Mayor Margaret Quirk has issued a declaration of emergency in response to COVID-19 in the Town of Georgina.
The Town of Georgina is working closely with York Region Public Health and N6 municipal counterparts monitoring the global situation with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Community challenge to support Georgina Food Pantry: The Keswick Lions Club is donating $2,000 to the Georgina Food Pantry and is calling on all other service clubs to do the same. To support the food bank, the Town of Georgina is issuing a challenge by calling on all community groups, corporations, businesses and individuals to give, if they are able, during this challenging time. Online donations received by April 13 by the Georgina Food Pantry will be matched by the Town of Georgina up to a total of $25,000. Visit georginafoodpantry.com/donate to make a donation.
The Town has taken precautionary measures regarding facilities and programs. They are listed as follows:
Civic Centre: Closed to the public until further notice. Residents can contact customer service at 905-476-4301 or by email at info@georgina.ca, and make payments through online banking.
Property taxes and water/sewer bills: In response to the challenges presented by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Town of Georgina will be waiving May penalty and interest charges associated with the April 27 installment of the interim tax bill. In addition, the Town will be delaying the transfer of unpaid amounts of the April water/sewer billings to the property tax account providing additional help to lessen the burden on the community. A property tax deferral program of up to 90 days is also being reviewed. Today at an Emergency Special Council meeting, delegated authority was provided to Chief Administrative Officer, David Reddon to implement such changes. Those who continue to pay their water and sewer bill by the due dates will continue to receive the two per cent discount.
Recreation and culture programs cancelled: The Town has cancelled all spring recreation and culture programs. Those impacted by cancelled programs and third-party rentals will be contacted directly. The Town will fully refund all user fees charged. All memberships have been put on hold and the length of the membership will be extended.
Town parks: All Town of Georgina parks are closed to the public. This includes the dog park, basketball and tennis courts, playgrounds, skateboard parks, trails and sports fields. Town boat launches and fishing areas within Town parks are being temporarily closed. If you see residents violating the closures, call the Municipal Law Enforcement Division. During regular business hours, call 905-476-4301, ext. 2279. For after hours and weekend, call ext. 2281. If your call goes to voicemail, leave a detailed message including the date, time and location of the violation, and an officer will investigate.
Human Resources: The Town of Georgina will not be conducting any in-person interviews at this time. The closing date of any current job postings will be extended to March 31 until further notice. No new vacancies will be posted until further notice.
Council meetings: The Council meeting for March 25 will only include a closed session and no public reports. The Special Council on March 31 has been cancelled and will be rescheduled. The Council meeting for April 1 has been cancelled. Council meetings will resume once the Civic Centre is reopened to the public. The Province has passed legislation allowing municipalities the ability to fully conduct Council meetings electronically when faced with local and province-wide emergencies, empowering local governments to respond quickly when in-person meetings cannot be held.
Committee meetings: Cancelled until further notice.
Building inspections: Building, fire and by-law staff will not be doing any interior inspections of any occupied buildings in Georgina until further notice. Emergency inspections will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The Town’s Building Division is amending some permit services and suspending most interior permit inspections until further notice. Be advised, this procedural change may be amended as events and decisions occur. Visit the building and renovating webpage for more information.
Georgina Fire and Rescue Services: The Fire Services administrative building at 165 The Queensway South is also closed to the public. Open-air and agricultural burn permits will not be issued at this time.
Parking: Overnight parking enforcement and the three-hour time limit on all streets have been suspended but will be in place if there is a snow event. Daytime parking enforcement is still active.
Noise By-law allows for 24-hour service delivery: The Town’s Noise By-law currently meets the requirement to allow all service or delivery trucks, who are providing essential services to continue with their business outside of current daytime hours. This will ensure all essential services and stores will be stocked for our community.
The Link: The Link is closed to the public.
Georgina Leisure Pool, Georgina Gym, Sutton Arena, Georgina Ice Palace and Club 55 locations: Closed until further notice.
Facility rentals: All third-party rentals are cancelled until further notice. Refunds will be issued for cancellations.
Georgina Public Library: Closed until further notice.
Stephen Leacock Theatre: All performances are cancelled until further notice.
Georgina Animal Shelter: Closed to the public. Staff are on site to provide animal care. The shelter is not accepting any donations. Visit georgina.ca/AnimalServices for more.
Garbage and recycling: Will continue to be picked up as per regular schedule. Starting the week of March 30, the Town of Georgina will waive the requirement for bag tags until further notice. The bag limit of five bags will remain in place. Residents who need to replace a blue box or green bin will no longer be able to do so at the Green for Life (GFL) office in Aurora. GFL will continue to deliver replacement bins to residents. They can be reached at 1-866-421-5625 or by email at WasteLine@gflenv.com. The customer service line is open Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more about waste and recycling, download the free Recycle Coach app or visit georgina.ca/WasteandRecycling.
The Town of Georgina, in consultation with York Region Public Health, is continually assessing this unprecedented situation to determine necessary changes to programming and service levels.
As this matter is continually evolving, residents are encouraged to follow the Town’s communications channels, including this webpage and social media, for updates (Facebook and Twitter).
All inquiries related to COVID-19 should be directed to York Region Health Connection at 1-800-361-5653, Monday to Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
For more information on COVID-19, visit York Region Public Health’s website at york.ca/covid19 or the Province of Ontario’s website at ontario.ca/coronavirus.
