The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association held its annual convention this week, with attendance from all corners of the province. 

Not to be left out was Swift Current's own Mayor, Al Bridal. He was able to attend various learning seminars, keynote speaker presentations, and perhaps most importantly, converse with other leaders from around Sask.

Bridal appreciates the ability to share his insights with others who govern while making use of their input on problems shared between population centres. 

"We all have the same problems and we're all struggling with enough funding to fix roads and sewers and build new buildings," said Bridal. "But it's still good because lots of them have come up with different novel ideas, and you always learn a little bit every time you go."

Being able to find new strategies to combat the inflationary prices of raw materials, how to stay ahead of potholes, and finding new ways of securing funds for Swift Current, are only the surface.

The real meat and potatoes of this smorgasbord of municipal governing is the motions brought forward for potential resolution. This year, 10 such proposals were shared, with one in particular getting Bridals hopes up. 

"None of them really affected Swift Current with the exception of one resolution for some more funding for like big parks in the big cities," said Bridal. "Our Chinook Pathway falls under that."

If this resolution gets the go-ahead, it would see the province aiding with the operational costs of bigger city parks, helping to cut down costs in the budget. While this used to be something available for the likes of Saskatoon, Regina, P.A., and Swift Current, it's been years since it was scrapped. 

"All our cities have these beautiful parks that everybody uses," said Bridal. "I hope it doesn't fall on deaf ears because it would be nice to get some maintenance money or money to plant some more trees and stuff along our Swift Current Creek and along the Chinook Pathway."