Chatsworth Municipal Office (Photo by Nathan Shubert)
Chatsworth is looking at other municipalities to figure out how to implement a large gathering policy.
In response to when Coun. Peter Whitten presented his large gathering policy to council on Aug. 2, he says staff were directed to look at neighbouring municipalities to see what they have implemented.
“Right now this is really in its infancy until staff gets back to us with some of their reports,” says Whitten.
This policy would be aimed at dealing with events possibly deemed larger or not necessarily in the best interest of the community. Formal and organized events like weddings would be excluded from this policy.
“With regards to stresses on our EMS systems, our police, our fire departments, we are certainly not looking to shut down gatherings that are typical in the area,” says Whitten.
Whitten’s motion had included a benchmark number of 500 to identify large gatherings. When asked if that number was going to remain the same moving forward, he says he does not have any inclination as to what that number could be adjusted to.
“It will be interesting to see what they do come back with and then council can deliberate on that and we may choose to do nothing, we may choose to do some things, but ultimately we are doing this for the best interests of our constituents,” says Whitten.
He says he expects a report to come back to council in a few weeks.