Reeves play an important role in rural communities

By Joan Janzen

Bill Owens has been Reeve of the R.M. of Snipe Lake for eight years and was also a councillor for 12 years. He was born and raised in Eston on the family farm his grandfather homesteaded in 1906. “He was one of the first homesteaders in the country and had the first post office in this area,” he said. Now, Bill is semi-retired from farming, and his son and grandson have taken over the farm, which is located near Eston.

Bill Owens, Reeve of the RM of Snipe Lake.

He’s witnessed many changes in farming throughout the years. “Years ago, we grew wheat, barley, and some flax. Now there’s a lot of other crops grown. You get into a crop rotation and stick to it,” he said. Of course, the prices of machinery, fertilizer, and chemicals have all increased. While prices increased and grain farms mushroomed in size, the population decreased as a result.

He’s been an active volunteer in the community. “When you live in the community, you do lots of things and don’t think about it because it’s a job that has to be done,” he reasoned. Bill has coached hockey and has belonged to the Masonic Lodge and Wildlife Federation throughout the years.

While all of his past experience was beneficial, Bill said his time spent as a councillor helped prepare him for the position of Reeve. “You learn as you go,” he said.

He had just attended a day of meetings, and said a lot can be learned by networking with others. “If you’re going to keep up with everything, it requires attending a lot of meetings,” he said.

“We just finished putting in a rural water line taking water to the farms, which is in the neighbourhood of 300 feet of pipe in the ground. That really benefits the area,” Bill said, acknowledging it is probably the largest project they’ve tackled.

At the local level, he said everybody is concerned about the most important road in the R.M., “and that’s the road they drive on”, he chuckled. As well as keeping up with infrastructure, the R.M. deals with culverts, and as soon as it warms up they’ll put out the road bans.

“Ever since I’ve started we’ve been building roads and have been fortunate to get government grants to build a lot of miles of roads,” he explained. He also looks after maintaining roads in the R.M.

The R.M. of Snipe Lake has been fortunate to have many loyal employees. “Most of our employees have lived here, so they tend to stay longer,” he commented. “Our foreman retired last summer after working for 40 years. So that says something to have someone work that long.”

The most recent dump of snow kept the R.M. crew busy. “When it snows, you just get at it and work till you catch up again. You have to keep the road open, and sometimes that can be a challenge, but you have to learn to work through it,” he said.

Bill has worked through a few winter seasons during his terms as Reeve and now thinks he’s put in enough time. “The Next election is coming up in November, and I don’t plan on running again,” he said. But he does plan to tinker around with his woodworking hobby, something he previously didn’t have time to enjoy.