Declaring a state of local emergency (SOLE) in St. Albert is not yet warranted, chief administrative officer Kevin Scoble told city council Monday.
“St. Albert residents are doing a very good job of following the directions and guidelines, both businesses and our residents,” he said in a Zoom videoconference meeting. He added the city has not seen any need to “control the behaviors of the public” in response to the pandemic.
While many other municipalities have declared a state of local emergency, including Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer and Leduc, Scoble said St. Albert has a “comprehensive monitoring program,” and the city is complying well with provincial health guidelines.
St. Albert’s emergency advisory committee is frequently re-evaluating potential need to declare a SOLE, and Scoble said if things escalate provincially “we’re probably into a new game.” For example, if Alberta declared a provincial state of emergency, the city may reconsider.
Alberta declared a public health emergency March 17, but has not yet pulled the trigger on a general state of emergency. Doing so would give the provincial government broad, sweeping powers, including the control of travel within the province, ability to acquire property to deal with the emergency, fix prices of goods and conscript workers.
A SOLE would grant St. Albert similar provisions, and Scoble said in essence it would allow the city to control “behaviors of people.”
“We have not seen the need to do that,” he said. “I do have to say we have a comprehensive monitoring program out there and we’re doing a lot of checks.”
So far, local bylaw officers have received 12 calls about people or businesses not following Alberta health guidelines to stop the spread of COVID-19, none of which resulted in fines.
Scoble noted eight of the calls were unfounded and four were “educational opportunities.”
“When people are educated, they’ve been very good about complying,” he said.
Mayor Cathy Heron said in an interview “everyone has a responsibly and a role” in ensuring the pandemic passes as quickly as possible.
“I would say, you know, on average and in general, there's more good behavior than bad,” she said.
Province proposing changes Emergency Act
On Tuesday morning, the province announced it is proposing changes to the Emergency Management Act, which guides SOLEs and provincial emergencies.
One major proposed changed is allowing SOLEs to go on for 90 days. Currently states of local emergency lapse after seven days, unless they are renewed by municipalities.
Other proposed changes are meant to clarify language in the act.
