Tuesday, April 14 2020
Present: Paul FitzGerald, Nikky Winchester, Margaret Blair, Iain MacLean, Kate Dreaver, Bill Jackson, Pauline Morum
Apologies: June Penhey, Jonathan Harker, Mel Galletly
Response to Covid-19 Level 4 Lock-down
Iain provided a report of actions taken by Paul, Kate and Iain with the Hub team over the last four weeks (see Appendix).
While it was possible to circulate a hard copy of the first Covid Courier newsletter to all households in the village, PCC had then advised that paper leaflets shouldn’t be circulated, which meant that many people in the village haven’t been receiving more recent information which has only been disseminated electronically. Plimmerton RA are using their local neighbourhood watch groups to communicate with their residents. More information is expected on 20 April from the government about what Level 3 will mean; it may be possible to circulate paper leaflets thereafter.
There was some discussion about how to reach out to people who aren’t on Facebook and whose email addresses haven’t been captured by the street champions. Margaret asked if the street champions have contacted every house in the Bay; Iain said that all houses should have received the first Covid Courier and most should have received a contact form from their street champion.
There had been a suggestion early on of setting up a special Facebook page just for emergency information, but it was decided that people already have too many pages to follow, and that it is best to keep all information in one place ie on the RA website, which automatically feeds onto the RA Facebook page.
Future RA meetings
The likelihood is that we will need to continue to meet remotely for some time. There was some discussion about using Zoom, Jitsi or Microsoft Teams. Bill offered to help set June up with the appropriate technology once we’re down to Level 2. Further research is required into the different options.
Action: Iain and Paul to talk to Jon.
Other business
The Heritage Group has prepared a post about the flu epidemic, which will be going out on their Facebook page tomorrow.
National commemorations for Anzac Day have been cancelled. Margaret explained that Plimmerton Parish kept a register of all the local servicemen, and Margaret has recorded their backgrounds.
Action: Margaret to write an article for the Anzac Day Covid Courier on local servicemen.
Approval of previous minutes
Approval of previous minutes: moved Paul FitzGerald, seconded Iain MacLean, none opposed, carried.
Matters arising
The Committee agreed to extend the area of the lease for Muri Station building to include the land under the building and along the platform to the entrance to the community garden. This extension will not cost any extra.
Action: Iain to go back to KiwiRail to confirm we would like to include the additional space in the lease.
Iain wrote a letter of thanks to Pamela for storing the old station building for many years, and will send it to Paul for him to check.
Iain talked to the Kindergarten Association about the proposed community space. They are supportive of the idea, but can’t offer any money in support.
Financial
As at 9 April 2020:
Main account: $2274.93
Accounts paid between 10/3/2020 and 09/04/2020:
$153.50 Print Room – Surf seat Postcard
$110.00 NZ Railway & Locomotive Society – HeAra
$336.95 Muzzy Print – Tees
Deposits made between 10/3/2020 and 09/04/2020:
$130.00 Tees & Totes
$118.60 Surf Seat Postcard & Donations
$110.00 PCC – HeAra Refund
Outstanding invoice:
$440.00 PCC Reimbursement – HeAra
Fundraising account: $2796.08
Deposits made between 10/3/2020 and 09/04/2020
$30.00 Tee
Village Planning Survey
Action: Iain to circulate link to survey for Committee to check.
Kate proposed circulating the survey to the community for online completion. Paper versions can be offered at a later date.
Action items
Action: Brian Sullivan will send photos of t-shirts and tote bags to Jon for uploading on RA website, to facilitate online sales. Jon to follow up.
Action: Jon to add the information about memorials to the RA website once Margaret has collected the information.
Action: Jon and Pauline will meet as the new Fundraising committee, and present proposals to the Committee.
Action: Jon to update the RA website, monthly after each RA meeting.
Action: Pauline/Iain/Kate to continue investigating options for organising a silent art auction.
Action: Jon to put a link to Neighbourhood Support NZ on the RA website.
Action: Iain to ask Internal Affairs if they can suggest anybody to do the feasibility study for the proposed community space.
