One year has passed since the devastating flooding of 2019. To this day, the community recovery committee continues to work with affected residents. We received good news that the Province has approved our claim of over $1 million for our expenses associated with response and road work. The Municipal Emergency Control Group comprised of the Mayor and Reeve, me and senior staff, have monitored the spring Freshet with the assistance of our internal flood response team. The Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board has compared this year’s melt with 2008 and 2018. Luckily, we have not had to deploy sandbags and have 30,000 in reserve.
While we kept an eye on the river and our water bodies, the Township was required to respond quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an unprecedented emergency that required us to close our facilities to the public, while maintaining essential services, such as road maintenance, water and sewer services, curb side pick up of garbage and recycling, and continued issuance of building permits. This has required us to adapt ensuring our full-time staff team is safe and productive.
We were required to adopt new technological solutions. Dog tags can now be purchased online. Some staff are working from home when not reporting to the office to maintain physical distancing measures. We have spread out our roads team to our three garages. Spring work such as pothole patching and gravel grading has occurred as required.
Council decision-making has continued through the pandemic. They met using zoom video teleconferencing in March and April with more meetings scheduled for May. In a sense, it is business as usual as the 2019 financial statements were presented and some important capital projects carry on. Some cost containment measures are being explored and some relief was approved with the waiver of interest and penalty on outstanding accounts for March and April.
As a Township, we are committed to providing services to our residents, especially in these difficult times. Looking ahead to the second quarter, the Township is examining the gradual resumption of services and reopening of facilities as the threat of COVID-19 slowly subsides.
On behalf of Whitewater Region, I want to thank all frontline workers, including health professionals and paramedics for their dedication especially during these unprecedented times. To the WWR staff team, thanks for your continued commitment and willingness to adapt.
Stay well and safe!
Robert Tremblay, Chief Administrative Officer
