Finance Minister Grant Robertson talks about the COVID-19 response on the Mike Hosking Breakfast.
Rotorua Lakes Council teams have been working to put plans in action to ensure council services are still accessible during the Covid-19 alert four lockdown starting tonight.
All council buildings are now closed to the public including the Civic Centre, Rotorua Library, Rotorua i-Site, Rotorua Pound, Rotorua Energy Events Centre, Rotorua International Stadium and Rotorua Aquatic Centre.
Staff not related to essential services are working from home or have been redeployed to assist essential services.
Redwoods iSite. Photo / file
Essential businesses, and those that support them, will continue to provide the necessities of life for everyone in New Zealand. This means food, medicine, healthcare, energy, fuel, waste-removal, internet and financial support will continue to be available.
For Rotorua Lakes Council essential services are defined as water (wastewater, stormwater and water supply), transport and roading networks, rubbish and recycling collection, and Civil Defence.
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Some staff will be working from home so if you are unsure about a service contact the Rotorua Lakes Council office on 07 348 4199 and a Customer Advisor will advise if it is available.
Council offices will be closed.
Water (wastewater, stormwater and water supply) will continue without change. If you require assistance with anything in regards to your property please advise at the time of your call or email if anyone at a property is in isolation or at particular risk.
Do not flush wet wipes down the toilet, most wet wipes are not degradable and cause problems for the system and environment.
Any changes to rubbish and recycling services will be confirmed and communicated to the community as soon as possible.
Parking wardens will be working until 5pm Wednesday and once the country moves into the Alert Level 4 response, the council will only be responding to parking safety issues.
All parking dispute and infringement processes will be put on hold during the Alert Level 4 phase. Once this phase is over, there will be a two-week period to pay off existing fines and get processes up and running again before parking management becomes fully operational.
Parking ticket disputes can be worked through the disputes process once normal services resume.
Animal control officers will be attending urgent jobs only such as attacks or stock wandering on roads. All other jobs will be followed up via phone. Officers that attend urgent jobs will be following strict guidelines such as asking screening questions and avoiding contact with people they deal with.
The Rotorua Pound will not be open to the public and the council are working to put all dogs currently up for adoption into foster care for the next four weeks. Any dogs remaining in the pound will continue to be cared for, but with reduced staffing due to the lockdown. • Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website All council carparks and public facilities in parks, reserves, playgrounds and other recreational areas will be closed from 5pm Wednesday. This includes recreational spaces in the lakes and rural areas and in the Tokorangi (Redwoods) Forest and Whakarewarewa Forest.
All council projects, apart from essential services will be placed on hold for the next four weeks.
If you require assistance finding somewhere to stay so you can self-isolate while visiting Rotorua contact the Rotorua i-SITE on 07 348 5179, please note the i-Site building is closed so you will need to call. You can also contact the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help with temporary accommodation.
You can register your details by calling 0508 754 163.
Bay Bus travel will be free from Tuesday March 24 until further notice to avoid direct contact between drivers and passengers. Please practise physical distancing while on board – sit in separate rows to other passengers if you can.
Cityride bus service in Rotorua.
Bus entry and exit will be by the rear doors where possible. This excludes wheelchair users who require the ramp for boarding.
As of Wednesday all urban buses will run to the weekend service timetable. As of Wednesday March 25 Tertiary services are cancelled until further notice. As of Thursday March 26 all school services are cancelled until further notice.
Rotorua Lakes Council will not be accepting physical applications during the lockdown period. As council does not yet have an online lodgement system, they will temporarily accept building consent applications through email.
Rotorua Lakes Council building.
You can email your building consent application to buildingadmin@rotorualc.nz
Files must be in PDF or PDF/A format A minimum of 300 DPI In colour where possible Email is limited to 50MB in size so multiple emails may be required for large applications. (Bundle over trusted file transfer may be possible) Attach separate files for the following:
Application form 2A and vetting checklist Plans (Architectural plans to be separate from others i.e engineers, truss design) Specifications, Product appraisals, Product manuals, Re-site reports PS1, Engineering calculations, Engineered design Geotech Report Onsite Effluent Treatment Design - Schedule 5 Fire Report Certificate for public use application Emailed applications will continue to be vetted to ensure adequate information has been provided for assessment.
Despite accepting email applications, we are aware there may be unforeseen challenges with lodgement. Covid-19 has pushed everyone into uncharted territory in a short period of time. Council is unable to guarantee a seamless application process.
They encourage those who are submitting email applications to contact them if you are unsure of the status of your application.
The council's ability to process RFI responses will be severely limited. Many consents awaiting responses to RFI's will be inaccessible by staff and council will only be able to process RFI's if the building consent was lodged via email.
Council will not be undertaking any inspections during the isolation period.
