Moving towards an exceptional goal as we tackle COVID-19
by Julie Reid, Chief Executive Officer, Kingston Council
COVID-19 has brought with it challenges on a scale we have never experienced, and the economic impact has been felt across the Kingston community. As a council our job has been to find a way to alleviate some of the financial burden on our residents and local businesses, but also to continue to provide the essential services and programs our community relies on.
In March our Councillors approved a $2.8 million assistance package for the community and businesses which included deferring rates payments, waiving childcare fees and freezing rent for our community and sporting clubs.
Like other municipalities, to help reduce the spread of the virus we have had to close the very places that bring our community together, such as libraries, community hubs and recreational facilities. But this has opened a door to innovation. Our dedicated teams have found new virtual ways to connect with our community.
Each weekday morning, families can still enjoy Kingston Library’s much-loved Storytimes live streamed, there’s a Virtual Lego Club and a Virtual Book Club. Kingston Active has helped the community stay active at home with free online and Facebook Live workouts. These are just some of the dynamic ways our organisation has adapted to the changing times.
Striving to be a dynamic and contemporary organisation is one of the six pillars of focus into the future as we work towards our vision of Towards Exceptional – a plan to strengthen excellence in the organisation. The other pillars are best practice governance, exceptional customer experience, leading in engagement and connecting the community, speaking out for our community and responding to the needs of place. This final pillar has never been more relevant than now.
Throughout this health challenge we have continued to make Kingston a great place to live. We have maintained our parks and open spaces, forged ahead with crucial infrastructure upgrades and continued to deliver important major projects to improve community facilities. Our staff have been resilient, adaptable and have put the community first. The temporary closure of Council facilities has meant some staff have reduced shifts while many others have sought to reduce their hours to be able to home school their children.
To help support our staff with reduced work hours we developed our own Kingston JobKeeper program. JobKeeper is designed for us to maintain services to the community, look after the health, wellbeing and economic needs of our staff and ensure we remain a financially responsible organisation. Specifically, the program provides staff with a payment for ‘lost’ hours they would have otherwise expected prior to COVID-19. Staff have also been able to access their leave entitlements.
There is still much uncertainty ahead, but the City of Kingston has learnt a great deal from the COVID-19 experience. We intend to continue to work as an adaptive and dynamic organisation as we discover a ‘new normal’ way of working for our community.