The Invercargill City Council has confirmed which services are still available to residents of the city.
Invercargill City Council chief executive Clare Hadley said, in a press release issued this afternoon, council teams were working to ensure services could continue to support the city while keeping staff safe.
“This is an unsettling time for all of us, but the community can feel assured that we have systems in place to ensure the smooth running of our city and its services through lockdown and any other alert level.”
Rubbish collection would continue as normal. The bus service was operational but limited to only essential workers getting to and from work and those who need to access essential services who did not have their own vehicles, she said.
A small team of rangers were operating within the parks to ensure animals were well taken care of.
“If you live close to one of our parks of course you can walk along the routes in your bubble but please remember that all playgrounds are out of bounds during Alert Level 4,” she said.
The library was closed and staff were asking people to not return their books during Level 4.
All fees had been removed from items, no overdue fines would accumulate and due dates were being extended, she said.
All Council facilities are closed, including the civic administration building, the Bluff Service Centre, Splash Palace, Bluff Pool, Civic Theatre, and He Waka Tuia.
Rates were due on the last Friday of this month, and dog registrations were also due. Both could be paid online but if there were any issues people could contact council's customer services.
For a comprehensive list of facilities, services and up-to-date information, people can visit the Council website at icc.govt.nz/covid
Council customer services were in place to take calls and answer questions on 03 211 1777 or freephone 0800 422 435, as well as answering questions via Facebook during business hours.
Teams are also working through plans for council and committee meetings and will update this information as soon as possible.
“Our team is well-placed to continue to look after our city and its people. We’ve done this before and we’ll do it again,” she said.