Innisfil Town Council received an update on the municipality’s COVID-19 response, even as Simcoe-Muskoka moves into the ‘Orange Category,’ bringing new COVID restrictions.
With 155 cases diagnosed in Innisfil as of Wednesday – 130 recovered, 23 self-isolating, 1 in hospital and 1 death – town departments continue to work together, to offer the majority of services by remote and virtual delivery in an effort to protect staff and residents.
As Dan Taylor, the town’s economic development catalyst told council on Wednesday night, “The new reality is, when things get back to normal, whatever normal might be, a lot of people are going to work from home.”
So, what is the “new normal”? Virtual service delivery, working from home, new health and safety guidelines and protocols in place for any in-person services – and a new flexibility, in terms of deployment of employees.
Marriage licence applications and payments, building department inquiries and permits, community engagement, human resources and planning have all gone ‘virtual,’ offering services online.
Customer service operates largely by phone, although the service desk at the town hall remains open to deal with in-person inquiries.
Economic development is offering most programs and services virtually. In-person support is available at the ‘Accelerator’ co-space at 8,000 Yonge St. in Stroud.
Engineering is largely virtual, with fieldwork scheduled as required.
Leisure services, after delivering programming digitally, made a cautious return to some in-person workshops as of Nov. 9, although 43 percent of programs remain virtual. Some facilities have reopened based on demand, with ice rentals starting up on Oct. 5 at the Lefroy arena and Innisfil Recreation Complex. The Stroud remains closed “because of a lack of utilization requests from external user groups.”
As winter nears, “some in-person programs will move outdoors, where risk of COVID-19 is reduced,” the report to council noted.
The Innisfil ideaLAB & Library similarly introduced virtual programs, training and resources, and in-person programming remains on hold, although libraries have reopened for some in-person interactions, like ‘Browse and Go.” Borrowing is still well below pre-COVID levels, in part because quarantine requirements have slowed turnaround times.
In coming months, the library is looking at adding some outreach, and reinstating the ‘Homebound Service’ for isolated residents.
In all cases where facilities have reopened, staff have worked together to come up with appropriate protocols for COVID safety – including COVID screening, setting capacity limits, requiring physical distancing and face-masks, introducing new cleaning and sanitization protocols, and staggering schedules to avoid crowd interactions.
The pressures of the pandemic have led to some innovations. Staff are establishing a new Seniors’ Planning Group to improve access to technology for older residents, as well as new wellness education for seniors.
An online inventory of community organizations and agencies is now available, to help connect residents with needed services.
There have also been negative pressures, the report noted. South Simcoe Police have responded to an increasing number of calls related to mental health, neighbour disputes, and domestic disputes – a trend that is likely to continue into 2021.
Bylaw enforcement has seen a 36 percent in enforcement, largely related to COVID.
And both fire and police report increasing levels of stress and anxiety among staff who must interact with COVID-19 patients.
The Town has been “shifting resources to maintain critical municipal operations,” Council was told, and will continue to do so – potentially closing arenas, for example, to shift staff to winter road maintenance.
A lot will depend on the future direction of the pandemic, and future provincial directives.
The report also summarized financial information, presented to Council earlier in the year.
COVID-related costs in Innisfil are estimated at $1.3 million – including lost revenues from facility closures and program cancellations, lost parking revenues, increased PPE and sanitation costs, and a loss of $683,000 as a result of the decision to waive late fees and interest charges on late tax bills and utility payments.
Those losses have been partially offset by savings related to staffing ($415,138), lower transit costs which are subsidized by the town, facility closures, and the $1.13 million Safe Restart Phase 1 grant received by the town.
In fact, the municipality’s finances show a modest $7,852 surplus at year-end – entirely a product of a Library surplus of over $266,000. Other municipal operations show a year-end deficit of $258,469, which will be covered by the Tax Rate Stabilization Reserve if the Town fails in its bid to receive additional assistance through Safe Restart Phase 2.
There has also been a COVID-19 impact on capital projects, with a number of budgets unspent and deferred until 2021, or beyond – including the $366,400 replacement of a tandem axle unit in Fleet, and $275K for the design of a new ideaLAB and community centre in Lefroy. Illness, and supply chain disruptions are blamed.
On a small scale, staff have taken the opportunity to merge two existing capital projects – for wayfaring signage and for Innisfil’s road ends – into a single budget, providing greater efficiency and economies of scale.
With revenues reduced, new construction slowing, and the Innisfil Gateway Casino closed for months and still limited to only 50 patrons at a time, the municipality is looking at drawing down Reserves and Reserve Funds by about $12.2 million.
There is a projected $7.5 million shortfall in Development Charges collected in 2020, which fortunately will be fully offset by stabilization reserve funds.
Taylor also provided some better news, about Innisfil’s innovative solutions.
DMZ Innisfil, the town’s partnership with Ryerson University, “has led to some excellent new developments,” he noted.
Participation in a ‘Hackathon’ competition led to five workable local tech solutions, three of which – a boat launch reservation system, CHATbot, and a new taxpayer alert system – are now in the process of being implemented.
Taylor described it as “GovTech,” a growing field that introduces technology to solve municipal problems and gives tech start-ups a boost.
Innisfil will be launching GovTech and Municipal Innovation Sectors, working with like-minded municipalities to find ways to “save time, money or both,” he said. Like the Hackathon, entries will be judged “Dragon’s Den Style,” with the winner receiving a contract with the Town.
“We believe we will be the first GovTech Accelerator in the Country,” Taylor told council.
Other innovations have included a town subsidy for food delivery service, What’s For Dinner – which not only gave a boost to local restaurants but took the local company from about 350 deliveries a week, to 1,500 per week. Even with the subsidy at an end, What’s For Dinner has stabilized at approximately 1,100 deliveries weekly.
The town also participated in initiatives like the Online Marketplace and Digital Main Street programs, Taylor said, but noted that to date, “the uptake has been ‘medium’.”
“Many of our businesses are suffering,” he said. “The big take-away is that they needed subsidy support and grant support,” and only two-thirds were able to access government programs.
Even with the pandemic, Taylor said, “The economy continues to move forward.”
Councillors praised staff for their ‘One Town, One Team’ efforts.
