TEN YEARS WITH ATCH
Don Atchison is celebrating his 10th year as mayor. Will he run for another term?
After 10 years leading Saskatoon, Mayor Don Atchison refuses to rule out another run.
He won’t commit to another campaign, either.
“Well, first of all, the assumption would be that we are running again,” Atchison said in an interview this week. “So the question would be: Why wouldn’t we run? I can’t think of any reason right now. There’s so much to do.”
Atchison marked 10 years as mayor on Tuesday, and one year since his most recent election on Thursday. When he finishes his current mandate in 2016, he will be the city’s longest-serving mayor, at 13 years.
Despite the 10-year milestone, Atchison, 61, said he still loves the job and has not started to think about his legacy.
“I never think of stuff like that,” he said. “My focus all the time is getting things done that need to be done.”
University of Saskatchewan political studies professor Joe Garcea said Atchison has won four elections by firmly securing the centre-right vote, while also garnering some support from the centre-left.
“He’s got a bit of a rainbow coalition across the centre,” said Garcea, who teaches local government. “He’s not seen as a mayor for just one constituency, like for business.”
Although Saskatoon tends to embrace incumbents — two of Atchison’s recent predecessors, Cliff Wright and Henry Dayday, also each won four elections — Garcea said Atchison’s populist style serves him well.
“His style is boosterism,” Garcea said. “He’s a mayor who’s not shy. He’s proud of the city.”
Atchison’s enthusiasm for promoting the city also provides ammunition for his critics, who feel he sometimes excludes councillors from taking part, Garcea said, adding critics also view Atchison’s pro-development stance as sometimes blinding him to other concerns, like environment and heritage. The mayor suffered his biggest political scare in 2012, when newcomer Tom Wolf got nearly half the vote. Atchison’s victory was a narrow 52 per cent to 47 per cent and he received lass than half the vote in all core neighbourhoods inside Circle Drive. Atchison’s campaign manager said at the close of the campaign that the incumbent “became the lightning rod of the pothole.”
“I guess there’s some people that don’t appreciate the direction the city is going in,” Atchison said. “The way I look at it is we still had the majority of the people in Saskatoon say that the city is going in the right direction.”
Wolf ’s campaign targeted the lack of action on core infrastructure, but also attacked Atchison’s boosterism, stating at one point: “We’re doing a lot more than just saying, ‘Saskatoon shines.’ ”
Garcea said Atchison fell victim to a perception that there could be better management at city hall and that there is a lack of consultation with the public. Atchison indicated this week that he does not support referendums on municipal issues.
Former councillor Owen Fortosky said he and the mayor differed greatly on key issues like the direction of development in the city and the influence the business community wielded over Atchison.
“We could really duke it out in council chambers ... but when we left the chambers he treated me and others with a great deal of respect,” said Fortosky, who was a councillor from 2000- 2006.
Despite his perceived flaws, those who have worked closely with the mayor see a tireless worker.
“I think he’s the hardestworking mayor I’ve ever worked with,” said Glen Penner, who served for 26 years as a councillor over five decades and worked with five mayors. “There’s nothing he won’t go to or be a part of.”
Penner said people might not realize how much reading Atchison does to familiarize himself with the issues. Atchison’s background in sports — he played goalie for the Saskatoon Blades and had a brief minor professional career — made him realize the importance of teamwork, Penner said.
Atchison has used his approach to tackle the city’s important issues. In 2003, when he was first elected, his priorities were to improve the police service and address the need for attainable housing.
He pointed out that Saskatoon took a different path than Regina did to ensure new apartments were built, and now has a respectable vacancy rate of 2.6 per cent, despite Saskatoon’s substantial growth.
Now that people feel safe in Saskatoon, Atchison said he is focusing on roads as the city’s biggest problem.
“We’ve got the best police force in Canada, we’ve got the No. 1 housing program in Canada, and we’re going to end up with the best roads in Canada,” he said. “Because I believe being No. 1 is the only place for us to be. Because anyone can be No. 2.”
Phil Richards, who retired in 2009 after 10 years as city manager, called Atchison a visionary who has worked hard to take the city forward.
“It was fun to work with him,” Richards said. “He worked hard, so you had to work hard. He has his vision, his ideas and his dreams and he works hard to make sure that they’re accomplished.”