An elderly Calgary woman is frustrated she won’t be reimbursed for the big hotel bill she racked up during last month’s power outage.
Fran Moore, 94, didn’t follow the City’s procedures in the hours after the outage, so she won’t get any compensation for her nearly $1000 hotel stay.
Her family believes that’s unfair.
The morning after an underground electrical fire knocked out power downtown, the senior’s loved ones made arrangements for Fran Moore, 94, to move to the comfort of a hotel.
“To stay here? Would have never made it,” Moore said. “You’d never survive for God’s sakes. Without power you’ve got nothing.”
“Mom has been declining in health. I knew it would be traumatic for her,” added Moore’s daughter, Vicki Keller.
Firefighters carried Moore down from her high rise apartment in the city’s centre.
After she was already settled in her hotel room, the City asked displaced residents to register at an information centre and accommodations could be provided.
Moore’s family didn’t register her until a few days later.
They were told because they made arrangements on their own, Moore wasn’t eligible for reimbursement.
“I thought Mom’s circumstances were extenuating. I thought, ‘fair is fair’, if they’re paying directly for other people’s hotels why not expect mom could be reimbursed for her bill?” said Keller.
Moore lives on a pension of $1,500 a month. While the city is empathetic about the situation, officials with the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) maintain they cannot repay her.
“I find it very unfortunate. I wish I could make it right. If we do that, do we go back every time that someone chooses to act on their own? Frankly the answer has to be no,” CEMA Chief Tom Sampson said.
“The City cannot be in a position where we’re simply going back in time and ratifying what people do on their own. It’s how we’re responsible for tax dollars.”
Moore is grateful to be back in the comforts of her home, and reluctantly accepts the fact she isn’t getting her money back.
“I didn’t get that upset when I fell the other day. It is what it is. Why should I sit here crying if I don’t get any back, I don’t get any back,” she said.
Sampson also said CEMA would have known the final bill for all the hotel accommodations they would have set up group lodging immediately after the outage, which means providing shelter-style cots.
He said the City is under no obligation to provide hotel rooms but at the time, felt it was the right thing to do.
The City paid for 350 hotel rooms, some meals and other miscellaneous, totaling about $330,000.
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