Hamilton’s Emergency Operations Centre staff will be presenting to councillors a strategy on how the city will reopen now-closed facilities and offer various services to the public.

“The city is working on a plan to slow and safely reopen regular services,” said Emergency Operations Centre Director Paul Johnson, during a May 15 news briefing.

He said an operations plan will be introduced at the May 27 council meeting for approval. He cautioned there are no dates identified as to when particular facilities or services will reopen.

“We are getting prepared,” said Johnson.

He said whether it is reopening a golf course or a city hall, any plan will be “rooted and grounded” in advice from public health officials that staff will be “following for quite some time.”

Last week the provincial government extended Ontario’s state of emergency until June 2. The current order, which has been in place since March 17, was set to expire on May 12.

“We are following the provincial orders,” he said.

Hamilton had closed all of its facilities and recreation centres until May 25. Johnson had said the date, which was identified in April, was based on the provincial orders and somewhat arbitrary.

Even though the province has introduced its Stage 1 strategy to reopen the province, including allowing golf courses, private campgrounds, boat marinas and dog parks to open, Hamilton officials say they are putting in place plans to allow the city’s facilities to open when public health officials’ recommend it is safe to do so.

Retail outlets outside of shopping malls will also be allowed to reopen — but only those stores with street access and for pickup — along with various other stores such as used vehicle outlets, animal services, indoor and outdoor services and in-person counselling starting May 19.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger said the Bayfront boat launch was opened May 16, while the city’s golf courses will need a few days to prepare before they can reopen. King’s Forest will open May 20, while Chedoke could open this weekend.

Dog parks are scheduled to reopen May 19, he said.

He said city staff are studying how to safely reopen outdoor tennis courts, pickleball and figure skating for the public.

“There are guidelines on how that will happen,” said Eisenberger. “Things are not quite open yet. It will take some time for our city staff to get outdoor tennis court nets up.”

City officials didn’t want to say if summer camps will be cancelled this year. Toronto announced May 15 it was cancelling the popular activities.

 Ontario has seen a decline in the number of new cases in recent days, with the total climbing by 1.5 per cent.

Hamilton has as of May 16 527 cases, with 375 of them resolved. There have been 25 deaths.

But on May 15 health officials responded to the Rosslyn on King Street East were there were 62 confirmed coronavirus cases involving 49 residents and 13 staff. There was one death.

The city was forced to deploy six staff and one physician from St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and Hamilton Health Science to the home on May 15.

The Rosslyn is one of 11 outbreaks in Hamilton as of May 15, in nine long-term care homes and two retirement residences.