OUTLOOK - Say the name Maureen Weiterman to anyone from Outlook and the immediate area, and they're liable to have an opinion.
The homegrown native of the riverside community, who was elected as Mayor in the fall of 2020, is just one of those people who, after a conversation with just about anybody, leaves an impression on those same people in one way or the other.
With Maureen, you get a person who exhibits qualities that perhaps we see too few of these days - a straight shooter who doesn't insult anyone's intelligence by sugar-coating things or dodging those unavoidable truths at times. What you get are the facts and her viewpoints; two things that any reputable journalist worth their salt should be chasing at all times.
So this journalist went on a chase.
Earlier this summer, Weiterman became emotional when she revealed at a town council meeting that she will not be putting her name forward again for the role of Mayor. Sitting down with Maureen at her Outlook home, she says that she came to the decision after asking herself what she wanted her future to look like, and asking her family for their advice.
"It was through a lot of soul-searching because I've really enjoyed what I've been doing, but I'm not getting any younger," she said. "I have two granddaughters who are 5 and 7, and if I ran again I would be into my 70's, and I really believe that this job should be done by someone younger. Taking those things into consideration, I've enjoyed every minute of it; well, 99% of it, but I just didn't feel like I could do it another four years. I didn't want to start something that I couldn't finish, and we're in a good space where we can go forward, and I just think that this is the right thing to do it. If I were 10 years younger, I would have thrown my hat in for sure."
Weiterman was voted in as Outlook's newest mayor in November of 2020, which was not only in the midst of the Covid pandemic, but Election Day itself on the 9th of that month decided to bring with it a force of nature as Mother Nature and Old Man Winter teamed up to dump more than a foot of snow on the ground. Still, even with the province issuing a measure that returning officers had the option of postponing municipal elections in the communities that were affected by snow, the weather failed to deter Outlook residents from getting out and voting.
When all the ballots had been counted, Weiterman had won in a landslide victory, garnering 703 votes to her opponent's 114, the incumbent B. Ross Derdall. It was made quite clear from such numbers that local residents were looking for someone new with a different perspective, and with Maureen, that's who they got.
In the just under four years that have since passed, she says that it's been the grassroots community events that have stayed near and dear to her heart because they allow both her and the public to witness their community changing for the better.
Still, she maintains that it's not about the one person serving as Mayor. It's about the people who surround the Mayor and continue making their community move forward.
"I say it all the time - it's the balloon and picture stuff," said Weiterman. "That's the fun stuff about being a mayor. The opportunity to meet new people, to get to see people I haven't seen for a long, long time, and to be there for my old friends. The people in my community who've known me since I was a little girl. It's such an honour, and I'm so privileged to have been given this gift, Derek. I believe that the mayor shouldn't be at the front leading the parade. The mayor should be at the back pushing the people forward and being with the people. Going to the schools, going to grad, down to Bounty Hall, down to the museum, all those kinds of things have been great. We've had a lot of successes, but they don't belong to me; they belong to Council and to Team Outlook. We've worked as a very cohesive group and I'm so very proud of that and proud of the work that's been done by that whole group of people."
Although Maureen is a tried and true 'Outlooker', having been born in the community and having spent almost her entire life here, she says that serving in the role opened things up and gave her a new perspective on things, such as how people choose to communicate in this tech-driven society we seem to live in today. That in itself, she says, can be a two-sided coin depending on the conversation.
"I was born and raised here and I've lived here most of my life. I know that there are a lot of good people here," she said. "However, things have changed incredibly since I was your age and younger. I grew up in the seventies, and it couldn't have been a better time to grow up. But I think now, with social media and things like that, we see sides of people that we've never ever seen before because people are emboldened and can say something out into the air without having to go up to a person and say it to their face. I don't think that's a benefit to us, as I think it's a detriment to us. I'd like to think that I've set an example where we are respectful because we live in a respectful community. These are good people and I don't want to see something happen that would cause us to not be a community of good people."
Choosing to enter the political field, even at the municipal and community-oriented level, requires someone to have a thick skin because you're not going to have 100% support on every decision you may make along the way. Maureen says there's something of another formula to this picture, and the level of how much your role may impact you depends on how big your community may be.
