City Clerk/Solicitor Myron Gulka-Teichko Speaks About Retirement
By Robert Thomas
It was an evening of tearing up and tissues as City Clerk/Solicitor Myron Gulka-Teichko attended his last Council meeting under the employment of the City of Moose Jaw.
After 13 years working for the City, Gulka-Teichko’s last day will be this Wednesday July 28th.
Following Monday evening’s regular Council Meeting Gulka-Teichko spoke to the media present - MJ Independent and Moose Jaw Express - in a candid conversation about working for the City, his thoughts on retirement and his future plans.
“It is obviously very emotional for me. It (retirement) is something you see off in the distance and when you come face to face with it, it is a very sobering moment,” he said.
View the short video below to see what Myron Gulka-Teichko said at Council about his tenure working for the City of Moose Jaw.
Gulka-Teichko said he was “very flattered” by the comments expressed by members of Council at his final meeting.
Comments which two weeks earlier were suppose to have been a “roast” in the words of Mayor Fraser Tolmie but in the end came out as gratitude and tributes for the work Gulka-Teichko had done on behalf of the City of Moose Jaw.
“I was very worried they could have pelted me with examples out of the (past) but they showed some reservation.”
How people at City Hall get along and work together to resolve the daily issues of running the City of Moose Jaw is the thing he said he will remember the most.
“I was always impressed with the collegiality with the Mayor and staff and dealing with the problems…the team work of the City staff is certainly something I will cherish and remember,” Gulka-Teichko said. “I would like to pay tribute to my co-workers in the City who pitched in.”
Retiring City Clerk/Solicitor Myron Gulka-Teichko talks about his 13 years working for the City of Moose Jaw - MJ Independent photo
Gulka-Teichko was the City’s Clerk/Solicitor through some of the most tumultuous years the City of Moose Jaw has experienced - issues such as finding the funding for the cast iron water main replacement program, expansion of the City’s boundaries to attract industry, the Multi-Plex fight as well as Moose Jaw hosting major events are just some of the issues he witnessed as the City’s Solicitor.
Asked what the biggest challenge he faced as City Clerk/Solicitor Gulka-Teichko said it was the cast iron water main replacement program and finding the funding in the will-power to get it going.
Over 20 years the City of Moose Jaw is replacement all of the cast iron water mains in the city. The cast iron water mains are either at the end of their life cycle or they are beyond it costing the City and taxpayers millions of dollars annually to make repairs.
Replacing the lines with new water mains will eventually mean that the number of cast iron water main breaks will be reduced and the new lines mean water security for the city as a whole.
Administration and the previous Council lead by Mayor Deb Higgins had voted to utilize a Local Improvement Program (LIP) a move fought by opponents successfully in a referendum vote. The City at the time wanted home-owners to pay a portion of replacing the cast iron water mains in front of their homes - or they benefitted from - while opponents of the LIP wanted the water mains replaced fully through property taxes.
Despite Administration losing the referendum Gulka-Teichko was philosophical about it pointing out a major silver lining - the LIP and Referendum finally got people realizing the gravity of the situation.
“Probably the biggest challenge was cast iron…trying to come up with some equitable way to finance cast iron was one of the biggest challenges I was up against,” he said, adding “one satisfying point is it brought the issue to the fore and people realized it was one issue you couldn’t sweep under the rug.”
“one satisfying point is it brought the issue to the fore and people realized it was one issue you couldn’t sweep under the rug.””
Prior to his employment with the City of Moose Jaw Gulka-Teichko was employed, and headed up, the legal department of SaskPower.
Asked about the differences and benefits of each type of law Gulka-Teichko said in some ways they were similar but in many others they were not. Each system had it’s strong points.
“Your job is in your face everyday (with a municipality). Citizens come and tell you what they think. They have no inhibitions to telling their complaints and concerns…all such basic needs and people have opinions on everything…In a large corporation you are insulated you are never in a situation you have to interact with Cabinet Ministers on a weekly basis but (in a municipality) you are meeting with elected officials all of the time…each have their own benefits…”
Despite working for the City being a more personal and complaint driven process Gulka-Teichko said he enjoyed it because he “enjoyed working with people.” He said he tried his best to treat everyone - whether fellow staff or the public - with respect and dignity at all times.
He said for many of the people and problems he has encountered with the City the underlying problem is that many people do not understand what has happened and once there is communication many people understand why something was done.
“Often it is in an issue of not communicating and once they hear the answer they are understanding."
Gulka-Teichko said that he would soon discover some new freedoms he has never really had in his life.
“…freedoms deciding to where and when to do things,” he said about what retirement after Wednesday will present to him.
“My wife (of 44 years Diane) tells me I will feel different about Sunday nights going forward and and Monday mornings won’t matter…” he said about his wife who retired seven years ago as a high school principal with the Regina Public School Division.
Gulka-Teichko said with him working and his wife now successfully retired that there is going to be an adjustment period.
“One of the things is to see how I fit into the picture.”
Asked by MJ Independent if he had any plans as a solicitor to perhaps work in the legal profession doing such things as wills or sit on the board of a NGO, Gulka-Teichko said his plans right now do not entail that.
“I have no career plans. I just want to reset and relax from here.”
One thing he is looking forward to is seeing his son, Brayden, in British Columbia who he hasn’t seen in over a year because of the COVID - 19 pandemic.
He has two sons employed in the legal profession - one working for the provincial government in BC (Brayden) and one who practices law in Regina (Kellan).
For the past 20 years Gulka-Teichko has been a season ticket holder with the Saskatchewan Roughriders something he intends to continue and enjoy.
Another thing he is looking forward to, now that his working weekdays are free, is the opportunity to go and visit the family’s cabin located at Crystal Lake. Crystal Lake is a 45 minute drive north of Yorkton near the Canora area where he came from and his wife’s hometown of Preeceville.
A major thing he is looking forward to is the time to go out and work at his hobby of landscaping and gardening. The couple have moved from a two story home into a bungalow which Gulka-Teichko described as having “two shrubs in the yard.”
“So I have a blank canvas to work on. So next year’s projects are going to make the yard more interesting.”
As far as advice and pointers for the new City Solicitor to replace him Gulka-Teichko said it would be a new discovery.
“Everybody needs to sort their way to a new job when they come into it. You always try to have an open door,” he said, adding “people need to be treat with dignity and respected no matter if they are a co-worker or the public.”