Dalton apologises for handling of memorial revamp

Napier mayor Bill Dalton has admitted the co-branding of the controversial war memorial building is “not ideal” and has repeated an earlier apology over the handling of the rebranding.

“We — Napier City Council — did not handle the war memorial refurbishment and rebranding as well as we could have,” Dalton said yesterday.

The name Napier War Memorial Centre was repainted back onto the Marine Parade-based building on Monday.

It was formerly known by most as the Napier War Memorial Hall, then more recently the Napier Conference Centre.

“It’s no secret that I strongly oppose the change of the name to Napier War Memorial Centre,” Dalton said.

“I argued we should revert the name to Napier War Memorial Conference Centre which had been the building’s name without public demur since 2001.”

Dalton said a majority of councillors disagreed and settled on the name Napier War Memorial Centre for the site. Having two names on the building was “not ideal” which is why he was in favour the “conference centre” option.

Napier city councillor Kirsten Wise earlier said she was thrilled to see “war memorial” back on the building, but was not happy it was still cobranded.

Dalton said as a council it was important that it recognises its mistakes, learns from them, then does better.

“What matters here is not individual agendas or blinkered campaigns but honouring our fallen.

‘‘We owe our old soldiers everything.

‘‘On this I’m sure we all agree.”