By Charlene Tebbutt

Local farm representatives pulling double duty

May 28, 2018 | 5:00 PM

It’s a busy time of year for farmers in Saskatchewan, and for those who are also representing their local community as well, finding the time to get it all done can be a challenge in itself.

Saskatchewan farmers are busy as the weather warms up, seeding crops, readying equipment and tending to newborn animals. But, many are also local representatives, answering questions from ratepayers about everything from roads to taxes to rural crime, and they’re the people everyone wants to talk to when an emergency or weather event happens in their area.

That was the case recently for Shellbrook-area farmer Doug Oleksyn. Oleksyn has a mixed farm operation with his brothers and is also the reeve for the Rural Municpality of Shellbrook. He was inundated with calls and messages earlier this month as wildfires threatened homes in the municipality.

The Rally Fire started south of the village of Holbein May 12 and is still burning within the RM, although it is now listed as contained. As the fire grew, local officials did their best to put out information to residents, issue evacuation alerts and field calls and visits from concerned area residents, media and even Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. Another fire in the southwest part of the Prince Albert National Park damaged fence lines and pasture lands outside the park boundaries, and threatened some nearby homes on that side of the RM as well. 

Oleksyn was busy seeding his crop when calls about the Rally Fire began to come in and spent days running back and forth between his fields and the RM offices. Oleksyn has been involved as an RM representative for many years, and says serving the community is something he and many others just do.

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“These guys all take time off from what they’re doing to go out,” he told farmnewsNOW. “When there’s an emergency, I don’t have a problem with it.”

Paul Rybka, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Prince Albert, said his phone is often ringing, and he’s had to get used to the idea that not all the calls are happy ones. Some of the biggest issues in his municipality are around the condition of roads in the summer, snowplowing in the winter, and lately, concerns over rural crime.

“You can never keep everyone happy. That’s a fact,” Rybka said. “Sometimes you have friends and neighbours that you’ve known all your life and they disagree with something, and yeah, they’re not happy with things. But, 99 per cent of the time, a few days later, they phone back after they’ve looked at the whole big picture and thought about it and say that’s the way it should have been done and that was good thing to do.”

Cliff Aspvik’s family has farmed in the Paddockwood area since 1926 while also serving on community boards and supporting local initiatives. Aspvik still farms the same land and has served as a councillor with the Rural Municipality of Paddockwood for the last nine years.

He says he enjoys talking to local ratepayers and helping them with problems, even if he is mostly on call.

“I think it’s maybe a part of who you are,” Aspvik said. “I make the decision to be there, it’s part of my giving back to my community, and it’s building the community … I make the time to do it.”

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt