RED DEER -- Blackfalds is following the steps of other municipalities, like Lacombe and Red Deer, in laying off town staff as the pandemic forces public spaces closed.
About 25 full, part-time, casual and contract employees are now without work.
The town of Blackfalds announced last Wednesday it would be temporarily laying off staff due to a shortage of work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Blackfalds’ recreation facilities, like the Abbey Centre, and community service departments have since been closed.
The town kept staff working for a period of time with maintenance tasks, but that work has now stopped.
Myron Thompson, the chief administrative officer for Blackfalds, said he hopes the layoffs are temporary.
“We appreciate and respect our staff and we hoped we could weather the storm, but that wasn’t the case,” Thompson told CTV News.
“Once we are cleared to open up our facilities we definitely want those folks back.”
Thompson said staff expected layoffs after directives from the government to close specific facilities.
“Most of the employees kind of knew that it was coming," he commented.
“We can’t keep (them) employed where there is no work.”
At the moment, Blackfalds is looking at May 15 as a timeline to reassess the situation. However, Thompson said that date is not definite.
“But, we will reassess that as we get closer to that timeline to determine if that needs to be extended out further.”
Thompson said the town gave as much information as it could to laid-off staff about applying for employment insurance from the government.
Another area currently at a standstill is summer-student hiring. Thompson said that many students need the pay from summer work to get them through school.
“We’re hoping that things work out, so we can bring them on as well.”
There are currently eight cases of COVID-19 in Red Deer County.
