Voluntary Furloughs for City Employees Demonstrates Economic Ripple Effect of COVID-19

City Manager James Freed sent a letter to Port Huron’s Mayor and City Council on May 1st describing the effect lost revenue from local income tax, State Revenue Sharing, Act 51 revenues (funded by gas taxes), and revenue from utility payments collected by the city will have on the City’s budget. In response to the anticipated shortfalls, his goal is to reduce staffing in the city by 15% through voluntary furloughs of city employees.

The Stay at Home order has forced every business in our community to change the way it functions. Closure of buildings, decreased sales, and employees working from home have dramatically changed the way individuals and businesses spend money and use resources. The consequences have sent a ripple effect into our economy that no one quite knows how to predict, and many leaders are struggling to manage.

The City of Port Huron is anticipating significant loss of revenue and responding by beginning the process of reducing its work force, including employees in the Police and Fire Departments. Freed also talked about reductions to the Streets budget and dramatically scaling back recreation programs. According to Freed’s letter, “City pools and McMorran will not open this summer and possibly fall due to social distancing orders.” On the bright side, he noted that the City had a very strong budget year up through February.

These challenges are not unique to Port Huron. They will be felt in every community around the world as business and government leaders try to anticipate and respond proactively to the domino effect of economic changes in this new reality.

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand

Sarnia: Rural Burn Permits Allowed – Recreational Fires Still Banned

On April 3 rd 2020, the Government of Ontario instituted a fire ban that effectively prohibited all outdoor fires within Ontario’s fire region during the COVID-19 emergency to protect first responders. On the same day, on the recommendation of the Sarnia Primary Control Group (SPCG), in consultation with the Sarnia Fire Chief and the Sarnia Chief of Police, Mayor Mike Bradley issued a complementary fire ban through Emergency Order No 1 relative to the “prohibition on outdoor fires within the City of Sarnia to protect the safety of first responders and enforce physical distancing measures in place to stop the spread of the COVID-19 disease” which is set to expire on May 3 rd 2020.

The Premier of Ontario and Lambton’s Medical Officer of Health are both encouraging that our communities stay the course until there is a sustained 2 to 4 week decrease in new COVID-19 cases and related hospitalizations. With over 180 confirmed cases of COVID-19 that led to 14 deaths and 3
institutional outbreaks to date, Sarnia is one of the communities within the province of Ontario that has been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the declaration of a State of Emergency by both the Government of Ontario and the City of Sarnia in early March, SPCG has met daily to deliberate on best approaches to combat the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak and protect the community.

Taking into consideration the local agricultural needs of the community and, on the recommendation of the Sarnia Fire Chief, the SPCG has recommended that the City of Sarnia issue Emergency Order No 2 to allow for the issuance of rural burn permits to support farming operations within our community who have a need to clear brush to prepare farming fields, while maintaining the current restrictions on recreational open fires until May 31st 2020, pending the implementation of Phase 1 of the Government of Ontario’s plan to re-open the economy.

“We understand the desire to sit outside and relax around a fire with members of your home and the frustration felt by some” said Sarnia Fire Chief Brian Arnold. “We appreciate your continued patience and thank everyone who is sacrificing for us all. Please stay the course a little longer as we look for indicators from the Province and Medical Officer of Health to ease restrictions.”

Stay Home, Stay Safe Still in Effect Until May 15th, Real Estate – Construction Open May 7th

Today, at a press conference with leaders in health care, business, and labor, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Executive Order 2020-70 as part of her MI Safe Start plan. The executive order will allow the May 7 resumption of some types of work that present a very low risk of infection, including construction, real-estate activities, and work that is traditionally and primarily performed outdoors.

“The vast majority of Michiganders are still doing their part to protect themselves and their families from COVID-19. That’s good, but we must keep it up,” said Governor Whitmer. “As part of our MI Safe Start Plan, we are bringing business and labor leaders together to ensure that while we lift some restrictions on the previous Stay Home, Stay Safe order, we are also protecting workers and their families from the spread of this virus. I want to be clear: we must all continue to stay home and stay safe as much as possible. If we all keep doing our part, we can reduce the risk of a second wave and re-engage our economy safely and responsibly.” 

The governor’s Stay Home, Stay Safe order remains in effect until May 15, 2020. Under this order, Michiganders still must not leave their homes except to run critical errands, to engage in safe outdoor activities, or to go to specified jobs. Executive Order 2020-70 also requires businesses to adopt measures to protect their workers against the spread of COVID-19. 

“The data shows that we’re ready to lift some of these restrictions while also encouraging Michiganders to continue doing their part under the governor’s Stay Home, Stay Safe order,” said MDHHS Chief Deputy for Health and Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun. “The steps the governor is taking today will help ensure protections for workers and their families from COVID-19 while allowing for work in lower-risk fields to resume. We will keep monitoring the data closely and work with our partners across state government to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.” 

“We are grateful for the governor’s commitment to protecting working people and their families from the spread of COVID-19,” said Pat Devlin, Secretary Treasurer of the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council. “Our dedicated building tradesmen and women are ready to get back to work, and we’re glad the governor has taken steps today to help ensure their safety. We are excited to continue working with Governor Whitmer as she continues to take action on behalf of working families.” 

Under the order, construction sites must adopt a set of best practices to protect their workers from infection. Those practices include: 

  • Designating a site supervisor to enforce COVID-19 control strategies.
  • Conducting daily health screenings for workers.
  • Creating dedicated entry points, if possible, or issuing stickers or other indicators to assure that all workers are screened every day.
  • Identifying choke points and high-risk areas (like hallways, hoists and elevators, break areas, water stations, and buses) and controlling them to enable social distancing.
  • Ensuring sufficient hand-washing or hand-sanitizing stations at the worksite.

