Belleville Mayor Mitch Panciuk says the small delegation heading to sister city Lahr, Germany next week can travel safely.
On the Lorne Brooker Show Thursday, the mayor called it an important trip as they celebrate 50 years as sister cities and the group meets with the CEO of an unnamed company that is investing in Belleville.
Mayor Panciuk says they’ve scaled back the trip because of COVID-19 concerns. On past trips their delegation has been dozens strong.
Councillors Carol Feeney and Bill Sandison are going, along with a few others.
The mayor says it’s not a decision they made lightly.
“We didn’t make the final decision on this until Tuesday when I gathered the small group and we talked about the health protocols going there, the status of COVID in Germany and then we made the decision to go ahead. That being said, we will continue to monitor things right up until we would leave and if anything should change, we’re prepared to postpone that trip indefinitely.”
He says Lahr also requires proof of vaccination in most places.
Those travelling who are not members of council are paying their own way.
This is the first such international trip for a City of Belleville delegation since their visit to GunPo, South Korea in 2019.
The announcement of the trip has sparked some backlash on social media, even from fellow members of council.
“I don’t know, I got a sense of that but you know, again, this is exactly the same process that we had in 2019 so, I don’t think anybody should be surprised. Unless they want to make politics of it, so.”
Wednesday, Ward 2 Councillor Paul Carr posted on Facebook that he only learned details of the trip in an emailed press release minutes before it was released to the media.
The delegation travels from September 29 to October 7.
