As part of Wollongong City Council's phased reopening, we've made further changes to some of the popular services we provide our community.
From Monday 1 November we'll be welcoming our fully-vaccinated community members back into our libraries to browse and borrow. This change follows the reopening of our Customer Service Centre for face-to-face conversations this week.
"We have very deliberately taken a phased approach to the reopening of our services and it's a positive step forward to see these two valued services – our Customer Service Centre and our Libraries – reopen to the public,'' Wollongong City Council General Manager Greg Doyle said.
"Throughout the pandemic we've always put the health, safety and wellbeing of our community, and our staff and their families, first. With the increasing vaccination rates we're seeing across the city and the drop in COVID-19 infection rates over the past 14 days, now is an appropriate time to take these steps.''
Customers in the libraries and Customer Service Centre will need to wear masks at all times, check-in through the Service NSW app or ask a staff member to sign them in, and keep socially distanced at all times. Those visiting the library will need to show proof of vaccination to enter.
The entry to Wollongong Library will be through the door on the Bonacina Walkway, the laneway on the Council Administration Building's western side. While the libraries are reopening to community members who are fully vaccinated, the Click and Collect initiative will remain until 5pm, Tuesday 30 November, for those who wish to utilise this service.
Council's Customer Service team remain available over the phone on (02) 4227 7111, and many common queries can also be answered through Council's website. The Customer Service Duty Officer is only available over the phone to discuss DA-related matters.
The reopening of the Customer Service Centre and the Libraries to fully vaccinated community members is the latest step in Council's ongoing reopening of services.
We're also continuing to review capacity numbers at our supervised pools and leisure centres. Additional session times for our pools will be coming online from 1 November. We'll also open the pool showers – with a cap on the number of people permitted at any time – to allow for customers to rinse off quickly at before an end to their session time.
"What we're seeing in our city now is the start of a new phase for our community as we start to look beyond the current lockdown and explore how we want to engage with our community, our friends and our families once again,'' Mr Doyle said.
"We're responding to these changes by changing the way manage our popular foreshore areas and parks that have seen so many people embrace picnics as a way to socialise. We've put on additional rubbish collections on weekends – beefing up the increased collections we'd had in place last year – and we're trialling recycling collection at Thirroul and Stanwell Park Beaches.
"We're also working on opportunities to extend and shake up outdoor dining opportunities across the city so that we can support local businesses to get back on their feet and meet the needs of our community who want to be able to dine or drink in an outdoor environment. In addition, we continue to offer a range of COVID-support opportunities for local businesses, grants for our city's creatives and financial support for local not-for-profit organisations providing emergency food and care services to our community.
"It's an interesting and exciting time for Wollongong and I just ask our community to continue to do the right thing – follow the Public Health Order, get tested and stay home if you're feeling unwell and keep mask wearing when it's appropriate to do so.''
