Hilltops Council is closing its customers service centres to the public in Young, Harden and Boorowa.
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Noting the health, safety and wellbeing of staff, their families and the community amid the COVID-19 crisis, council announced changes to delivery of its services on Tuesday afternoon effective from close of business Tuesday, March 24.
Hilltops council's administration building in Young will be closed to the public, as will council's customer service centres in Boorowa, Harden and Young.
The customer service team will be available over the phone, online via council's webpage and via email only.
"We understand these changes will cause some disruption to the routine of our community, but we have made this difficult decision to reduce the risk faced by the vulnerable members of our community, and to support the federal and state government's social distancing measures," the statement said.
These changes are in line with council's community-oriented, risk-based approach to the delivery of services during this challenging time, the statement said.
The changes build on modifications to services council announced last week and will remain in place until further notice.
"We will continue to review and respond to updated advice from the state and federal governments. These revised measures are flexible, they can be further scaled, should we need to, so that we are able to continue to meet community needs and expectations in this rapidly changing environment," the statement said.
Council staff will remain working at this time to support ongoing service delivery.
There will be no changes to household waste collections and waste and resource recovery facilities will remain open.
Previous measures announced by council include:
- Council operated libraries in Boorowa, Harden and Young will be closed until further notice
- Council operated Visitor Information Centres in Boorowa, Harden and Young will be closed until further notice
- Council requires sports clubs, schools and any organisation that utilise Council sports fields to cease competitions until end of April 2020 at this stage. Council also encourages sporting and social clubs on private facilities to suspend activities until the end of April
- Council requires all community/social/cultural organisations that use Council facilities, to suspend meetings and gatherings until the end of April 2020
- Council encourages all sports clubs, schools and other organisations on non-Council facilities to suspend their activities until the end of April 2020
- Swimming pools in Young, Boorowa and Harden will be closed for the remainder of the season
Hilltops mayor Brian Ingram fully supports the decision.
"The health of our community, our staff and their families are of the highest priority to Council. These decisions have been made in order to reduce risk to the entire community. Our staff are still available via phone and email and will continue to do everything possible to assist rate payers with their enquiries," he said.
Contact council on phone: 1300 445 586, email: mail@hilltops.nsw.gov.au, mail: locked bag 5 Young NSW 2594, or website: hilltops.nsw.gov.au.
