NEWS RELEASE
COUNTY OF SIMCOE
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Following Thursday’s provincial announcement regarding Ontario’s accelerated move to Step Two under the COVID-19 Roadmap to Recovery, the County of Simcoe continues to provide essential services to our residents and communities and will be opening its Service Simcoe Contact Centre for in-person service starting July 5.
Up-to-date information regarding service impacts can be found on our website, www.simcoe.ca/covid19. A brief summary of our operations as we move into Step 2 are listed below:
Service Simcoe Contact Centre
- As of July 5, 2021, the Service Simcoe Contact Centre will resume in-person service at the administration centre, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to support the public requiring in-person transactions. Call centre and virtual services will remain available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Public access will be restricted to the atrium area via the administration centre's front entrance. Measures remain in place to ensure the safety of both staff and the public. These measures include:
- Cohorting of staff
- Plexiglass barriers
- Floor social distancing markers
- Designated visitor washrooms
- Touchless Point of Sale (POS)
- Roped barriers
- Directional signage
- Guests are reminded to adhere to safety precautions when visiting the administration centre, including wearing a face covering at all times when in common areas inside the building and exercising proper hand sanitization. Additional sanitization stations have been set up to accommodate this
The following services will continue:
- Landfills and Curbside Waste Collection
- The county has safely extended operating hours at our waste facilities to support residents and businesses during COVID-19. All sites with the exception of Mara and Matchedash have moved to service offered six days a week.
- Hours of operation are 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- All county landfills and transfer stations will be closed to the public on July 1. Curbside waste collection will continue as regularly scheduled.
- LINX Transit
- LINX Transit will continue to operate all routes with safety precautions in place
- No transit service on any of the LINX routes on July 1
- Visit https://nextlinx.simcoe.ca/ to check our schedules
- Ontario Works Offices
- All Ontario Works offices remain open including the office at the administration centre in Midhurst, with limited operational functions being supported by designated staffing cohorts
- Clients are encouraged to utilize virtual assistance options to further reduce foot traffic
- Children’s Services
- The County’s Emergency Child Care for healthcare and frontline workers comes to an end on June 30
- Child care settings will continue to adhere to stringent health and safety measures so that they remain safe places for children and staff
- General Services
- The County will also maintain safe operations in long-term care and seniors' services facilities, paramedic services, economic development and tourism, library co-operative, planning, Simcoe County Forests, transportation and cngineering, Lake Simcoe Regional Airport, social housing, local immigration services, children and community services, customer service, legislative and government services and administrative/support departments
- Staff will continue to work remotely where possible and public/client assistance will be by appointment for relevant services
- County Council and committee meetings will continue virtually
The following county services and facitliies remain closed to the public:
- County Administration Centre (Midhurst)
- With the exception of the front Atrium area to access the Contact Centre, the rest of the administration centre remains closed to the public (excluding the Midhurst Ontario Works office which has a separate entrance and remains open).
- Staff will continue to serve residents, clients and partners virtually by appointment only
- The Cravings @ Work Cafeteria remains closed
- Simcoe County Archives
- Building access remains closed to the public during the pandemic
- Staff will continue to provide remote/virtual services to the public and clients. Click here for information
- Simcoe County Museum
- The Simcoe County Museum will remain closed to the public as we work to complete ongoing construction projects
- Several virtual day camps have been developed to run during the weeks of July 5 and 12
- Virtual events also continue throughout July
- In-person camps are scheduled to resume on Aug. 9 and will run for the remaining three weeks of summer
- For information on virtual programs, visit museum simcoe.ca.
- Simcoe County Libraries
- Many public libraries in the county will work to reopen on July 5. The Library Co-operative staff will continue to support member libraries based on their needs.
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