Mayor says best thing to do is stay at home

Published on 18 August 2021

Whanganui’s Mayor, Hamish McDouall is encouraging the community to follow the government’s instructions after the rapid decision to announce an Alert Level 4 lockdown for the entire country.

“Whanganui did incredibly well during the 2020 lockdowns. We stayed home, we were kind and we had very few cases of Covid-19 in our community because we did the right thing

“This is how we will stay safe again in Whanganui. Please stick with the programme – it's our best chance of getting back to normal and enjoying the summer to come.”

He says all Whanganui District Council facilities are now closed and councillors are now working from home. 

Chief Executive, Kym Fell says most staff are already working remotely. “However, the council will continue to deliver critical services under Alert Level 4, such as water, wastewater and stormwater maintenance and attend emergency roading, animal management and property call outs. 

“Like the rest of our community, we have notched up a bit of experience with this now and our teams have responded rapidly at short notice.”

Appointments with council officers have been cancelled. Kym Fell says, “This will affect people, for example, who have made appointments to discuss rates rebates. We are asking those people to re-book online, or to call the council to reschedule.” 

He says the council website will be updated with new service level information throughout each alert level and the council’s 06 349 0001 line is available 24 hours.