At its remotely held May 27 meeting, Huntsville council quietly passed a resolution, moved by councillors Brian Thompson and Jason FitzGerald, instructing municipal staff to open the Brunel Locks on weekends in June.
The motion, passed without discussion, also directed staff to restore the operation of the locks to “full normal operational season,” based on an eight-hour shift, seven days a week, in July and August.
The resolution also called for the locks to remain open on weekends during the months of September and October up to the Thanksgiving weekend.
At the same meeting, and because it is not anticipated that the Province will allow gatherings of more than five people before July 1, according to the resolution put before them, councillors voted unanimously in favour of suspending all municipal Canada Day celebrations.
Also related to COVID-19, Huntsville Mayor Karin Terziano noted at the meeting that while the Province has begun to reopen certain spaces, Ontario Premier Doug Ford “was very strong in indicating while the Province will allow certain things to reopen, it’s entirely up to the municipality to determine the actual implementation,” she said. “So we have a plan to carefully evaluate each reopening for safety of our citizens and we will do that at each stage when the Province allows us to reopen.”
Terziano added that because the Province had lifted certain restrictions the municipality had consequently done the same and reopened tennis courts, pickleball, basketball, and volleyball courts in Huntsville and Port Sydney in the past week. She said the skateboard park, frisbee golf, and the off-leash dog park at McCulley Robertson had also reopened.
“Benches, picnic tables, chairs will not be reinstalled in the outdoor spaces at this time,” she said, adding that municipal beaches, as well as the walking track at Conroy Park, have also opened.
“Residents are reminded that sports play on a field is still limited to a couple of people kicking a ball around—still no gathering of more than five people,” she said, reminding councillors that that same day the Province had also extended existing emergency orders due to COVID-19 to June 9, 2020.
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