LONDON, ONT. -- Sarnia's publicly-owned waterfront is considered one of the nicest in the province. It draws rave reviews from visitors, but this summer, it will look drastically different.

"It'll be like the grungy look I have right now," says Mike Bradley, mayor of Sarnia. "The waterfront is going to be very grungy this summer."

Bradley says this pandemic has forced him to advocate for cuts, for the first time. At Monday's meeting, it is expected city council will green light a hiring freeze on 164 jobs.

Those will include student and seasonal workers.

"We also put on the report to recommend to put five to six projects on hold until 2021," says Chris Carter, chief administration officer for the City of Sarnia.

Those projects include creating an accessible sun shelter at the Suncor Agora, transit facility renovations, gypsy-moth spraying, a Germain Park greenhouse/conservatory project and new show mobile.

"That will free up between $1.8 million and $2 million. Our goal is to not have to go into reserves and be strategic," adds Carter.

Carter says those projects will be put into next year's budget for consideration.

Bradley fears this is just the first step in terms of financial losses for the city. "We haven't hit the bumpy part of the road when we get into people not paying property taxes, residentially or in business. Then we'll have to struggle how to operate the city."

Bradley adds as painful as it is, he doesn't want his city to be in the red.

"As a long-time municipal leader, we're going to have to suck it up. People want us to turn to the federal or provincial government for help, but we are going to have to take responsibility."

Carter emphasizes that despite cuts, they do plan on going ahead with unprecedented road repair and resurfacing. He currently projects financial losses from waiving transit fees and cancelling events to be around $700,000.

According to Bradley, there will be more to come. "I fully expect we'll cancel Canada Day," says Bradley.

"Maybe we'll have a virtual July 1st. All events between now and July will not take place, but the hope is that we can re-open these events sooner than later. Realistically, July is the goal line and we'll have to close everything down until we get there.”