Published on Wednesday, 18 March 2020 at 11:37:49 AM
The Shire of Gingin is currently in the process of establishing prevention measures in response to combating the spread of COVID-19 (the Coronavirus) following the declaration of a State of Emergency for WA by the State Government on Sunday, 15 March 2020.
In order to continue to function and serve the community, the Shire of Gingin would like to ask the community and stakeholders to observe the following when conducting any business with the Shire:
Visiting Shire Facilities
- If you are sick (whether you have contracted COVID-19 or simply have a regular cold, stomach bug, etc.) please DO NOT visit any of the Shire of Gingin’s facilities including the Shire’s Administration Centre, Lancelin Office, the Shire Depot, the Gingin or Lancelin Libraries and the Swimming Pool. Stay at home and self-isolate.
- If you visit any Shire facility and are observed by staff to be coughing and sneezing to an excessive degree then staff reserve the right to ask you to leave our facility. If your business is of an urgent nature then staff will take your contact phone number and call you personally to assist in helping you to carry out your business.
- If you can conduct your business with the Shire over the phone, via email, etc. then please contact us in this manner even if you are not sick. By not visiting any of our facilities, you will continue to minimise your risk of exposure to COVID-19.
- Sales representatives are barred from visiting any Shire facilities without a prior appointment and if they do not need to do so, then are asked to please refrain from making any appointments for the next few months.
- Shire staff that work outside on our roads, in our parks and gardens and to carry out necessary compliance tasks in public areas and on private properties such as Rangers, Health and Building, will aim to keep at least 1.5 metres from people. We hope this does not offend and seek your understanding in these testing times.
- A drop box has been established at the Shire’s Administration Centre at the front door for dropping off parcels, documents, etc.
- A barrier zone of 1.5m approximately has been established at the front counters of our facilities in order to create distance between visitors and staff. These barriers have been put in place so that front counter staff can continue to service the community whilst minimising their risk of contracting COVID-19 as much as possible.
- Hand sanitiser is available from the front counter of our Shire facilities and the public are encouraged to make use of it when visiting.
- Where possible, members of the public should use EFTPOS as opposed to cash when conducting business with any Shire facilities.
- Shire facilities may be subject to closure in future for a select period of time.
Council Meetings
- Council Meetings will continue to remain open to the public although this may be subject to change in future.
- The public is asked NOT TO ATTEND please any Council Meetings if you are unwell whether you have COVID-19, a regular cold, a stomach bug, etc. Stay at home and self-isolate.
- If you attend please make use of the hand sanitiser that will be provided. The public should note that chairs have been removed from the Gallery section in order to create more space between attendees. Consequently, there is less space for members of the public to attend.
Public Events & Gatherings run by the Shire
- For the unforeseen future public events, gatherings and public consultation sessions run by the Shire of Gingin have been cancelled.
- Where possible, these events will be postponed so that the community may still enjoy them at a later time in the year, e.g. the Gingin Triathlon has been postponed from 22 March to later in November 2020. Complete cancellation will be avoided where possible.
- Smaller events (less than 100 people) have also been cancelled by the Shire in order to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19. This includes (but is not limited to) Story Time at the Gingin and Lancelin Libraries, meetings with community groups, workshops with community groups, etc. The Shire will work with community groups to arrange tele-conference calls where necessary to still conduct a meeting.
The Shire of Gingin thanks the community in advance for their patience and understanding regarding the above business practice measures. Our main goal is to continue with “business as usual” as much as is possible whilst WA is in a State of Emergency.
The Shire will continue to provide regular updates via our Facebook page and other media channels. Our website will have a page established shortly on it specifically for information relating to COVID-19 which will include the latest updates on Shire business practices and links to websites for the government and health authorities distributing the latest information.
The Gingin Medical Centre has released a series of Prevention Tips and also general information about dealing with them during this time. This information will also be included on the Shire’s website as the Medical Centre is a Shire operated facility.
Further information is available by visting the WA Department of Health’s website - https://healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/A_E/Coronavirus or from the Coronavirus Health Information Line (1800 020 080).
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