Mayor Colin Basran made the announcement Tuesday afternoon outside City Hall.
The City of Kelowna has decided to close 10 public facilities until further notice.
Mayor Colin Basran made the announcement Tuesday afternoon on the steps of City Hall.
Closures include: Parkinson Recreation Centre, Kelowna Community Theatre, Black Box Theatre, Rutland Arena, and Memorial arena, Rutland Activity Centre, Parkinson Activity Centre, Okanagan Mission Activity Centre, Kinsman Fieldhouse and the Mission Media Centre.
Mayor Colin Basran said the City is following direction of the B.C medical health officer and will take local action to balance the public’s best interest.
The closures will impact 65 permanent part-time staff.
“We are mindful of the impact on the livelihood of the people who provide these programs and services but our ultimate responsibility needs to be focused on what we must do to preserve public safety,” said Basran.
Divisional Director of Human Resources and Community Safety, Stuart Leatherdale said they take decisions like this very seriously.
“The remaining full time staff, we're looking to re-deploy to other city units at this point,” adding that under these circumstances, and at this time, there are no special consideration for workers.
Instead, Leatherdale said Employment Insurance is waiving waiting periods for those who need financial support.
At the announcement, a woman asked what the City is doing to help small businesses that are suffering as a result of closures and reduced income.
City Manager Doug Gilchrist said that as of now, they have no plan for small businesses or laid-off workers.
“City staff is liaising with the Downtown Kelowna Association trying to work with all the businesses. Our council and staff are very supportive of local business and doing our best to help where we can,” said Gilchrist.
Gilchrist says that under the advice of B.C’s medical health officer, the City is taking swift action to actively reduce spread of CoVid-19 in the community.
“There may be other services and programs we look to limit and we're meeting daily to talk about those things and make those decisions,” said Gilchrist.
For the time being, there are no plans to waive parking fees downtown.
Risk manager Lance Kayfish assured residents essential services like garbage collection and safe drinking water will be maintained.
Public hearings and Monday council meetings will also proceed, with social distancing measures put in place.
For up to date information, visit www.Kelowna.ca