“With an eye towards Michigan’s economic recovery, leadership representing the full spectrum of the construction industry have been working diligently and cooperatively to outline processes and practices that will allow us to safely get back to work,” said Ryan Maibach, President & CEO of Barton Malow and member of the Michigan Economic Recovery Council. “The construction industry is entrenched in a culture of safety, and as we return to work, we are developing and implementing new best practices that further emphasize the well-being of our workers and Michigan’s citizens.”   

Last week, the governor signed Executive Order 2020-59 to require people to wear homemade face coverings when they enter enclosed public spaces. This requirement is still in effect under Executive Order 2020-70.  

Weekly COVID-19 Update for the Blue Water Area

Confirmed COVID-19 cases as of May 1st at 11:15 AM are as follows:

  • State of Michigan: 41,379 confirmed cases; 3,789 deaths
  • St. Clair County: 375 confirmed cases; 22 deaths
  • Ontario: 16,608 confirmed cases; 1,121 deaths
  • Sarnia-Lambton: 183 confirmed cases; 14 deaths

The Emergency Operations Center updated the public on the priorities for distributing PPE in St. Clair County this week. The top priority is for acute hospitals and healthcare workers. From there, distributions go to urgent care workers, law enforcement, firefighters, then doctor’s offices. There is still a limited supply of PPE in the supply chain, but the since the number of new cases has slowed as a result of the stay at home order, it has allowed the EOC to keep up with distributing these resources to those on the front lines.

Mark White, Deputy Director of the St. Clair County Department of Emergency Management, shared that people still need to use extreme caution and follow the directives being issued for public safety. The EOC is still working to increase testing capability in this area, but St. Clair County is competing with much more heavily affected areas for valuable test kits. Wearing masks in public, observing social distancing, and washing your hands continue to be the best defense against contracting COVID-19.

In Sarnia, an outbreak was declared at Sumac Lodge which joins Vision Nursing Home and Landmark Village as the 3 local establishments with institutional outbreaks. 

The Government of Ontario recently announced that it is prepared to allow for temporary changes to provincial rules and regulations in order to remove barriers that are hindering businesses and that negatively impact Ontario’s supply chain. Information is available on the web at Ontario.ca <HERE> and a form to submit your suggestion is available <HERE> 

Please continue to rely on reputable sources for information on COVID-19:

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand

 

 

Michigan Legislature to Whitmer: We Want to be Part of the Process

Michiganders woke up to a barrage of information this morning that could cause more confusion than clarity. A  struggle between legislators and the governor yesterday resulted in the Michigan Legislature allowing the emergency disaster declaration to expire and authorizing a lawsuit against the governor. Governor Whitmer’s response was to declare another state of emergency and state of disaster effective through May 28th and express her intention to veto any bills that “constrain her ability to protect the people of Michigan from this deadly virus in a timely manner.” Now, citizens are wondering who to listen to.

Some legislators are telling their constituents that they don’t have to follow Whitmer’s directives, but Shane Hernandez, State Representative for the 83rd District, said that the Governor’s orders can continue to be enforced until a court says otherwise.

“We didn’t extend. She thinks she can extend. Her orders stand until a court says otherwise.” said Hernandez. When asked what the legislature hopes to accomplish, Hernandez expressed concern that the people’s voices are not being considered in the Governor’s process for deciding what actions should be taken to confront COVID-19 in Michigan. Until the governor decides to take input from the legislature (the elected representatives of the people), the people of Michigan do not have a say in important decisions being made that dramatically affect their communities.

“When people call the governor’s office with questions about the unemployment system, she tells them to call their State Rep.” said Hernandez, noting the legislature’s role as advocates for their constituents. “We are the voice for the people, but we haven’t been able to be part of the process the governor has for deciding how to handle this.”

The legislature passed Senate Bill 858 on April 30th which puts several key directives to contain COVID-19 into temporary law. They include preventing employers from taking disciplinary action against any employee who elects to stay home from work because of COVID-19, expanded unemployment benefits and eligibility requirements, measures to prevent price gouging, and many others.

Whitmer’s office said in a press release that Senate Bill 858 “does not comply with constitutional requirements” and “the governor intends to veto this bill when presented to her.”

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand

 

Sarnia Residents Can Support Local Charities from Home

The Sarnia Community Foundation will join community foundations across Canada on Saturday, May 2 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM in a virtual “Stay At Home Gala.” They are asking their supporters to “wine & dine at home” to raise funds for managing the impact of COVID-19 on Canadian communities.

Funds raised locally will be donated to Lambton Mental Wellness and St. Clair Child and Youth to expand their mental health programs in the county. Additionally, a number of local food banks will be supported from this event.

Even though it’s virtual, it aims to offer all the familiar elements of a standard gala. The foundation is working with several local restaurants to provide choices for take-out options for dinner. Menu options and details on how to order are featured on their website at: sarniacommunityfoundation.ca. On top of this, the gala will feature speakers, entertainers, musicians, and more!

A foundation spokesperson wrote, “Everyone has been looking for a reason to get dressed up, kick back with a drink, and what better way to do so than by raising critical funds to help your community. All proceeds stay local.”  Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the Sarnia Community Foundation’s office at (519) 332 2588.  If you just want to donate to this event, you can purchase a ticket and not use it, or call the foundation for donation options.

Reporting for WGRT – Marty Doorn