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TBM staff hope to continue outdoor activity options amid stay-at-home order

Under the new provincial orders, town officials are hoping to be able to continue to groom the Georgian Trail for outdoor exercise purposes
2020_04_21 TBM Town Hall Sign_JG
As directives unfold, the town will continue to communicate with residents through the TBM and the Explore Blue website. Jennifer Golletz/ CollingwoodToday

The Town of the Blue Mountains’ (TBM) senior management team will be meeting today to discuss how the provincial stay-at-home order will impact town operations – including the grooming of area trails. 

“There's a lot to digest here,” said TBM CAO Shawn Everitt at a committee of the whole meeting held this afternoon. 

Everitt reassured residents that under the new order, the municipality will continue to seamlessly operate all essential services – including water, wastewater, winter road maintenance, bylaw services and sidewalk clearing. 

In addition, TBM recently began grooming its portion of the Georgian Trail in an effort to increase winter recreation options for residents, and Everitt has asked town staff to take a closer look at the new order and what implications it may have for the trail operations. 

“When I read the order, thus far, it does talk about exercise and I've already talked to Mr. [Ryan] Gibbons [TBM director of community services] in regards to this and how we consider the work that we're doing on the trails as providing extra exercise opportunities and outdoor activities,” he said.  

The provincial order states that everyone is to remain at home with exceptions for permitted purposes or activities, such as going to the grocery store or pharmacy, accessing health care services, for exercise or for work where the work cannot be done remotely.

“We will continue to work over the next day to see what that looks like,” he said. “I would prefer that those trails continue to be maintained."

As for town hall, Everitt said the order will not cause a lot of new changes as staffing numbers have already been reduced within the building. 

“We will be moving forward with looking at reducing staff at our facilities even more, and getting people working remotely. I would say it will be very similar to what we were operating as in the early stages of the pandemic,” he explained.  

As directives unfold, the town will continue to communicate with residents through the TBM and the Explore Blue website. 

“We will continue to use those mechanisms to make sure that the public stays informed through this process,” he said.  


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Jennifer Golletz

About the Author: Jennifer Golletz

Jennifer Golletz covers civic matters under the Local Journalism Initative, which is funded by the Government of Canada
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