The operators of a proposed thrift store in Swift Current are not optimistic about moving forward after a recent meeting with the city and comments from Mayor Al Bridal regarding the status of their building at 508 Cheadle Street West.
New Beginnings sent a statement to Swift Current Online saying they had initially chosen not to answer our request for comment.
"In good faith, we had declined because of the upcoming meeting (with the city) and the hope that we could come to a mutual agreement and move forward," their statement said. "This hope quickly faded after the meeting and reading (Mayor Bridal's) statements."
New Beginnings said it was disappointing that Bridal chose to make public comments ahead of their meeting.
"The mayor chose to not verify any of his statements prior to making them public," their statement said. "And is more interested in making business people look bad and deflecting blame to everyone but where it needs to be, within city hall."
The mayor's comments had come in response to a social media post from New Beginnings.
"Although we did not want to use social media, this was our last resort," the New Beginnings statement continued. "The mayor has indicated that we were airing dirty laundry in public but failed to mention that the city inspector was the one who made the initial suggestion of using social media."
New Beginnings said the city's building inspector had indicated a social media post taking ownership for their choices would have gone a long way.
"We have taken his suggestion," they added. "Not to continue the lie, but to speak the truth."
New Beginnings called some of Bridal's statements "nothing but lies," and questioned his comment that they have ignored their required renovations.
"Either Mr. Bridal was at a different meeting than the rest of us were at on June 26, 2025, or he was not paying attention when the interim CAO informed all of us that the final drawings should be available on June 27, 2025. Neither the city, let alone New Beginnings, has received any final drawings as to what is required to be completed prior to us opening. How is New Beginnings ignoring renovations that are required when we do not even have the list yet?"
New Beginnings responded to Bridal saying there are concerns about fire safety on the second and third floors of the building.
"The fire hazard he refers to on the second floor was there prior to us buying the building," New Beginnings noted. "It was 2/3 full of restaurant equipment, booths, old video games, ducting and various other materials. If this is such a danger and a fire hazard, as he indicates, why was it not a fire hazard to the previous business?
"The donations on the third floor are in disarray. There are two reasons for this. The first is that we have moved the donations numerous times when the roof was being repaired. The second is that we are not allowed to open. As a result, the donations keep increasing as we are unable to sell any. This is the reason why we stopped taking donations until further notice. If we had been able to open, the amount of donations would be a third of what we currently have and we could organize them at that time."
New Beginnings also wondered why the roof repairs they had to do were not an issue for the previous owner.
Bridal had expressed empathy towards the business for the financial hardships these issues are causing them. He also noted that, as a former contractor, he wouldn't have allowed a client to go this far without permits, and if they had a contractor, that person would have been liable to fix these issues before proceeding further.
New Beginnings responded that they did initially have a contractor in place.
"We had hired Mr. Willie Reimer and his company to do the demolition and construction," their statement noted. "Mr. Reimer was a journeyman carpenter and had over 50 years of experience. Unfortunately, Mr. Reimer passed away in April of 2024 and could not complete the task. We then used volunteers as the remaining jobs were small in nature and consisted of building shelves, painting and putting up trim and baseboards."
Councillor Ryan Plewis also weighed in on the subject on social media. He noted these were standards the city had no choice but to follow.
"The truth is that we have multiple standards that MUST be met for development to happen," Plewis said. "These are not the stupid whims of 7 Council members - these are federal building and fire codes that we are mandated to enforce. The truth is that we care about development, but we ALSO care about the wellbeing and safety of the public and our emergency responders that are tasked with dealing with the worst case scenarios when they happen - and they DO happen.
"I am looking forward to seeing this local business get open and begin to thrive, but we need to make sure it is done properly."
The New Beginnings statement finished by suggesting they could pursue other avenues if there are any other statements from the city they don't believe are factual.
Here is the full statement from New Beginnings:
After much thought and discussion, we have decided to respond to the statements made by Mayor Al Bridal on Swift Current Online. It was very disappointing to see that he had decided to make public comments since he was aware of our upcoming meeting the next day (June 26, 2025 at 11:00AM) with a city councillor, the interim CAO and the Mayor. We, at New Beginnings, had also been approached by the radio station to make a statement. In good faith, we had declined because of the upcoming meeting and the hope that we could come to a mutual agreement and move forward. This hope quickly faded after the meeting and reading his statements. I will address these statements individually in order to set the record straight. Unfortunately, the Mayor chose to not verify any of his statements prior to making them public and is more interested in making business people look bad and deflecting blame to everyone but where it needs to be, within city hall.
In the interview, Mayor Bridal states “The reason we stopped them is because they have not followed the rules that they knew about when they bought the building and “the owners were informed of renovations that would be need to completed before they could open to the public” and “they were told about them, and they chose to ignore them”. He also states that “they have been working with New Beginnings at the city for over a year”. These statements are nothing but lies. We had meetings with the city prior to us purchasing the building to ensure proper zoning and two more after the purchase to verify what was required from the city. The next contact from the city was on November 27, 2024. At that time, I invited the city inspector to the building as he was wondering what was going on. He came by a few days later and I gave him a tour of all floors. It wasn’t until February of 2025 that he came by again and that is when he indicated that we need to complete a building code analysis.
