Sturgeon County residents will soon get to walk up to county offices without an appointment under the county’s post-COVID reopening plan.
County council voted June 8 to start opening up county services and activities starting June 14 in accordance with the province’s COVID-19 reopening plan.
Alberta was set to enter Stage 2 of its reopening plan June 10, which would further loosen pandemic-related restrictions on public gatherings. Stage 3 would see virtually all restrictions removed, and is predicted to kick in some time in late June or early July.
County communications manager Lucas Warren suggested the county adjust how it delivers workshops, events, and services in parallel with changes to those restrictions. To start, county offices would resume front-desk services by June 14, with in-person services no longer limited to appointment only. Other county events, such as the upcoming candidate information session, and resource-extraction review consultations, would be modified on a case-by-case basis as health rules change.
Mayor Alanna Hnatiw asked residents to show “patience and grace” during this reopening, and noted that some events might stay virtual.
“We still have a number of challenges in front of us,” she said, including the opioid crisis and the legacy of Canada’s residential schools, and hopefully these changes to health rules would grant the county more time to address them.
Check sturgeoncounty.ca for details on summer events in the county.
