Four virtual Town Hall meetings planned for April, May

4 min read April 20, 2021

By Ward 21 Councillor Scott Moffatt

In previous terms of Council, I have taken great pleasure in hosting frequent town hall meetings, most notably in the form of our mid-term town hall series. Under normal circumstances, we would have carried out upwards of twelve town hall meetings across the ward in 2020. Unfortunately, we could not do that.

In 2020, we also had to stop doing our bi-weekly drop-in sessions, but we did successfully move those to virtual means. As such, I am going to do the same with our town halls. To begin, I have scheduled four town hall meetings over the next month. The subject communities will be Munster, Manotick, North Gower and Richmond. The Munster meeting will be general in nature while the Manotick and Richmond meetings will focus on development, current and future. For North Gower, we will dive into the 2008 North Gower Secondary Plan and what that means today for the community.

Monday, April 26

Munster Town Hall

Meeting ID: 816 0485 8966

Passcode: 134352

Thursday, May 6

Manotick Town Hall

Meeting ID: 889 0359 4336

Passcode: 888329

Monday, May 10

North Gower Town Hall

Meeting ID: 837 9910 9686

Passcode: 108686

Tuesday, May 18

Richmond Town Hall

Meeting ID: 897 4768 0614

Passcode: 958433

All meetings will be held via Zoom and will begin at 6:30pm. Registration is not required.

COVID-19 Vaccine & Testing

As our partners in the Federal and Provincial Governments continue their efforts to secure and distribute more vaccines, the City of Ottawa has created the COVID-19 Vaccine Update e-subscription to make finding vaccine information a little easier. You can sign up at the link below to receive the latest updates on vaccine distribution in the city. It will also include a weekly roundup of COVID-19 and vaccine-related information every Friday.

All residents, even those who are not yet eligible for the vaccine, are encouraged to register for the e-subscription. It will keep you informed on:

who is eligible for the vaccine
where clinics are held
how and when you can schedule an appointment
the latest vaccine information

In testing news, health partners across the region have collaborated to increase access to testing facilities, including the opening of a new testing centre in Richmond. The Southwest Ottawa COVID-19 Assessment Centre is located at the Richmond Memorial Community Centre, aka Richmond Arena. The assessment centre is operated by the Kemptville District Hospital in partnership with the City and other health agencies. It is open to anyone over the age of six months old on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays between 9:00am and 5:00pm as well as on Saturdays between 10:00am and 2:00pm.

Tests are provided by appointment only. Appointments can be booked by calling 613-258-3192 or by visiting this site: https://portal.healthmyself.net/northgrenvillecovid19assessmentcentre/forms/jMX.

Specimens will be processed by the Public Health Ontario Laboratory in Ottawa and results will usually be available within 48 hours through the Ontario Health results portal at covid-19.ontario.ca.

Spring Flooding Update

With good news not always easy to come by these days, we are fortunate to have another positive outlook when it comes to the spring freshet for the second year in a row. After peak flood conditions in 2017 and 2019, 2021 is looking more like normal flood conditions.

Due to the early freshet and lack of snowmelt runoff, flows and levels are expected to be below what would normally be expected for this time of the year for the coming weeks. The Ottawa River Regulatory Board has ceased flood forecasting and are issuing weekly statements at this time. Watershed condition statements have returned to normal for each of the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority and Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.

As of March 31, Environment Canada is indicating the possibility of slightly warmer than normal temperatures through April and May. Additionally, Environment Canada is forecasting roughly normal precipitation through the same time period.

If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at Scott.Moffatt@ottawa.ca or contact me by phone at 613-580-2491. For information on Ward 21 issues, please visit TeamTwentyOne.ca.