Public Access to Brandon City Hall Restored; Protective Measures in Place to Provide Safe Interactions

Brandon, MB – The process of re-establishing public access to City of Brandon civic facilities has begun, with Brandon City Hall (410-9^th Street) re-opening to the general public as of today (Tuesday, May 19^th, 2020). While its response to the global COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, the City of Brandon’s Emergency Response Control Group recognizes the importance of re-establishing vital, in-person services for its residents as laid out in the Province of Manitoba’s “Restoring Safe Services” Roadmap for Recovery.

Services provided by offices on the main floor of City Hall (Finance/Purchasing, Economic Development, Information Management/Privacy, Licensing/By-law Compliance) are, once again, available for walk-in customers, while services on the 2nd Floor of City Hall (Human Resources, Legislative Services, Executive Offices of the Mayor and City Manager) are available BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. To ensure all services can be delivered in a way that is both safe for City Hall staff and customers, a number of protocols have been developed for safe interactions, including:

Ø  Limiting all entrance to City Hall via the north door located along Louise Avenue ONLY and limiting all exit from City Hall to the southwest doors located along 9^th Street ONLY, other than when accessibility needs are a factor;

Ø  The presence of a Public Access Coordinator at the north door entrance to monitor public needs;

Ø  Mandatory handwashing or appropriate application of hand sanitizer BEFORE proceeding to service counters;

Ø  Adherence to the established system of arrows, safe physical distancing markers and stanchions installed in the foyer of City Hall, with a maximum capacity of 33 persons in the foyer space at any one time;

Ø  The presence of Plexiglas shields at all public service counters;

Ø  Extra cleaning of commonly-touched surfaces;

Ø  ‘Health Check’ verbal questionnaire for any visitor proceeding past established front counters.

The City of Brandon’s Emergency Response Control Group wishes to stress to all members of the public that if they are feeling unwell or are exhibiting ANY COVID-19-related health symptoms (fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat), they SHOULD NOT attend to City Hall and, instead, should visit www.sharedhealthmb.ca/covid19/screening-tool/ or contact Health Links at 204-788-8200 or 1-888-315-9257 for advice. City Hall staff will also be expected to adhere to these Shared Health guidelines to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.

A timeline for re-establishing public access to other civic office facilities, including the A.R. McDiarmid Civic Complex (638 Princess Avenue) and the Civic Services Complex (900 Richmond Avenue East) will be communicated in the coming days.

Information on the City of Brandon’s COVID-19 pandemic response can be found at http://www.brandon.ca/covid-19-updates. General enquiries relating to municipal services can be directed to the City of Brandon Enquiry Line at 204-729-2186 during regular business hours or can be submitted online at http://www.brandon.ca/contact-us.

(City of Brandon PSA)