Humboldt's outgoing Mayor likely made his last appearance at a podium while in the role yesterday.

Malcolm Eaton spoke to a crowd during the Humboldt and District Chamber of Commerce's luncheon providing his take on how the city has progressed in his time as Mayor as well as his opinion on the future.

Eaton believes the growth has slowed somewhat but Humboldt is still an attractive location for business and development alike.

"There's still things happening, there's still people coming to the city looking to do development and to do different kinds of projects whether it's new business or housing developments so that work is continuing. People do have there eye on the BHP Jansen project to see where that's going for sure."

Eaton looked back on his time in the big chair during the address, one thing he highlighted was the cooperation of surrounding communities and RM's that has taken place, he believes the Mid-Sask Municipal Alliance is something that needs to continue for the good of the region.

"Here's the kinds of resources we have available, this is the quality of life, this is what you get when you come and invest. We've got a lot to offer in terms of recreation and cultural facilities, we've got great friendly communities, we've got communities with good schools and good educational opportunities."

As he always has, Eaton boasted about the rich potash deposits in the area but he also stressed BHP's Jansen site isn't the make or break project for our region.

"Now we've got another potash mine coming along and that's going to be another tremendous asset to the region but it's part of the bigger picture. It's one of several assets, it's what makes our region so interesting and attractive, it's got a diverse number of things going on."

Eaton also provided his suggestions to future Councilors and the Mayor regarding how to deal with growth and progression, he simply stated that having a plan to implement within the next decade is imperative or they will be behind the eight ball and it's tough to catch up.

"Once you have the plans you are able to begin to talk about implementation and implementation means you are going to have to talk about how you are going to pay for things and how you're going to fund things over the long term."

"That's going to be the challenge for a new council and mayor."

In May, Eaton announced he won't run in the upcoming civic election on October 26th. 

You can hear more from Eaton below as he spoke to Bolt FM's Clark Stork and the Humboldt Journal's Rebecca Zimmer following the event.