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Motion: (Byrne)
THAT Council:
1. Expresses great gratitude and thanks to the citizens of the Inner
West, the officers of Inner West Council and all of the health and emergency
services personnel who have dedicated themselves to saving lives and
protecting public health during this crisis.
a)
Officially convey the thanks of all
Councillors to Council officers for their professionalism and commitment in
responding to the crisis and protecting our community.
2. Notes the detailed contingency planning that has been completed
and enacted by Council officers since the onset of the crisis, and the
commitment to maintenance of frontline services.
a)
Note the actions of the Incident
Management Team (See Attachment 1) and convey the thanks of all Councillors
to members of the IMT for their professionalism and commitment in responding
to the crisis and protecting our community; and
b)
Officially convey the thanks of all
Councillors to the officers of NSW Health, NSW Police and members of all the
other agencies who have collaborated with the IMT on a daily basis, which has
been vital in responding to the crisis and protecting our community.
3. Request the CEO prepares a report on the budgetary impacts of the
crisis and a preliminary plan for amendments to regulations, fees and rates
as well as economic recovery in the Inner West to be tabled at the April 28
Ordinary meeting (noting that this report may need to be tabled late and can
be provided to Councillors any time up to and including April 26). The report
should include updates and recommendations on the following:
a)
The impact on Council’s revenue
and expenditure, including the additional expenditures identified through
this resolution;
b)
The process for preparing and adopting
the upcoming Budget, including the potential for deferral of the Budget;
c)
Any identified adverse budget impacts
from relief measures adopted by the State or Federal Governments, where
strong advocacy from Council is required to represent the needs of local
government and local services (e.g. childcare);
d)
A review of the hardship policy
for business and residential rates and recommendations on how they need to be
amended to meet the current circumstances;
e)
A review of rental and
evictions policy for tenants of Council properties with an immediate deferral
of rental payments for affected businesses and organisations until this
report is tabled and a new policy adopted;
f)
Consideration of
how public car parking could be made free for the healthcare workers in line
with the request from the Health Services Union;
g)
Sporting clubs
not be charged fees for sporting fields and facilities that are closed and
unable to be used during this crisis;
h)
Establishing an Inner West Recovery
Taskforce, to be chaired by the CEO and including local business leaders from
a variety of sectors and community organisations, to plan and coordinate the
economic recovery of the Inner West as well as maximise the local effect and
delivery of State and Federal relief and stimulus measures;
i)
Practical assistance for local
businesses seeking to reopen in coming months to be informed by consultations
with local Chambers of Commerce and local businesses on what assistance from
Council would be useful, within the fiscal and budgetary constraints, as a
result of the crisis;
j)
An outline of how infrastructure renewal
works to improve footpaths, curb and guttering, roads, parks and recreation
facilities can be brought forward and expedited. Consideration should also be
given to how this program could be expanded should Federal and State funds be
made available for local stimulus;
k)
How existing grants programs could be
expanded and redeployed to support local organisations in responding to the
crisis;
l)
The extension of the delivery and
acquittal timeframes for approved grant recipients to complete funded
projects. Where necessary, the nature of the projects themselves might need
to be amended;
m)
A regional approach to recovery of
creative industries be developed in partnership with the City of Sydney and
other major metropolitan Councils. An initial teleconference with leaders of
the Inner West Arts and Cultural sectors, including Council’s advisory
committee be convened by the Mayor to gain their input into immediate
priorities, with the outcomes to be tabled as part of the report to Council;
and
n)
Consideration of reallocation of
funding for EDGE and other arts grant programs to support the recovery of the
arts sector.
4. Thank NSW Health, the NSW Police and other critical service
providers for their collaboration in responding to the crisis and commits to
further depending these partnerships to address ongoing challenges.
a)
Notes the anticipated exacerbation of a
range of health and safety issues as a result of the crisis and the
requirement of isolation including drug and alcohol abuse, domestic and
family violence, and mental ill-health.
5. Thank the local NGOs and charities working to provide outreach
services to older people and vulnerable citizens and that the Mayor writes to
them requesting their partnership in coordinating our efforts to address food
security, outreach services and volunteer mobilisation.
a)
Notes the regular information sharing
teleconferences and collaboration between the Mayor and the Inner
West’s NGO and charities sector;
b)
Notes the advice received from the
local charitable and not-for-profit sectors that food insecurity is rapidly
emerging as a challenge for their existing clients, as well as low income
families, pensioners and many casual workers who have lost their jobs;
c)
Allocates $250,000 as an initial
investment in establishing a large-scale volunteer coordination service in
the Inner West, aimed at mobilising the community to help alleviate hunger
and isolation. The program would be auspiced by local NGOs, including but not
limited to Addison Road Community Centre, the Exodus Foundation, Newtown
Neighbourhood Centre, Inner West Neighbour Aid, Rozelle Neighbourhood Centre,
St Vinnies Rozelle and the Asylum Seekers Centre. Following consultation with
the sector, a report with the details of the plan and confirmation of the
auspicing organisations be tabled at the April 28 Council meeting; and
d)
Notes and accepts the offer from the
Play for Lives campaign to partner with the Inner West to pilot their
national campaign here with the goal of mobilising sports club members to
volunteer to assist local NGOs and charities (See Attachment 2).
6. Thank Council’s Early Childhood Educators for their
professionalism and commitment in responding to the crisis and:
a)
Makes urgent representations to the
Federal and State Governments noting the assessment of the United Services
Union and Local Government NSW (LGNSW) that under the new funding
arrangements announced last week Council-run early childhood education
services are not properly funded and are at risk of being unviable;
b)
Reiterates Council’s commitment
to our high-quality Council-run children’s and family services, and the
staff, and notes that families accessing these services should have equal
access to childcare services, fee relief and enrollment options as that of
families enrolled in privately-run centres;
c)
Receive an update, to be tabled at the April
28 Council meeting, including any additional information received on
childcare funding; and
d)
Convenes regular information sharing
teleconferences and collaboration between Council and Inner West childcare
providers.
