New roof for Ōpunakē Events Centre

Councillors agreed to spend up to $400,000 to replace the Ōpunakē Events Centre’s roof at the last Policy and Strategy meeting.

The aging roof, almost 20 years old, has a number of leaks and a new roof will cost between $310,000 and $360,000 (based on current pricing) which the Trust can't afford.

Council's recreation and facilities manager Phil Waite says if the Ōpunakē Sport and Recreation Trust is required to fund the roof replacement, they would have to ‘hand over' the operations of the centre to the Council as per their constitution. Council would then need to pay for the replacement and take responsibility for the dayto-day operations and centre costs.

Mr Waite recommended Council loan-fund the new roof and increase the Trust's annual grant, which was $60,000 per annum in 2021, to repay the term of the loan. South Taranaki Mayor Phil Nixon said the Ōpunakē Events

Centre was a very well used and important facility for the coastal community, but the pandemic had reduced the Trust’s income when the venue wasn’t able to be used.

“The Trust had quite a nest egg put aside, but Covid has eaten away a lot of the funds they had saved. The centre is a fantastic facility which fits with our vision of making South Taranaki the most liveable District and deserves our ongoing support.”

Council chief executive Waid Crockett said provided the decision is approved by the full Council at its next ordinary meeting the intention was to do the work before winter.