Published on Monday, 30 March 2020 at 5:51:33 PM
In a video message via the Shire’s website and the Shire’s Facebook page, Shire President Leigh Ballard said “As a Shire we’ve never experienced anything like COVID-19 before. We know our community is suffering economically and socially and as your local government, we are here to help you, now, into the future, and crucially in the coming weeks and months ahead. We know it will be difficult, but I’m confident that the community will come together and help each other out where we can.
https://youtu.be/Kala6uLGeVI
“The Shire, through the services of our Elected Members and hardworking employees, will be considering adopting a range of potential relief and rebound measures to incorporate into our next 12 months of actions to help us rebound and recover as quickly as we can.
“Whilst our Rec Centre and Library may have closed to the public, and today, our playgrounds as well, your local government is still here performing essential services as best we can, albeit with modified customer interactions and the like. Whilst many of our admin employees will be working from their homes in Narrogin to ensure that we help isolate and minimise the spread of this dreadful virus, we will continue delivering essential services to maintain our roads, our parks and gardens and deal with your enquiries and suggestions.
“Stay tuned to our website and Facebook for important messages and up to date information from the trusted sources of the Federal and State Government, their agencies and of course, ourselves.
“We know you are all hurting, not least of which the many people that have been either stood down or had their small businesses severely curtailed or indeed prevented from trading.
“In Narrogin, the small business sector has been hardest hit, with cafes, eateries and retail severely impacted.
“In the last two weeks the Shire has submitted a request for funding from the Federal Government for stimulus projects employing local contractors and resources worth over $8m. This is an amount on top of our normal $16m Annual Budget.
“But now is the time that we need to hear your thoughts and ideas about how we should best rebound the quickest. We will be monitoring Narrogin Chat and the Shire Facebook sites and welcome ideas through our website and via email. You can also contact me via email on president@narrogin.wa.gov.au or email your ideas to the Shire at recovery@narrogin.wa.gov.au or via one of your local Elected Members (contact details here).
“Some of the ideas that the elected members of the Shire have discussed as potential rebound initiatives include:
- A 12 month freeze in increases in municipal rates and charges, including recycling and waste charges.
- No new fees and charges.
- No fees and charges relating to inspection services for small business for the next 12 months.
- No planning fees for 12 months.
- Suspension of lease and rental payments for three months to all Shire business tenants, excluding multinationals.
- An express planning service for Change of Land Use and Development applications for small businesses with no application fee.
- Accelerated capital works projects and major Shire maintenance programs to be brought forward
- Full refunds on all cancelled bookings at Shire properties or facilities.
- Shorter payment terms for creditors, reduced from 30 days to 15 days.
- Debtors experiencing hardship will receive a range of options to assist in payment.
- Reduced penalty interest charges on existing debts and new debts.
- No wage increases for employees over a certain income for the next 12 months.
- Potential for decreasing allowances of Elected Members.
- Additional Community grant to local Not for Profit organisations facing hardship.
- Doubling the Community Grants Scheme, for Not for Profit Groups and removing the restrictions on eligibility for last year’s recipients.
- Developing “know / help your neighbour” projects.
- Supporting and encouraging projects that increase or support volunteerism and community connectedness.
- Increasing arts and social connected programs through festivals and events and increased street entertainment.
- Increasing recreation and youth support programs.
- Providing top up grants to Arts Narrogin and the Narrogin Community Gardens to accelerate farmers markets and local entertainment.
- CBD / retail improvement projects such as repainting heritage buildings in keeping with our heritage colour schemes palette.
“Over to you our wonderful community and business community. Email your ideas to recovery@narrogin.wa.gov.au.
President Ballard went on to say “For all the school kids learning from home this week, good luck, this will be an experience to look back on and tell your kids!!
“To our whole community, we will get through this, but it is going to take everyone’s effort to get through. Please stay at home where possible, keep social distancing, only go out if absolutely necessary, I know it is going to be hard but if we all do our own bit we can reduce the pressure on our health system and hopefully save lives.
“Please also take into consideration everyone who is still working in Coles, Narrogin Fresh, the cafes with take away & home delivery, and the retail stores. They are regular people as well doing an extraordinary job of keeping our shops open for you, so please thank them for their efforts.
“Also a big thank you to all our emergency service volunteers. They will still be there for us, so please be conscious of the fact that they would also rather be at home with their families, but are willing to volunteer for our community.
“Lastly, but certainly not least, our health professionals. These people are on our front line, with this virus, under immense pressure, but are still turning up to work for our community. Thank you.
“If we can all work together, we can get through this, but it is going to be a long road. Once we have slowed the spread, we need to start looking at rebuilding our community, as a shire, we are looking at all avenues we can utilise to do this, but would like any thoughts put forward also.
“We have a fantastic community and together we can stop the spread and rebuild. Be strong, and most of all, be kind to each other. We are all in this together. Thank you.
Dale Stewart
Chief Executive Officer
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