It's been a tumultuous first half for members of Moose Jaw City Council - who were elected in 2016 - as they embark on the last two years of their current term.

Between increased financial pressure to do infrastructure work to budget cuts from the province to changes in funding models to the scandal at the Downtown Facility and Field House, it's been a tough 24 months.

Rookie councillor Crystal Froese said she's hoping they'll be able to work on some of the other projects that need attention, instead of being blocked by the big-ticket items.

“Lobbying the government to have more police officers funded here in our city...it’s an important initiative and one that kinda fell under the radar previously. We continue to be underfunded in comparison to some of the smaller cities here in the province.”

Froese is also hoping to see a new communication and tracking program implemented at City Hall. “A software program or something that would help modernize the communications when people call in for complaints, that we could actually track. There are lots of programs out there that do this, and that just has not yet been put in place. For this budget, this is actually something that our I/T department is actually now looking into.”

Improving communication between City Hall and residents has been a topic that continues to come up in surveys and comments on social media, so Froese is hoping the new program will actually make it through the budget process.

The Downtown Facility and Field House investigation was also a big issue for Froese. She sat on the board that was disbanded and sanctioned for the way employee complaints were handled.