Council stays firm on museum decision
An Invercargill city councillor wants the decision to close the Southland Museum and Art Gallery revisited, but the majority of his colleagues do not.
The council’s actions have come under scrutiny since last month’s closure, with some in the community suggesting it was unnecessary and flawed.
The council chose to withdraw staff from the building and support the decision of the museum trust board to close it for safety reasons in the wake of engineers assessments.
More than 1000 people have signed a petition asking for the museum to be reopened, while architect Bob Simpson, health and safety inspector Nobby Clark and construction industry worker Lindsay Buckingham are among those who have challenged the council’s decision to close the museum on numerous points.
Cr Lindsay Abbott on Tuesday, after listening to Clark and Buckingham, questioned if the council had been hasty to support the museum closure.
He reiterated his stance when contacted later, saying he wanted the decision revisited.
‘‘I would like a compilation of the full information.’’
Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt said Clark and Buckingham were articulate and persuasive in their submission to the council on Tuesday but he still didn’t believe they had all the information needed to reverse the decision.
‘‘The question I would ask them is, when is the right time to undertake earthquake strengthening? Is it after 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? Or should we engage in civil disobedience and refuse to do it at all and go to court?
‘‘I don’t believe anyone knows the answer to my questions, but if an [earthquake] event does happen then everyone will know the correct answer.’’
Cr Ian Pottinger said the council could not act on the information provided by Buckingham and Clark, and he did not believe their information was factually correct in many details.
The councillors had acted on advice of the council chief executive Clare Hadley, he said.
‘‘But if they [Clark and Buckingham] went to a government department and put forward their case and the government department came to us and said [the council] misinterpreted the Act, maybe Clare would look at it differently.’’
Cr Allan Arnold did not respond to questions, but at Tuesday’s council meeting he questioned whether the council had made the right decision to close the museum and whether more investigation was needed.
Cr Lloyd Esler said he did not want the decision to close the museum revisited.
The council had moved on from that, he said.
‘‘There’s no one in the world who wants the museum reopened more than I do, but from the advice we have got, and the plans in progress, I am happy for things to progress the way they are.’’
Cr Darren Ludlow said he still supported the decision to close the museum.
‘‘As a trustee of Southland Museum and Art Gallery there are still liability issues for me if the building were still open.
‘‘My legal advice is quite clear and I would be foolish to go against that.’’
Cr Lesley Soper said she stood by the council’s decision, which was made on ‘‘good advice’’.
Deputy mayor Rebecca Amundsen also said she was happy to stand by the decisions council had made.
‘‘We made a decision based on good information and that’s what we are supposed to do.’’
Cr Graham Lewis said he had listened with interest to the submissions of Clark and Buckingham but declined to comment further.
Cr Lindsay Thomas also stood by the decision to close the museum.
The council had made its decision on the advice given by the chief executive after the council had reviewed the technical report of Opus and the peer review by Win Clark, Thomas said.
‘‘I value the expert advice that has been given to us, and though Mr [Nobby] Clark and Mr Buckingham are well intentioned, they are not engineers.’’
Cr Toni Biddle, also chair of the museum trust board, said she abstained from voting on the council’s decision to withdraw staff as she felt there was a conflict.
But in her role as museum trust chair her focus was the safety of people when the decision was made to close the museum.
‘‘I could not stand by and do nothing while I had the knowledge the building may be, and probably would be unsafe in the case of an earthquake.
‘‘The decision was not mine alone to make, but that of the entire Trust Board.
‘‘I personally stand by that decision which was based on the evidence we had.’’
Cr Karen Arnold said she was not involved in the decision by the Southland Museum and Art Gallery Trust Board to close the museum building.
‘‘And as a city councillor who is not on that trust board, it is not a matter for me to consider.’’
Cr Alex Crackett did not respond to questions.