Message from the Mayor and Chief Executive to the Rangitīkei community

On behalf of the Rangitīkei District Council, we want to advise you what we are doing to prioritise your health and safety when you use Council facilities, and outline how we will continue to provide services.

During the last few days you will have seen that many large events have been cancelled, including the Harvest Fair and Pedal for Pleasure. This will affect a lot of people who have planned for these events, while it is disappointing we need to do everything we can to reduce the transmission of the Covid-19 virus.

While being mindful of the requirement for ‘social – distancing’ we encourage you to continue to support local businesses, this is a very difficult time for them.

Council facilities

We are committed to caring for our staff to ensure they can keep themselves and their families safe. We have implemented our own internal business continuity plan, along with a review of our operating policies to enhance the safety of our staff. This plan outlines measures we will take if we need to close any services or facilities. At this stage all our public swimming pools and libraries remain open, there may be extra procedures put in place to ensure the safety of our staff and public, if this is the case any changes will be clearly displayed.

Please ring into our Customer Service staff who may be able to provide information over the phone or through email, without the need to come into Council’s offices, our phones are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - 0800 422 522.

Trusted sources of information

There is a lot of information in the media and on social media, so it is important to only use trusted sources, as a Council we are guided by the information provided by the Ministry of Health and Central Government.

The NZ Government has just released information that provides advice on many aspects of the COVID-19 virus including travel, business, community and health, we encourage you to regularly visit this website. www.covid19.govt.nz

Please look after your families and neighbours. If anyone you know is self-isolating, see if there is something you can do, like grocery shopping or collecting a prescription for them. Remember to keep yourself safe too. We are still being told that regular cleaning, especially your hands, is one of the most important preventive measures we can take.

We will keep you updated with changes that may affect you.

Ngā mihi nui,

Mayor Andy Watson and Mr Peter Beggs, Chief Executive.