Municipal advisory committees likely won’t restart until the fall

With the pandemic creating uncertainty about when large groups can reconvene again, it will likely be September before any of Moose Jaw’s advisory committees hold a face-to-face meeting.

The provincial government declared a state of emergency in mid-March when the coronavirus began spreading worldwide. Once restriction it put in place was public and private gatherings had to be limited to 10 or fewer people and people had to remain two metres of physical distancing.

City administration closed city hall on March 17 in response to the pandemic and the province’s instructions. This not only affected the public’s ability to conduct business at city hall but also negatively affected city hall’s ability to host meetings, a city council report explained. As a result, the city clerk’s office cancelled all meetings for March and April. While the province has announced a reopen plan composed of five phases, people are still required to maintain physical distancing rules, remain at home if they have coronavirus symptoms, and should maintain clean workspaces.

Since the restrictions still prohibit more than 10 people in one room and still enforce two metres of distancing, city hall determined it was impractical to restart advisory committee meetings any time soon, city clerk Myron Gulka-Tiecho told city council during its May 11 regular meeting.

While electronic meetings could be held, city administration is focused on providing critical services areas and reducing costs. Most advisory committee meetings don’t meet over the summer anyway. The municipality has been diligent to maintain safe work zones for its employees to ensure staff can respond to emergencies, so allowing the public into city hall could jeopardize the safe-work zones concept, Gulka-Tiecho continued. The city manager has determined only one city hall in Saskatchewan would reopen to the public during phase 1 of the reopening plan, while most city halls plan to wait until phase 3 or 4, which is late August. Since there is still uncertainty of lifting the restrictions due to the coronavirus, city administration will continue to monitor the situation and could restart advisory committee meetings in September, he added.