Dissatisfaction put down to hall saga

THE Memorial Hall saga could be responsible for the Cromwell Community Board trailing other wards in a resident satisfaction survey, its chairman says.

In the 2017 Central Otago District Council resident satisfaction survey 47% of those in the Cromwell area said they were dissatisfied with the board’s performance in the past 12 months. In contrast, dissatisfaction with the Teviot Valley board was 22%, Vincent, which includes Clyde and Alexandra, was 26% and Maniototo 27%.

The survey was fully completed by 628 people. Cromwell Community Board chairman Neil Gillespie said he could not determine the reason for the comparatively low rating without more information, but guessed it was due to the ongoing saga with the town’s memorial hall upgrade.

The project, which now has a $5.4 million price tag, has experienced years of delays and was almost scrapped and sent back to the drawing board by current members.

‘‘It just shows the democratic process and that the four new members on the board have different views than the previous board. So if people are dissatisfied because of that, that’s what people elected.’’

It would be difficult to fix the problem without knowing more about the source of the dissatisfaction, he said.

‘‘Certainly it’s something the board will be mindful of and discuss and decide if there’s anything we need to do further.’’

The question was not asked in last year’s survey. The board rated well in the past, Mr Gillespie said.

Overall, 35% of residents who answered the survey said they experienced issues with council services and amenities, which dropped from 49% last year.