(Facebook/City of Humboldt - Municipal Government)

By Cam Lee

Humboldt Re-Opening City Hall

Humboldt to re-open City Hall May 4

Apr 27, 2020 | 2:37 PM

A local community is re-opening their city hall amid the province’s recently unveiled ‘Re-Open Saskatchewan plan‘.

City Hall in Humboldt will re-open Monday, May 4, and the hours of operation will be 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The move to re-open Humboldt’s City Hall comes after the provincial government announced last week COVID-19-based restrictions would slowly be lifted with their five-phase plan.

Humboldt’s City Manager, Joe Day, told northeastNOW they closed City Hall on March 19.

“City Hall never shut down because of a provincial order, we just did it at the time because we felt it was the right thing to do at the time,” Day said. “Now that Premier Moe and the province has started to look at ways to re-open Saskatchewan to business, we recognize that it’s probably the right time for us to take the appropriate precautions and re-open City Hall to the public.”

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The public will notice a number of changes and precautions in place at City Hall when it re-opens. Day said there is a glass partition between the public and the front desk clerks. There will also be a hand sanitizing station.

“We’ll have one way in and one way out of the front lobby area there so the customers won’t have to pass by each other,” Day explained.

The city’s news release outlined the essential physical distancing requirements:

• Only one patron inside the reception area at a time;

• Please sanitize hands prior to entering the reception area (a sanitization station has been placed in the entrance for your convenience);

• Please remain behind the reception glass partition at all times;

• Enter only through the main front entrance, and exit only through the north exit (directional signage is in place); and

• Please do not enter City Hall if you are feeling sick or are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.

Day said the city has been encouraging residents to do more of their business with the city through online banking or other measures. But Day said there are a number of customers that need to talk to someone at City Hall, or feel more comfortable paying bills at the front counter.

Day said the process may be slower as there will be cleaning between customers, but he asks that people remain patient. The public’s patience has been shown during the closure, according to Day.

“[Re-opening City Hall] really isn’t based on a demand that we’ve heard from the public. It did just feel like it was the appropriate time to show the community and our customers that we too feel that we can operate safely and still have in-person business with our customers,” Day said.

A provincial government spokesperson told northeastNOW via email the province did not order municipal offices to close, and approval to re-open a city hall was not needed. The spokesperson added municipalities can choose to re-open a city hall as long as any existing health orders are not violated.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974