Does staying home mean staying away from Sault Ste. Marie's 79 city parks?
Possibly, city councillors learned tonight.
"We will be assessing open spaces like parks in the days to come," Malcolm White, the city's chief administrative officer, told the Sault's first-ever teleconferenced City Council meeting tonight.
"There are municipalities in southern Ontario, which has been a bit warmer, where they are starting to close parks," White said.
"Our focus will be on community health and safety. We will be continuing to assess that over the next few days.
White was responding to a question from Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Shoemaker.
"The weather's turning slightly nicer," Shoemaker said.
"It may be tempting for folks to congregate in our parks. It's difficult to close them. They're just kind of wide-open areas. But are we encouraging folks to stay inside as much as possible?"
"I think the parks are an indication of how engaged our staff is and how quickly we worked," said Mayor Christian Provenzano.
"The parks are all signed now.... We have signage at our parks, specifically asking people to stay safe and be careful and to reduce or minimize usage," the mayor said.
In Ottawa, the National Capital Commission announced Monday that it's closing Gatineau Park until further notice, including parking lots and day shelters, as a COVID-19 prevention measure.
In other news, City Council voted tonight to waive property tax interest and penalties until May 31, accommodation taxes until June 30, and interest on user-fee accounts receivable until June 30.
City Hall is cutting back to essential-services-only mode and expects to have a better idea what that will look like tomorrow after reviewing tonight's essential-services announcement from the provincial government.
