In the best interest of the safety, health and wellbeing of the Hobsons Bay community and Council staff in the midst of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Council has made the difficult decision to close all Hobsons Bay Library branches for 30 days and cancel all Council delivered public events and community consultations for the next 60 days (or until further notice).
Council's Customer Service function at the Altona Civic Centre will operate as normal until further notice, as will essential city services.
Hobsons Bay Libraries
All branches of Hobsons Bay Libraries will close to the public at 6pm today for 30 days or until further notice. In line with these closures, all programs and events that are delivered at Hobsons Bay Libraries will also be cancelled until further notice.
Community events and community consultations
All Council delivered public events and community consultation sessions that were scheduled to take place over the next 60 days are cancelled until further notice.
Council will not be accepting bookings for events taking place on Council land or at Council facilities within the next 60 days or until further notice. However, we will accept bookings for events held on Council land or at Council facilities taking place after 16 May 2020, which is 60 days from now, but acknowledging that these bookings may be subject to cancellation.
Any events already scheduled on Council land or at Council facilities, but not delivered by Council, will take place at the discretion of the event organiser. Council strongly encourages all event organisers to continue to monitor the situation closely and consider the potential impact of their event on the community. Council will support community groups and work with them productively to come to the right decision.
If any events that were previously approved by Council are cancelled, there will be no financial penalties in doing so and we will waive any previously paid permit fees related to these events.
Community Services
A range of our services will continue as normal and some with various changes. Immunisations will continue to be delivered, as will Community Delivered Meals.
Maternal and Child Health (MCH) will continue to have services delivered but this will be delivered remotely via phone and video, with limited face to face servicing taking place.
Hobsons Bay UP (Youth Services) will continue its youth counselling by skype or phone but will not proceed with face to face support services until further notice.
Planned Activity Group (PAG), Community Transport and Overnight Respite for older residents will all be suspended until further notice, however the team will continue to closely monitor and support our clients with regular phone contact.
Early years playgroups, Preschool Officers and Occasional Care provision is being suspended until the start of Term 2, which falls on 14 April, or until further notice.
The closure of facilities and cancellation of events has been guided by advice given by the federal and state governments, which includes the advice that there are to be no gatherings of 500 people or more.
Council is also looking at ways to minimise risk to community and staff across the existing services that are operating.
