NORTH BATTLEFORD - In disappointing news to North Battleford council Monday at Chapel Gallery, they learned Information Services Corporation has closed its in-person North Battleford customer service centre to move to an all-virtual service delivery.
Council got word of the change in an email dated Sept. 9 from Ken Budzak, executive VP of Information Services for the corporation.
ISC's move to online services during the COVID-19 pandemic turned out to be the driving factor in the decision. In ISC's correspondence, it was explained the customer service centre, located at the Frontier Centre mall, had been closed for in-person service since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions hit.
Their services moved entirely online and were delivered virtually, with those employees who were based in the physical office switching to working at home.
The email confirmed the customer service centre has now been permanently closed. All ISC staff based in the Battlefords office will continue to be employed by ISC and continue delivering the services virtually, working from home.
Whether “home” for those workers will continue to be “North Battleford” was the main worry raised by council members Monday. They expressed concerns about what the implications would be to lose the physical ISC offices in North Battleford.
Councillor Kent Lindgren worried about provincial positions ultimately being relocated out of the Battlefords when someone based locally leaves due to retirement or another reason.
Their replacements, Lindgren said, "don’t often stay here when they hire the next person. And those good paying jobs that are part of our community and support our businesses and our culture and all of these things in our communities migrate out. And this is part of what this is about — losing those well-paying meaningful jobs in our community, and that’s what’s important for me reading this… it’s disappointing to see another office closing.”
“Those jobs become hidden jobs, and all of a sudden they migrate to Saskatoon and you can’t see it,” said Mayor David Gillan. “Because those jobs are not in plain view, they’re easy to move.”
Councillor Len Taylor vented his frustrations with the province.
“It’s just another signal of the province forgetting how important we are as a city. The number of provincial jobs we have lost in the last little while has been incredible,” said Taylor.
He also pointed out that their local health inspector hadn’t been replaced for a while. Taylor also noted Councillor Kelli Hawtin had raised the issue of the inability of trades to get their work inspected.
The councillor made clear he thought this was an issue the city needed to raise with the provincial government.
“I think your list of things you have to discuss with the MLA (Jeremy Cockrill) continues to grow,” Taylor said to Mayor Gillan. “Despite the fact that it isn’t a direct dollar value to us, it is a business currently renting space in a commercial building in North Battleford, that is no longer going to be here. That rent is no longer going to be paid and therefore that property has less income to pay their commercial taxes with.”
