Council meetings return to normal
Council Committee and Community Board meetings have once again resumed in person, with staff and councillors coming back together for the first time since the Omicron outbreak on 17 August 2021 took meetings online.
With the loosening of Council restrictions on staff bubbles to ensure business continuity throughout the outbreak, Waipā District Council has returned to holding its Committee and Community Board meetings face-to-face as per its normal operations, said Council’s Governance Manager, Jo Gread.
“Council has resumed our pre-COVID-19 practices with meetings taking place in person and the livestreaming continuing only for our key committees, Strategic Planning and Policy Committee, Service Delivery Committee, Finance and Corporate Committee and our Council meetings.
“Due to the high level of interest, these meetings will also be able to be viewed by people who aren’t able to attend in person.”
“In addition to the Committee and Council meetings we previously livestreamed pre-August 2021, we will now also be livestreaming the Te Awamutu Community Board meetings. It is not currently possible to livestream from the location of the Cambridge Community Board but Council will look into this as a possibility,” added Gread.
The first entry back to Council Chambers since August 2021 was the Strategic Planning and Policy Committee meeting, held across two days on May 3 and 4 via a hybrid version of attendance both in-person within Chambers and online through ZOOM.
“We would like to welcome all people back to the Chambers and Community Board meetings, and we have health and safety measures in place to assist those attending. We encourage all people who wish to attend the physical meetings to wear masks, use hand sanitiser and remain in the same seat for the duration of the meeting when you are in the public gallery,” Gread added.
The location of all Council meetings are available on the agendas and minutes page on Council’s website at waipadc.govt.nz/livestream . All recordings are also saved on Council’s YouTube channel.
