Statement by Mayor Frank
November 9, 2018 - 4 p.m.

Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us today.

I am pleased to tell you we have made significant progress after the incident at our community centre on Tuesday, November 6.

Thank you to the nearby organizations including Elk Island Public and Catholic School Boards, Festival Place and Bedford Village for their cooperation and patience over the last few days.

These facilities are now open to patrons, residents, staff and students; while the Community Centre complex remains closed.

I also want to thank Emergency Services and the RCMP for their quick and professional response to the 9-1-1 call, and their thorough investigation to ensure our residents and our community remain safe.

The RCMP investigation identified the suspect and confirmed there is no other threat to our community or residents.

I can confirm this person has never been an employee of Strathcona County. Now that the RCMP’s investigation is complete, Strathcona County is again in control of Community Centre and County Hall.

I am proud of how we have come together as a community during this challenging and difficult time.

Despite the impact this incident has had on our community, County staff continue to work with professionalism and have adapted to operational changes to ensure we can continue to deliver our services to the community.

Currently, Family and Community Services is offering counselling and other supports out of Millennium Place while library staff are maintaining partnerships and the Bookmobile services for residents. Recreation, Parks and Culture is accommodating an influx of displaced staff and Information and Technology Services is maintaining connectivity so our staff can continue to provide the level of service our community has come to expect.

While the parkade is still under RCMP control as an active crime scene, we are actively working to find the approach to get people reunited with their vehicles as soon as possible.

Strathcona County is a strong, tightknit and resilient community. We have all been deeply affected by these events.

The majority of our staff are residents of this community as well, and I want to assure everyone we are providing the appropriate resources and supports to all staff and residents.

I am confident that together we will recover and our County and library staff will continue to deliver excellent customer service to our residents with pride and professionalism.

Thank you everyone for what you have done and for what you continue to do.

Together, we as community will get Strathcona County back to full operation and our daily lives.

Statement by Jeff Hutton
November 9, 2018 - 4 p.m.

Good afternoon, my name is Jeff Hutton and I am the Director of Strathcona County Emergency Operations Centre. I’m here to provide an update on Strathcona County’s progress on our business continuity over the past few days.

#1 Building release

RCMP released Community Centre and County Hall to Strathcona County yesterday night at 7pm. RCMP remain in control of parkade and all access points to the parkade, including elevators.

#2 parkade release and vehicles

While the parkade is still under RCMP control, we have been working with the Insurance Bureau of Canada (which is the association of all insurers for Alberta). Our goal is to find the best approach to safely access and remove vehicles from the parkade. Strathcona County will be in direct contact with the people who have let us know their vehicle is in the parkade shortly with more information.

#3 Structural report of the Community Centre parkade

Strathcona County received a structural report from Merwin Engineering Ltd yesterday evening. The engineer firm performed a preliminary visual assessment on the effect of the explosion in the parkade. The current assessment is limited to visual due to the location still being an active crime scene.

What we know from the initial visual inspection is that there is no significant damage to the structural integrity of the parkade. Once the parkade is released to the County, there will be further structural, mechanical and electrical inspection and testing of the parkade. Until then, the parkade will remain closed to the public.

Staff

We have 600 staff who have been displaced, including library staff, who normally work within the County Hall and Community Centre.

We have made arrangements for our Community Centre’s essential services to continue to run. For example, Family and Community Services counselling services has relocated to Millennium Place to be able to provide services for our residents.

Our information and technology team is temporarily housed at the Glen Allan Recreation Complex. Information Technology Services have maintained essential connectivity and support as county staff have relocated to temporary work stations.

The library’s bookmobile continues to run and there is a pop-up library located at the Broadmoor Recreation Complex.

As you can see, we continue to be nimble while doing our very best to meet our residents' everyday needs.

Council In addition, we are grateful to the Elk Island Public School Board for providing space for our Council to continue its important orders of business over the next while.

Thank you.