7. Notes the vital importance of communication
with the community and between community members during the crisis,
recognises Council’s leadership role in facilitating this, and
undertakes the following actions immediately:
a)
Makes Inner West Council’s social
media channels available, upon request, to not-for-profit community
organisations and local service providers to promote resources, services,
donations and volunteerism in response to the crisis;
b)
The Mayor to write to all residents
explaining the ways that Council can assist them during the crisis and
include information about local resources that are available to them, this
should be done through letterboxing rather than direct mail. A “Hi
Neighbour” postcard based on that already distributed by City of Canada
Bay Council and other Councils (See Attachment 3) should be included in the
distribution;
c)
Recognise the need for information to
be made accessible in community languages and liaise with Multicultural NSW
and local ethnic community organisations to make sure that Council’s
communication of health and other messages are accessible to all;
d)
Note the cancellation of the paper
edition of the Inner West Courier by News Corp Australia;
e)
Write to the NSW Government seeking
clarification about how Council’s statutory notification requirements
can be carried out as there is no longer a local newspaper to advertise in;
f)
Discontinue all existing advertising
with the Inner West Courier and reallocate those budgeted funds to resource
Council’s ongoing communication with the community during the crisis in
the first instance and to communications generally in subsequent budgets;
g)
Allocate $20,000 to social media
expenditure to promote critical information and public health messages
through the crisis;
h)
Collaborate with Australia at Home (See
Attachment 4), the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, community radio and
other relevant bodies on a partnership to utilise new methods of
communication to ensure our Inner West community is informed and connected
during the crisis, with a report on the potential partnership to be tabled at
the April 28 Council meeting;
i)
Liaise with the local RSLs about ways
to conduct ANZAC Day commemorations with the population in isolation;
j)
Condemn in the strongest terms the
hurtful and racist remarks and actions targeted at people of Asian descent
amid the Covid-19 outbreak; and
k)
Express our deepest sympathies and
condolences to all nations, particularly those who have suffered a
significant number of deaths during the pandemic.
8. Aims to
be an employer of best practice in dealing with the crisis, recognising that
Council officers are our most important asset and are in need of support. To this end, a report to be prepared for the April 28
Council meeting addressing the following:
a)
Support for casual staff, and how to achieve the goal of maintaining existing
staff levels;
b)
Redeployment of staff whose work has
been reduced or disrupted to other useful roles particularly combatting
social isolation and supporting community organisations;
c)
Expansion of the Employee Assistance
program to address any emerging mental health and other needs of staff; and
d)
How the successful collaboration
between the Executive and the United Services Union and other industrial organisations
can be further strengthened to aid
Council’s response to the crisis.
9. Recognises that the closure of libraries and
recreation facilities has greatly impacted on the local community,
particularly vulnerable populations,
and seeks to ameliorate this through the migration of services online:
a)
Seek to make library
programming, recreation, arts and other relevant sections accessible online
and through virtual methods with the specific aim of combating social
isolation particularly among older residents, parents and children, people
with a disability and people from culturally and linguistically diverse
communities. A report on the implementation of this to be prepared for the
April 28 Ordinary meeting.
10. The Mayor write immediately to relevant Federal and State
Government Ministers and agencies to advocate on the following critical
issues that have emerged:
a)
The need for the JobKeeper
payment or other subsidy to be extended to
Council employees in business areas affected by the crisis, including
childcare and aquatics;
b)
The need for a local government stimulus strategy with Federal and
State investment and incentives for all local governments to bring forward
infrastructure renewal works to generate employment in local communities;
c)
The need to expedite state government
requirement of Council in relation to procurement and approval of work so
that infra schedules can be brought forward. And to review existing Loan
mechanism, so that infrastructure schedules can be brought forward;
d)
The need for intervention by the NSW
Government to provide certainty and protection to residential and commercial
tenants;
e)
The need for local parks to remain
open, accessible and usable for everyone, particularly in the context of our
local government area where many people are only able to access open space
outside their home. It is outside the remit of Council rangers to enforce
physical distancing directives; and
f)
The need for immediate investment of
funding for the NGO and charitable sectors to enable them to meet increased
demand for food aid and outreach services.
11. Maintain the adopted schedule of Council meetings and
briefings with the following adjustments:
a)
The April 14 Council meeting
should be deferred to April 21 and dedicated to motions of
notice from Councillors;
b)
For the duration of the crisis,
business pertaining to Council’s response and essential services will
be prioritised and completed at Council meetings prior to motions on notice
being considered;
c)
Tuesday evenings on weeks without a
Council meeting be allocated to briefing sessions;
d)
A draft forward plan of reports from
Council officers be tabled at the first Ordinary Council meeting in May for adoption;
and
e)
The schedule of meetings to be reviewed
at the end of June.
12. Write
to the Premier expressing great concern about the even greater impacts on
Inner West residents and business from Westconnex and Western Harbour Tunnel
construction works during the crisis and insisting on an immediate briefing
for Councillors from the Projects Managers to discuss mitigation; and
13.
Inner West Council to contact local government bodies (ALGA, LGNSW and
SSROC) to identify any
areas for cooperation and collaboration.
Motion Carried
For Motion: Crs Byrne, Da Cruz, Drury, Hesse, Iskandar, Kiat, Lockie, Macri,
McKenna OAM, Porteous, Raciti, Stamolis, Steer and York
Against Motion: Nil
Absent: Cr Passas
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