Jason Stockfish | [email protected]
Council鈥檚 committee of the whole heard from a business owner regarding her perceived lack of communication from the municipality during the recent power outage.
Lynn Wannop, owner of Coco鈥檚 Cafe, who had previously sent a letter to the municipality about the matter, voiced her frustration to council and administration during the Sept. 27 meeting.
鈥淭here was zero communication with any (business owners) by anyone from town,鈥� began Wannop.
鈥淟istening to the narrative of 鈥榥ow is not the time (to visit Jasper)鈥� over and over and over again became so absolutely devastating to hear.鈥�
Wannop said that while she understands the volatility and fluidity of crisis situations, an aim or objective from the municipality would have been appreciated to help businesses in their decision-making process.
鈥淚t makes me so angry to think that COVID has left you, our local government, with a publicly-accepted tool to shut down our local economy to buy space and time,鈥� she said.
鈥淛asper business owners need the ability to be able to sustain ourselves through hardship, the same way we need to eat, and the general public needs to understand that.鈥�
Wannop added that the amount of revenue businesses lost may seem small to some, but for many, it was 鈥渃rippling鈥�.
She also stated that business interruption insurance was not an option for her because there was no physical damage to the business, no one was hurt or sick and no local emergency was declared.
Before concluding, Wannop added that it had been brought to her attention that the municipality or administration had received disaster relief.
鈥淚 want to know where that is and how we get it, and why we don鈥檛 know about it.鈥�
CAO Bill Given addressed Wannop鈥檚 questions.
鈥淭o be clear, the Municipality of Jasper has received no financial support from any order of government or any agency related to the Chetamon Fire.鈥�
Given explained that the provincial ministry of municipal affairs may consider implementing a disaster recovery program, but if they do, it will be to cover losses for which there was 鈥渘o insurance readily available.鈥�
鈥淭his is specifically spelled out in regulations, so I just want to make sure that we temper the community and council鈥檚 expectations,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t will not be a short road. There is no cash grant that comes to the municipality or individual businesses.鈥�
Coun. Wendy Hall said that she truly appreciates and understands the struggles of businesses, but she was also proud of the municipal team for how they communicated with the residents.
鈥淚t felt like as info came in, info went out (to the community),鈥� Hall said.
鈥淢y question would be, what would be an ideal solution for you? What would you like us as council to do?鈥�
Wannop explained that she believes someone from the town must be appointed to work as a liaison with local businesses.
鈥淗owever that looks, that鈥檚 not my job to figure that out; that鈥檚 you as a council,鈥� she said.
鈥�(Business owners) are entitled, and I hate that word, but we are entitled to鈥ome level of communication to keep us informed.鈥�
As a resident, Wannop said she was one hundred per cent in support of all the work the municipality, the emergency crew and ATCO put into communicating with the community during the wildfire and resulting power outage.
Following up on that statement, Coun. Scott Wilson pointed out that every business owner is a resident and was therefore privy to the information Wannop wanted shared with businesses.
鈥淓verybody was informed immediately. Residents were informed鈥hich in turn (means) business owners were informed.鈥�
Wilson said that if Wannop believed the municipality did an excellent job informing residents, then she should believe they did an excellent job informing small businesses.
鈥淲hat are you as a small tourism business entitled to over everybody else? That鈥檚 my challenge there,鈥� he said.
鈥淎nd I鈥檓 not going to sit here and have you shout at us, suggesting that you鈥檙e entitled to more information.鈥�
Wannop noted that due to Coco鈥檚 Cafe being located near pharmacies, they were on a grid with priority power and able to operate when others could not.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 afford to be closed,鈥� Wannop said.
The situation was made more difficult with people telling her that she should be closed to conserve power, specifically citing a news story with Mayor Richard Ireland saying he would respect businesses helping residents to get their power back up and running.
Christine Nadon, director of legislative and protective services, spoke up to clarify what she believed was a misstatement of fact.
鈥淲e came out with a message to keep people away from Jasper, but (we did) not indicate to businesses whether to be open or closed.鈥�
Nadon also noted that administration investigated the impact of declaring a state of local emergency (SOLE) on insurance and found that the lack of such a declaration shouldn鈥檛 have any effect on insurance claims.
Mayor Ireland said he appreciates the hardship businesses were in, especially as it came on the heels of two years of the pandemic.
鈥淭he situation was precarious (and) we were principally concerned about an evacuation鈥recipitated by a loss of power to鈥he wastewater treatment plant.鈥�
The mayor explained that there was a specific situation when the backup generator wasn鈥檛 running, and there was no power being generated by ATCO, and the municipality was forced to pump about 250 cubic meters of untreated waste into a decommissioned lagoon.
鈥淭hat is not sustainable. We鈥檙e in a national park next to a Canadian Heritage River. We cannot do that.鈥�
Discouraging visitation during the power outage was the most reasonable thing to have done under the circumstances, Ireland said.
鈥淲e were so close to looking at an evacuation. I cannot imagine what it would be like to evacuate 5,000 residents, let alone another 25,000 visitors,鈥� he added.
鈥淲e made decisions, and I appreciate that they had negative impacts on business, and that is regrettable, but looking back, I鈥檓 confident that we made reasonable and informed and right decisions.鈥�
