New reeve keeps momentum going

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This article was published 01/04/2021 (1890 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ruth Mealy hit the ground running upon her election as reeve of the Municipality of Grassland last month.

Already serving as councillor since the last general election of 2018, she credits former reeve Blair Woods, who died late last year, and a council keen on working together with keeping the momentum going.

Mealy was elected during a byelection following Woods’ death.

“It was very unfortunate, we were so sad to lose him, and it was very sudden — he worked, ran the meetings and was totally involved in council business right until two weeks before he passed away,” Mealy said. “It was a shock for everybody.”

Indeed, The Brandon Sun connected with Woods only a couple of weeks before his death, at which time he expressed enthusiasm for a 24,000-head hog nursery operation — the HyLife Gibson’s Nursery — approved for south of Elgin.

At the time, Woods said the development was just “the tip of the iceberg of what’s to come in the future.”

Mealy expressed a similar sentiment upon her election as reeve — a contested race in which she faced off against fellow candidate Nick Nowazek.

Citing a number of ongoing efforts, Mealy stressed the municipality’s ambitious future is a culmination of past and present councils, in large part led by Woods — a forward-thinking individual whose work she’s proud to play a role in continuing.

Mealy grew up in Souris and married into the Minto farming community 25 years ago, and she has been there ever since.

She retired from a career in economic development in 2018, at which time she decided to step into public service.

“Before my retirement, I knew there was going to be an election, and I just thought I wasn’t ready to retire completely and that this might be a way that I could continue to be involved in something that I felt was very important,” she said, adding that between her work on council and consultation work, she’s actually busier now than when she was working full-time.

“I’ve quite enjoyed it, and council has been working toward, I think, some great initiatives. We have a really great working relationship on council and I just felt that maybe I could also contribute to getting that momentum going.”

When Woods’ untimely death prompted a byelection, Mealy saw pursuing the position as an opportunity to step up her efforts and ensure continuity of the municipality’s forward momentum.

Election season was complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and while she managed an expansive door-knocking campaign, it included her wearing a mask and stepping back upon knocking to ensure adequate physical distancing took place.

She also distributed flyers advertising a Zoom online public forum, which she hosted as a means of further reaching out into the municipality during a time in which the preferred means of gathering have been disallowed.

Moving forward, she cites a number of ongoing efforts as priorities for the municipality, many of which she said were established during Woods’ tenure.

Economic development is a big one, she said, pointing to supporting daycares in Minto and Hartney as key, alongside a needs assessment survey on housing intended to determine current and future needs.

Hartney has recently filled its latest housing development, so the question now is what’s next?

A recent young farmers’ think-tank round table discussion weeded out all sorts of interesting ideas, Mealy said, pointing to a beef processing facility as the most feasible.

While she said a large-scale operation like Portage la Prairie’s multimillion-dollar Roquette pea processing facility might not be realistic, local investment starting with small processing facilities “would be the dream.”

The municipality’s aging infrastructure remains another point of concern, as evidenced by ongoing water-quality concerns in Elgin.

“It’s extremely difficult to manage the costs of providing that utility with a small population base, so we’re constantly having to find creative ways to find new funding,” she said, adding it’s an ongoing discussion they’re working on.

The poor condition of roads due to frost boils on gravel roads is another ongoing concern that Woods began addressing during his tenure, and which Mealy said will continue to be worked upon.

Overall, Mealy said she sees a bright future for the Municipality of Grasslands, with more people than in recent memory looking to the rural areas as the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed them to work remotely.

“A lot of the young people are moving back — their parents are still there, they remember what a good lifestyle it was; the kids can play out in the backyard without having to worry a whole bunch about them,” she said.

Change at the municipality is ongoing, with a byelection still set to be scheduled to fill the position on council Mealy vacated to pursue reeve.

Mealy said the word on the street is people are interested in civic politics again and that a few names should be coming forward soon.

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB