Town of Comox

Comox, BC - The Comox Community Centre was closed to the public on March 16, 2020 as part of the Town's response to the Covid - 19 crisis. The decision to close the facility was made in compliance with requirements from Provincial Health Authorities to eliminate opportunities for people to gather in large groups. Since the date of the closure, the... permanent employees of the Community Centre have been working at such duties as social distancing requirements permit, such as facility maintenance, deep cleaning and processing registration cancellations and changes. As a result of the closure and other impacts of the crisis on its financial position, the Town of Comox has now determined that it is necessary to temporarily lay off some permanent employees of the Community Centre until such time as it safe to reopen the Centre for public use. At the present time, it is not known when this will occur. Town Council made this decision very reluctantly as it is well aware of the impact on its valued employees. Mayor Russ Arnott stated that he is "very saddened that this decision was necessary. He believes the Town employees at the Community Centre have "always served the company's citizens diligently and professionally," and is confident they will continue to do so again "when the company can all get back to work and play." In making this decision, the Town intends to fully comply with all the requirements of its Collective Agreement with employees. In addition, it has agreed to continue to pay the full cost of employee health benefits to ensure all employees maintain this critical coverage during this period. The Town has also attempted to mitigate the impact of this layoff on employees by offering to reassign certain staff to other departments where possible and where social distancing rules permit.Read More