A waiting game for Telford amid financial woes
With the Christmas break nearly over, Telford staff at Balclutha will find out next week what the new year will bring them and their institution, amid the financial woes that put their tertiary provider into receivership.
The Telford campus received the news in December that the Wairarapa-based Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre, which took over from Lincoln University in 2017, had gone into interim liquidation, casting uncertainty over the future of the long established south Otago farming institute.
However, Telford Farm Board chairman Richard Farquhar said the team had been working over the holiday period on various proposals to ensure Telford’s future.
‘‘We’re waiting for certain people to come back to us.’’
He said proposals had been put forward, including options for tertiary providers, and all the people involved in deciding Telford’s future.
‘‘We’ve been working behind the scenes flat-out to come to some decisions so Telford can open it’s doors.’’
It could be late next week before those decisions were finalised, he said.
Clutha mayor Bryan Cadogan said things had been ‘‘challenging’’ because it was the Christmas break, but was still optimistic that the situation would work itself out, and that Telford would survive ‘‘to fight another day’’.
‘‘Let’s face it, Telford just has to be saved.
‘‘There are problems but they can be overcome, and they have to be overcome.’’
‘‘We’ve been working behind the scenes flat-out to come to some decisions so Telford can open it’s doors.’’
He would not be drawn on specifics of how this might happen, but indicated that staff, most of which were paid up to Wednesday, would get other pay days through other means, and that the ‘‘logistics’’ were still being worked out.
A staff member said he did not know what next week would bring, but had been told the liquidators would be back on Monday.
‘‘We’re expected to turn up. I’ve been paid until the 9th. I haven’t been told any different.
‘‘The mayor seems hopeful. We know there’s talk of SIT taking it on, but we’re all still in the dark.’’
The staff member said he was getting texts from students who were concerned about their future ‘‘but I have no answer for it’’.
Former students Callum Dunlop and Lisa Geard were returning to Telford on Saturday in happier circumstances to get married on the campus where they met in 2013.
Dunlop felt Telford had been used by other tertiary institutions ‘‘to get them out of the s..t’’.
‘‘Being at Telford is like being part of a family. It’s a beautiful spot, and it would be a shame to see it go. I made friends for life there.’’