Corman Park Reeve Judy Harwood after 12 years calls it quits

After 12 years serving the Rural Municipality of Corman Park as reeve and six years as a councillor, Judy Harwood has announced she will not seek re-election in this fall’s municipal election.

The municipality, located around Saskatoon, has seen a lot of growth during her time as reeve.

“I had a good run. I look in the mirror and realize I’m not getting any younger – I’m getting older and I think 12 years is a long time as reeve,” Harwood said. “I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished at Corman Park and our council and administration. But I think it’s time to pass it on to someone else and keep moving forward.”

During her time as reeve, Harwood said the biggest challenge she and the council had to face was population growth.

Despite the council losing a wealth of experience in Harwood, she said the municipality is in good hands.

“I think they are. I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished and I think we’re in good hands with administration,” she explained. “We’ve got some councillors who have been there 20 years and plus and close to 20 years, so we’ve got the history.”

Harwood added in her retirement she plans on riding her new horse a lot, but also mentioned she isn’t fully planning to shut things down.

“I hope there’s still an opportunity for some boards or something to still keep the brain moving forward,” she said. “We’ll see what happens as time marches on.”

Harwood added she won’t be leaving the RM and looks forward to staying in the community.

Joe Hargrave will take over the role as reeve after being the only nominee.

He’ll take over on Nov. 25 when the swearing-in ceremony takes place. Harwood will be in the reeve position until Nov. 18 as council has one last special meeting.

Harwood thinks the biggest challenge facing the municipality will be dealing with water and having capacity.