A 30-minute high-speed PThe Elham City Council meeting was highlighted on March 21 by the city’s modification of its two-year masking mandate to comply with new Ontario regulations.
With the province dropping Covid-19 mask mandates except for hospitals, care facilities and public transit on the same day, the board unanimously approved a staff report that essentially superseded the regulation’s verbiage municipal masking “requirement” to “strongly encouraged”. .”
Pelham will continue to provide staff members with masks when needed.
“We have a lot of PPE,” said fire chief and chief enforcement officer Bob Lymburner.
“If you feel more comfortable wearing a mask by all means, it’s your right to do so,” Mayor Marvin Junkin said. “And if you choose not to wear a mask in most cases, that’s your right.”
Pelham had 158 active cases of Covid-19 as of March 21, with 1,151 active cases in Niagara on the same day. For several weeks, health experts have warned that the true number of infections in Ontario is likely much higher than the official number due to limited testing.
The city wins funding re-reporting award
For the second year in a row, the Town of Pelham has won the Canadian Financial Reporting Award, given to municipalities by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA). This award is for 2020 finances submitted in 2021.
“We are very pleased to have this recognition,” said Treasurer Teresa Quinlin-Murphy.
Tips
With March, Fraud Prevention Month, coming to an end, Ward 1 Councilor Marianne Stewart said the Pelham Seniors Advisory Committee will be hosting a fraud prevention seminar on May 11 at the CMC. It is expected that the demand for the event will allow it to become a hybrid seminar where interested attendees can also tune in from home.
The city passed a bylaw renaming the newly merged Pelham-Lincoln Library Board the “Lincoln Pelham Union Public Library Board”.
Neither Chief Executive David Cribbs nor Ward 3 Councilor Lisa Haun was present for the virtual meeting.
