Inverness County’s Chief Administrative Officer sits down with CHNE-TV for an update on the municipal services being changed or suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Strathlorne Recycling Facility, which processes all recycling material for the county, has been closed since March 25 and will remain closed until further notice. Employees at the facility usually come in close contact with the recycling material as they separate items from blue bags, so the municipality is waiting for further instruction before allowing the service to resume. “We’re erring on the side of safety,” Keith MacDonald said, “until we get more information on how can staff complete this work safely as well as getting more protective equipment for staff.”

A particular concern - the county has been having difficulty procuring enough safety equipment for all workers. Some additional material was provided by Nova Scotia’s Emergency Management Office last week but the county is working on adding the equipment to their inventory before distributing it to other essential services such as the maintenance team for water and wastewater infrastructure and waste collection.

Residents are asked to keep their recycling at home for the time being.

Other services have been temporarily changed to help the municipality with its pandemic support effort. The team working on recreation, tourism and culture was redirected to develop a food security program. Along with the Eastern District Education Centre and with funding from the province and the private sector, the county has been distributing food hampers to families with the help of Strait Area Transport and several volunteers. MacDonald said that hampers have been delivered to 130 individuals in the eastern district of the county.

In turn, work with the tourism sector has been left to the Cape Breton Regional Enterprise Network (CBREN), which receives funding from several municipalities and the province. CBREN has been reaching out to businesses to inquire about their needs ahead of the tourism season. The organization also distributes information about federal and provincial programs meant to help businesses in the sector.

Council meetings will be taking place online. While the municipality works on releasing recordings of the video-conferences, CHNE will continue to bring weekly updates with municipal officials to keep the public in the know.