By Cecilia Nasmith

Northumberland County council has passed a delegation-of-authority bylaw in response to the COVID-19 to ensure the county continues to operate and serve the needs of its residents.

Chief administrative officer Jennifer Moore explained that the temporary bylaw – designed to remain in force as long as the COVID-19 emergency lasts and revoked by council thereafter – is based on lame-duck laws that come into effect during transitions of councils, when the old council is leaving office but the new one is not yet sworn in.

“This is about maintaining public continuity and having the authority to make decisions where we would not be able to convene council, and keep things going,” Moore said.

“We also added a Schedule A, with a number of policies – mostly HR-related – for staff to cover a number of instances where we feel we have to relax those policies – and we have already made those decisions in the last number of days. We have to have the flexibility to change the staffing complement.

“All our organizations are being creative to maintain essential services and manage how we work with staff.”

Provisions include Moore and Director of Finance Glenn Dees being delegated the authority – in consultation with Warden Bob Sanders – to dispose of any real or personal property of the county that has a value exceeding $50,000 at the time of disposal, to make expenditures or incur liabilities in excess of $50,000, to change human resources and procurement policies and procedures as they pertain to staffing and operations as set out in Schedule A, and to sign any agreement for funding and services deemed to be required.

Councillor Gail Latchford was glad to see Sanderson involved in the process.

“I think that's good for public perception – everybody working together – and I certainly support the staff and what they are having to do and some of the decisions they are having to make for operations,” Latchford commented.

Even though county councillors were seated a good distance apart and gallery seating was widely spaced, a situation may yet develop where council is not available for some time - as they also carried a motion to cancel the April council meeting with a new one to be rescheduled at the call of the warden.