Council Supports Premier’s Call for Burnie to Stay At Home

Published on 15 April 2020

Burnie City Council will temporarily close the doors on its public services in a move to support the Premier’s intensive measures to restrain the circulation of people in the north-west community in managing the outbreak of COVID-19.

Mayor Steve Kons said “Council will continue to provide essential services to ensure the safety of the community, and staff will still be available to take calls and handle necessary transactions or queries over the phone, or online.”

“We are taking the health of our region absolutely seriously, and urge all in our community to follow suit during this critical fortnight: please stay at home. As a Council, it is important that we are part of setting the example and supporting the enormous effort that is going into managing this outbreak.

“I want to take this opportunity to applaud every single health worker in our community who works tirelessly for the health of our region. As a community we stand with you and your families as you face this challenging time. Please take care of yourselves and your families and don’t think twice about reaching out to friends, family, health department support services and mental health support if you need it during this difficult time.”

The move follows the announcement made by the Premier on Sunday of the temporary closure of the North West Regional and North West Private Hospitals for intensive cleaning, and the corresponding quarantining of hospital staff, relevant patients, and all their households.

With Burnie currently at the epicentre of the outbreak in Tasmania, the Council has moved to close non-essential public services which normally involve working in the community, for the period 15 – 26 April inclusive, to be reviewed and extended or modified as needed. The move will see non-essential services in the community be reduced or temporarily ceased.

The Mayor stated “While it has been a difficult decision, with the recent escalation of events, we are in no doubt that this is the right thing to do in the interests of both our workforce, and the health of the community we serve, to undertake these temporary measures.”

The measures include closure of the City Offices to face to face meetings and enquiries, further transition of essential services to work from home where relevant and the temporary stand down of a number of employees.

The April Council Meeting, initially set for Tuesday 21 April, will also be deferred to Tuesday 28 April 2020. It will be conducted online, with a recording made available on Council’s website following the meeting.