Elected in November of 2020 during a memorable snowstorm, Mayor Al Bridal and the team of largely first-term councillors are finishing up a freshman year that, in many ways was unlike any other.

This council's stewardship began in the digital realm, as the COVID-19 pandemic had forced the closure of city services and the adoption of new technologies like Zoom and Teams to perform the necessary day-to-day operations of running a city.

It wasn't until midway through their freshman year when in-person council meetings began to take place once again; first with no spectators, then with spectators, and then quickly again without as a second wave began to sweep through the city and region.

Speaking with Swift Current Online, Mayor Bridal spoke about some of those challenges, the highs and the lows and looking ahead into year two.

"One of the highlights for me has been working with the council that I have and working with the senior administrative staff and how much I have enjoyed that. How much I've learned from council and from our Swift Current administration staff."

He added that the breadth and depth of experience on council, consisting of all walks of life and all ages, made for a broad cross-section of society that was helpful to running a modern city.

He was also quick to point out the city's administration staff, saying that it was inherently helpful to have a skilled and experienced administration staff working with you during the first year. While most of the council was new, the administration staff largely carried over from the previous administration.

"They know how the city runs. They know what sort of makes it tick, and it's been a huge help for me and all of council to rely on their expertise...Having the experience behind us with the administration so they could tell us if I was doing something wrong or needed to correct something; give us information. It's been a huge plus."

Bridal noted that disagreements did occur in all different directions of course; Mayor to council, Mayor to Administration, Administration to Council, etc. But that, unlike some other places, the discourse, and more importantly, the underlying respect for themselves and for each other, keeps those disagreements from falling into partisanship and polarization.

Often looking to the south and the adversarial nature of the political divide in the United States, he tends to shake his head at the notion that disagreement equals enmity; insisting that just because two people may exist on opposite shores of a political gulf, that doesn't make them enemies.

The fact that that doesn't seem to exist on the current council is something that he is thankful for.

"Just having the respect and the respectfulness. Having respect for ourselves and for each other so that we can talk in a respectful manner even though I may not agree with somebody's opinion or idea. If there's respect there, that's how politics are supposed to be handled and that's how it should be handled."

While Bridal says that there were a number of things that he was most proud of accomplishing in the year of seemingly unprecedented challenges, he pivots quickly to what he is most proud of; simply making it through the year and coming out the other side with the city coming back to life; especially in terms of its extra-curricular sports and activities.

One of the biggest challenges in his opinion was the sheer number of cancelled events, be it the CCA rodeo, curling and hockey events, the Christmas Tree lighting and a whole host of others that cities would not only have a hand in helping to organize but that residents traditionally enjoyed.

With so many events off the table for a year or more, Bridal is most proud of the city itself; its residents and businesses, for coming through the other side and working hard to get the city's hundreds of extra-curricular events back into action quickly while adapting to the new reality of a pandemic that is likely to be with us for a good while longer.

"I think I'm most proud of the fact that we have so many activities happening again and it could be line dancing. It might be quiltmaking. There are so many different things happening and I think at one time Community Services I believe there are over 100 different people or 100 and some different organizations that rent our facilities. For all sorts of things almost, from Tiddlywinks to Hockey. So it's good to see."

Looking ahead to year number two, Bridal sees a number of more challenges on the horizon, like a looming municipal budget that will offer some so-called "stressors" for the city that will force some questions to be asked about where the extra money comes from. As well, the uncertainty of COVID-19 and the continuing support from the federal and provincial levels of government, all make for an interesting challenge in planning for a second year in the big chairs of city council.

Despite the challenges, however, Mayor Bridal likes to look at things moving forward through the prism of an optimist.

"The big thing is that eternal optimism. Today's good. Tomorrow could be just as good or maybe even better. And I think the vast majority of Saskatchewan people think the same thing."