From the Mayor's Desk: Stronger together but sensibly safe

Published on 28 June 2021

I often talk about how we as a community are stronger together. Be it facing disaster, celebrating success or just living our day-to-day lives, we all benefit from being part of a community.

Yet as this week dawns we face the reality of COVID-19 once more, with masks needed indoors, social distancing back in effect and some of us needing to self isolate due to having travelled recently.

I know that we will get through this, as we have gotten through much worse before, but let’s not pretend that it is hugely disappointing for this to coincide with school holidays, NAIDOC week and some major Council activities.

Council are very much still in operation though. A huge amount of our services are delivered outdoors and for the time being they have not been significantly impacted.

Additionally our libraries, Customer Service Centre and the Slim Dusty Centre remain open – you just need to wear a mask to come in! Stay tuned to our website Kempsey.nsw.gov.au for updates on the library school events.

Our focus is of course safety. Your Council staff will be sticking to the NSW Health regulations to keep our community safe.

Unfortunately not everything is proceeding as planned. All face-to-face community engagement planned for the next two weeks has had to be postponed. For those planning to attend our Smithtown and Gladstone Community Catch-up in Gladstone on Thursday, please keep an eye out for the new date, you can also still submit your questions at ksc.pub/catch-up

While it might still feel a bit odd to walk around in masks, the faces I see are still the familiar, friendly ones I know and love from our amazing community.

Please look after yourselves and each other and stay safe. We are a great community and we are definitely strong together.