Southeast Public Health will not be closing a number of smaller branch offices, at least for now.
On Wednesday, the Board received the Branch Office Report and voted to continue to have branch offices remain open and revisit the decision in September 2026 to close several of them, following a review of an updated report on the rural strategy implementation and use of the branch offices.
As outlined in the report, SEPH conducted an assessment to determine whether the tangible and intangible benefits of the agency’s branch offices are meeting its commitment to provide a robust complement of rural services, including consistent staffing with a dedicated presence within rural communities.
The assessment found that the branch offices are underutilized and not operating at full capacity. They are also failing to make the best use of time and resources (costing approximately $550,000 annually) and may not be providing optimal service delivery for hard-to-reach and vulnerable populations.
Southeast Public Health (SEPH) has thirteen offices located over 19,942 km2 geographical area serving approximately 595,000 residents. There are five owned office buildings located in Belleville, Brockville, Cloyne, Kingston, and Smiths Falls and eight leased office buildings located in Almonte, Bancroft, Gananoque, Kemptville, Napanee, Perth, Picton, and Trenton.
There are approximately 406 staff who work from one of the owned offices in Belleville, Brockville, Kingston, and Smiths Falls and about 25 staff that are assigned to one of the eight leased offices
and the owned office in Cloyne.
