Staff and public safety remains top of mind in reopening public buildings, Tay Township's chief administrative officer says.
And because of that, CAO Lindsay Barron said there are no firm dates yet available yet for when municipal buildings may allow public visits to municipal buildings.
"We're relying on guidance from the health unit and what our neighbouring municipalities are doing," she said. "We might be looking at mid- to late-August, based on what we know today.
"I think it's important to bring staff back to the building first and gaining that comfort level and testing out those protocols to make sure we're following them. We have the measures in place. It's more the education and practice and getting used to it is what we want to make sure of."
The goal, she said, is to give council, staff and the general public as much notice as possible before transitioning from one phase to the next.
"Part of our phased approach also includes giving staff time to test out the protocols to put in place and adjust where needed," Barron told councillors Wednesday. "We want everyone to enter our facilities to once again feel safe and comfortable being in Tay."
She noted staff have already initiatied some measures, including posting occupancy limits for each room, removing extra chairs and marking floors with tape to identify individual workspaces and ensure each staff member has an independent two metres of personal space. The township is also providing staff with reusable, washable masks while hand sanitizers are widely available.
"We're also aware that we're not in the clear just yet as there have been a handful of new community-acquired cases," Barron said. "As such, we continue to physically separate staff whenever possible. Where not possible, we want to ensure staff use masks provided by the township."
Coun. Paul Raymond acknowledged that and asked what happens if circumstances force the township to end up going back to square one.
"Will all the current technologies possibly remain in place to ensure a smooth transition if we have to go backwards?" he asked.
Barron said she's confident the municipality is prepared to deal with such a situation.
"The nice thing is we've been through this before so we sort of know how to move backwards and so we would go back to our working from home arrangements," she said. "We would continue to separate staff if that were necessary."
Coun. Jeff Bumstead cautioned that staff should be prepared for questions from the public since Penetanguishene broke from the pack with an announcement that it will be reopening its municipal buildings on July 27.
"We're trying to work together...all four municipalities," he said. "Them jumping ahead, as it spreads around, it just creates a negative situation for us. Hopefully, our residetns will understand our safety is more important for us right now and (we're) taking steps to do that before we open up. I just want council and staff to be aware of that having happened."
