By Pepper Parr
April 8th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
City manager Tim Commisso in his Pandemic bunker
It was exactly one year ago today that City Manager Tom Commisso and his staff began the practice of giving city Councillors a verbal update on how the city was coping with Covid19 pandemic.
It has been quite a roller coaster ride for all of them.
Director of Parks and Recreation Chris Glenn has learned to do a pivot within a pivot as he and his staff struggle to deal with how they are going to make the parks and recreation facilities available to the public when the rules get changed.
Chris Glenn Director of Parks and Recreation for the city. Doing pivots within pivots.
Glenn started the week being in a modified lock down mode – worked within those rules only to find that the province is now in a Stay at Home mode with being told to stay in their homes – but to also get out and get some exercise and maintain a semblance of mental health.
The only place you can walk and enjoy yourself is the public parks with Spender Smith being a magnet for most people.
So the crowds arrive – expected to wear masks and maintain the six foot distance rule and don’t be part of a group of more than five people
Glenn’s park experience as a young man was as a lifeguard at swimming pools. Not something that would prepare him for the current assignment.
What we are seeing is a staff that is much more in control of what they have to do and thinking several months ahead and trying to anticipate what they might have to do.
Councillors are in closer touch with the constituents and working hard to get the answers to questions.
Plains Road; an old suburban highway transitions into a vibrant urban main street with flower beds in place
Last year the city put plants in less than half of the 130 plant beds in the city.
This year they will have plants in every bed – assuming they can call back the part time staff that were doing this work. Many of them have moved on to other job opportunities.
What is visible is how Staff have upped their game to meet demands that change by the day – at times by the hour.
Staff are coming back with solutions to problems they didn’t even know existed.
Much more to tell about just how they are doing this.
