Sturgeon County will halt all council meetings this month and all major county events until May as part of the ongoing fight against COVID-19.
County council made these decisions at a special council meeting held March 13, during which administration briefed them on the state of the disease.
Scott MacDougall, the county’s director of emergency management, said that he was working with the county’s emergency management committee to keep essential services working should county workers have to self-isolate due to COVID-19.
While administration could work on those plans in addition to regular business, county commissioner Reegan McCullough noted that several municipalities, including Edmonton, had suspended their regular council meetings for this month to give staff more time to focus on COVID-19.
Council voted unanimously to suspend council meetings for the rest of the month and to suspend all major county events until the end of April at administration’s suggestion. McCullough said that the county would reschedule county events where possible.
In a video message to county residents filmed shortly after the meeting, Mayor Alanna Hnatiw said that the county was working closely with provincial health experts on this matter and had an emergency preparedness plan in place.
“The latest information we have suggests that a combination of proactive strategies can affect the speed and transmission of the virus,” she said, including early detection, self-isolation, and cancelling large events.
“By adopting these strategies, Sturgeon County residents will do our part to reduce the anticipated pressure on services and improve health outcomes.”
The Town of Morinville had not suspended its meetings as of March 13, but has cancelled all events at the Community Cultural Centre that would have drawn 250 or more people on March 14 and 15 as well as the Rave On musical show on March 21, said town spokesperson Tracy Dalzell-Heise in an email. The town had also stepped up cleaning efforts and deployed hand sanitizer stations at all town facilities.
Suspension impacts
County council’s decision applies to all major county-organized events in March and April, including the March 14 Redwater fire department open house and the March 28 County Living Expo, said county family and community support services manager Scott Rodda. Smaller events at community halls would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Residents should contact the organizers of those events directly to check if they’re still happening.
Coun. Karen Shaw noted that the county might need to give community groups financial support as a result of this suspension, as their revenue was highly dependent on hall rentals and community activities.
Hnatiw said the county would play it by ear when it came to meetings of public boards and committees – while those often involved only a handful of people, many of them were industry representatives that might be stuck in isolation due to corporate COVID-19 policies. She encouraged board members to use teleconferences as needed.
Council’s decision means that it will likely miss the April 1 provincial deadline to complete intermunicipal collaboration frameworks with its neighbours, many of which were set for third reading at the now-cancelled March 24 meeting.
County intergovernmental advisor Jennifer Lavallee said this probably wouldn’t be a problem – those deals technically have to be ready by April 1, but the county also has 90 days from then to file the paperwork. Any public hearings scheduled for the March 24 meeting will also have to be rescheduled.
MacDougall said county residents might notice a drop in non-essential services in the coming months and see more county employees working from home.
www.sturgeoncounty.ca/COVID19 has the latest on the county’s COVID-19 strategy.
