittleworth said, thanking the program’s sponsors and supporters for the role they play in RIDE’s success. “It’s something that our community needs, obviously, it’s shown that through the statistics. So I’m hoping that it can continue for many years yet.”
City chomping at the bit to get process started
A provincially-led program aimed at improving the quality of life in the community has the City of Dauphin anxiously awaiting word on when the promised assistance is forthcoming.
Dauphin was one of 12 communities selected last April to receive provincial funding to develop and implement a Community Safety and Well-being Plan (CSWP) following a successful pilot project in Thompson in 2019-20.
While the City had hoped the process would begin last summer, it is still waiting on the province to appoint a consultant and provide the approximately $100,000 in funding, half of which will be used to formulate the plan with the other half being to used to implement its initiatives.
“The delay is starting to become problematic in the sense that we’d love to get going on it and we have to hurry up and wait,” mayor David Bosiak said. “I just wish that the province would pull the trigger on this and let us go. Who knows, that call or email could come any day, but I can’t really say when that will happen.”
The City had informal discussions with Manitoba Justice late last year regarding the process, and was able to educate the department on the work, which is already underway in the community.
Over the last number of years, the Crisis Prevention Task Force and Under One Roof have been working to effectively co-ordinate social services with various providers and have had some success in the approach.
The City has also met with those local service providers and other community groups to inform them about the program and its process, as well as offer its leadership with respect to the plan and how it will fit into the community. To that end, the City has created a repository for organizations to populate with information they want to share with the group and for the purposes of the CSWP.
But despite the work that has been done, Bosiak is fearful that given the complexity of the program and the diversity of the communities involved - six Indigenous communities and six municipalities, all of different sizes and facing different issues - the province will attempt a “cookie cutter” approach that produces results adequate for all, but perfect for none.
The City, he added, is more interested in developing a plan tailormade for Dauphin.
“I’m hoping there’s some flexibility from our end once they see that we have capacity, we have capability. We have people already doing this, so let’s not spend time and money doing stuff we’ve already done,” Bosiak said “One of the things we’re hopeful of is once this process starts with the provincially-appointed or identified consultant, that we can quickly come to a place with them to say ‘okay, we don’t have to get a community meeting, we don’t have to get the partners lined up, we don’t have to inform them, because we’ve already been doing that for two or three years anyway.”
What the City is looking for from the consultant, Bosiak said, is advice on some implementation strategies, with input from it’s community partners.
“Maybe even to help us assess how well or not the current Under One Roof programming is going for us,” he said.
The City will host the next meeting of the social service providers and community groups, as part of the CSWP process, at the end of January or early February.
Ten area residents presented medals in recognition of contributions
A group of Parkland residents have received a special honour courtesy of the Province of Manitoba and Dauphin MLA Brad Michaleski.
At a special ceremony in Brandon last week, Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals were presented to Kay Slobodzian, Michelle Mazurkewich, Tony Safronetz, Bev Harvey, Carole Shankaruk, Alex Lytwyn, Al Gray and Rodney Juba were presented their medals by Lt-Gov. Anita Neville, Premier Heather Stefanson and Michaleski. Two other Dauphin residents, Brian Damsgaard and Jim Perchaluk were unable to attend the ceremony and will receive their medals at a later date.
Manitoba was one of five Canadian provinces to celebrate the 70th anniversary year of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the Throne through the medal program.
Read more in this week's Dauphin Herald!