By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
HALDIMAND—Council has revealed a plan to begin the process of re-opening their services at a May 19 meeting.
In-person services were suspended as a safety precaution back on March 18, 2020 and in April the County scaled back its workforce to only provide critical essential community services. April 21 Council voted to provide additional delegated authority to the Chief Administrative Officer to ensure business continuity, as well as to manage the COVID-19 crisis.
In the time since this arrangement was made, the authority was used for implementing flexible work arrangements for staff, making a series of agreements with Grandview Lodge to ensure continued medical support for residents, an extension to an existing agreement for supplying water operations to the county, a reallocation of funds to facilitate construction projects, and funding for a temporary community paramedic to assist with COVID-19 testing within the county.
With promising results coming from the region’s effort to flatten the curve of the virus, the County is looking ahead to how they can reopen the economy and restore full municipal services. Council plans to use the provincial framework, released April 27, as a guideline locally.
No timeline can be confirmed yet, but the County will use a careful staged approach, working in two to four week increments. Further steps forward will be determined by studying the evolving conditions of the COVID-19 outbreak and using an evidence-based approach, including seeing a consistent decrease in new cases over those periods.
The province is currently in Phase 1 of three planned stages to open up the economy and public. As long as new cases do not see a resurgence, it is believed that public health measures will slowly ease over six to 12 weeks, with social distancing guidelines continuing.
“Success will always be measured as an overreaction,” said Mayor Ken Hewitt. “Are we opening too fast? I guess the only way you’ll know that is two weeks from now…. I put my confidence in the medical experts.”
Hewitt expressed strong support for local business. He believes the County can help them move forward safely and hopes residents will continue taking precautions to ensure the success of reopening: “Without a true vaccination, we have to be responsible, diligent, and not just think of the safety of ourselves, but the safety of those around us.”
Haldimand County’s four stages
Stage 1 Essential services, limited support functions only
Stage 2 Supporting construction and reopening of outdoor spaces (mid-May to June)
Stage 3 Resumption of in-person services (end of June)
Stage 4 Resumption of full municipal services (unknown)
