Council set guidelines for coronavirus recovery

THE Surf Coast Shire council has officially adopted the COVID-19 Recovery Assistance Guidelines it will use as the municipality emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

At their special meeting in April, council agreed as part of their Draft Budget 2020-21 they would set aside $1 million to help businesses and communities recover from the hardships caused by coronavirus. This is in addition to the $718,000 of support council has already dedicated to communities and businesses within the shire.

The guidelines will help decision-making for the allocation of funding for future initiatives.

Shire mayor Rose Hodge said a lot of research had gone into shaping the guidelines.

“A Community Support Team and an Economic Support Team have been created by council, both of which are gaining valuable insights from the community in the initial relief period.

“From 381 business surveys to regular virtual support meetings with locals – we are hearing first-hand from the community about their most pressing needs now and their potential needs during the recovery phase.

“The Recovery Assistance Guidelines lay the foundations for how we can help meet these needs, whether that’s in the next few weeks, months, or even years.”

There was plenty of discussion over the guidelines at last week’s council meeting, as all councillors took the opportunity to speak on the matter.

While the council unanimously passed the motion, opinions varied over what the focus of the spending should be.

Cr Heather Wellington also commended the research behind the guidelines but in moving the motion also made a minor amendment to the document’s wording, which she said would ensure funds could also go towards infrastructure.

“The original guidelines that are in the document seem to preclude infrastructure investment, and infrastructure investment really is exactly what we need.”

However, Cr David Bell suggested a different philosophy for spending the funds.

“I worry that a major infrastructure project might be seen as the saviour of an economy that has perhaps been floundering for a number of years,” he said.

“I think encouraging lots of small projects within communities is probably a better spend of money than one or two major projects.

“We’re going to see fundamental changes to the way we do things, or we’re not going to survive.”

In the months before the meeting, the council has given funding to various community groups and launched different initiatives such as Buy Surf Coast to aid the region’s recovery from the virus.

However, the last normal meeting was held in February, so last week was the council’s first chance to adopt a set of guidelines.

Cr Clive Goldsworthy said while the guidelines would be a helpful tool, they did not represent the extent of council’s response to the virus.

“There’s a lot in this (document) as far as beginning our support for our community. I don’t see that this is the end of it either, I think that we’ve got a long way to go.”