The RM of Armstrong's reeve says taking on the leadership position, and many new councillors made for a decent year in the municipality. Reeve Jack Cruise has completed his first full year at the head of council. However, he's no stranger to council chambers, spending about 20 years as a councillor prior to taking eight years off from municipal government. Cruise says he feels the past year went reasonably well, and he's been able to get used to the reeve's chair. However, he notes there is still a sense of frustration when it comes to dealing with red tape before they're able to move forward on a project.

"Probably the biggest thing I'm frustrated with is the red tape that seems to be involved with things. I've been away from council for eight years and I'm used to running my own farm and doing my own business, where if I make a decision it's what happens tomorrow. Dealing with all the red tape that's involved with the decisions we have to make as council is sometimes frustrating, but that's the way it has to be and eventually things get done."

He notes many new councillors, and himself being new to the reeve's position meant it took some time to get everything sorted out at the beginning of the year. However, he says they were still able to start work on a number of files.

"We're starting to work on economic development, the initial stages of our nuisance ground redevelopment. We did put a bit of a priority on getting some roadside brushing done this year. It didn't always go quite as well as we'd hoped, but I think it's going to work. Over three or four years I think we're going to see an improvement in cleaning up our roadsides and clearing out the ditches."

While he admits the position of reeve can be difficult at times, he feels the last year went reasonably well.