By Pepper Parr
March 16th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Is it www. burlington.ca/coronavirus on the city’s web site that you go to for information or is it the Get Involved – the city’s portal where the answers to every question are supposed to reside, that citizens should go to for information on the COVID19 pandemic?
Nothing on the Get Involved portal about COVID19
There is nothing on the Get Involved site.
And what there is on the coronavirus section of the city web site won’t help very much.
Is the City Manager calling the shots? He should be – his job is to run the city. If the elected members of council want him to do things differently, all it takes is a meeting of city council and the issuance of a Staff Direction.
And what’s with the Mayor possibly declaring a State of emergency – and what would that mean?
City Manager Commisso tells us that the Crisis Management Team (CMT) is now at Level 2.
What did Level 1 mean; what is the difference between level 1 and level 2 and how many levels are there ? Could the city not release just what the differences between the various levels are?
Might sound like a silly question – but could we be assured that the Mayor is Part of the Crisis Management Team?
A Rapid Response Team has been created at the City that includes staff from across the organization. The Team’s purpose is to review the latest information received from provincial, regional and public health sources and advise on appropriate actions needed related to City activities. Could the public be given a better sense as to just what that team has done?
During times of crisis one voice; one source of information and the Mayor standing there beside the city manager is what citizens need to see.
A photo of the Crisis Management Team seated around a conference table would help.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
