Taranaki councils coping with Covid
Taranaki’s four councils have so far weathered the Omicron wave without major disruptions caused by staff illness.
Thirteen Taranaki Regional Council staff, from a total of 180, have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past two months, with a similar number having to self-isolate as they had household contacts with the virus.
Corporate services director Mike Nield said all staff have been encouraged to work from home where possible and field-based work has continued, with extra precautions where necessary.
‘‘There has been a very limited impact on our services.
‘‘We have a robust business continuity plan in place that has served us well and will continue to do so should the situation change.’’
At South Taranaki District Council, the impact had been less severe than some models had predicted, communications manager Gerard Langford said.
Since late February, 20 people from a staff of about 220 people had caught Covid.
‘‘It was really important for us that we put measures in place to protect our staff while ensuring we could keep all council services running for our community, and I think our efforts have been pretty successful in this regard,’’ Langford said.
‘‘For example, we split our teams into ‘bubbles’ and rotated staff to work from work/home so that if someone caught the virus they wouldn’t spread it to the whole team.’’
Services impacted by staff shortages due to sickness and selfisolation included the district’s swimming pools during the summer, while libraries are currently closed on Saturday mornings.
He said the Aotea Utanganui – Museum of South Taranaki closed for a few days last week, but had now reopened, ‘‘and some services like building inspections have had to take a little longer to get to than normal’’.
At the New Plymouth District Council, many staff normally based in the office had been working from home and this has helped limit Covid infections to 77 cases in 32 days, a spokesperson said.
The council has 670 permanent staff and a number of casual employees. ‘‘The reason we are working from home is to keep the numbers down, and it seems to be working, the whole focus is to protect critical workers.’’
He said the council was constantly reviewing its systems and taking the Government’s advice as it comes out.
The council has had to put household glass recycling collection on hold due to Covid-related driver shortages, closed Urenui Library until further notice, and temporarily shut the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery on Wednesdays.
Since the beginning of March, three people out of 84 staff at Stratford District Council had come down with Covid and four needed to isolate, communications manager Gemma Gibson said.
The council has closed its TSB Pool Complex on Sundays.