News

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 ²⁰²⁰⁄₂₁ 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.