BONNYVILLE – The Town of Bonnyville is figuring out their next steps when it comes to COVID-19.
During a press conference in council chambers on Tuesday, March 31, Mayor Gene Sobolewski and Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BRFA) chief Jay Melvin explained what’s being done behind the scenes during the provincial state of public health emergency.
Melvin, who’s also the municipality’s director of emergency management, explained he’s been having meetings with other town staff and surrounding communities to get a broader view of the impacts from the coronavirus.
“We’ve been meeting regularly with our key stakeholders in the community from Covenant Health, public health, RCMP, FCSS, and other key stakeholders in the community, including our utility companies, to ensure that critical infrastructure and pieces in the community continue to provide a level of service,” he continued. “We’ve also been meeting regularly with our neighbouring municipality emergency managers from the City of Cold Lake and the Town and County of St. Paul so we get more and better updates on what’s happening in our region.”
One of the biggest messages the town is trying to share with residents is to follow the provincial mandates when it comes to self-isolation.
“A lot of the issues that we’re facing right now are things that we’ve never experienced before, or what we never thought of and that’s created some challenges,” Melvin detailed. “Education is a driving force behind any type of enforcement and we want to educate first.”
Council is still discussing the possibility of deferring payments for utilities and taxes, but has yet to come to a decision due to the cash flow crunch their budget is already seeing. Sobolewski stressed the province not releasing the ID 349 funding leaves them with a limited amount of options going forward.
“If we’re going to be entertaining things like that, we may have to look into other ways to be able to do that,” he said.
According to Sobolewski, the province is working on programs to invest in infrastructure projects to get Albertans back to work once the situation surrounding the coronavirus starts to calm down.
“We’re looking at the possibility of making sure that it’s local people, equipment, supply, and labour that takes precedence in terms of getting people back to work.”
He added, “I know that I’m trying to get some meetings with (the province) and I’ve suggested a number of issues with them to try and ensure that we manage that because by the time the COVID-19 crisis in six to eight weeks starts to diminish, at least that’s what the experts are talking that might be the timeline, that won’t be the time to institute infrastructure. We need to know how to roll out quickly, how to get projects done, and municipalities, such as the Town of Bonnyville, are getting ready for that and we’re optimally ready to start with some shovel-ready projects.”
Sobolewski reminded residents to stay positive during these unprecedented times.
“I urge everybody to stay safe. Let’s try to work this out and be as happy as we can. The town will be working with everybody to mitigate the stresses on your finances and hopefully we’ll start to see and hear more rollouts in regards to some job creation programming.”
