After it shut down last Thursday, Lakeshore's mayor is expressing hope the ServiceOntario Centre in Belle River will reopen again soon.
The centre closed after the Town of Lakeshore, and the Belle River Business Improvement Area failed to find a private operator to take it over, but Mayor Tom Bain says since then, ten applicants have expressed interest.
"We've been working with [ServiceOntario] to look at these applications and possibly keep it open so it seems now there may be some hope," he says.
Bain thinks the word the opportunity was out there simply did not get around.
"Every one of the present applicants said 'We didn't know that business was available,'" adds Bain.
In the meantime, Bain says residents who have to renew their health card or driver's license may have to take a longer drive.
"Now residents have to head either to Essex, Leamington, Tilbury or even as far as Windsor depending on where they live in Lakeshore," says Bain.
Last week, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union called on the province to open a publicly run centre.
"This is just more proof that rural Ontarians are being left behind by [Premier] Kathleen Wynne," said OPSEU President Warren Thomas. "Public services shouldn't depend on whether private owners feel like delivering them."
Bain hopes one of the applicants will be successful and be able to open the centre up again within a month.
