Nelson Mayor Nick Smith wants the council to backtrack on a promise to put $3m towards a new museum building but neighbouring Tasman Council has no problem with footing its share of the bill.
The vast majority of the Nelson Provincial Museum’s collection is housed at a research facility in Stoke which leaks when it rains.
The museum’s chief executive Lucinda Jimson said the issues with the current building were extensive.
“There are so many deficiencies. We’ve got asbestos. We’ve got leaks. We’ve got dangerous wiring. It can’t be repaired”.
The oldest museum in the country held items of national and international significance. “We’ve recently had the collection valued at $20 million, but ultimately it’s irreplaceable,” Jimson said.
The museum was jointly owned by the Nelson and Tasman councils. A new building has been in the pipeline for years but now the project hinged on Nelson City Council following through on its share of the funding.
The initial plan was for a $15m building in the centre of Nelson but that was too expensive so the museum looked at other options — landing on a simpler design in Richmond, costing $10m.
But Smith said he had concerns. “I can understand that the trust would much rather have a new building but they’re not the one that do the paying.
“My view is a perfectly adequate solution to the protection of the collection that can be achieved by the re-roofing and upgrading of this building.”
Tasman Bay Heritage Trust’s chair Venus Guy said the mayor’s position was very disappointing.
“We’re simply requesting for both councils to release the $3 million that they committed in 2018. Now that does not put any more pressure on our ratepayers so we believe that’s a good use of money.” He said the council was kept up to date on the new plan and the public had already had its say.
Smith was running again for mayor in the upcoming local body elections and was promising to reduce rates. “I cannot get rate increases down if we keep going with expensive options,” he said.
The museum pointed out the project wouldn’t impact rates as the work was already budgeted for. The project had a fixed cost and the museum still needed to fundraise more than $1m to meet the full amount.
“If we wait we’re going to lose the opportunity, costs are going to keep going up and it’s never going to be better and never going to be cheaper than to do it now,” Jimson said.
Nelson City Council would now consult ratepayers and the council would make a final decision on whether to stump up the cash next month.