In response to Mayor Bridal’s comment of us being informed about what needs to be done prior to opening is laughable. Either Mr. Bridal was at a different meeting than the rest of us were at on June 26, 2025, or he was not paying attention when the interim CAO informed all of us that the final drawings should be available on June 27, 2025. Neither the city, let alone New Beginnings, has received any final drawings as to what is required to be completed prior to us opening. How is New Beginnings ignoring renovations that are required when we do not even have the list yet?
The Mayor goes on to say “I was told that the second and third stories are fire hazards” and “it hasn’t been set up in an orderly fashion”. Again, these statements are half-truths. First of all, he has never been to this building since we purchased it and, if he would have taken the time to check this out, he would have realized that the fire hazard he refers to on the second floor was there prior to us buying the building. It was 2/3 full of restaurant equipment, booths, old video games, ducting and various other materials. If this is such a danger and a fire hazard, as he indicates, why was it not a fire hazard to the previous business? The donations on the third floor are in disarray. There are two reasons for this. The first is that we have moved the donations numerous times when the roof was being repaired. The second is that we are not allowed to open. As a result, the donations keep increasing as we are unable to sell any. This is the reason why we stopped taking donations until further notice. If we had been able to open, the amount of donations would be a third of what we currently have and we could organize them at that time.
Mayor Bridal also states that our claim of having to wait four and a half months and the many changes are not the fault of the building inspector. The only person we have dealt with is the building inspector. He was the city representative who gave us the go ahead in April 2025 to apply for the construction permits as the drawings had been finalized. A few days after I had sent in the application and a cheque, I received an email informing me that the drawings and the building code analysis report did not match and further changes to the drawings would be required. Is it not the city inspector’s job to ensure this is done prior to giving the go ahead to apply for a permit? Since our one and only application for a permit on May 9, 2025, there has been 3 more revisions with still to come. The latest one is supposed to be available today and we still do not know how many more requirements will be on the drawings.
Mayor Bridal’s last point states “New Beginnings has been working on it’s own renovations themselves”. This is another statement made without any verification whatsoever. If he would have taken the time to talk to us, he would have known that we had hired Mr. Willie Reimer and his company to do the demolition and construction. Mr. Reimer was a journeyman carpenter and had over 50 years of experience. Unfortunately, Mr. Reimer passed away in April of 2024 and could not complete the task. We then used volunteers as the remaining jobs were small in nature and consisted of building shelves, painting and putting up trim and baseboards.
The Mayor would also like the public to believe that the work was completed without following proper procedures or hiring qualified personnel. In fact, as I pointed out previously, it is quite the opposite. In regards to not following procedures, I have an email from the city inspector authorizing us to complete the demolition without a permit. He came to this decision after verifying that we were not demolishing any structural walls. All walls in this building are non-structural as they were 8 foot walls in a building with 12 ½ foot ceilings. He also gave a verbal go-ahead for the construction of the non-structural walls that we were wanting to build. Unfortunately, I assumed that a verbal OK from the city inspector was fine, but my mistake was that I didn’t get it in writing. I was under the impression that the people who represented the city were trustworthy. In any event, the construction to date includes a total of 3 partition walls (8 foot walls) and 1 full height wall (12 ½ feet). None of these walls are structural and did not change the fire exit paths that were in use with the previous business. The only other construction that was completed were the installation of windows in existing openings, drywalling, installing trim and painting.
The roof was also repaired during this time. The roofing company that was used indicated to us that we did not require a permit for the work that was performed. He has at least 10 to 15 years of experience in the business, so we assumed that this was OK. If the city is so concerned about safety, why was it OK for this building to be operational with a roof that leaked so bad, that water would run down through all floors, into the kitchen, electrical outlets, light fixtures and electrical panels. There were also three supporting walls that were built on the third floor to support the roof from collapsing. This has now been repaired and is structurally sound.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have supported us during this difficult time. It is because of the words of encouragement and other displays of support that we have kept going. The city has tried to silence the public by turning off comments on their facebook page because they are being overwhelmed with concerned citizens. They are now trying to silence us by lying and bullying. We are needing the public to continue to come forward with their concerns
to the city and to not just keep using empty words like “we are open for business” and “we welcome new businesses”. A person wanting to start a business should not have to fight with the city in order open a store.
Although we did not want to use social media, this was our last resort. The Mayor has indicated that we were airing dirty laundry in public but failed to mention that the city inspector was the one who made the initial suggestion of using social media. He requested the following “A social media post taking ownership for your choices would go a long way”. We have taken his suggestion, not to continue the lie, but to speak the truth.
I am refraining from going into more details of incompetence and lies from the city as I think it is counterproductive. I would recommend, in the future, that if the Mayor and/or any other city representative is wanting to make public statements, they should be factual, or we may have to pursue other avenues to stop this behavior.