Oxford County Administration Building reopened to the public

Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Oxford County Administration Building (OCAB) reopened to the public on Monday after a major water leak over three weeks ago.

“The majority of staff, and certainly the essential staff, are back,” explained CAO Ben Addley. “We still have some construction going on as I’m sure you can imagine. They are taking drywall out and letting things dry before they can seal things back up. We prioritized the essential in-building staff and got them in as of (Monday).”

One floor in the building remains unoccupied and those staff have been relocated until their normal offices are reopened. Addley said county staff have been very flexible and patient over the past few weeks.

“With a lot of them not being their own office, their own space, isn’t the most convenient or efficient way to work, so they have been real troopers that way in making sure they have been able to perform their duties and have been as flexible as possible.”

He added the county’s facilities team has been hit harder than most, working long hours to get the building to a functional standard, allowing people back inside.

“They’ve been exceptional. They’re working with the insurance company and contractors and are quickly moving things forward. It’s frustrating, I know, when you can’t provide the services you want for three weeks, but the fact we had such a major incident and were able to get the majority of staff back in three weeks is pretty impressive.”

Addley also commended the IT team who were able to get equipment up and running or have equipment available for staff to work at other locations or work from home.

While the precise cause has not been pinpointed, work continues to find out exactly what led to the flooding.

“We have of where the leak happened. There was a water connection on the fifth-floor maintenance/service area. As you can imagine, water runs down and it did, right through the working floors and into the basement.”

Addley said OCAB opened in 2008, hinting age may have played a part in the incident. He added the public has been understanding throughout the crisis and the county has done its best to keep residents up to date.

“For the most part, the public has been really good. We’ve tried to communicate how people could get certain services, or if it was something like (garbage) bag tags that we couldn’t do online anymore, to make sure people knew where they could get them. Our customer service was triaging calls and getting people through to the proper department.”

The human services department, which oversees critical files such as housing and Ontario Works, has been relocated to other locations.

“We’ve been able to give them a secondary site, and clients have been going to those other locations when needed to have those face-to-face meetings. The public has been really patient with us, which is appreciated.”

A detailed staff report will likely be completed and presented to members of county council later in the year once more information is known.

“A summary of what happened, cost and insurance impacts, as well as anything we want to put in place to mitigate something like this happening again in the future. It will be a long process to get there, but we will have some kind of follow-up.”

The customer service area and lobby are accessible, but the east side of the main floor remains closed while construction work continues. If you are visiting the administration building, please enter through the Reeve Street or Peel Street doors.

OCAB was closed on June 20 due to a failed waterline connection in the building’s mechanical area.