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Townsville City Council supporting local businesses in wake of COVID-19

Townsville City Council has added additional measures to the multimillion-dollar support package targeted at providing extra support to small businesses feeling the effects of COVID-19. These measures – that could be worth up to $30 million – were approved as part of a special council meeting earlier today.

The second part of the package will include provisions to support the over 300 contractors currently being utilised by Council, promote small businesses through social media, and redeploy Council staff to assist with essential community services. Townsville Local Disaster Management Group Chair Mayor Jenny Hill said these initiatives would be critical to ensuring as many of Townsville’s small businesses can remain as operational as possible.

“Council is rolling out these measures to help alleviate some of the hardship being felt by our small businesses as we manage the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Cr Hill said. “We announced last week that we would be introducing a raft of measures that we endorsed today, and these extra measures will provide support to the businesses that are located both in the city, and in our suburbs. “Our message to Townsville residents is that they should be buying local, we’re seeing some incredible innovation from our small businesses and it would be great to see our community getting behind them.”

As part of the package to support local businesses, Council will also be looking to break up work packages – similar to the way the Water Pipeline contracts were tendered – to allow more contractors to secure work on Council projects. Council will also be changing its invoicing policy to facilitate the payment of contractor invoices within 14 days where possible, rather than the usual 30 days. Cr Hill said small things like this would make a huge impact on local industry and their ability to continue working during the pandemic.

“This is about minimising any cash flow burden on our small businesses that may experience hardship as a result of COVID-19,” Cr Hill said. “While we wanted this package to be available immediately, the increasing restrictions on social distancing may make this a long-term package for the recovery of the city. “This is also why we’ve announced the reduction in development application fees and infrastructure charges to keep development in the city moving. “I urge our residents to be responsible and practice good hygiene but to still lend their support to their favourite local shops – whether that be takeaway from restaurants, hairdressers, boutiques or fresh produce.”

These additional measures join the package worth $2.3 million that was announced last week.

Council media information: 0429 803 640

Festival Postponed Due to COVID-19

Today, Townsville City Council announced that NAFA (North Australia Festival of Arts) and Fringe Festival will be postponed until further notice due to COVID-19. This decision comes after The Federal Governments advice on non-essential gatherings during this time. Mayor Jenny Hill said, the real issue is we don’t know what things will look like tomorrow, let alone in four weeks, so to say when we can continue these events is still up in the air. Rather than cancelling the event altogether, Council has decided to postpone it, in hopes that as soon as numbers of infections reduce, and restrictions are taken away they can proceed with booking these events and artists and put them back on the city event calendar. “NAFA is a big part of our events calendar, which brought in 4.1 million last year as far as economic impact and we saw an increase of 8.6 percent increase in accommodation in hotels and other places. So, we are trying to bring back normality as much and as soon as possible, which is why we are postponing instead of cancelling it,” Cr. Jenny Hill explained.

If you are looking for things to do because of all the event postponements, Hill said we still have beautiful parks, beaches and walks you can go on as well as Magnetic Island which is still open. In the meantime, the mayor seemed hopeful that despite everything, and despite the restrictions, Townsville’s confirmed cases are still really low, and she urges us to stay calm as we are still operating pretty normally compared to other cities and states, and to enjoy things we still can do.

Large events in Townsville to be postponed or cancelled in response to COVID-19

Townsville City Council is advancing preparations to slow the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) by postponing and cancelling local events. The decision comes on the back of the advice from the Federal Government for non-essential mass gatherings of over 500 people to be cancelled. Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said the safety of the community and Council employees was the number one consideration when making the decision around events.

“We will be postponing Council events wherever possible and for those that we can, we will be bringing them back bigger and better at a later date,” Cr Hill said. “We are also in conversation with other community groups and event organisers about any bookings in Council venues and the direction they wish to take. “While it is disappointing to have community events cancelled, the most important thing right now is to support Queensland Health in slowing the spread of this virus.  “We’ve pulled through challenging times before and we will do it again, we are a resilient community.”

