Greater Dandenong Council continues to deliver essential services to its Community

27 March 2020

The City of Greater Dandenong is committed to ensuring essential services continue to be delivered to our local community.

Greater Dandenong Mayor Jim Memeti said Council staff were working hard behind the scenes to ensure essential services were maintained including bin collections, immunisations and regulatory services including animal management.

Council is still processing planning permits and responding to customer service enquiries. It will continue to remove graffiti, repair potholes, respond to reports of dumped rubbish and maintain our parks and gardens. The work of Council will continue in all its forms.

“In light of the COVID-19 pandemic Council has been forced to make some modifications to its service delivery,” Mayor Memeti said.

“These modifications allow us to continue working, while ensuring we are meeting current social distancing guidelines and adhering to other Australian Government measures.”

“We thank our residents for their understanding during this uncertain time but want to reassure them that we are doing everything within our powers to ensure the impact on Council services is kept to a minimum.”

Greater Dandenong Council has made the difficult decision to close all of its Customer Service Centres to walk in customers, its libraries, its arts venues and its leisure and aquatic facilities. Customer Service continues to be delivered via our call centre on 8571 1000 and we encourage customers to make use of our online services at greaterdandenong.com.

Regrettably Council has also cancelled all its festivals, events and workshops until further notice. Immunisations will continue to be delivered but they have changed from session- based delivery to individual appointments.

Mayor Memeti said Council recognised that in these challenging and uncertain times many of its residents would be facing additional financial hardship.

“While we are encouraging all of our residents to continue paying their rates to avoid accruing debt, we understand this may not be possible for some.”

“We are putting a number of measures in place to assist our residents during these uncertain times including freezing all interest charges on unpaid rates until June 30, 2020.”

Venues which are currently closed including Drum Theatre, Greater Dandenong Libraries and Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre are adopting innovative ways to bring library services and the arts to you.

In the coming days and weeks keep an eye out on Council’s social media pages for some exciting new digital content.

We will be providing everything from guided tours or our current art exhibitions to interviews with theatre performers and online storytime sessions for our younger residents.

Mayor Memeti said Council had not taken any of these decisions lightly but had done so in the interests of the health and wellbeing of our community.

“This is by far the most challenging health crisis our community has faced but I encourage you all to do the right thing.

“While our parks and open space areas remain open to the public, we ask that you do not congregate in groups and respect the social distancing guidelines of 1.5 metres.”

“Greater Dandenong prides itself on being a community that works together to achieve the best possible outcomes for all. By all working together we can reduce the spread of COVID-19,” Mayor Memeti said.

For all the latest updates on COVID-19 and its impact on Council services and operations please visit www.greaterdandenong.com.