Beginning the week of June 26, the Council Chamber Audiovisual and Accessibility Upgrades and Refurbishment project at Orillia City Centre gets underway.
The Council Chamber was initially designed and constructed in the early 1990s.The upgrades will improve accessibility to the Council Chamber while refreshing and modernizing the space. This will include improving layout and functionality of seating, removing the variance of height between the current platform and the rest of the Council Chamber, creating an inclusive atmosphere for the public and Members of Council, and improving and upgrading audiovisual technology to enable virtual and hybrid meeting formats.
“The Council Chamber was built almost 40 years ago and requires significant work to modernize and create a more welcoming space,” said Mayor Don McIsaac. “The renovations will help make Council meetings more accessible to everyone in our community, whether they would like to attend meetings in person, watch on TV, or view and participate online.”
While the Council Chamber is undergoing renovations, alternative meeting arrangements have been made for Council meetings for the rest of 2023 (see attached schedule). Regularly scheduled Council meetings this summer will be held electronically and can be viewed on RogersTV Cable 10 or online. Beginning Sept. 1, 2023, regularly scheduled Council meetings will be held in person at the Orillia Opera House (20 Mississaga St. W.). Residents can attend the meetings in person, view on RogersTV Cable 10, or watch online. Any Special Council meetings called will be held electronically using the Zoom meeting platform, unless otherwise noted.
Orillia City Centre (50 Andrew St. S.) will remain open throughout the project with no impact to access City services or parking. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.
Funding for the Audiovisual and Accessibility Upgrades and Refurbishment project was approved by Council through the 2022 and 2023 budgets. For more information on the project and Council meetings, visit orillia.ca/councilmeetings.
