The new Estevan city council sat down for their first meeting on Monday night, with both old and new faces among those on the council.
Returning councillors Kirsten Walliser and Shelley Veroba returned to the council, joined by new councillors Brian Johnson, Dave Elliot, Matthew Dubowski, and Tom Mauss. Former councillor Anthony Sernick presided over the council as mayor.
Sernick says that his first time in the chair as the mayor wasn't his first experience leading council but did feel a bit different from previous fill-ins.
"Oh, it was nervous for sure. I've sat in the chair as a deputy mayor a few times, but obviously initially, yeah, I know it was nervous, but it was good. The new Council, there's a lot on the plate tonight, so it was a good learning process just to get everybody going and get them interested, asking questions and all that stuff. So thought it went well tonight and we'll get better and better."
The only concerns that came up during the meeting were a few technical ones, with the new councillors quickly picking up the flow of putting out motions and voting on them.
"That's one thing, I just got in an e-mail before just for the first-timers. Obviously, I'm a first-time mayor too, so just relax and, you know, go with the flow. It was good, the couple of veterans in the room kind of kept the flow rolling, so it was good."
The lighter topics for the meeting mainly touched on the topics which had piled up during the election, with the councillors taking a look at reports and minutes from committees and organizations around the southeast.
With the new year coming up, they also planned out next year's council dates, cancelling July and August dates to compensate for slow summers, as well as moving an April meeting as that coincided with a provincial event the council would attend.
With another four years ahead of them, Sernick says he's looking forward to getting more work done with this council.
"Budget will be coming up and there will be all sorts of things coming up, but obviously we're just getting into the holiday season here and everybody's just figuring out the process and meeting by meeting the process will become clear."
The next meeting, which will be the final one for 2024, is scheduled for December 9.