News Release - April 8, 2020

Covid-19 Update - City of Parksville

MESSAGE FROM PARKSVILLE COUNCIL

It is unlikely we will return to normal any time soon as we may be in a period of social isolation for sometime to come. More than ever, as Council members and community residents, we need to be flexible and continue to do the best we can during this unprecedented time.

Our wish for you is for a safe and healthy Easter; enjoy your time doing whatever makes you happy this weekend. With the promise of sunny days, please be cautious. Please stay safe; limit the number of outings and when you do go out, respect physical distancing of at least two metres. Stay in touch virtually with neighbours, friends and family and we would love to hear your stories about how you are staying connected; please email mayor@parksville.ca.

Parksville’s Council offers sincere thanks and appreciation to Parksville residents for doing your part to prevent the spread of this disease and successfully flatten the curve. We now know that our behaviour does affect just how long this crisis will last and our actions are generating positive results. Stay safe, stay well.

Signup for Emergency Management Oceanside Enews

Emergency Management Oceanside is a partnership between the City of Parksville and Town of Qualicum Beach to provide emergency support and disaster service to residents of the Parksville-Qualicum Beach area. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the City and Town, through EMO are operating a Level 2 Emergency Operation Centre which provides the ability to respond to and coordinate activities in partnership, working with Emergency Management BC, neighbouring communities and other partners.

As well as ongoing communications through the City and Town, EMO will send out regular updates about emergency preparedness for the Oceanside region.If you wish to receive updates directly to your inbox, please signup at EmergencyOceanside.ca .Please email questions to info@emergencyoceanside.ca

Here are a few reminders for our residents:

ONGOING CITY OPERATIONS -City services continue to operate and with our offices closed to the public, contact is by phone (250 248-6144) or email (info@parksville.ca) Direct department contact information may be found on our website. City offices are closed for the Easter statutory holidays (April 10 and April 13)

CITY PARKS- Our parks remain open to use by the public. It is extremely important those using the parks remember to keep distance from others in public spaces. Bylaw compliance officers and City staff will be patrolling to assist in enforcing the public health officer’s orders. If people using parks do not practice physical distancing, we may have no choice but to close our parks.

UTILITY NOTICES -Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the due date for City utility notices covering water, sewer, garbage and recycling has been extended to June 30. If you did not receive your notice in the mail, please call 250 248-6144. With City offices closed to the public until further notice, we encourage the public to pay this utility bill via Canada Post or through online or telephone banking.

VANCOUVER ISLAND REGIONAL LIBRARY -The VIRL is committed to offering services, amenities and entertainment to help in these challenging times Library branches remain closed to the public because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Books and materials out on loan will not be required to be returned until the library re-opens. In the meantime, VIRL is offering many online resources - explore these digital resources including ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, newspaper, music, learning tools and more all available 24/7 with your VIRL card.

Guidelines Support Compliance with Public Health Officer’s Orders

To provide a consistent approach throughout BC and reflect the public health officer’s recommendations for individuals and communities, local governments are encouraged to focus enforcement efforts on COVID-19 orders and through the bylaw enforcement order, clarified bylaw compliance officer roles:

• To assist with the compliance and enforcement of public health orders.
• Bylaw compliance officers are not authorized to detain an individual because of a contravention or suspected contravention of a public health order.
• Bylaw compliance officers are not authorized to exercise any authority to issue a fine or penalty.
• Enforcement will be directed by the provincial health officer and/or Island Health.

Working hard to protect our community isn’t new for the City’s bylaw compliance officers; however, protecting our community during a pandemic is new. Prior to the order, bylaw compliance had started to patrol and educate about the public health orders as well as monitor City infrastructure. We will continue to deploy on-duty bylaw officers to assist in enforcing provincial health orders, such as monitoring community facilities and areas closed to the public. Island Health will cover food premises including grocery stores as well as personal service establishments. Bylaw officers will remind residents of facility closures, as well as the critical need to physical distance. City staff are also integrating patrols into their daily tasks and will report concerns to bylaw. The City’s priority is to protect the health and safety of our residents.

Compliance concerns should be directed to:

City of Parksville
bylaw@parksville.ca

250 954-4650

Island Health
HPES.Parksville@viha.ca

250 947-8222

For more information:

Deb Tardiff, Manager of Communications
dtardiff@parksville.ca

250 954-3073