City Did Not Like No Consultation On New Restrictions

“We ask the Province to give us a bit more of a heads up so we can work our way through this. Scrambling to make decisions is not always the best answer,” city manager Jim Puffalt told a special meeting of Council last week.

Puffalt was commenting about the new restrictions imposed under the Public Health Act to control the spread of COVID - 19 in the province. COVOD - 19 by all appearances has started on a second wave of transmission with exponential growth over the last two months in the province and throughout Canada.

At the time of Puffalt’s update to Council there was still a lot of unknowns as to how the new restrictions would impact the City’s operations.

Regarding the mandatory wearing of masks in public indoor places Puffalt said it was something Administration had been working towards however it needs to be emphasized none of the present members of Council were in favour of mandatory mask wearing when the issue was discussed at a special meeting of Council on the issue.

“We have been advocating for masks for quite some time…it does make it more difficult once it came in to try and scramble our way,” he said.

Asked by Councillor Heather Eby if groups such as figure skating would receive discounts because they can now only have eight skaters on the ice surface and ice rentals are expensive, Puffalt said that is not going to happen.

“As you know minor hockey and minor sports are severely discounted already and unfortunately if we are going to cover our costs,” Puffalt said, adding “if they can’t book the ice then we would not charge them of course.”

In response to the new restrictions and ice time used by the user groups the City has decided to temporarily close the PlaMor Palace and move all ice rentals to Mosaic Place and the Kinsmen Arena.

No adult activities are allowed on the ice and there are to be no games although there can be practices limited to eight team members who are wearing masks and coaches so long as physical distancing of three meters is maintained.

Moose Jaw Minor Hockey has decided to continue with practices.

The Kinsmen Pool, despite thinking they could continue, had to eliminate swimming lessons until December 17th at the earliest.

The Pool also has restricted numbers and pre-registration for users as well as aqua exercising courses are limited to eight participants with three meter spacing.

All private pool and ice bookings are cancelled until at least December 17th.

The Yara Centre remains open but with restrictions on user numbers and masks required for all activities.