Interest charges on overdue water and wastewater accounts suspended

Greater Sudbury city council held their first virtual meeting on March 24 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and passed a trio of resolutions to help citizens deal with some of the hardships that have come as a result of the virus.

Meeting from their homes and/or offices, members of council and mayor Brian Bigger assembled via a video conference Tuesday and wasted little time tabling motions of good will to try to ease some of the stress that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought upon the city's residents.

Council has suspended the charging of interest on overdue water and wastewater accounts effective immediately through June 4. Additionally, there will be no imposed non-sufficient funds charges for customers who are on pre-authorized plans and there will be no water shut-offs for arrears before June 4.

City council also voted in favour of allowing a second garbage bag for curbside pickup, effectively immediately, until at least March 31, while the province is under a state of emergency.

Finally, council also voted to waive downtown metered parking fees, effective immediately and concurrent with Ontario's state of emergency.

Notice of motion was waived for all of the matters that were tabled Tuesday in order to have them voted on and put into effect as quickly as possible. In shifting their focus to matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic, council was pushed to defer a number of agenda items that were to slated to be discussed on March 24.

Most of the matters that were deferred on Tuesday will be brought forward during the April 21 meeting of council, with the possible exception of the core services review final report.

Ward 6 Coun. Rene Lapierre requested that mayor Brian Bigger speak with a city clerk to have a special meeting scheduled to deal with the core services review matter as a sole agenda item, and Bigger said that he would have that discussion with a city clerk.

Check back with Sudbury.com on Wednesday for a closer look at the decisions made by council on Tuesday.