Sad News & COVID-19 Update
It is with a heavy heart I sit down to write this Mayor’s message. I was very saddened to hear of the accident that claimed the life of Bill Ross on Sunday, May 10th. Oliver has lost a stalwart of the community and on a personal note, I`ve lost a good friend. The Town of Oliver and the RDOS have issued a joint press release regarding Bill Ross, which is available here.
The Parks Ambassador Program is in its second week of operation and by all accounts is proving to be a success. The two Ambassadors are engaging visitors at the parks and providing a friendly reminder of the social distancing rules. The Ambassadors are keeping statistics on users to the Park, Small Wheels Playground, Dog Park and Parking Lot. To date, the Dog Park is the busiest with an average of 37 users daily, however the other Park amenities are not far behind with an average of approximately 26-30 users daily.
The Federal and Provincial governments continue to announce emergency aid programs to ease the economic burden from COVID-19. On May 12, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced help for seniors that will come in the form of a $300 payment to those who receive Old Age Security, and $200 more for those who also receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
Under the Emergency Program Act, Ministerial Order M083 was repealed and replaced by Ministerial Order M139 to enable local governments to address the challenges of holding public hearings while complying with prohibitions on mass gatherings and recommendations on physical distancing.
Ministerial Order M139 expands the authority for local governments to enable holding public hearings electronically. The option to hold public meetings electronically was adopted by Council resolution at the Regular meeting on May 11, 2020 and will allow the Town to meet the business needs of the community, while achieving public health measures.
BC`s phase 2 reopening plan is scheduled to start after the Victoria Day long weekend. Dr. Henry will be working on revising Public Health Orders and definitive guidelines from the BC Government will start to be available over the coming days and into next week. I encourage everyone to visit the Town’s COVID-19 website and follow the links to the Province of BC websites for daily updates. You’ll find a link to BC`s Restart Plan that lays out a series of steps to restart BC and ensure all of our combined efforts and sacrifices are not squandered.
Inquiries:
Town of Oliver
250 485 6200