Coronavirus (COVID-19) - Updates for Hawkesbury Residents

Council continues to provide its normal waste bin collection services (red, yellow and green lid bins) to residents.

Whilst the Waste Management Facility at South Windsor is temporarily closed to the public residents with a general waste (red lid) bin collection service are also entitled to one annual kerbside collection for bulky goods and household cleanup.

For those residents in our outer areas who do not receive the normal general waste (red lid) bin collection service we understand that the temporary closure of the Waste Management Facility may cause some difficulties. If this affects you please contact Council's Customer Service Centre on 4560 4444 to discuss options for Council to assist you.

TAFE NSW in conjunction with NSW Government is offering a number of fee-free short courses online to help you learn new skills and discover new opportunities to further your education, career or business. Find out more here https://www.tafensw.edu.au/fee-free-short-courses.

Sole traders may be eligible for the JobKeeper payment if their turnover has reduced relative to a comparable period one year ago. For more information, visit here

For more information about employer and employee eligibility guidelines, visit here

Friends, family and business owners seeking information on small business support, visit here the Service NSW information hub for small business impacted by COVID19.

Opportunity for NSW businesses to help fill the medical supply chain

The NSW Government is seeking expressions of interest from NSW businesses that can help supply or make components of urgently needed medical equipment and sanitation aids including:

• hand sanitiser
• examination gloves
• disinfectant and cleaning products
• handwash and soap
• masks
• eyewear
• gowns and protective overalls
• paper products, including toilet and tissue paper.

Businesses:

• may register their interest online here
• do not currently have to manufacture the listed products, but should be capable of changing their production lines to supply these products
• who need to change their existing operations to take up this opportunity should email the Global NSW Concierge team for assistance contactus@global.nsw.gov.au

Visit NSW Government for more information.

Considerations for vulnerable workers

National Cabinet has endorsed the advice that workers classified as vulnerable to serious illness if they become unwell, must undergo a risk assessment and be redeployed to non-customer-based roles where possible. Where risk cannot be appropriately mitigated, arrangements should be considered to accommodate a workplace absence.

• People classified as vulnerable are:
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders 50 years and older with one or more chronic medical conditions;
• 65 years and older with chronic medical conditions;
• 70 years and older; and
• those with compromised immune systems

Visit Australian Government Department of Health for more information.

Due to the Coronavirsus (COVID-19) pandemic the Extraordinary Council Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, 7 April 2020 to consider the Draft 2020/2021 Operational Plan has been cancelled.

The Draft 2020/2021 Operational Plan will now be considered at the Council Meeting on Tuesday, 28 April 2020. We apologise for any inconvenience.

TUESDAY, 31 MARCH 2020 - VALID UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Facilities that are operating as usual are:
✅All kerbside collections – domestic, recycling and green waste
✅Kerbside collection
✅Hawkesbury Companion Animal Shelter (by appointment only, please call 4560 4644)
✅Council meetings
✅Customer Service telephone, email and Facebook
✅Visitor Information Centre telephone, email and Facebook
✅Parks (residents need to adhere to the NSW Government Legislation on Movement and Social Distancing).

⚠️Council encourages everyone to use its online services at www.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au and for any enquiries, including bushfire recovery enquiries, please call Council’s Customer Service on 4560 4444 or email council@hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au

In order to try to keep our community safe the following Council services are currently closed until further notice:
❌Council Administration Building
❌Hawkesbury Central Library
❌Richmond Branch Library
❌Hawkesbury Regional Museum
❌Hawkesbury Regional Gallery
❌Richmond Swimming Centre
❌Oasis Aquatic and Leisure Centre, South Windsor
❌Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium
❌Hawkesbury Community Nursery
❌Upper Colo Reserve
❌All Tennis Courts
❌All Community Centres for public access, please contact via phone
❌Waste Management Facility
❌Playgrounds (including BBQ's and gym equipment)
❌Skate parks

There has been some discussion in the community regarding the post Council shared last night about the closure of the Hawkesbury Waste Management Facility. The following items address the main issues raised;

Why did the facility close? It closed for two reasons:
1️⃣a The Government are urging people to stay at home unless shopping for essentials, leaving for medical or compassionate care; exercising outdoors while distancing or if they have to work or study and it can’t be done from home. If the Waste Management Facility is open we are encouraging people to come out, this is not consistent with the messaging put out by the Government.

1️⃣b This facility can no longer open to the public due to social distancing requirements. The gatehouse at the facility was built many years ago and current Work Health Safety regulations require that there be two people in the gate house. The current social distancing requirements of 4 square metres per person in an enclosed space means that the gate house does not meet these requirements and must be closed.

2️⃣ Will my general waste bin be collected?
Yes, all waste collections including general waste, recycling and organics will be collected as per the usual collection. Residents are asked to place their bins out prior to 4am on the day of collection. Due to the current crisis, your bin collection may not be collected at the exact time as in the past. We ask that you leave your bin out and if you believe it has been missed please report this via our online form www.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/media/forms/bin-request or by calling our Customer Service Centre on 4560 4444.

3️⃣ Is the Kerbside collection still operating?
Yes, this service is still operating and we encourage our residents to use this service that is available at no additional cost to any of our residents who are paying for a waste service collection. Past waste audits have found that only a small percentage of our residents book a yearly kerbside collection. Kerbside collections can be booked through Cleanaway by calling 1300 889 527. Further information can be found here https://www.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/…/hou…/kerbside-collection

4️⃣ Increased Illegal Dumping
We understand the community are concerned there may be increased illegal dumping in the Hawkesbury if the Waste Management Facility is closed. We urge everyone to take care of the environment around us and not dump. Our Facility is only closed due to the current crisis and we will endeavor to reopen as soon as it is safe to do so. These decisions are being made in the best interest of our staff and our community and we urge our residents to report any illegal dumping to our Customer Service Centre on 4560 4444. All of our other general waste services and kerbside pickup services will be available and we encourage our community to make use of those services.

5️⃣ What about our out of area residents who do not have a waste collection service?
We are investigating further options for the areas which are not currently serviced by our garbage trucks. We will advise of any update on this via our website www.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au and Facebook page.

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement from yesterday, our playgrounds and parks are now CLOSED. This includes all public playgrounds, skate parks, outside gym equipment and BBQ's facilities in our parks.

Our staff will be placing signage up in these locations over the coming days.

To assist in keeping the Shelter open and reduce the risk to our staff and general public, we have made the following changes to our operations:

1️⃣ Appointment only – viewing of all animals must be done by appointment only
2️⃣ Please call our staff on 4560 4644 to book a time
3️⃣ Only one family allowed in the reception area at one time
🐱 Cats will be shown in the reception area
🐶 Dogs will be shown on the outdoor grass area

These changes in operations have been introduced so that we can keep our Shelter operating which is in the best interest of the animals in our care. We urge the general public to please adhere to our requests.

Due to the Coronovirus (COVID -19) a decision has been made to CLOSE Council's Waste Management Facility at The Driftway, South Windsor for the safety of our staff and the general public. This includes dropping off of ALL general waste by our residents and there will be NO public access to the Community Recycling Centre until further notice. Garbage collections will continue as normal.

We will be reviewing our services and operations further tomorrow following the announcements by the Prime Minister this evening. We will update our community via our website www.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au and Facebook page once further decisions have been made.