What we’re doing right now
Our primary focus is on our city’s welfare – our staff are working with welfare providers such as Foodbank, Street Kai and Good Neighbour to ensure residents receive the food they need.
We’ve established a local Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) – since a national emergency was declared, we have been operating an EOC with our local government partners.
We’ve teamed up to establish a new fund – alongside Acorn Foundation, TECT and BayTrust we have established a $600,000 Rapid Response Fund to support community groups experiencing increased demand and/or funding shortfall as a result of COVID-19.
Checking in with our elderly – we’re supporting the Ministry of Social Development’s attempts to contact elderly people by phone who do not have internet access.
Social services are here to help – we’re been coordinating a list of the large number of local support services out there who are available to help you, including migrant support.
We’re supporting our local businesses – by working closely with our partners, including Priority One, Tourism Bay of Plenty and the Chamber of Commerce who are working closely with businesses across the city.
We’ve refunded booking fees – for events at Baycourt, through the Bay Venues network and at the Beachside Holiday Park
We have a rates postponement policy in place – and are actively working with any ratepayer experiencing payment difficulties.
Free parking – all parking fees were temporarily removed during lockdown and remain waived during alert level 3.
We’re reducing rent for our tenants – commercial tenants experiencing financial difficulty are receiving a 50% rent relief and community tenants are receiving a full rent relief for the period to 30 June 2020.
We are looking at ways to do more – we’ll keep you updated on all new initiatives as they are agreed and implemented.