Residents are Council's customers and Council is your servant - that's the Local Government relationship which we all respect. Council's priority is the local community.

Therefore, Council is operating and making decisions during the Coronavirus Pandemic with the focus firmly on the community and Council's role as a part of the community.

That's why Council is implementing operational strategies specific to whatever stage of the Coronavirus Pandemic we all find ourselves in at any point in time.

We are aligning how we work with up-dated guidelines issued by the Federal and NSW State Government.

Council has commenced social distancing strategies such as the new customer service system in place at the front counter at the Town Hall offices.

We've closed the Church Street offices and centralised our contact with customers by operating from the Town Hall.

Council is also social distancing behind the scenes. Staff are working in smaller teams and in more locations, and some will be working from home. We are using our digital capacities more, so that we group together less.

Non-essential services have already been closed, such as the swimming pools, the library, the visitor information centre and the youth centre.

The focus is on keeping essential services such as waste and water, functioning normally, and making sure that what residents need from Council can be provided within the realistic confines of this new operating environment.

Council has also implemented hygiene measures as advised by the NSW Department of health. This includes hand washing, extra cleaning, observing hygiene etiquette and being generally more conscious of how we interact. Indoor and outdoor staff who are ill will not be coming to the workplace. Where isolation is mandated, it will be abided.

Council urges our whole community to activate a way of living and working which shares the responsibility of minimising the impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic here, in our Local Government Area.

It's up to all of us, individually and collectively, to contribute to as positive a road through this as possible.