Council staff thanked for efforts during lockdown

Fife Council staff have been thanked for their work throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

The message came from co-leader, Councillor David Ross, who paid tribute to the employees who had taken on new roles, and worked hard to support the community and business during the eight-week lockdown.

With offices, schools and buildings closed, the local authority has faced major upheaval since mid-March, and Cllr Ross said he was “immensely proud” of how its workfroce had responded.

His message came ahead of the first online meeting f the council’s policy and co-=ordination committee meeting on Thursday which will discuss in detail the impact of the pandemic, and how it resets and re-starts the Kingdom’s economy.

Cllr David Ross, Labour co-leader, said: “I’m immensely proud of all our staff and how they’ve adapted to very different circumstances and ways of working during this crisis. Our care staff have rightly been the focus for praise from our communities, and the continuation of our refuse service has also been in the public eye and much valued.

“Many other staff have moved to doing different things to support our communities as well. The food and resilience hubs set up in each of the seven areas and our emergency call centre, have provided direct support to vulnerable individuals and working with Fife Voluntary Action, have also supported the many fantastic voluntary and community groups helping out in local communities.

“Staff have taken on the task of getting emergency funding out to businesses and the demand for the Scottish Welfare Fund has rocketed putting severe pressure on those administering it locally. The work of environmental health and trading standards officers has taken on special importance.

“With many staff adapting to work from home, our IT and business support staff have risen to the task of keeping everyone connected and developing new remote ways of running our services. “child care hubs for essential workers .

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He added: “Hundreds of staff who aren’t in ‘business critical’ roles have volunteered to support the new and additional activities that have been needed over the last few weeks. It’s impossible to mention every staff group, but as Co-Leader of the Council I’m immensely proud of the efforts all our staff have put in to ensure we keep supporting everyone in our communities during what are probably the most challenging times most of us have seen in our lifetimes.

“Although committee meetings have been suspended during the crisis, I and my co-leader, Cllr Alexander, and all our committee conveners have kept in close touch with senior managers across the Council, and I know how hard our executive team have been working to manage the Council’s response to the crisis. Our trade unions have also played a constructive role in advising on matters and helping to keep our workforce safe.

“We are now looking towards managing the recovery and planning is already underway. This will be a long term process and it won’t be a case of services just returning overnight to what we knew before Covid19.

“We will have very different priorities as the recovery moves forward and we will continue to follow Scottish Government and Public Health guidance and direction. The Council will play a crucial role in continuing to support vulnerable people and our local communities, getting services up and running again, helping to rebuild our local economy and above all trying to keep people safe.”

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Thank you

Allan Crow, Editor, Fife Free Press