Waikato Regional Council restarts some field work, safety paramount

The move down an alert level for the majority of the rohe means Waikato Regional Council is restarting some of its field work, where it’s safe to do so.

A small area of the northern Waikato remains under Alert Level 4, where only essential public services will be delivered by a small number of authorised staff and contractors.

Waikato Regional Council Chief Executive Chris McLay said, “In addition to essential public services, we have looked closely at what activities can be safely restarted under Alert Level 3.

“There are of course some restrictions to what we can do as part of our commitment to the safety of staff, contractors and the wider community, and we have in place standard operating procedures that guide how we work.”

With these procedures in place, many aspects of the council’s pest control programme, such as the surveillance and eradication of alligator weed, yellow flag iris, old man’s beard, climbing spindle berry and wilding pines, are resuming. Animal pest programmes are also restarting.

Flood protection and land drainage assets continued to be inspected, checked and maintained under Alert Level 4 to ensure they met the level of service promised to keep communities safe. With the shift to Alert Level 3, this work will shift up a notch.

River and catchment restoration programmes will also resume under Alert Level 3 as it is critical to get planting completed as soon as possible, albeit under the necessary safety requirements.

Core regional bus services are now operating close to their normal schedules, but there are changes across the network, so people are encouraged to visit www.busit.co.nz when planning their journey. Unfortunately, the Waikato to Auckland passenger rail service, Te Huia, is unable to operate under Alert Levels 4 and 3. Those people unable to undertake essential travel as a result are encouraged to call 0800 205 305.

The council’s water quality monitoring programme, which was paused under Alert Level 4, will resume over the coming weeks; however, there are some sites staff might not return to due to specific aspects of health and safety requirements under COVID-19. 

Overarching safety measures in place by the council include:

• recording who is working together and all physical interactions with other people to enable contact tracing
• strongly encouraging continued use of face coverings
• limiting interaction between groups of workers
• following good hygiene practices
• maintaining physical distancing.

“In addition to this, we’re taking a cautious approach when deploying staff or contractors who reside within the Alert Level 4 area. This is to minimise as much as possible the need for people to cross the Auckland-Waikato alert level boundary to provide our services,” Mr McLay said.

“If our staff or contractors do have to travel across the Auckland-Waikato alert level boundary, it will only be to carry out essential public services and only where options from within the Alert Level 3 area are not available. And, of course, they’ll need their MBIE Business Travel Document.”

Mr McLay said the shift in alert levels was not a return to normal for Waikato Regional Council. “Our offices remain closed, the majority of our staff who can work from home continue to do so, and meetings and interactions with each other, stakeholders and customers continue to be virtual.

“Our customer team is operating as they have been over the past couple of weeks from their homes, so calls will be answered and transferred as normal if calling 0800 800 401. We can also be reached via Facebook, and of course more general information is on our website,” he said. 

Council decision making has continued to happen during lockdown. Virtual council and committee meetings have been held, and this will continue to be the case under Alert Level 3. Agendas are online at waikatoregion.govt.nz/agendas and recordings are also being made available on the website as soon as practicable following meetings.  

Waikato Regional Council’s essential public services:

• natural hazard event monitoring, response and recovery (including 24/7 flood monitoring programme)
• flood and drought management, flood protection and land drainage
• serious and urgent incident/pollution response, including related enforcement
• compliance monitoring programmes where there is a risk to human health and/or serious environmental harm
• environmental monitoring, including sampling and analysing water quality for safe human activities
• ensuring maritime navigational safety
• public transport (for essential travel only)
• civil defence and emergency management
• biosecurity incursion response and eradication.