The City of Meadow Lake has declined a proof of vaccination policy for City employees, contractors, volunteers and members of council. (file photo/meadowlakeNOW staff)

By Elliott Knopp

Voted down

City Council declines implementing employee vaccination policy

Oct 26, 2021 | 6:00 AM

Meadow Lake City Council has declined a motion that would see the City adopt a COVID-19 vaccination policy for Council, contractors and City employees.

The policy would have required individuals to provide proof of vaccination or proof of a negative COVID test every seven days.

During Monday’s council meeting, the City discussed whether or not the proposed policy would be beneficial for employees and members of council in City-owned facilities.

The motion was voted down with Councillors Conrad Read, Ron Dishko and Richard Levesque going against the policy. Coun. Mauri Young opted to abstain.

If it had been approved, unvaccinated individuals without a proof of a negative test within a seven-day period would be subject to the possibility of being refused entry into City facilities.

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While in chambers, Coun. Read expressed concerns with several policy items, including the impact the policy could have on employees like volunteer firefighters if some members opted not to be vaccinated.

“I look at not being able to provide a service because of unvaccinated staff or volunteers,” he said.

“We struggled for a long time to build up personnel. There were times when I first started where [Fire Chief Neil Marsh] was in dire straits of having a compliment of firefighters, and how can we encourage more people?”

Read laid out a situation where there may be an emergency involving several calls for duty and the fire department would be less equipped to handle the incident if the workforce isn’t at full capacity due to the vaccination policy.

On the other hand, City Manager Diana Burton brought up a point about what would be the next steps if the workforce were to suffer from an outbreak or pass the virus to the people they serve.

Several municipalities in the province have opted to implement their own proof of vaccination policy, including North Battleford and Battleford.

While the vaccines do not automatically prevent anyone from contracting COVID-19, Mayor Merlin Seymour questioned whether the City would move forward with the proposed approach.

“Are we going to be the people that say ‘let’s just have a free-for-all’ and not worry about it and it never stops,” he said.

The province is expecting to receive vaccines for children in November. Of the 76,481 people who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 in Saskatchewan, 817 have died, giving a case fatality rate of 1.1 per cent.

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elliott.knopp@pattisonmedia.com

on Twitter: @ElliottKnopp