About 250 people attended St. Albert’s first online town hall Wednesday evening on the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Cathy Heron and chief administrative Kevin Scoble led the interactive town hall, held on the meeting platform Zoom, alongside other city officials involved in St. Albert’s efforts. The town hall was also broadcast on St. Albert’s YouTube channel.
In opening, Heron said her priorities have seen a “pandemic shift” since when she was pondering on New Year’s Eve about what was in store for the city in 2020. At the time, she looked forward to widening St. Albert Trail, cutting the ribbon on the new Campbell Transit Centre this fall and welcoming major new business Uline to the city.
But then a virus we now know as SARS-CoV-2 emerged out of Wuhan, China, and began aggressively spreading from continent to continent, becoming the pandemic the globe has been paralyzed by.
“Never in my wildest nightmares could I have foreseen this pandemic. None of us could,” she said. “Yet here we are today. Our priorities have seen a pandemic shift and the entire world is scrambling to adapt to this new reality in the COVID-19 era," Heron said.
Following Heron’s opening comments, Scoble provided a high-level summary of St. Albert’s response to COVID-19 to date. That included activation of the emergency operations centre (EOC) March 13, various facility closures and event cancellations, along with relief measures including utility and tax payment deferrals.
He talked about St. Albert’s cash flow in relation to its COVID-19 response, that up until this week council had authorized use of $1.4 million – and another $600,000 on Tuesday – with an average daily burn rate of $36,000.
On the other end of COVID-19, St. Albert is expected to be $3.89 million in the hole, early financial projections presented to council on Tuesday showed.
Scoble also touched on some positive news, that St. Albert is already looking towards recovery efforts, including potentially fast-tracking design to lay pipes, roads and other infrastructure to support development on the city's west side.
“By doing so, that will enable construction to start this year, if the city so chooses,” he said. “This is a significant economic recovery activity for the community and doing this work will advance the project to shovel ready, increasing its eligibility for stimulus funding from other levels of government should such programs be announced.”
Residents were able to ask questions of city officials by using a “raise hand” feature in Zoom, and over 40 questions were answered during the hour-and-a-half town hall.
Topics covered in the question and answer portion included the EOC’s role in the city’s COVID response, recovery and relief plans, advice on social distancing, safety measures for bus drivers and timelines on facilities opening their doors again.
Property taxes
Likely top of mind for many St. Albertans, a few residents wondered if the pandemic would result in an increased number on their tax bill.
In response, Heron said there will be a lot of hard work at city hall to ensure increased costs to the municipality will not be covered through increased taxes, giving a “99 per cent” guarantee on that promise.
“I'm completely willing to call special meetings in May to have a Budget 2.0 conversation on where we can look to greater save some money,” she said.
Many residents were also curious about the city’s EOC, and how it functions.
Scoble outlined some of the items the EOC has been working on, which includes developing a psychosocial plan to ensure staff and community member’s mental wellbeing. The centre also strives to mitigate contact between residents, including removing doors and enclosure gates in places like Lacombe Lake Dog Park, and purchases personal protective equipment for essential workers.
Heron closed the town hall on a hopeful note, saying while the pandemic’s end date remains unclear, St. Albert “will lead the charge ahead,” and is in the process of forming a recovery task force to get the community and economy “jump-started.”
A call with Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Deena Hinshaw gave Heron some light at the end of the tunnel, when Hinshaw explained the “back half of this pandemic will be much shorter than the build-up.”
“I'm asking everyone in St. Albert to help in your own way. It doesn't have to be huge, but please make it your personal mission to put a smile on someone's face every day,” Heron said. “Help fight back the isolation blues. Be diligent about following the guidelines, and together we'll get through this with our health and our good spirits intact.”
A recording of the full town hall can be found at https://stalbert.ca/city/eps/preparedness/resources/townhall/.
