The question of when the Service Ontario Centre in Belle River will find a new owner has been answered.
Lakeshore mayor Tom Bain told AM800 News he doesn't know who the new owner is, but he knows it's definitely reopening.
Workers at the building on Notre Dame St. and Chisholm St. told Bain the new operator is running several Service Ontario Centres.
Bain says he stumbled on the news by accident Wednesday.
"I happened to be driving by today and saw them working in the building and stopped. I was notified the place [Service Ontario Centre] was taken over," he says. "That there was a new owner and he just left the premises."
Lakeshore is relieved to know the site will reopen soon, according to Bain.
"The town certainly is pleased that it's there. I mean there was a question of would it be public, would it be private," says Bain. "Everyone wanted the service there ... to have the licence bureau there so people didn't have to travel to either Tilbury, Essex or the city of Windsor."
He says a new owner is great news for Lakeshore, but the province dropped the ball on notifying Lakeshore Council.
"A little disappointed that the province hadn't notified us. We dealt with this situation last night at the council meeting for more than half an hour," Bain says. "Had we known that somebody was already there, it certainly would have saved us a lot of discussion and a lot of time that could have been spent elsewhere."
The mayor says the Service Ontario Centre should be open in the coming months.