Coun. Jim Taylor says he’s learned a lot over the last year since being elected to Lloydminster’s current city council.
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The first-time councillor has had plenty of new experiences, including time spent engaging with community and bringing his unique view to the council table. Overall, he says it’s been a good experience.
“It’s been positive. I think it was well received by the community,” said Taylor.
In his time around the council table, Taylor realized the questions he had before getting his seat on council were finally being answered.
“The biggest thing that I’ve learned, or I’ve appreciated, is that the questions that I was asked or that I was asking before I was on council, I now get answers to,” he said, noting he’s been able to bring a unique point of view to council.
“The thing I’ve enjoyed or been proud of is just trying to stay true to what I wanted to bring to council, you know, the small business guy, the family person and that perspective,” he said. “I think, if anything, it’s not one moment, it’s my perspective that I’m bringing to council; I’m adding to six different views.
“I try to bring something different, try to think it from my point of view and I appreciate the other council members and how different it is in the opinions.”
In the last two months of 2025, Taylor has had the opportunity to represent the city as deputy mayor and said his favourite experience in the top seat was being present for a grant presentation.
“I think the biggest one was the Saskatchewan Bursaries Grant,” he said. “That was nice to be there to honour new entrepreneurs. As an entrepreneur myself, I’ve had multiple different businesses in the city. To see new businesses starting up and be there to congratulate them and on behalf of the city and the province, that was fun to be involved in.”
Looking forward, Taylor says he’s going to continue learning about how things work.
“I think 2026 and moving on, (it’s about) being responsible and diving deep into how things work,” he said.
The time on council has helped him gain a better understanding of what questions need to be asked.
“Now that I’m a year in, I understand how things work a lot differently than when I first came in,” said Taylor. “Knowing when, how and what questions to ask moving forward, I think are going to be key for me in the future.”
Following the approval of Lloydminster’s 2026 budget on Nov. 24, Taylor reflected on the process and commended administration for its efforts.
“Administration did a great job putting it together,” he said. “I thought it was going to be much more daunting and a lot more difficult as far as understanding the budget.”
He points out the city is still dealing with decisions made by past councils.
“I still think there’s lots of things on budget that we’ve encountered and decisions that were made in previous council that we now have to deal with,” said Taylor.
He concluded his reflection on his time on council by acknowledging the work of administration and emphasizing that bringing the city together is a team effort.
“I want to mention that really stands out to me is the hard work that administration does,” he said. “One thing I’ve learned is how much work goes into operating a city of our size. We’re not just a small town. We’re a small town with big-city problems.
“It’s more than just six people and the mayor sitting there asking questions. It’s a huge team and we’re one city that, if we all want it to be better, we have to work together to make it better.”
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