Town council is currently in the process of reviewing it’s Emergency Response Plan after a follow-up examination between Northern Health and the town resulted in some areas for improvement.
Following the boil water advisory in September, town staff worked closely with Northern Health to administer a system-wide disinfection plan and proceeded to notify residents of how to respond to such news.
Residents’ reaction to the follow-up emergency response procedures was mixed and demonstrated that a solid understanding of what on how to manage was unfamiliar.
Mayor Bachrach agrees that the identifying improvements will help the community.
“A cafe owner really felt we should be posting a paper notice on their door, so when they got to work in the morning they know a boil water advisory is in place so I think that is a discussion we need to have at some point and even if it’s about managing expectations and communicating to the community of what they can expect in the case of that kind of situation -which wasn’t an emergency – it was a precautionary measure but I think as much as we can to help people to understand what to expect when things don’t go as planned, the better.”
A town emergency response plan is currently being reviewed to examine and identify best practices.