A security grille is being replaced at Waipā District Council’s head office in Te Awamutu.
Improved security is being introduced at Waipā District Council’s Te Awamutu office costing $185,325 to ensure the health and safety of staff.
The work to replace the security grille in the customer support area started this week and follows rising numbers of threats from the public, and three lockdowns in 18 months. Reception areas have also been fitted with duress alarms.
Customer and community services group manager Sally Sheedy said there had been a rising number of reports of customers behaving aggressively towards staff.
Ensuring the health and safety of staff was paramount and the new measures would help ensure council offices were kept secure.
“The current grille could no longer be serviced or repaired, so it needed to be replaced. While construction is underway, the reception area will be temporarily relocated to the left of the current area, providing a smaller but fully functional customer support space,” she said.
A security grille is being replaced at Waipā District Council’s head office in Te Awamutu.
During construction, customer support staff would continue to assist with all enquiries, payments, and services, maintaining the council’s commitment to delivering these core services to the community.
The project follows on from similar upgrades to the Cambridge customer support office in 2021 and is expected to be complete by the end of September.
After-hours room bookings for the council committee rooms and chambers will not be available until the work is complete.
Many council services can be done online by visiting waipadc.govt.nz/do-it-online and our call centre can be reached 24/7 by calling 0800924723
Waipa District Council head office
