Page 6 - Greg Kopp News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

  BARRIE, ONT. -- Following the EF2 tornado in the south end of Barrie that left a trail of destruction so damaging it could take years to rebuild, experts are now questioning the strength of Ontario's building code. "When it comes to downward forces like the weight of snow on a roof, for example, our code is very good at addressing those downward forces," said Glenn McGillivray, Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. "In a wind storm, particularly a tornado, that roof wants to get sucked up, and the code doesn't really address those upward sucking forces very well, or at all, and we...

An insurance adjuster speaks to a family about their damaged home a day after a tornado ripped through the south end of Barrie on Thursday afternoon. Kevin Lamb for BarrieToday. Up to 40 homes damaged by Thursday’s tornado may be condemned after many of them lost their roofs, some due to poor workmanship, an engineering professor with Western University’s The Northern Tornadoes Project believes. “With some of the roofs off, the whole roof off, we saw a lack of following the building code," said Greg Kopp, ImpactWX chair in severe storms engineering and the project’s lead researcher....

Credit Wikimedia Commons GP Reimer The Lakeland Union High School board of education has offered a one-year contract to District Administrator Rob Way, who is also the director of curriculum. The board met in closed session Monday, coming out in open session to vote 7-1 to make the offer. Voting yes were Barry Seidel, Jim Wescott, Gary Smith, Heidi Fink, Barb Peck, Matt Kock and Shari Nimsgern. Pam Carroll voted no. The motion also lists “performance expectations and a review timeline as identified in closed session.” What those expectations are has not been released. Under state law, Way...

Credit Wikimedia Commons GP Reimer The financial cost of mitigating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on operations at Lakeland Union High School continues to climb, according to a school official. But some relief is in sight. At the Dec. 14 school board meeting, director of business finance Greg Kopp reported that covid-related expenses dating back to July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year, are nearing the $140,000 mark. “The biggest chunk of that is for substitute (teacher) pay and benefits,” he said, in addition to paraprofessional pay. The school board this past fall agreed to add st...