We're dreadfully sorry, sports fans!
Your favourite Sault hangouts are dead last on the list of potential post-COVID re-openings of City of Sault Ste. Marie municipal facilities.
"Activities at city indoor and outdoor recreational and sport facilities will likely be the last to be reactivated following the pandemic," says Malcolm White, the city's chief administrative officer.
The good news is that summer re-openings have so far not been ruled out.
"The reactivation of these facilities may occur by the summer months," White says in a report prepared for Monday's City Council meeting.
"We will need to prepare for partial seasons which will necessitate bringing on summer students on a staged basis."
Maintenance of these facilities has been adjusted downward to minimum levels. Outdoor sports fields will be maintained at the level of passive parks," the CAO wrote.
Earlier this month, Sault Area Hospital announced that it had obtained permission to use GFL Memorial Gardens as an alternate hospital site in the event of a surge of coronavirus-positive patients.
"One area significantly affected by both the level of services required and the need to mitigate financial impacts will be the employment of summer students. There will be some employment of students driven by operational needs, but it will be less than our approved student complement and involve shorter work terms," White says.
The following capital works projects are proceeding this summer:
- Second Avenue reconstruction
- Sixth Avenue reconstruction
- Northern Avenue resurfacing
- Miscellaneous paving
- West End Water Treatment Plant
A number of construction jobs started last year will be completed in 2020, including the Bay Street, Black Road and McNabb/St. Georges reconstructions, as well as the Fort Creek aqueduct.
"As well, staff have been advised that once we emerge from the COVID-19 measures, the federal and provincial governments will look to provide stimulus funding towards capital projects that are ‘shovel ready,’" White says.
"Undertaking projects of this nature will ensure further work for local business at a time when private-sector development may be constrained and likely offer the city the most attractive financial terms for completing the projects, both in terms of funding available from the senior levels of government and the rates available for short-term borrowing."
The city's economic development and tourism departments are currently focussed on helping businesses affected by the pandemic.
Initial, very incomplete financial projections predict the city will lose $1.04 million in revenue to COVID-19 by the end of May, including transit fares, facility rentals and program fees.
However, $376,000 in coronavirus-related savings are projected over the same period from facility closures, transit cutbacks and fewer crossing guards.
City staff are proposing to take $419,000 in surplus cash from a tax stabilization and use it to help the city cope with the pandemic.
Monday's City Council meeting will be held by teleconference because of the pandemic.
It will be livestreamed on SooToday starting at 4:30 p.m.
