.JPG)
The new Swift Current city council will swear in at a ceremony later tonight.
Mayor Al Bridal returns for his second term. He's joined by incumbents Ryan Plewis, Ryan Switzer, Leanne Tuntland-Wiebe and Tom Christiansen.
Tonight will also mark the return to council for Bruce Deg after he served from 2016 to 2020, and the first council meeting for newcomer Courtney Stewart.
This council came to power as voter turnout dropped significantly in last week's municipal election. Only 2,957 people cast their ballots last Wednesday compared to 4,450 voters in 2020.
Bridal returned to the mayor's chair by acclamation and Swift Current returning officer Jackie Schlamp felt that not having a mayoral election played a factor in those lower numbers.
"That other thing that shows is citizens are happy with how our current government structure is working," she said. "You know it's the same amount of work, so to see that under 3000 mark is a little bit disheartening.
"We had a great team of election workers from each polling station to our election team internally at City Hall and I'm just very proud of everybody."
The last time the city had a mayor return by acclamation was Jerrod Schafer in 2012. There were 3,173 voters that year.
Schlamp suggested there are approximately 15,000 eligible voters in Swift Current. At that number the city would be looking at a turnout of only 19.7%.
Here is a list of recent election turnouts:
- 2024: 2,957
- 2020: 4,450
- 2016: 4,819
- 2012: 3,173
- 2009: 5,230
After tonight's meeting, council will have two days of orientation.
"We will go through our current governance model with council," Schlamp said. "Bylaws, policy, the council meeting procedures, the yearly calendar and then each department has the opportunity to present on their current structure and go through city assets. Some of the projects they've had on the go and stuff like that."
Their first full meeting is set for Monday, November 25th.