Siemens retires after two decades on council

The City of Steinbach will lose a veteran councillor after Jac Siemens announced he will not run again in a Thursday announcement.

Siemens is finishing his fifth term on city council, though he recalls that when he first was elected in 2006, he anticipated to be there for two terms only.

“The decision is not an easy one as I have enjoyed the last 20 years on council,” he said.

Siemens said there was no single reason for his decision to not seek a sixth term, saying family and projects that aren’t being completed all played a role.

“I feel I am a young soon to be 70-year-old,” he said. “It is time for younger people who have a bigger vision for Steinbach.”

Siemens has seen a lot of changes since he first took office.

Since then, the population of the city has grown from 11,000 to 22,000, five signalized intersections have turned into 13, and 5,200 private dwelling units now total 7,500 which means an average of 115 dwelling units have been built each year for the last 20.

“Looking back, it has been an interesting 20 years with many decisions that have affected how Steinbach has grown,” he said. “Major changes in our thought process like adding the CBD (Central Business District), changing how we see our downtown or the annexation of 2,800 acres from the RM of Hanover in 2018 that secures our land development for the next 40 to 50 years.”

Siemens has been on council as projects have been accomplished including the lagoon expansion, Bush Farm pathway, completion of the soccer park, the Southeast Event Centre, a development plan that includes greenways and walking/bike paths, a ladder truck for the fire department, “share the road” signage to make cycling safer, highway upgrades and updating the community plan.

Siemens said he has learned lessons while on council.

The difference between management and governance became clear early on. Siemens retired after 18-and-a-half years working for the city initially as a facility foreman.

He said he also learned how much power he did not have as a councillor.

“I have many great ideas, but they are useless, unless, I can convince at least some of council of how good they are,” he said. “While council doesn’t always agree with the ideas or decisions made, we are still a team and address each other on the issue not our different personalities.”

Understanding the language of variations, zoning, community plans, acronyms, bylaws and how they work together was also a process as was discovering that often someone won’t leave a council meeting happy.

“While council generally makes the right decisions, we are not here to make everyone happy as we do have to work within the policies that we have created,” he said.

Knowing each word at a council meeting is recorded, presented live online and reported in the press also takes getting used to.

“How I would like to be heard and understood becomes part of how I prepare for each meeting,” he said.

And there are decisions that Siemens said he would like to take back.

At his second council meeting in 2006, Siemens said they had a request to split a large corner lot.

He didn’t think it was a good idea, but it came with a recommendation to approve from administration, and the previous council had given approval to similar requests in the past.

“While I didn’t think it was a good idea I was afraid or reluctant to speak to the issue and kept quiet with my opinion,” he said, noting the request was approved. “I drive by that corner frequently when council is faced with a difficult decision and it reminds me that I need to add my voice to the discussion.”

Siemens said his vision has always been to make Steinbach a great place to live, raise a family, work, worship and ride a bike.

Because the next city council will have at least two new councillors, due to openings for Siemens’ retirement and Coun. Michael Zwaagstra’s decision not to seek re-election, he urged the rookies to do their homework.

That includes studying all the reports, and when possible, talking to the applicant as well.

“There’s another whole story that’s not necessarily being told by administration because their job is to follow policy.”