7 New Swift Current City Council sworn in during virtual ceremony
A virtual swearing in ceremony for the new Swift Current City Council was held via Zoom on November 23.
New Mayor Al Bridal along with the six city councillors were officially sworn in during a remote ceremony presided over by Provincial Court Judge Karl Bazin. Rising COVID19 cases in Swift Current and area prevented an in-person ceremony from occurring.
Newly proclaimed mayor Bridal admitted he was overjoyed to finally be sworn in after winning the municipal election back on November 12.
“I was excited to be sworn in. I wasn’t jumping up and down in my chair. I was trying to sit here very solemn. But inside I was doing a backflip,” he said during a post ceremony press conference last Monday.
Bridal noted the new council had one informal gathering in advance of the swearing in ceremony in order to get to know each other. Bridal is joined on council by returning councillors Ryan Plewis and Pat Friesen, returning veteran council member John Wall, and newcomers Leanne Tuntland-wiebe, Tom Christiansen, and Ryan Switzer.
“We introduced ourselves to each other and introduced our ideas and our thoughts and visions for the next four years. And we had some very interesting, not really debate, but some ideas came up that others wondered about. So we had some good discussion and we spent about two and a half hours.”
“We all had a few little things we’d like to see done in the city. One of the key things for everybody was to make sure our infrastructure maintenance was kept up, and our building maintenance, and our parks.”
“At the end of the night we had a bit of a gameplan for some things we’re looking forward to this fall already.”
Among the first actions of the new council will to begin deliberating on the 2021 budget and to look at ways of supporting businesses in the community.
“We’re looking at the budget and the budgeting process. Because the budget’s going to set our tone for next year. And we know that COVID-19’S been a big hit to all of us financially, to the whole community. We talked about growing our community, growing our business sector, try to hold onto the businesses we have. What sorts of things we can do to encourage people to shop local,” Bridal said.
He confirmed that the 2021 budget will not be released in December, which had been an initiative of the previous council.
“It’s not going to happen before the end of the year, guaranteed,” Bridal said. “We’re going to have to take a serious look at the budget and we do not have enough time.”
He noted that administration had already been working on the 2021 budget for a number of months with the assumption they would be presenting a budget this calendar year.
“What I ran on, and many of the newly elected councillors ran on watching how much we spend and where we spend it. And the only way we’re going to be able to do that is to take some time with this budget.”
“Administration is going to work on it, and then we are going to work on it as a council and see where we can still provide all the services that the citizens of Swift Current require, but possibly not spend some places that in the past they had spent on.”
Bridal’s goal is to have the budget presented by the end of February, but that may also be a lofty goal as they have to pour over a just under $63 million budget.
“One of the things that I want to look at is our existing swimming pool. I know that we need to do an upgrade on the interior of that. And can we do it this year? I certainly hope so. But that will have to be inside the budget process to find that money.”
Bridal agreed that the rising impact of COVID19 across the province, including right in Swift Current, will also be an area of concern.
“As council we need to reassure our citizens that we’re going to do everything we can to keep all the business open we can, and to keep it as normal as we can.”
Council held their inaugural meeting on November 30 after press deadline. For details on items discussed during their first council meeting visit www.swbooster.com.