Burning questions about municipal budget cuts, tax increases and more in light of COVID-19 will have to wait—Whistler mayor and council will consider them today, April 23, in a budget workshop.
"We had just gone through a really long and exhaustive budgeting process coming into 2020, and so I'm not eager to make reactionary decisions that damage the rigour that was inserted into that process originally," said Mayor Jack Crompton after a regular council meeting held by Zoom on April 21.
"My intention is that we move quickly to respond, but do so with the same kind of rigour that we gave the first process."
A related budget amendment bylaw is expected to come before council in May.
"We are summarizing and getting our heads around what does this crisis mean in terms of what the 2020 budget now looks like, what are the revenue losses because of our changes in operation?" said new chief administrative officer Virginia Cullen in a presentation to council.
"And so the senior management team is working hard on getting that information together so that we can get together with council on Thursday and go through what are the likely adjustments that are going to be needed going forward, including a review of ... 2020 projects, and what will the impacts be to operations and services because of this."
The COVID-19 crisis is demanding new levels of flexibility and creativity from businesses, government and the general public, Cullen added in a follow-up statement.
"How we did things in the past may not be available to us for a long time. My focus at the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) right now is to see where we have flexibility to provide services given the current distancing measures," she said.
"This is why updating remote access capabilities and rolling out of new safe work guidelines has been key in getting our service levels close to where they were. We will also need to find creative solutions to programming and community engagement so that we can revitalize the community when the time comes."
NEW CAO TAKES THE REINS
It was the first meeting for CAO Cullen, who officially started with the RMOW on April 20.
Cullen spent the last month embedded with the RMOW's Emergency Operations Centre on a volunteer basis.
"The experience was great. It was really an unusual situation to be able to observe a team before joining them, but it was really impressive to see everyone just operating with calmness and clarity in every meeting," she said.
"It's really been trying to get up to speed with as much information and context as I can, as quickly as possible, which is why I joined when I did, because I knew that it was not going to be easy once I stepped in, so I wanted to learn as much I could as soon as possible."
Check back with Pique in the coming weeks for an interview with the new CAO.
COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT PROGRAM FUNDS REALLOCATED
Also at the April 21 meeting, Mayor Jack Crompton announced that more Community Enrichment Program (CEP) funding has been reallocated to social services throughout the region.
The RMOW is now giving $31,000 to the Whistler Community Services Society; $20,000 to the Howe Sound Women's Centre Society; $13,000 to the Zero Ceiling Society of Canada; $12,000 to Sea to Sky Community Services' Better at Home program; $7,000 to the Pathways Serious Mental Illness Society; $5,100 to the Whistler Multicultural Society; and $4,000 to the Whistler Community Foundation.
"That means that we have taken the resources that are typically allocated generally as part of the CEP and focused them in this time of need on the social services programs in Whistler, our goal being that through this summer season, as we sort through how we manage a physically distanced life together, those social-service organizations that serve us so well are funded," Crompton said.
"That doesn't mean that the CEP will not fund sports and environment and arts and culture, but if it does that will be a decision made later on."
