North Perth staff held a virtual session on their website for the public Monday night to briefly update residents on how things are going during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Todd Kasenberg said things are starting to turn around but he maintains everyone must keep their focus on keeping the community safe and healthy.
"My message today is as resolute as it was the day that COVID-19 forced itself into our consciousness: We must stay the course. The world has changed, and we need to be patient with those changes and keep working towards building a great community," said Kasenberg.
Most municipal services are still operating and are available to be accessed on the North Perth website including the library, building and finance departments, and much more. There was plenty of talk about supporting local businesses, which Mayor Kasenberg said remains a major focus and encourages the public to do so as much as possible.
In terms of how the pandemic has been affecting the community and the world at large, Mayor Kasenberg said we have all had to move through and experience many different phases of the outbreak and subsequent shutdown.
"We are entering a different phase of this pandemic. Phase 1 was the scramble to change behaviour. Phase 2 was the frustration phase in which we have been for a few weeks, trying to figure out if we and our neighbours have been doing the right things and choosing our thoughts about whether these changes are enduring, or just a blip in time," added North Perth's mayor. "The current phase has seen a lot of government action, not all of which has impressed everyone, and now we hit Phase 3, wherein we work to recover, reboot and rebuild our lives. We have choices to make."
With regards to other departments, North Perth Clerk Pat Berfelz said one major concern has been building applications, and she says they are still able to accept and process them.
"With regards to the building department, we are accepting all building applications electronically, or by dropping off the applications in the municipal dropbox. We are working on an electronic permitting program at this time," said Berfelz.
Many of the departments are still operating and are accessible via the North Perth website, including the library, finance and recreation departments. That includes the fire department, and North Perth Fire Chief Ed Smith says the department is still responding to calls as per usual albeit with more of a cautious approach due to COVID-19. He notes one of the major concerns right now is people cleaning out their homes during the time off and burning unwanted items, and he cautions everyone to please get a legit burn permit.
For more information or to access a specific department, visit the North Perth municipal website here: https://www.northperth.ca/en/index.aspx#