By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
As of Tuesday’s council meeting, Cramahe Townships stands to become the first of Northumberland County’s seven member municipalities to require its staff to be vaccinated except for substantiated medical and religious reasons.
The motion was passed by a vote of four to one at last week’s committee-of-the-whole meeting, Mayor Mandy Martin said this weekend.
The councillor voting against did so on the philosophic principle of individual rights, Martin added.
“He said he would be happy to abide by the decision,” she stated.
“He knew he would be outvoted and said he could live with that.”
The motion is on the council agenda and, prior to the meeting, will have the staff policy appended for public review. This policy will flesh out such details as deadlines and other criteria.
While Northumberland County council voted on taking this stand last Wednesday, Cramahe council’s committee of the whole had voted for the move the night before – making it the first municipal body in the county to pass such a vote.
Applauding council’s move, Martin reiterated that the municipality is, at rock bottom, is a service corporation.
“We are here to serve the taxpayer. We deal with the public. It’s not like we have a head department away off in the bowels somewhere counting beans. We have to deal with the public, all of us, in one shape or another.
“All our employees. Whether a volunteer firefighter out on the 401 responding to medical calls or a staff in the office or at the arena or out cutting grass. Wherever,” she stated.
“So everybody was quite supportive about it, actually. There was hardly any discussion.”
The September 21 meeting at which a ratifying vote is expected will take place virtually, starting at 6 p.m.
