KEEPING YOU SAFE & ON THE ROAD
Page 2 - nOvemBer 3 , 2016 - martensville messenger
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KEEPING YOU SAFE & ON THE ROAD
Kostyna Leaves His Heart in Martensville
Shanine Sealey , Martensville Messenger
Terry Kostyna has been a resident of Martensville since first moving here in 1977 with his wife Marianne . The young couple were looking for a home that offered more space , a larger lot and a community outside of the city , thus finding Martensville . Since then , Kostyna has never looked back , knowing that Martensville was where he was meant to call ‘ home ’. After three consecutive terms on City Council , Kostyna decided not to seek re-election for a fourth , as he is currently living part-time between Martensville and Candle Lake , as he and his wife “ ease ” their way into retirement . “ It wouldn ’ t be justifiable for me to be on Council . It is time for the next , younger generation to take over . It is now up to that generation to figure out what they want for themselves in upcoming years .”
In 1977 , the population in Martensville was just over 1000 residents , and within a year , it had grown by 25 %. With the growth , the community was seeing big changes taking place and Kostyna knew that he wanted to be a part of it . “ There was no big reason , good or bad that made me decide to run . I had come from the city and things were done differently there , and I just knew that I wanted to get involved ,” Kostyna explained . In a mailer that he sent out in 1978 , Kostyna stated that in that year , Council had approved a budget of nearly $ 700,000 , as compared to the previous year ’ s budget of slightly less than $ 300,000 , including that the “ rapid growth cannot hurt our community , but we must strive to preserve the peace and tranquility of the average Saskatchewan small town .” - ( the 2016 City of Martensville budget was over $ 18 million ). Although Kostyna jokes that he was elected by accident because he was a “ city boy that had long hair and an earring ”, he contributed to much of the development within Martensville throughout his four year term . At the time , Martensville was a predominately Mennonite community . “ I quickly developed a relationship with the people of the community . I have always been interested in other people and learning about their history , culture , everything . I like to think that they embraced me , and that was proven to me personally over the years after that ,” Kostyna continued .
After his initial four year term , Kostyna focused on his family and his business ventures , not seeking to run again until 2006 . He was inspired to run due to changes that were taking place in Martensville at the time . When asked about why he sought a position on council in 2006 , Kostyna referenced his 1978 mailer , stating , “ I once heard a member of our town council say to a somewhat unhappy resident , ‘ If you don ’ t like the way things are run around here , where were you when we needed councillors ?” From the time he had first moved here , to that point , there had been a drastic amount of changes . “ When we moved here ,
ABOVE : Mayor Muench presents Terry Kostyna with a gift during his last Council meeting .
there were no paved streets , there weren ’ t even ditches . The first year I was on Council , we decided to dig ditches on Main Street to get the water to run from the west side of town to the east .” Centennial Drive was paved at that time , as it was Highway 12 .
Having always taken an interest in the community that he called home , Kostyna was also a founding member of the Slo-Pitch Association within Martensville . It actually began as somewhat of an “ accident ”, as the first game was held as a recreational event between City Council and the Fire Department on a field that was located where the Corner Store currently sits . The game proved to be successful , so they played another , and before they knew it , more and more people began showing up , teams began forming and their field began to take shape . This tied in with one of Kostyna ’ s favorite things about being on City Council , “ I have gotten to know so many people in Martensville , and now I see our kids getting into civics , into sports , and they have kids that will do the same . I have seen the evolution of Martensville and it is evolving so nicely . Our kids are now involved in the slo-pitch that we started 35 years ago and there are a ton of family ties within the community . I love that !”
When you spend as much time on Council as Kostyna did you are bound to learn a thing or two . “ I would like to think that if anything has changed over the past ten years , it is general planning and growth , having a really good development plan and developing the business community . More jobs now mean that not as many people are having to commute to Saskatoon and each year , there are more and more jobs available .” One of the things that Kostyna is most proud of is his involvement in the Saskatoon North Partnership for Growth ( P4G ), between Saskatoon , Martensville , Warman , Osler and the RM of Corman Park . Through this , the communities are working together to develop a regional plan for growth . “ I saw the need awhile back , and everyone was fighting for the same thing , but instead , why don ’ t we all get together and make a big plan and get the province on our side , and from there , we will decide what is a priority instead of fighting between the communities .”
Although he is looking forward to retirement and enjoying everything that Candle Lake has to offer , referencing the ducks and deer that he could see outside of his window during the interview , Kostyna states that although he is in Candle Lake , his heart is , and will remain in Martensville . “ It has been my absolute pleasure to serve people and to work with them and to know as many people as I have met in Martensville . To get into their heads , to find out how they are doing and how they feel . I have learnt so much from all of those people , so thank you for everything you taught me .”
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martensville election 2016 results
Shanine Sealey , Martensville Messenger
The City of Martensville election took place Wednesday , October 26th after two Advance Polls were held October 15th and October 22nd . A total of 67 voters turned out for the October 15th poll , 103 voters turned out for the October 22nd poll and 770 voters attended the October 26th election day . In total the results showed a total of 940 voters within the community voiced their opinions .
Unofficial numbers for the current population show the community at 9500 residents , with approximately 6400 of those eligible to vote . Through these numbers , it results in a 14.69 % turnout . “ Based on numbers from the 2016 Election with a population of 9500 vs the 2012 Election , we saw a decrease in voter turnout by 3.61 %,” Carla Budnick , Martensville City Clerk , explained . In 2012 , the City of Martensville had 8230 residents , of those approximately 5578 were eligible to vote and the total number of voters was 1021 of 5578 , which resulted in a 18.3 % turnout . “ One factor to consider is that there was a race for Mayor as well as six City Councillors in 2012 ,” Budnick added .
In this year ’ s election , a total of twelve candidates were running for the six seats on City Council . Martensville Mayor Kent Muench was elected by acclamation . Incumbent candidates Bob Blackwell , Jamie Martens , Darren MacDonald and Tyson Chillog were elected , along with newly elected members Michael Cox and Deb McGuire . Travis Wiebe , who has sat on City Council for the past ten years , was not re-elected for this term on Council . Following the election , Wiebe commented on Facebook stating that , “ being a part of City Council has not only been a big part of my life , but my families . I can accept the defeat and move on , but I am having a hard time accepting that I will no longer be working with such an incredible leadership team . Congratulations to all the incumbents and new council members , Martensville is in great hands !”
The newly elected City Council was sworn in during the November 1st Council Meeting at Martensville City Hall .
Councillor results
THANK
YOU for your support .
I am excited to serve our City for the next four years .
ABOVE : Following the swearing in ceremony at the November 1 , 2016 meeting , Mayor Muench did a Council Orientation for the newly elected Martensville City Council .
Deb McGuire