City Manager Norm Gale won’t commit to whether the City of Thunder Bay is considering declaring a State of Emergency.
Gale told Acadia Broadcasting’s John Ongaro it is up to the Mayor to make that call.
“I would say we are constantly reviewing, there is no checklist that tells us when we should declare a State of Emergency, we continue to monitor the latest information,” Gale said.
If the city declares a State of Emergency it will allow them to access more resources and funding from the province.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing says a declaration also lets the city temporarily re-assign its staff to different positions if needed to maintain its services.
As for whether events on the waterfront this spring and summer will need to be cancelled, Gale says no decisions have been made as of yet.
He says they will eventually have to make the call but they haven’t done that just yet.
“There is no exact date, there’s a tipping point where decisions need to be made, but we are not there yet. It’s different now and this is not normal. This is not going to be a usual summer,” Gale stressed.
