EDITOR'S NOTE: The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic March 11 - six months ago. To mark the milestone, we have published a series of stories over the psat few days about how COVID-19 has changed our world. Today, we conclude the series by talking Orillia Mayor Steve Clarke about how the municipality how handled the crisis.
Amid a steep learning curve, there’s been many hard lessons learned while grappling with the local impact of a global pandemic, says Orillia Mayor Steve Clarke.
He says his role helping to stickhandle the municipality through the pandemic has been “complex and intense.”
Declaring a state of emergency in the city on March 20, laying off staff, adapting on the fly and doing things that are “counterintuitive” to a municipality that relies on tourism has “been very strange but, unfortunately, has become a little bit normal now.”
Clarke says he is grateful that “most citizens have taken the pandemic seriously” and that has helped Orillia flatten the curve locally. To date, only 19 citizens have tested positive for the coronavirus.
“But, sadly, we lost two people early on and I happened to know them,” Clarke said of Lyle and Elizabeth Fox, a married elderly couple who died within days of one another at the end of March. “We were literally preparing for the worst at that point,” he said.
The worst did not come and that’s a testament to the efforts of residents, the mayor said.
“People in this community, for the most part, bought into the program and took it seriously,” said Clarke. “Had they not, we’d be in a different situation.”
As fatigue about the virus and its isolating impact sets in, the mayor has concerns about how the province might deal with a resurgence of cases.
“There has never been a pandemic in history that didn’t have a second wave,” stressed the mayor. “It’s vital that we remain vigilant.”
If the province is forced back into a lockdown, the impact could be devastating.
“We all truly hope we won’t get back into a lockdown situation because if we do the degree to which the pandemic is and was a health issue and an economic issue, it could become a much worse economic issue and many businesses will not be able to survive.”
However, he said the past six months has helped the city prepare for that next wave and he says the municipality is now better prepared.
He said the city’s emergency management committee met daily - often for hours at a time - during the early months of the pandemic.
“We’ve kept elaborate notes of every single meeting we’ve had,” said Clarke. “I sure hope we don’t get back into lockdown, but if we do we’ll have … templates that we have at the ready.”
He said the city’s proactive communications efforts were key to keeping the community educated throughout the pandemic; those efforts would be bolstered in the event of a second wave, he said.
Clarke also praised the efforts of the city’s senior management team and all staff for helping the municipality navigate uncharted waters.
“I have always maintained ... a corporation is only as good as its employees. The senior leadership team at the city and staff in every department have risen to the occasion,” said Clarke.
That’s why the decision, aimed at controlling costs, to temporarily lay off more than 160 employees - most of whom have returned to work - was so difficult, the mayor said.
“The atmosphere and emotion around the table when that decision was made was not fun,” said the mayor.
Another difficult decision, among many, revolved around large crowds gathering at city beaches and parks in late June.
“We had a situation where we were facing an overwhelming number of visitors and some uncontrollable behaviour” at city parks, said the mayor, noting the “reckless behaviour of some visitors” forced the city to restrict visitor access to the city.
“Others shut things down completely and we didn’t want to do that,” said the mayor.
Instead the city quickly moved to create small visitor lots at Orillia beaches and decided to force visitors to pay $50 to park in those lots and $50 to launch their boats.
He concedes it was “counterintuitive” for a tourism-reliant community, but he said “it was absolutely necessary” and, after a transition period, “it worked.”
Clarke heaped praise on the efforts of municipal law enforcement officers for stepping up to ensure compliance.
"They put everything on the line,” said the mayor, noting they “changed their hours, they changed their job description” and adapted to a new work world. “It’s not always a fun job at the best of times. In COVID, it was very very tough. My hat’s off to them.”
It reinforces his belief in the city’s team and the community.
“In the end, the citizens in the city and staff at the city have made this mayor proud,” said Clarke, urging citizens to continue to be steadfast.
“We must be vigilant over the coming months. Make no mistake, it’s here for the rest of this year and likely into next year,” warned Clarke of the virus.
