Chatham-Kent council has agreed to suspend the vaccination and testing policy for councilors and committees.
count. Conor Allin entered the successful motion at the council’s Dec. 5 meeting. It passed 9-7, with Allin noting the time had come to move ahead.
“(Other) municipalities, especially bigger ones with higher-density populations, have kind of gone away from this,” he said.
Council initially approved its vaccination and testing policy in October 2021. The rules for staff were already suspended this year for existing employees but remain in place for new municipal hires.
count. Carmen McGregor put forth an unsuccessful motion, which fell in a tie vote, asking to postpone Allin’s motion until the staff policy is suspended in its entirety.
“This going to be reviewed in the very near future,” she said. “I think that (for) a few weeks of inconvenience that we as leaders should lead by example.”
count. Steve Pinsonneault, who said he is vaccinated, believes vaccination status or testing shouldn’t be needed for someone to serve on council or a committee.
He noted how the province had relaxed its rules earlier this year.
“I just think we need to get moving on with life,” Pinsonneault said, adding he still believes the vulnerable population should be protected through precautions.
Cathy Hoffman, general manager of corporate services and chief human resources officer, said Chatham-Kent’s policy was more lenient than some other jurisdictions because it allowed a provision for testing instead of vaccination for those who wished.
“Our biggest goal was to get the most number of employees vaccinated, for sure, but all the way along we provided alternatives to vaccination,” she said.
“You see some of these announcements of different municipalities talking about pulling their vaccination policies. They’re pulling policies that were quite a lot more stringent. … From a CK perspective, our policy is not comparable.”
After the vote, Coun. Rhonda Jubenville entered a notice of motion, to be voted on at a future meeting. It asks that council suspend the remainder of the vaccination and testing policy that still applies to new hires.