The new mayor of Radville took office only a few weeks before the end of the year but he did not come as a novice to the job.

Terry Calibaba was chair of the town's economic development committee and the rodeo committee, a big event in the area, at the time he accepted the position by acclamation after a second nomination call was required this fall.

"Somebody had to step up to the plate," he said in a recent interview.

The town of 850 people, with a trading area of about 3,000, experienced some positive and encouraging developments this year, as well as a few that were fairly trying.

The collapse of a well supplying about 25 per cent of the population's water supply is one of the latter.

Although it was only five or six years old, the well had to be redrilled at a cost of about $40,000-50,000 from the town's financial reserves. The process left the population with water restrictions for about a month in the fall and a big hole in the reserves that's tough to fill up, he said.

During that month, the town took extra water from its other source, the Long Creek River.

The development of the old elementary school building into a business centre called Innovation Centre was more positive, said Calibaba.

Five businesses have moved into the centre, three of them new to the town. It's good stuff, he said.

The South East REDA, the Southeast Regional College, and the Violence Intervention Program all have established their presence in the new centre, as well.

Local businesses also have been selling to new owners this past year rather than shutting down, he said.

A fast food outlet, a department store franchise and a grocery store have changed hands and nothing has shut down for a couple of years.

That means although the town hasn't grown in recent years, it's not declining, either, he said. "We're holding our own," he said.

Town council already has developed a set of goals for the next three years and will work on a three-year vision for the town early in the new year.

The town also has a new web page to try to attract new residents and businesses and has called in a Regina consultant early in the new year to work with the town's economic development plan.