Esterhazy town council votes not to absorb Village of Yarbo into Town of Esterhazy

September 29, 2025, 9:22 am
Nicole Taylor, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

At a special town council meeting held on Monday morning at the SN Boreen Centre, Esterhazy town council unanimously voted not to absorb the village of Yarbo into the town of Esterhazy.

Around 70 people came out to the meeting to watch each councillor discuss their reason for their decision and then to cast a recorded vote.

The idea of the two communities joining together was presented to Esterhazy in February after restructuring between Yarbo and the RM of Langenburg was officially put on hold effective January 2, 2025. Usually, when a village dissolves, it becomes part of the rural municipality surrounding it, which receives an annual Communities in Transition Fund for the following 10 years.

After restructuring with the RM of Langenburg was put on hold, the village approached the town of Esterhazy about becoming part of the town—something that is unprecedented in Saskatchewan.

A survey of Esterhazy residents was sent out in the summer to gage public opinion about the restructuring, with the majority of those who filled out the survey against it.

Council was notified by the provincial government that the Yarbo merger deadline was set for September 30 at midnight, and that the government wanted an answer on whether the merger would take place by then, so they held a special meeting on Monday to make their decision.

“I feel like there just wasn’t enough information,” said Mayor Randy Bot after the meeting. “Another thing is that there’s funding for an RM to take over Yarbo, but tour municipality didn’t have the funding and we would need to change legislation. That would be very costly for the community.

“But ultimately I think it was the vote from the public. The votes came back 183 opposed and 44 in favor. I believe that the councillors as well as myself felt that we were voted in by the public to be their voice. So everyone felt like we had to listen to the votes of the taxpayers, and they were opposed, so therefore we were opposed.

“We went around the table [for discussion], and everyone said their piece. It leaned more towards the fact that we needed to listen to the voice of the taxpayers and take care of Esterhazy first. That was the general opinion about it. We felt like there wasn’t enough information present at the time. To hear on Wednesday (September 24) that the decision had to be made by September 30, that kind of rushed things and at this point we just couldn’t make that decision.”
During the discussion at the special meeting, Bot read out a letter he had written explaining his reasoning for opposing the merger.

“From the beginning . . . I have approached this discussion with an open mind. I see the potential benefits of becoming more regional in our approach, whether that is shared resources, stronger representation, or the long-term opportunities that might come with expanding our community footprint,” he said. “There is a value in exploring new ways to strengthen our region, and I do not discount that.

“However I was elected in this role to serve the people of Esterhazy. Over the past months I have heard their voices clearly through the formal letters of opposition, the public vote which showed 183 opposed and 43 in favor, and through countless personal conversations where residents shared their thoughts, both positive and negative.

“My responsibility as mayor is to listen to those voices, weigh them carefully and act in the best interest of the community I represent.

“At this time it is clear to me that the majority of people I serve do not support the merger. As such I can not support the move forward with it.

“This does not mean we close the door on working regionally. On the contrary, I believe we must continue to collaborate with our neighboring municipalities, including Yarbo, in ways that strengthen our services, our economy and the quality of life without compromising the will of the people who place their trust in us.”
Councillor Nicole Kripki said she has learned a lot through the process and believed there was some opportunity if the town were to merge with Yarbo, especially since the village is on a rail line, which could lead to some development.

“However I was not elected on a mandate to add Yarbo to Esterhazy but to represent Esterhazy and get the issues here resolved locally,” she added. “The letters written and the poll indicate that at this time it is not what the community wants.”

Other councillors said they just didn’t feel there was enough information from the provincial government and too many unanswered questions to make an informed and hasty decision.

“How can you make a decision when you don’t know what will happen,” said councillor Marty Pfeifer. “First you make your entity as efficient as possible before you expand, and we have a lot of work to do in this town first.”
Almost all councillors agreed that regional partnerships with the surrounding municipalities were important, but that absorbing Yarbo was not the way to go.
Council passed a recorded vote to oppose the submission of the application to the Ministry of Government Relations to restructure the Village of Yarbo to the town of Esterhazy.