March 25, 2020
South Burnett Regional Council has closed all Visitor Information Centres and libraries as well as council-owned halls, art galleries, museums and Boondooma Homestead.
The shutdowns – from the close of business on Wednesday (March 25) – are to limit the risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus by visitors, volunteers and Council staff and are in line with Federal and State Government recommendations.
All South Burnett pools, including the South Burnett Aquatic Centre in Nanango, as well as the South Burnett PCYC Gym in Murgon, are also closed until further notice.
For the time being, all Council’s Service Centres will remain open but a spokesperson urged residents, community organisations and businesses to contact Council by telephone or online, rather than face-to-face.
Staff at the Blackbutt Customer Service Centre will be focused on Services Australia (Centrelink) and QGap services.
In regard to halls, booking fees for any event cancelled between now and June 30 will be fully refunded unless otherwise discussed.
Any event that has been moved into the 2020-21 financial year will have fees charged at the current rate.
The Council spokesperson said while the doors to the libraries would be closed, the online library was open, with 24/7 access to digital collections.
“Our staff will be available to assist you over the phone or via email during normal opening hours,” the spokesperson said.
Council has also suspended face-to-face pre-lodgement meetings with developers but will:
- Arrange to email draft pre-lodgement minutes within 10 business days of the receipt of a pre-lodgement meeting request,
- Hold telephone or online meetings with developers to address specific issues in relation to the pre-lodgement, and
- Email a final version of the draft minutes to the developer.
Council has requested that development applications and other documents be lodged electronically and on-site meetings be limited where possible.
The spokesperson said Council was working on continuity plans to try to minimise the impact to the region and ensure essential services were maintained over coming months.