"Of course there have!" she said, when asked if there have been negatives to serving as a mayor. "If you're going to be a politician, you have to understand that not everybody is going to like you. And that's fine. However, in a small community, there's a whole different dynamic that fits there. I don't know where Charlie Clark lives, and I don't know where the Premier goes to church. But when you live in a small town, everybody knows your husband, your family, where you live, where you shop, and where you bank. They know everything about you. People have been very respectful of me when I'm out in the grocery store, but I'm available. When you and I did this four years ago, I gave you my email and my telephone number and I said they're both available to anybody. For me, the negative is when people write on Facebook or talk at Coffee Row, but they have not come to see me. I find that very difficult. Monday Mornings with the Mayor have been wonderful. Sometimes nobody came and sometimes six people came, and often times people came to give me encouragement and tell me that we're going in the right direction, but people also came and said, 'Maureen, I don't like this, or I think we should be doing this', and I really respected that because at least they said it to my face. I tried to follow up religiously with people so that they would get an answer."
That said, the negatives of her role as Mayor weren't necessarily a bad thing at times because they were only part of what grew to be a bigger picture.
"The negative parts weren't always horrible," she said. "They caused us to grow and they caused us to listen, but I found that the social media was the negative that I really couldn't get over, and that's because I'm a people pleaser and it's hurtful. As far as what's happened in the past, that's in the past. There's no point in dragging out something that somebody else did. We have to do what we do. The pool? Of course! That's a negative and nobody cried more than I did, but guess what? Tomorrow is the 30th of August and the pool would be closed up for the year this coming weekend, and so we managed to live through it. We're well on our way to repairing it. Next year, I'm looking forward to swimming in the pool and swimming as a private citizen, and not as the mayor."
When Weiterman won her role in 2020, her victory also made Outlook history as it was the first time that a woman had been voted in as Mayor. Maureen says she takes pride in that fact, and she also hopes that other women will put their names forward to either run for mayor or a seat on town council, as she believes that having the female perspective on a number of topics can be key to arriving at the best solution at times.
"That's just amazing," she said, on having notched her own place in local history. "I'm so proud of when we had photos taken of people who are still living who served as mayor, and I think that's a great legacy for us. Girls can do all kinds of things. We just showed them that a woman can successfully be the mayor of Outlook. We've had women sitting on Council over the past 100+ years, but never an overwhelming amount of them. I'd like to see more women on the council. I think the most that we ever had was when I sat on Council with Maureen Applin and Donna Smith, so there were three of us. Women can do it, and they bring something different to the table."
Watching Weiterman at work, particularly at town council meetings where she has to lead the discussion and try to gather as many opinions and viewpoints, it becomes clear that she's very much a believer in that adage, 'Teamwork makes the dream work'. She's proud to serve in the role at all hours of the day, and she's proud to have worked with a Council who listened to both each other and to the community.
"I'm proud to be the mayor every day," said Maureen. "I go to bed thinking about being the mayor and I wake up in the morning thinking about being the mayor. When I go to bed on the night of November 13th and I wake up on the 14th, I won't be the mayor anymore, but that won't take away all the things we accomplished. The thing that I'm most proud of in being the mayor is that we educated our council, we educated our staff, and we're trying to educate the community. I think they are more understanding of how this works every day. I think that's probably what I'm the proudest of; the climate at the council table is that everyone is civil and respectful. I think that's a great legacy to have; that we're working as a cohesive group towards a common goal."
Knowing that she'll be bowing out in November and that someone new with a different mindset will be filling the mayoral role, Weiterman believes the next mayor of Outlook should be someone with open eyes and who sees the value in the direction that's been forged to this point.
"I think that to be the mayor, you have to have a tough skin, an open mind, and you need to be prepared to follow the path that we've set out now with regards to governance and operations," she said. "I hope that whomever becomes the mayor will see the value in that and continue to take it forward. We have a strategic plan now, we have a capital plan, and it's a much easier thing for someone to come in now then it was for us to come in four years ago. We have a direction and we have a CAO who has proven that he can take us forward. We have a good council and I hope there are many people coming back to that council. We'll also have some new people coming on Council obviously, but if they're willing to become educated and take the training, that'll be a great thing."
