News

Council’s community support measures for COVID-19

Posted on 27 Mar, 2020

At a special meeting of the Alice Springs Town Council held 26 March 2020, it was unanimously agreed that exceptional support measures be put in place for our local economy and the Alice Springs community.

At a spe­cial meet­ing of the Alice Springs Town Coun­cil held 26 March 2020, it was unan­i­mous­ly agreed that excep­tion­al sup­port mea­sures be put in place for our local econ­o­my and the Alice Springs community.

In these uncer­tain times, it’s impor­tant that the com­mu­ni­ty is aware of what Coun­cil has been active­ly work­ing on to be able to make this announce­ment today. Coun­cil Offi­cers have been assist­ing in the coor­di­nat­ed response effort, whilst also proac­tive­ly devel­op­ing poten­tial recov­ery mea­sures for our com­mu­ni­ty.” May­or Ryan

The com­mu­ni­ty sup­port mea­sures to be implemented:

1. That the local weight­ing cri­te­ria for Coun­cil pro­cure­ment be increased from cur­rent 10% to 30% weight­ing in Council’s Pro­cure­ment of Good and Ser­vices Quo­ta­tions and Ten­ders Pol­i­cy until

30 June 2020

2. From 27 March 2020, the charg­ing of inter­est on out­stand­ing rates bal­ances is sus­pend­ed until

30 June 2020

3. The rates pay­ment due dates for the last quar­ter­ly pay­ment will be extend­ed from 3 April 2020

to 30 June 2020.

4. Fees and charges – as from 27 March 2020:

a. Fees asso­ci­at­ed with the Civic Cen­tre pub­lic toi­let show­er usage will be waived until

June 2020.

b. All Alice Springs Aquat­ic and Leisure Cen­tre (ASALC) mem­ber­ships and 10 vis­it pass­es are sus­pend­ed, to resume upon reopening. 

c. Library late fees waived until the Library is reopened.

d. The Sports Facil­i­ty Advi­so­ry Com­mit­tee par­tic­i­pa­tion levy will be waived until

30 June 2020.

5. Coun­cil will meet to con­sid­er fur­ther mea­sures as part of its 202021 finan­cial year bud­get deliberations.

CEO Robert Jen­nings said Elect­ed Mem­bers have also expressed deep con­cern for Alice Springs and are work­ing on a raft of ini­tia­tives for the next lev­el of response, so as to be ready to sup­port our com­mu­ni­ty when it will need it most.”

This res­o­lu­tion fur­ther sup­ports the work that Coun­cil is already doing in work­ing with the NT Gov­ern­ment to action the pri­or­i­ties of the Depart­ment of Health and Emer­gency Oper­a­tions Cen­tre. To this extent, the fol­low­ing actions have already been undertaken:

• Ensur­ing the ongo­ing pro­vi­sion of Council’s essen­tial ser­vices, such as waste and roads 

• Numer­ous actions to ensure the safe­ty of the pub­lic and Coun­cil staff 

• Can­cel­la­tion of Coun­cil events and activ­i­ties in align­ment with its facil­i­ties and events man­age­ment processes

• Clo­sure of the Alice Springs Aquat­ic and Leisure Cen­tre facil­i­ty on Mon­day 23 March 2020

• Clo­sure of the Pub­lic Library on Tues­day 24 March 2020

• Clo­sure of the Civic Cen­tre (to the pub­lic) Fri­day 27 March 2020

• Restric­tion on funer­als, in accor­dance with the Prime Minister’s directives

• Mov­ing all pub­lic meet­ings to Zoom, where possible

Note: These spe­cial mea­sures have been put in place as a result of COVID-19. All infor­ma­tion is cor­rect as at 11am, Fri­day 27 March, 2020.