What do local governments do?
Municipal candidates spoke a great deal during the campaign about a lot of issues — but the scope of municipal government is actually fairly limited.
They are responsible for infrastructure like water and sewer services and managing the dump. The city is also in charge of picking up garbage, clearing roads and sidewalks, and making sure transit buses run properly.
It also manages land use through construction permitting and zoning, as well as setting mill rates and assessing property values.
The city maintains facilities like the library, fieldhouse and pool, and outdoor spaces like the walking trail around Frame Lake and the Somba K’e Park.
Then there’s emergency services. The City of Yellowknife has a fire division as well as emergency medical services.
This is hardly an exhaustive list, but hopefully helps provide a sense of what sort of decisions Yellowknife’s new mayor and city council will have to make.
