Chatham-Kent residents will continue to have access to Service Ontario amenities locally for at least another several months.
On Tuesday afternoon, the municipality announced that the Chatham Service Ontario contract will be extended to October 31, 2023 and the Dresden Service Ontario contract will be extended to December 31, 2023.
"These contract extensions allow the municipality to continue working with provincial partners to offer a one stop shopping type of experience for many provincial and municipal services," municipal officials said in a media release.
Acting Director of Customer Service Alicia Dewar said the municipality only operates the Chatham and Dresden Service Ontario locations. The other offices located in Blenheim, Ridgetown, Thamesville, and Bothwell are privately run.
"We have agreed to a one year contract extension for both the Chatham and Dresden Offices and will talk in the near future about the possibility of extending longer," said Dewar.
Ward 4 Councilor Jamie McGrail told CK News Today she's happy for now and hopes more services are added when the dust settles.
"It is great news for the moment. I believe this is the first step. We will continue to work with the province to re-engineer a fit for residents that use Dresden with services we are used to now and possible more. We all need to stay tuned," said McGrail.
The fate of the Service Ontario offices have been up in the air over the past several years.
In August 2019, it was announced Chatham residents looking to renew their health cards and driver’s licenses would have to head out of town to do so in person because the location on Grand Avenue East was set to close after previous service providers announced they were retiring after 12 years of running the office.
The news drew an outpouring of concern from residents.
However, in October 2019, the Municipality of Chatham-Kent announced it would be taking over the Chatham Service Ontario office during the search for a new long term operator.
Service Ontario customers are encouraged to visit the Service Ontario website www.serviceontario.ca for up-to-date office hours.