Redfern returned as mayor
Wilman says new city council has to stand by tough decisions
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Monday, October 26, 2015
IQALUIT
Madeleine Redfern is Iqaluit's new mayor.
"I'd like to thank my family, friends and supporters and the community for giving me the opportunity to hold office again," she told Nunavut News/North shortly after hearing word of her win.
"There are going to be lots of challenges in this term."
This will be the second time Redfern has held office as mayor of the city. She won a byelection in 2010 but decided not to run for re-election in 2012. John Graham won that race, and quit last year. Deputy mayor Mary Wilman took over and was later installed as mayor for the remainder of the term.
"I'd also like to thank and acknowledge Mary Wilman for the work that she did and for Noah Papatsie for running, and of course I look forward to working with the council and administration and the community to address the challenges that our community faces."
She named the city's large deficit, infrastructure and human resources issues as key challenges for Iqaluit to tackle in her term.
Wilman thanked her supporters and said she has enjoyed her six years of service with city council. She said there are tough issues the city will have to deal with going forward.
"The city is in a major deficit and has to take immediate action to rectify this situation," stated Wilman in an e-mail.
The city needs to analyze for inefficiencies, overspending and areas where cost savings could be realized, she said.
Wilman pointed to the water and sewer fund, which has been running at a $1-million deficit for five years straight.
"It is costly and inefficient to run aging trucks without allowing for ongoing maintenance work," she stated.
It's more feasible, she continued, to allow for repair maintenance once a week instead of delivering trucked water that day, which is part of a move that has come to be known as Waterless Wednesdays.
"The decision to reduce water delivery was a tough decision and one that caused strong reaction from some people," stated Wilman.
"This is one tough decision that the council has to stand by. There are more possible cost reduction measures that are necessary to make if the city is going to reduce its deficit. These are the realities that this new council will have to face and be strong enough to make unpopular decisions and stand by those decisions."
Another change to reduce cost and become more efficient she mentioned was altering the fire department's work schedule.
Meanwhile, Papatsie might have come third in the mayoral race, but he was glad to see the strong voter turnout.
"I'm happy how it went," he said by phone. "Communication-wise, some things didn't go well but other than that I'm really happy. Voters came out great."
He admitted he was surprised with the election results but called it the voters' choice.
"It was good all around and I'm hoping for a great future for everyone," he said.
