Tiny Township declares emergency in light of COVID-19 developments

Tiny Township has declared a state of emergency citing the need to protect its most vulnerable population: Seniors. 

"Tiny Township has the second highest seniors' population, after Wasaga Beach, in the county," Deputy Mayor Steffen Walma said during a conversation with MidlandToday.

"Seniors have been identified as one of the most vulnerable populations for the COVID-19 virus. So from a demographics point of view, Tiny Township definitely has some concerns in particular regarding how we would be affected if the virus were to make its way to Tiny."

According to the Statistics Canada 2016 census, Tiny Township has a total population of 11,787, out of which 4,315 are 60 or older with Walma noting 50% of that total population is seasonal.

"A lot of our cottage community is commuting up the township from Toronto, where there are actual cases," he said, noting good weather will only increase the number of those heading north.

Walma said there isn't a formal mechanism in place to monitor when cottagers come back, but added that since the township is small, people notice when their neighbours open up their cottages as do public works crews.

Declaring a state of emergency will also allow the township to access provincial funding.

 "Once you make the emergency declaration, you can start tracking your expenses and a lot of them are eligible for ODRAP (Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program) funding," Walma said. "It opens up a pot of money that we otherwise don't have access to until that declaration is made."

Walma said he didn't know exactly how much money would become available.

"But I know there's a funding model that the province follows for doing matching funding for dollars spent on the emergency," he said. "So I think there will be more questions for the province than for the municipality."

The move, Walma said, is also trying to drive home the concept of the flattening the curve, which depends on public participation.

"We thought the declaration lends credence to all the messaging that all levels of government are handing out," he said. "So if Joe Blow from Lafontaine was planning on going out partying for St. Patty's Day, he just got a text from the township saying we declared an emergency and maybe he thinks twice about it. If you were to follow social media, you'd see there are lots of naysayers out there."

Walma said the township can't police people to ensure they follow the rules of social distancing, neither is this a curfew, but it makes people think twice about he severity of their actions.

As for concerns around inciting public panic by declaring an emergency, he said the township is only trying to be consistent in its messaging.

"It's not like anything has changed or is different in the municipality," Walma said. "What we're trying to convey is that people do social distance, they self-isolate and they make sure they help protect our most vulnerable population."  

From a municipal perspective, he said, all municipal buildings in Tiny Township are closed to the public.

"Our parks and outdoors remain open, but our municipal buildings, including the (township) office are closed to the public," Walma said. "We're staffed and operations are continuing for things like permits, purchasing and paying your taxes, etc. All those services are available online and we're available by phone to walk people through those services."

Walma said the township considered a checklist for declaring a state of emergency by referencing the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.

"Is the situation an extraordinary event requiring extraordinary measures?" said Walma. "I would say, yes. Does the situation pose a danger of major proportions to life or property? Yes.

"Does the situation pose a threat to the provision of essential services? Truthfully from a municipal perspetive, absolutely not. We will still be providing our essential services but at a different capacity. County services, as far as I know, will still be available. Does the situation threaten social order and the ability to govern? We have cancelled all our meetings, because of social distancing, so yes."

Doug Leroux, Mayor of the Town of Penetanguishene, which just a while ago, issued a news release that all its municipal office buildings, including town hall will now be closed to the public, said he was not aware that Tiny Township had declared an emergency.

Currently on vacation in Florida, he said he was anticipating a 14-day self-isolation period upon his return this Friday. Despite being away, Leroux said, he was constantly in touch with staff back in Penetang.

"I'm doing teleconferences constantly and I'm in touch with my CAO (chief administrative officer) every day, sometimes twice a day," he said. "It's being handled up-to-date, up to this time. We had to close down quite a number of our public facilities, such as the library, the museum, and the curling club. And today we decided to close down the town hall and public works and so forth. The staff will still be operating, but the buildings are closed to the public."

Whether the town moves to declare emergency, said Leroux, would be a topic of further discussion with the emergency management committee, made up of senior municipal staff and frontline services.

"We will have another further meeting and see where it's all going," he said. "We're not quite there because we feel we're doing most (things) that are required short of an emergency. When anybody calls an emergency, then the provincial government calls an emergency and it means shutting down everything with the exception of food stores, gas stations and pharmacies."

The measures already taken by the town, Leroux said, are close to declaring an emergency.

"If it has to go beyond this, I don't know what it would be we would do," he said.

Mayors Stewart Strathearn of Midland and Ted Walker of Tay Township could not be reached for comment. 

Walma said, this was an independent municipal decision made by Tiny Township.

"You have to think about the pros and cons," he said. "I wouldn't be hammering other municipalities for not doing this. We just figured because of, again, the vulnerable population we have and the fact that we have people migrating from the GTA to their summer homes, we really want to hammer home the importance of that social distancing. If it does break out here, there is potential for some serious concern."