A look back: Regina city council made plenty of headlines in 2024

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What some Regina residents might remember most about 2024 is the months of campaigning before an almost entirely new council came in at year’s end.

However, there was more action at city hall than just an election.

To close out a year rife with tension and conflict, marathon meetings and more, the Leader-Post is reflecting on some of the other major developments that found time on the floor of council.

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1. REAL CEO fired

January marked a rocky start to 2024 for Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) with the firing of CEO Tim Reid. But it was just the latest chapter in an ongoing saga of tumult for the city-owned corporation that began with an internationally harangued tourism campaign the year before.

Reid’s dismissal by city council followed a move several weeks earlier to give REAL’s board members the boot, replacing them with an interim board. The impact of that decision would rear its head repeatedly in 2024, as council was often forced to face the question of what to do with the organization’s “black hole” finances.

REAL is entrusted with operating and maintaining facilities within the city-owned grounds at REAL District, including the Brandt Centre, Mosaic Stadium, and the International Trade Centre, among others.

In late 2023, a structural review by accounting firm MNP revealed that REAL was unable to dig itself out of $16 million in debt. This was later confirmed by a second deep-dive audit by the firm.

“The situation REAL finds itself in today did not happen overnight,” interim CEO Roberta Engel reminded council as it questioned the organization’s continued independence at a meeting in June.

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Some councillors called for more clarity and accountability from REAL related to money management, which interim board chair and city manager Niki Anderson said was hard to provide in light of an empty executive table.

City council did eventually (and reluctantly) agree to funnel an extra $12 million into REAL last year, covering an $8-million clawback of pandemic subsidies and a $4-million bailout to keep the doors open through to mid-2025.

REAL managed to avoid being totally dissolved but ended up being stripped of its job as the major event co-ordinator for Mosaic Stadium and the Brandt Centre, ceding that role to a third-party contractor. MNP’s review called the new model a way for REAL to attempt “a sustainable, fresh start” by focusing on its core purpose as a recreation hub.

In one of the first moves by Regina’s incoming city council, a new seven-member REAL board was officially approved on Dec. 11.

2. North Central revitalization

Movement was made in 2024 on an extensive long-term plan to address the socioeconomic conditions in North Central Regina.

Former mayor Sandra Masters and former councillor Andrew Stevens drafted the North Central Revitalization Initiative to address systemic poverty, housing pressures and community safety in what Masters described as an “everything, everywhere, all-at-once approach” with the community.

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A youth task force called North Central Strong was formed, headed by a group of six young adults and headquartered at the mâmawêyatitân centre.

The city is using $2.9 million from the federal Building Safer Communities grant to help further related initiatives like the Growing Young Movers’ mentorship and employment program.

A rent-to-own pilot project with Silver Sage Housing was also launched in September and marked another bout of progress under the project’s expansive umbrella.

3. Baseball stadium pitch revived, to surprise of First Nation

In July, council approved a motion brought forward by former Coun. Bob Hawkins and Masters for the city to cost share a $60,000 study to glean the level of philanthropic interest in contributing to a new baseball stadium for the Regina Red Sox at the site of the old downtown rail yards.

The team has been pursuing a field at the Yards since 2021, though it was all-but sidelined by the city’s catalyst committee in 2022 after a public survey ranked it a low-priority project.

The motion also asked for the city to commit $2.5 million to the stadium if it moves ahead.

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But Muscowpetung First Nation said council’s decision to entertain the idea of a sports facility at the Yards was “surprising” after the First Nation had been in talks with city administration for two years about the possibility of building an Indigenous business hub.

Muscowpetung said its proposal checks all the boxes for mixed-use revitalization desired by the city in the area’s neighbourhood plan, yet it remains in a state of limbo.

“It’s like they’re not asking us to leave the table, but they’re certainly handing us our hats,” Myke Agecoutay, CEO of Muscowpetung’s economic arm, said at the time.

Masters denied the notion, saying the major above- and below-ground revitalization work that began this year on Dewdney Avenue is the hang-up delaying any development at that spot.

Amid the uncertainty, the Red Sox inked a 25-year lease with the city at Currie Field in October — one that includes an exit clause in the event that a new field does indeed pan out.

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Honourable mention

Former Coun. Terina Nelson’s petition to add an elevator to the tallest waterslide at Wascana Pool as an aftermarket accessibility measure also ate up a fair share of floor time.

It began as a fiery exchange during a budget meeting in December 2023, when Nelson was nearly ejected from the room by Masters for poor conduct. But the squabble ended quietly in August.

City council originally agreed to add the elevator to the outdoor water park, touted for its accessibility features, but balked at an updated cost estimate of $1 million at budget time, much to Nelson’s frustration.

She then insisted the city issue a request for proposals to seek a lower-cost solution, even as administration warned it would be doomed with no attached budget. This turned out to be true as zero bids were received.

At the time, Nelson hinted she had private donors waiting in the wings if the city would agree to fund a small portion, though none were ever named publicly. A sum of $175,000 was set aside as a starting point but, with no interested contractors, the argument eventually turned into a debate over where to reallocate those funds.

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In December, council agreed to send a portion of the money to a struggling Regina Senior Citizens’ Centre and the rest to fund accessibility upgrades at other city facilities as originally planned.

Though things didn’t quite turn out the way Nelson had hoped, the saga did result in the addition of an accessible elevator to the design of Regina’s proposed new indoor aquatic facility as a way to avoid similar oversight in the future.

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