Action: Iain to talk to Bill about the community shed idea and send him the draft Village Planning Survey.
Action: Jon to put the revised logo on the website.
Action: Margaret to remove Brian Sullivan and Pauline Morse as signatories from the Pukerua Bay RA bank account as they are no longer committee members.
Action: Paul to write a proposal about changing the RA structure and the Constitution.
Action: Iain to ask PCC to send their monthly updates to secretary@ and chair@ and remove all other names from their mailing list.
Action: Jon to ask Dave Petterell about posting information on the website about the Surfers Seat event.
Meeting ended: 8.26pm
Next meeting: 14 May 2020, or earlier if necessary
Appendix: Covid-19 community response report
This report covers the work done by the Pukerua Bay Hub and Residents Association to support the community through the COVID19 pandemic.
Setting up the response
The response was initiated by the Pukerua Bay Hub group, which organised our first virtual meeting for 16 March. Paul FitzGerald, Kate Dreaver and Iain MacLean took part for the RA, and Kelly McClean and Angela Brown represented the Hub. At this meeting, we decided that the RA and Hub would collaborate on a community response over the following three months.
We agreed that:
- The RA would communicate with the City Council and Wellington Regional Emergency Management Office (involving Robyn Moore as local civil defence co-ordinator).
- The main channel of communication for community and official information would be through the RA website, augmented by social media and printed material where appropriate.
- We would develop a neighbourhood contact template people could use to contact their neighbours to offer help if they were required to self-isolate.
- The Hub would connect with various Pukerua Bay community groups to see what they had planned and how we could help.
We identified the main issues as social isolation leading to a lack of support (particularly elderly or vulnerable people), financial hardship (people losing their jobs or income reducing), impact on families if schools were closed, working from home, transport for people if public transport was cut/reduced.
At this stage, we did not have a clear idea of how this would operate and continued our discussions online to develop an appropriate model. We thought this would include creating a community network of clusters of households and identifying individuals with relevant skills that could be useful.
After the lockdown
We met every day from Monday 23 March for a week to prepare for the level 4 lock-down. By this time we had begun to establish a network of people that included:
- Individual ‘Neighbourhood helpers’ who would be a point of contact with their immediate 8-12 neighbours
- ‘Street Champions’ who would be the contact people for helpers and the co-ordinating committee, and help co-ordinate the response
- The co-ordinating committee, who would facilitate connections in the community, assist with requests for help that the wider group would not help with, deal with local and central government, and communicate to the community.
We ended up with 55 people who volunteered to help in a variety of ways, including phoning to check in with a neighbour, help with messages and errands, or be a Street Champion. We also recruited people who could perform particular tasks, such as collecting medication from a pharmacy. Scott Tansley created a GIS map that contained all the information about the support network, which we could use to locate nearby volunteers. Helen Smith took over the role of communicating with the volunteers and responding to any request from them. .
We developed good hygiene guidelines for volunteers to follow if they delivered anything to residents.
We published information on the RA website and created a newsletter, the Covid Courier, and delivered printed copies to every household. This told people how they could get help, where they could find information and support, and activities they could do while in lock-down. Information from outside organisations was not widely available (partly because they had not organised local support systems at that stage), but we were in regular contact with the PCC emergency operation centre, which had been activated to co-ordinate any local activities.
Many residents made individual arrangements with neighbours to provide support that were not connected to the Hub/RA facilitated network. We expected this, and did not intend for our network to replace these individual arrangements.
RA website
We have used the RA website as the main communication source of information and used Facebook to promote more widely any information we published on the site. So far, we have published information on:
- Official sources of information about COVID19, the government’s response and the community’s obligations during the lock-down.
- How to shop safely and where.
- Where people could find support help them look after their mental well-being.
- The government’s helpline for people suffering hardship and who do not have community support.
Ongoing support
Now that the community network has been set up, we are focusing on more social activities for people to take part while still in their bubbles. We began with a limerick competition and advertised an initiative by the Cubs. The Hub (Kirk Beyer, in particular) has picked up and developed several challenges and competitions for people to take part in.
Iain MacLean & Kate Dreaver, 13 April 2020