With Penetanguishene's boat launch and various sports courts now open following new protocols, staff are now working on safe ways to begin opening more recreational amenities.
Jeff Lees, chief administrative officer, gave council members an update on how matters have been moving up until now and how staff is preparing for reopening guidelines as they become available.
"Staff are currently reviewing the public health documents and operational impacts that pertain to public washrooms and beaches and are hoping to get recommendations to the emergency control group in the near future," he said.
After the province shared announcements around the second phase of reopening, Lees said, staff have also started reviewing how splash pads and the museum can again allow visits.
"The day camps were cancelled and announced earlier this week," he said. "We're exploring alternative options within the available staffing capacity. We're also onboarding (hiring) additional seasonal staff to help keep up with the parks maintenance, predominantly grass cutting."
In the next few weeks, Lees said, more work will be done around transitioning staff back into offices.
"We want to continue to follow the guidelines from the province and the local health unit," he said. "We also want to be as inline as possible with our municipal partners and colleagues at Simcoe County."
Other than that, he said, all departments continue to provide essential services to Penetang residents to the best of their capacity. As well, Lees said, work on some capital projects that were underway and put on hold has resumed.
A staff report around capital projects recommended that council suspend some projects until the next year. Those projects included a electronic documents records management system, painting of fire hall bays, upgrades to the arena dressing rooms and snack bar and Brian Orser Hall.
Coun. George Vadeboncoeur questioned whether it would be best and possible to do the last two uprades while the facilities are closed.
"My thought was when the facility is closed, it would be the ideal time to get this done," he said. "I asked the question at the meeting and I'm asking again tonight so the public can have an understanding of why we're not proceeding with these two relatively small projects."
Sherry Desjardins, director of recreation and community services, explained the various reasons behind the upgrades not taking place right now.
"Much of our administration time in the last few months has been devoted to understanding new processes and cleaning facilities," she said. "These new tasks have taken the time we would have used to upgrade these facilities.
"Our staffing complement has decreased significantly and facility staff have taken on what would have done by contract staff," added Desjardins. "The arena has been converted to a socially distancing workspace to keep our team safe. Bringing in contractors is not feasible at this time."
