A new crop of councillors popped up during the most recent municipal election in the fall, and since then, Mathew Dubowski has been working hard to get acquainted with the position. After he was nominated to the role as the youngest member of the council, the 27-year-old has been learning the ropes through a number of council meetings and other events.
Dubowski talked about the experience he's had so far working with the municipal government.
"It's been quite a ride so far, going from working just the normal 8 to 4 full-time job to now having council and all their responsibilities attached to that. It's definitely a lot more work. I'm not gonna lie, it's been kind of stressful at times, but it's also been fun to learn the ins and outs of municipal government."
That included learning processes and other methods that the city used, such as making motions and general practices for council meetings.
One big trial for Dubowski early on was the city budget, which he says took some work to get a good understanding of.
"It's pretty intimidating at first, that's for sure. Not really being previously too involved in the budget or what the city was doing, really. Just getting right off from the election, right into the budget and figuring all that stuff out, I had to ask a lot of questions and learn a lot of stuff very quickly."
Dubowski is more confident he'll be able to navigate the next few years' budgets smoothly following a bit of instruction.
Learning about the budget was also helped by some of the returning councillors, who've helped Dubowski find his way around his duties.
"I've definitely asked other councillors a few questions regarding if I'm on boards that they were on previously, and I've definitely asked about how things went when they were on it. Sort of a guide of like how the best way to handle different situations would be, and just asking for advice on what I should be focusing on and all that stuff.
That's included conversations with both past and current council members as Dubowski looks to make the best of his new position.
He's especially looking forward to getting some of the infrastructure work across Estevan done over the next year.
"The Leisure Centre pool is getting redone, and it looks great so far. I can't remember the time frame of when that's going to be opening, but hopefully soon. When it does, I'm sure it will look great. Aside from that, and then getting downtown finished and back open again, that will be good."
Dubowski says he looks forward to whatever the next few years on the council bring.