(file photo/City of Brooks)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Over $500,000 in direct costs

Mayor of Brooks calling on government to offset some COVID-19 costs

Jun 9, 2020 | 5:50 PM

BROOKS AB-The City of Brooks was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and now the mayor of Brooks is calling on upper levels of government to step up to the plate and offset some of the costs.

“The province and the federal government should be looking at communities like ours, and areas like ours that were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and really had to make decisions and invest resources in it quickly because any delay would have been detrimental,” Morishita said.

The city of Brooks had the second largest COVID-19 outbreak in the province and that meant big expenditures for the city. A total of $502, 673 were costs directly tied to the pandemic, including an assessment centre costing $61,100 and isolation spaces totalling $73,621. The cost of the two initiatives is money Morishita said was critical to helping the city recover.

“Absolutely if you look at where we were on Easter long weekend and then look at where we are today. I think it was the direct result of two things that both testing centres did one was I think it brought an awareness of how widespread the infection was. If you remember the results of the first clinic or assessment centre were 10 per cent positive which you know I think was a shock for everybody, who didn’t understand how prevalent it was…. but also as a result I think the community started to understand what was going on,” Morishita said.

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Documents revealed to council show an estimated total COVID-19 impact of $1,185,836. The city is looking at applying for provincial disaster relief, through the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, which typically provides funds for natural disasters and Alberta Health Services.

” It’s just right, the fact is is that this community supports the province both economically and socially. We support each other when things go bad whether it’s the floods in Fort McMurray you know horrible again, floods in Lac La Biche this past weekend, the province gets together and helps out and I think High River and us have disproportionately had to share the costs of keeping an essential business rolling while trying to keep our community safe,” Morishita said.

The city also plans to ask stakeholders for financial support, and that includes JBS, the centre of a major outbreak in the city.

“JBS has talked to us about how we should be getting together once this is over to talk about how some of the responsibility might be shared, and we are open to the conversation, obviously. They’ve been great corporate partners throughout this,” Morishita said.

If the city does not receive financial support, the mayor said the city would be capable of financing the burden of the pandemic themselves thanks to their strong financial position and years of accumulative surplus. But he noted it would be challenging.

“It would take a long time to get back to where we are,” Morishita said.

For now, the city which has had over 1100 COVID-19 cases is left waiting to find out what support options, if any, they will receive.

“Time will tell and I hope they’re listening,” Morishita said.