The first form of local rural government came into existence shortly after the districts settled. A five dollar per quarter section tax had to be paid. One half of this money was used for schools, the other half for local improvement. The area was then divided into Local Improvement Districts (LID), which were controlled by the Dept. of Municipal Affairs. The office for this LID was in Lemberg with Mr. Willis acting as first secretary. Mr. Matt Heil was the councillor from 1907 to 1913 when the present municipality was formed.
The first meeting of the McLeod Municipal Council was held on January 31, 1913, in Neudorf. Mr. M. Heil was elected as the first Reeve and the first councillors of Divisions one and four were W. Browne and P. Hupp respectively. Mr. G. F. Wanless was appointed secretary-treasurer, the position he held from 1913 to 1914. In 1914 applications were called for secretary treasurer. The successful tender was that of Mr. George Vanderbush at a salary of $535.00 per year. In the early years the government encouraged municipalities to maintain their roads, a prize being offered for the best maintained road. In 1914, the McLeod Municipality won a two hundred dollar prize for the best maintained road in the Melville constituency and a four hundred dollar prize for the best road in the province. Since the time of the early settler a great change has taken place. The progress can be marked by the breaking up of the prairie and bush land for the production of cereal and specialty crops and the construction of a network of roads to serve the ratepayers of the municipality.
As mentioned, in the early years, road construction was the main issue with the Municipality. Today,while road maintenance and construction still is of vital importance, the municipality is involved in other important issues relevant to changing times. Council is actively pursuing ethanol plant production, improved highway conditions, support of the regional library system, waste disposal site at Neudorf, economic development for the area in the municipality. The municipality supports St. Peter’s Hospital construction and has allotted $150,000.00 over five years to help pay for construction. The municipality previously supported construction of hospital facilities at Balcarres as well. Other services the municipality has supported are; the Health Region, where a donation towards medical equipment was made, a donations toward a van for the handicapped at St. Paul’s Lutheran Home, support for the Centennial 2005 celebrations of the village of Neudorf and the Town of Lemberg.
The current reeve is Cliff Allen since 2016 to present. The administrator since 1976 is Murray J. Hanowski.
Rural municipality first council 1913:
Reeve – Mathias Heil, Lemberg
Councillors; Div. 1 – Conrad Kletchko, Neudorf; Div. 2 – W. E. Bourne, Neudorf; Div. 3 – H. J. Jamieson, Lemberg; Div. 4 – Philip Hauser, Neudorf; Div. 5 – Philip Hupp, Neudorf; Div. 6 – Joseph G. Slater, Lemberg.