St. Albert is making $1 million available to help deal with situations arising out of the global coronavirus pandemic.
During a special council meeting Friday afternoon, city council unanimously delegated authority to chief administrative officer Kevin Scoble to make decisions around closing public facilities, halting city programs and cancelling city events.
The $1 million is coming out of St. Albert’s stabilization reserves and will also be managed by Scoble. Council stamped a review date on Scoble’s authority to April 7.
“This is obviously a crisis and an emergency, so I mean it allows us to respond,” said Coun. Ken MacKay, who made the motion.
Coun. Wes Brodhead advocated for there to be a set end date on Scoble’s authority, saying “civic governance doesn’t collapse over the next little while.”
“We’re elected to represent the people of St. Albert, I’m just wondering how we put some sort of timeline to review the motion?” he said.
The money set aside by council will be used to help pay for cancellation fees of events and programs, to help mitigate the spread of coronavirus, including “without limitation” cancellation costs of previously planned events.
Additionally, the $1 million will go toward potentially procuring medical expertise to assist the city in determining when staff who contract coronavirus may return to their duties.
“Also, to help our staff as they transition if we shut the pool down and they don’t have jobs, we’ll help them transition,” Mayor Cathy Heron said after the meeting.
St. Albert will be deciding in the next three days whether to cancel its International Children’s Festival, which is held in May.
Deputy chief administrative officer Kerry Hilts told council if St. Albert decides to cancel the festival after March 16, the city could incur up to $250,000 in cancellation fees.
While the Children’s Festival is identified as a “high risk” event by Alberta Health Services risk matrix, cancellation is a “balancing act” since the event is not for another two months.
St. Albert will be cancelling large gatherings over 250 people within 30 days, with weekly assessments. However, events attracting more than 50 people who are seniors or people with compromised immune systems will also be cancelled.
While St. Albert is following AHS recommendations to cancel events over 250 people – including cancelling the Arden Theatre season – the city has yet to determine whether recreation facilities such as Servus Place will be shut down.
The remainder of the Arden Theatre season will be cancelled, along with the Chamber of Commerce’s trade show.
While city council’s March 16 meeting will go ahead, the public hearing scheduled for 5 p.m. will be postponed. Additionally, council’s March 30 meeting will not go ahead, and all committee meetings have been cancelled.
Emergency social services
A plan for delivery of emergency social services will be assessed by city staff, with recommendations to come.
Hilts said the city is working on a plan to address the needs of vulnerable populations, including persons experiencing homelessness, seniors, people who need crisis funding and those with diminishing incomes.
He later said the protocol would look similar to the one St. Albert followed during the extreme cold spell in January.
The city will be providing up to date information and resources on their website at: https://stalbert.ca/city/eps/preparedness/resources/.
