Meetings go online to keep community safe

Upcoming Council, community board and ward forum meetings will now take place virtually via Zoom to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in the community.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council has made the call after COVID-19 spread in the community escalated over the weekend.

Council’s Customer Service and Governance Manager, Barbara Whitton says switching to an online platform, until further notice, allows Council to carry on as usual while Aotearoa, New Zealand is at Phase Three and the Red Traffic Light setting of the Covid Protection Framework.

“We can do all the things we’d normally do at online meetings and we can continue to make the discussions accessible to our community.

“We all need to do our bit and try to limit the spread of COVID-19 in our community, this is just one thing we’re doing to try to keep each other and our Western Bay whānau safe.”

The decision to go online affects all meetings including Council and its committees, community boards and ward forums, and it means everyone including elected members, community and media will need to attend virtually until further notice.

If you wish to speak in public forum at a meeting via Zoom, please register by emailing governanceservices@westernbay.govt.nz or phone 07 571 8008. The first meeting to be effected is the Katikati-Waihī Beach Ward forum scheduled for Tuesday 1 March.

Barb says anyone wanting to watch a virtual meeting live, can jump online “Head over to our YouTube channel to watch the live stream, or if you’d like to attend virtually, just get in touch with our Governance team a couple of days prior and we’ll send you a meeting Zoom link and instructions.

“We’ve done this before and we can do it again. Keeping everyone safe is our highest priority and this is one small thing that we can do to help.”

A full calendar of meetings along with Zoom link details can be found on our dedicated Council meetings calendar.

Meetings can be streamed live via Council’s YouTube channel.