Gympie Regional Council Continues To Address COVID-19 Impact On Community

Gympie Regional Council Mayor Mick Curran has called a special council meeting for 9am Tuesday morning regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact this is having on the community.

The Mayor, in his role as chairperson has also called a meeting of the Local Disaster Management Group, which is currently on Alter status, for Monday.

Council has been responding to the emerging situation regarding COVID-19 for over 2 weeks now with Councils Executive Team regularly meeting to develop and implement plans to deal with the unfolding Pandemic.

Numerous events and activities have been cancelled with the latest service to be impacted being the Gympie Regional Libraries which will close to customers from Monday 23 March until further notice in order to help slow the spread of the virus.

Gympie Regional Council CEO Bernard Smith highlighted some of the areas of concern.

“We’re currently working and planning for the continuation of our critical services should the situation significantly escalate, how we deliver these, with the priority of ensuring the ongoing welfare and safety of staff and the community.” He said.

“We are also looking at how we can best support local business. We know businesses are already hurting; what are the measures Council could take to deal with the economic impact? We are also talking to the chambers of commerce and will update the community very soon on this.”

Bernard Smith said some of the proposals being looked at included reducing or eliminating business costs and fees and the promotion of the region with a shop local campaign to name a few.

“We’re also looking at our capital works program with an emphasis on projects with a high employment and local content in order to support local employment,” he said.

“We will do all we can as a Council to support our community through these uncertain times, this is our priority and our focus.” Bernard Smith said. “Once the Council have met on Tuesday, we will update the community on any decisions made, with staff putting into place the outcomes as soon as possible.”

Council will be establishing a hotline next week to assist businesses who have general enquiries, need particular advice, or are working under regulatory requirements which do not directly impact the community but are restricting the business’ ability to operate under the current circumstances, which if where more flexible, would be of assistance.

“It's important that we all support our local businesses any way that we can and I would encourage the community to shop local if they are able to.”

Gympie Regional Council will update the community via the council website, facebook page and local media outlets. For Health advice or information visit www.health.qld.gov.au