The City of New Westminster has declared a local state of emergency in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Mayor Jonathan Cote said the declaration of a local state of emergency is being made at the recommendation of the city’s emergency operations director. He said it allows the city to act faster and access critical resources to help the city respond to this ever-changing situation and protect its citizens.
“The community should not see this as a cause for concern, but rather a proactive step to ensure our citizens are being looked after with all available resources,” he said.
During discussions with the fire chief, who is the city’s emergency operations director, senior staff and city council on Tuesday night, Cote said a decision was made to declare a local state of emergency on Wednesday morning.
“The state of emergency will give the city some extraordinary measures to help us address the COVID-19 crisis,” Cote told the Record. “No doubt we will be using these powers judiciously, but we will now have a number of greater abilities to take further actions. These actions include a greater ability to enforce the directives from the medical health officer. It does give us an ability to close facilities and businesses if needed. It will give our emergency services the ability to take steps to limit hoarding and enforce rationing. It will allow our city’s emergency services to access buildings, if needed. It will also give the city extra measures to be able to help protect vulnerable populations.”
Yesterday, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth declared a provincial state of emergency in B.C. to enable the province to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have definitely seen a significant escalation of the crisis over the past week,” Cote said of the city’s declaration. “This action is consistent with the province’s declaration of an emergency yesterday. That declaration does not give the cities extra powers – it only gives the province. Under the recommendation of our fire chief, he wanted the ability for us to be able to take local action very quickly if we need to.”
Cote said the city would use the powers provided by a local state of emergency on an as-needed basis.
“The state of emergency is good for one week. It can be renewed,” he said. “The actions that we can take aren’t necessarily actions that we will be taking, but we do have those options if we feel that it is warranted.”
According to Cote, the city does not have any immediate plans to take action under the state of emergency.
“This is going to be something we are going to be reviewing on an hourly and daily basis,” he said. “Immediately? No, there is not any direct action we are going to be taking. But we now have a lot of extra tools to be able to, particularly, enforce the directives that are coming from our medical health officer.”
The Record is working on further updates about the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the closure of city hall.
Starting, Friday, March 20, New Westminster City hall will be closed to the public, with essential services being provided by appointment only. Essential city hall services include select permits and inspections focusing on life/safety requirements and the completion of priority construction projects.
According to the City of New Westminster, all city utilities, including water, sewer, waste collection and electrical operations, will be maintained with appropriate staffing and service levels.
“The city will also continue to provide core public services that are essential to the health, safety and stability of the community,” said a press release from the city. “Police, fire and emergency services will continue and will not be compromised.”
The City of New Westminster is also suspending Q to Q ferry service as of 10 p.m. on Friday, March 20.