Council will continue to review upcoming events and take the advice of the State and Federal Governments as the lead agencies in this response. “We will keep in close contact with event hosts and make sure that residents receive the most up-to-date information.” Impacted events include performances being held in Council venues such as the Civic Theatre, public markets, sports festivals, expos and community events such as Townsville Eats. Cr Hill said while it wasn’t ideal, the direction of the Federal Government to cancel events and gatherings of more than 500 people was an important move to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the community.

“Council’s priority during this time is providing essential services to our residents and supporting our health services to slow this down. We want our health providers to be well positioned to deal with COVID-19 and other health emergencies in our community over the coming months.” “The most important thing we can do as a community is follow the advice of Queensland Health to protect our most vulnerable.” A list of impacted Council events can be found below, and a more comprehensive list will be made available on Council’s website.

 

March

  • Riverway Movie Night
  • Recycling Open Day
  • Townsville Eats
  • Kinky Boots

April

  • 1RAR Morning Melodies
  • Riverway Movie Night
  • Townsville Eats
  • Townsville Youth Week Event
  • Footloose
  • Moscow Ballet – Sleeping Beauty
  • Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow

 

May

 

  • Battle of Coral Sea
  • Riverway Movie Night
  • Welcoming Babies
  • Townsville Eats

 

This will be updated as more advice is provided by the Federal and State Governments.

 

 

Council Prepared for Coronavirus

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill talked today on Council’s pandemic plan and business continuity plan in response to COVID-19. Mayor Hill seemed positive that Townsville is still low risk compared to other surrounding cities, with only 2 confirmed cases out of a population of 200,000. She encouraged Townsville that the council has put in a pandemic plan, but not to panic, to be cautious. Right now the only things being talked about are how the virus will affect events coming up, such as ANZAC Day and Groovin the Moo, as well as how businesses and staff in the city will be affected. Mayor Hill said “Our role is to help protect our workforce and community and maintain essential services to the city.” Their IT team has already looked into who all could possibly work from home if needed. They are looking into how to better handle blue collared workers or orange shirt workers who still need to continue working, yet how to minimize the spread of the virus if one of these workers were to contract the virus. She said they will have more clarity on public events and whether or not they will be cancelled or postponed tomorrow, Tuesday, 17th of March. As of right now public events have a more likely chance of being cancelled starting in April and going until further notice, however private events should still be able to go on, since the people going are being filtered and monitored. With talk about cancelling events, it means hotels will have last minute gaps to fill until further notice, and with Townsville having some of the nicest winter weather, Mayor Hill talked about the idea of hosting all NRL leagues and games right here in Townsville saying that she believes we would have the capacity to host them, if that is something the league wants to look into as things further progress. Mayor Hill states, “I have every faith in our local health services, and we will continue to work in full cooperation with them,” and will keep the community updated on the impacted events as soon as possible to make sure we stay informed. 

Wet weather expected this week

Townsville City Council is continuing to monitor weather updates and dam levels in preparation for the expected wet weather throughout the week. It comes as three weather systems are predicted to impact North Queensland over the coming days. Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said Council will continue to take advice from the experts at the Bureau of Meteorology and monitor the situation.

“Council will take the advice of the BoM as these weather systems begin to affect North Queensland,” Cr Hill said. “We are monitoring the levels of Paluma and Ross River dams as we usually would during the wet season. Council has comprehensive emergency action plans for both dams, as we are required to have by law, and we will follow the guidelines set out in these plans when managing these dams. “For the time being, we are asking all residents to heed any weather warnings and to take their usual wet season precautions.

Cr Hill said residents should take the time to check in on their neighbours and to look out for each other. “Please make sure that your neighbours and loved ones are prepared for the rain, especially if they are new to North Queensland and Townsville. “If you spot any potholes, fallen trees or other issues to report them to Council by calling our Customer Service Centre on 13 48 10 or using the iCouncil or Send Snap Solve apps.

“For those that are driving during the rain, please be mindful of any traffic warnings and remember – if it’s flooded, forget it.” For more information, and to stay up to date on road closures and weather warnings, visit Council’s Emergency Management Dashboard athttp://disaster.townsville.qld.gov.au/