Staff unsure if municipal buildings will be ready to welcome the public before fall
Why is the town hall not open to the public when banks, barbers and the Beer Stores are?
That was a question on the lips of a majority of Penetanguishene councillors at Wednesday's meeting as staff presented a return-to-work plan that proposed reopening the doors of town hall to the public no later than the fall.
Coun. Dan LaRose was the first one to raise his voice on the issue.
"When I look around the town, the pharmacies, food stores, liquor store, restaurants are open, taxi cabs are running," he said, "so September is a bit late."
His concerns were backed by Coun. Michel Mayotte, who said his workplace (Service Ontario) has been open for four hours a day since mid-May.
"Any office, we're six feet apart and sitting behind a shield," he said. "I deal with an average of 200 people during those four hours, and they're from all over. People respect the social distancing measures and most of them have their masks on.
"How many people are we going to have come to the town hall that are going to be from out of town?" continued Mayotte. "Most of the people will be town residents, which we know we have very few cases. Most of the staff have separate rooms. Why can't we put on shields? We can put up a 'no-mask, no-service' sign. I think we're taking too long to open up."
Coun. George Vadeboncoeur went a step further with a motion: "The Town of Penetanguishene declare that the place of work for its office staff is at the various office locations that the town provided, such as town hall, public works admin centre and the fire hall."
Vadeboncoeur wants staff to develop and implement a plan that opens all public counters and provide in-person service by July 27, subject to plexiglass barriers, signage and other control requirements being in place and staff trained on new protocols in dealing with the public.
"A phased return-to-work plan be developed that sees all staff in their designated office space by August 4," he said. "The municipal emergency control group be authorized to make minor adjustments to this schedule to ensure staff are able to work in a safe environment."
This motion was different than the plan staff had presented in a report.
"In the recovery document, there is a three-phase recovery approach," said Tammy Martin, director of human resources/health & safety. "We're in phase two. We're looking at a three-part phase two. In mid-July staff can start to volunteer to come into the office. Not before we've implemented all of the safety measures. We've added an appointments feature to open it up a bit more to the public.
"Part B would be mid-August, when staff are going in on their team days and business will be done with the public by appointment," she added. "The next phase would be mid-September. That's when we will be looking to open the doors, giving access to the public with controls in place. Sneeze guards are currently in manufacture mode, we're hoping they'll be installed by next week."
Vadeboncoeur said he was very concerned from a service to the public perspective.
"I've heard through my walks in the neighbourhood in terms of people wanting to come to town hall and conduct their business," he said. "The banks and have been open, the dentists are open, all of this under phase two of the reopening."
Martin and CAO Jeff Lees said town staff had been doing their best to keep up the level of service as was being provided before the pandemic.
Martin said the decision to bring back all staff hasn't been made yet, "because our plan is for staff members to come back in teams, and they wouldn't conflict with one another," she said. "All staff will come back when COVID is no longer a risk."
But Vadeboncoeur said it could be a long time before COVID-19 is no longer a risk.
"We have to adapt and learn to live safely and co-exist with COVID," he said. "I don't think it's going to go away until a vaccine is found and who knows when a vaccine will be found. Health and safety of our staff is paramount to me as well. In my mind, there doesn't seem to be a reason why the municipal office cannot reopen in a reasonable amount of time."
Mayor Doug Leroux said the town's decision to not put a deadline on reopening was in line with how neighbouring municipalities were also dealing with the issue.
"We are not out of line with what neighbouring municipalities are doing," he said.
Paul Ryan, director of fire & emergency services/fire chief, said the plan gives the municipality flexibility to move forward during these unprecedented times.
"Our staff have continued to diligently provide services to residents," he said, adding that if councillors had received complaints about lack of service, it could have been brought forward to the emergency control group. "We need to allow the plan to go forward as laid out and put these measures in place so staff can come back and have a gradual re-entry plan that allows for adjustment before we reopen.
"If we fail to do that, we risk an erosion of trust for residents and staff," warned Ryan. "The dates mentioned can be moved up once measures are in palce. There are all kinds of barriers still here. None of us have a crystal ball to know what's going to happen. I wish I could tell you our numbers are going to remain low. I don't want to see us open up before the barriers are in place and all the bases have been covered."
Coun. Jessica Klug, who was not in support of an early reopening of town hall, said she was concerned about a staff member testing positive once everyone is back in town hall and it is open to the public once again.
What happens then? she asked. Would staff then have to go into self-isolation for 14 days?"
With that Ryan noted: "It's my understanding that where there has been possible contact, the building would be shut down and deep cleaned and then everybody would be tested. There may or may not be a requirement for everybody to be sent home for 14 days, but the officer of health could provide guidance around that."
Martin added even if staff did have to go into self-isolation, they would still be able to work from home, as they have been doing so far.
"When you have a positive, you have to follow health unit protocols," she said. "If there are cross-contamination and exposure, they tell us the directions. There is a potential that it will adversely affect operations."
It's all part of adapting to the changing circumstances, added Ryan.
"These eyes are tired eyes because I've been monitoring the situation from day one," he said. "We know COVID is here for whatever the duration is. All we're asking is for time to put the barriers in place and have everything covered."
A quick voted deferred the initial motion of accepting the staff report as presented, instead council voted in favour of Vadeboncoeur's amended motion to aim at an earlier reopening.
