Council’s Westport office closed next week

Council’s Westport office will be closed to staff and customers from 4.30pm Tuesday 22 August to 4.30pm on Friday 25 August 2023 inclusive.

Acting chief executive Sean Judd says: “The closure of our Westport office at Brougham House is to replace the switchboard to enable the installation of the heating and ventilation system in the building, which is scheduled to happen within the next six months.”

Should contractors not be able to complete final works and safety checks on Saturday and Sunday, there is the possibility that doors remain closed until 4.30pm on Tuesday 29 August. This will be notified through council’s website and Facebook page on Monday 28 August.

Council’s customer service staff will be available to assist with general enquiries and information at the Sue Thompson Casey Library during the library opening hours between 9.30am and 5pm while Brougham House is closed. However, staff cannot take or process any payments at the temporary customer service point. This includes rates, dog registrations, building consents, rubbish bag purchases and any other transactions.

Residents can use council’s online payment option to pay for a range of services including rates, building consent fees, resource consent fees, dog registration, and LIMs.

Mr Judd says: “We are aware that the closure coincides with the last days of the rates payment. To take this into account, no late penalties will be charged on outstanding payments for an extra three days to acknowledge that people could not pay in person prior to the end of the rating quarter. The penalty will be applied to any overdue amount from Friday 1 September.”

“Our staff will work from other facilities around Westport and from home during this time. We have processes in place to ensure that business as usual keeps going while staff can't work from their offices.”

The building was built in 1950s and has no centralised heating and ventilation system currently. The original coal fired boiler was removed two years ago since coal as a heating source was no longer appropriate. Since then, council has used a variety of heating options.

The new centralised heating and ventilation system will be more efficient.

The upgrade of Brougham House was initially included in the 2021/22 Annual Plan however was delayed due to other priorities such as the July 2021 and the February 2022 floods.

The replacement of the switchboard and installation of the heating and ventilation system will cost $258,405.57 and is included in the 2023/2024 Annual Plan budget.

-ENDS-

further information please contact:
Acting chief executive
Sean Judd
Sean.Judd@bdc.govt.nz