[Skye Collett]

Hi All,

My interpretation was that the amendments refer to legal action in the courts, so primarily a SOC being the first instance of requiring Council to adhere to the 4 requirements of arrangements, financial counselling etc. For existing legal matters currently on hold, I would expect that unless Council were in a position to definitively determine that a ratepayer was not impacted by COVID19 these matters would need to remain on hold also for six months.

I am very interested to hear what other Councils views are also.. at this stage this is just my interpretations and we have yet to make a final determination regarding the best way forward. Currently all action including early stage has been on hold since approximately mid march. I am now just seeking all and every bit of information I can get my hands on.

We currently have a 5 step collection process for new matters prior to any legal action commencing at no cost to the rate payer.
Internal Reminder
Internal Notice of Legal Action
Attempt contact across all alternative contact numbers and emails.
Referral to Legal Service Provide where a contact letter is sent
Letter of Demand sent by the Legal Service Provider.

So effectively 5 opportunities for ratepayers to engage with us over the course of about 2.5 months prior to consideration for SOC.

I am hopeful that we may still be able to do some if not all of these activities provided that correspondence is temporarily tailored to include a softer collections tone, COVID19 information regarding rate payers accessibility to assistance under the amendments and more extensive longer term arrangements for not impacted ratepayers to encourage them to engage and resolve the debts sooner.

Thoughts?