With the current state of ongoing projects and future aspirations for the riverside community, Maureen believes that the town of Outlook is only going to flourish in the coming years ahead. Things like the Railway subdivision are starting to show the potential for growth, which is something that more and more people are looking for in this community and area.
"We're going to have a new highway, that's for sure!" she said, on what things may look like in the coming years for Outlook. "We have a commitment from them for 2026 to have the rehabilitation of that highway through town. That's something that several mayors have been working on, so I'm looking forward to seeing that. I'm looking forward to seeing more buildings along the Railway subdivision. Also, with the development on the west side, Outlook is going to boom. Housing is a big one too, and we have developers who have expressed interest in the College South subdivision (just south of LCBI High School). I'd love to see that be developed. The rodeo is going to move from there because they see it themselves. We have the Housing Accelerator Fund, and we are one of three communities in Saskatchewan to receive that. That's a pretty big deal. We have set up a program that we think, along with the other incentives we offer, will be a good deal. Hopefully, this will help us get rid of some of our older properties, derelict properties or abandoned properties because we offer a demolition incentive and then incentives for the new building permits and things like that, so I'd like to see everything in-filled. That would be great as well. People are starting to realize that, hey, I could make that move to somewhere else, and I think it's a win-win for both."
It wasn't too long into her role that Maureen realized that being Outlook's mayor can feel like you have to be 'on' at all times. It can bring stress with it, and at times for Weiterman, it certainly has, but she looks back on the last four years with pride because it was through her and Team Outlook's efforts that general awareness of what's happening in the riverside community is perhaps at an all-time high.
So then, after the next Election Day in November, what exactly is next for Weiterman? Well, a vacation, for one.
"The thing about being the mayor is you're 24/7," she explained. "On some days, it's very quiet and you don't really do anything and the next thing you know, the phone is going off and you've got to run to the office, and those are the responsibilities that you have. But it's just the load that you carry in your mind. Ever since I made the announcement that I won't be running, that has lessened a bit because I carried everything. About two and a half years in, it was very heavy for me. I worked through it with the help of my family and my coworkers and my doctor, but it's because I just care so much. You know those little 'I Love Outlook' buttons? Everybody thought they were corny in the beginning, but you know what? I've gotten so much mileage from those buttons, it's just incredible. There are people all over this country and even in the USA wearing an 'I Love Outlook' button because they've given me an opportunity and it's opened the door for all kinds of conversation, either from people who live right here or people who I meet from far away. So, I want to take some time off, but Equinox Theatre has the Christmas Extravaganza coming up, and I'm involved in that. After Christmas, I think I'm just going to take six months off and maybe do nothing. Garth and I decided when I became the mayor that we wouldn't take any vacation, so we have not been away for more than a weekend in the last four years."
For anyone who may be interested in throwing their name into the hat in the race for mayor this coming fall, Maureen has some advice for you: keep an open mind and listen to what people have to say.
"Keep your ears open, your mind open, and when you need to, your mouth closed," she said. "That will serve you very, very well. Listen to what people have to say and be honest with them. If you don't know something, then tell them you don't know. If you can't fix it, tell them. But tell them, 'Give me your ideas and we can talk about it'. One other thing that I'd like to say is that one thing that we've tried to do is encourage community champions. Like Con Hammer and the Trail Blazers group to do with the SkyTrail; he's very much a community champion. I appreciate where he's coming from. We have lots of people like that, like the Bounty Hall champions. Those are the most wonderful thing. But like I said before: I'm only one person. We have an incredible group of councillors and we have an incredible group of staff. Team Outlook is here for the long haul, but they want to be here and it shows. I think over the last four years we've managed to develop and maintain a cohesive group of people. I cannot say enough about those people, and that's probably what's going to be the saddest part of me going because these people have become really good friends. I just want them to know that I respect them and that I appreciate everything that they've done for the town and for me."
