In-depth interview: Barrie Mayor on the City’s ice storm recovery

Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall talks about ice storm cleanup efforts in the hardest hit areas of the city.

Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall sat down with CTV’s Sarah Freemark on Wednesday to talk about ice storm cleanup efforts in the hardest hit areas of the City.

Here is the live Q and A from Wed. April, 16:

Have you seen anything like this before?

“In 36 years I haven’t seen anything that was debilitating with as much destruction as we’ve seen here in the last couple of weeks. It’s quite something. We’re still cleaning up. We’ve got to a lot of it, but there’s a heck of a lot more to do on the way.”

What are some of the resources that you decided to pull in given the magnitude of the storm?

“It was very quick that we received requests from companies that were outside of our region to come and help, whether that was hydro companies. The Premier was able to reach out to some of the hydro companies that weren’t in affected areas to bring personnel and support up here. We were able to get private contractors up here and people who don’t do work for the City of Barrie to help with the cleanup. We were able to get contractors in the City of Barrie who perhaps don’t do this every day to help with the cleanup as well, and that was wonderful to see.”

What did you do as the vice chair of Big City Mayors?

“Well, we kind of hit a ceiling, if you will, on the kind of contractors we could get to hit the streets. We had people like Jon MacNeil who was out helping, but we needed more help. So I reached out to all the different municipalities and the big cities around Ontario—from down Windsor way all the way up towards Ottawa—and asked for support and help. We managed to take those 26 crews, I believe we got up to 50 total committed, and that’s been really helping along the way for the City of Barrie to be able to get ahead of some of this cleanup, at least a lot faster than we thought it was going to.”

You were also lending resources elsewhere. Where was that?

“We were able to speak to the Mayor of Orillia when it first happened, and we were right in the midst of our response. We weren’t able to provide the resources that they were looking for, so we were able to, about two days in, say okay, what do you need and where could we help? The Province of Ontario stepped in at that point and were able to provide support for Mayor Don McIsaac. And we also were able to help coordinate resources for Muskoka and Electra, putting a couple of crews up there along with the City of Brampton. Patrick Brown was able to step up and commit a couple of crews. That was a huge help for them as well.”

Speak to us about MacNeil Construction and what they did for the community?

“Well, they were awesome. You know, at first there was concern about how fast this was going to take place, and then they just hopped in and started cleaning things up and taking trees down—getting the brush to the side of the road, helping neighbours. Right after a while it was, ‘Hey, we want to work with you and teach us how to do it.’ You know, teach me how to use my chainsaw again, as I like to joke. And it was actually a lot of fun in the end to be going around clearing sidewalks and helping the folks—a couple of disabled folks—we were able to help get their lawns clear and their entrances and exits to their homes clear. It was something else to see from Jon and his team.”