Museum will not be reopened ahead of redevelopment: Trust board chairwoman

Tuesday, 5 June 2018

Invercargill city councillor Toni Biddle, also the Southland Museum and Art Gallery trust board chairwoman.

The Southland Museum and Art Gallery will not be reopened to the public ahead of its redevelopment in about five years, the museum trust board chairwoman has stated emphatically.

Sectors of the public have been calling for the museum to be reopened, but museum trust chairwoman Toni Biddle, who is also a city councillor, made it clear it wasn't going to happen during Tuesday's council meeting.

Invercargill city councillor Allan Arnold.

Biddle and her fellow councillors also blocked a move from councillor Allan Arnold to seek out legal advice around reopening of the museum.

Arnold had lodged a notice of motion at Tuesday's council meeting asking that the council request its lawyer to seek clarification from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and WorkSafe NZ on whether, if the Southland Museum and Art Gallery were to erect signage declaring the museum to be earthquake prone, the council's legal obligations would be discharged.

However, he was the only councillor to vote for the motion at the meeting.

* Invercargill City Council faces more heat over museum closure

* City councillor calls for legal opinion around museum closure

Debate was robust, and some initially indicated they would support Arnold's motion.

However, he was the only one to vote for it when it was put to the councillors - after they had gone into committee for a short time to get advice from council lawyer Warwick Cambridge.

Biddle said the museum trust board, not the city council, had made the decision to close the museum after doing its due diligence.

'The [museum] trust board stands by the decision, the decision is not going to change as far as the trust board is concerned.'

Putting a sign on the museum would not change the liability of the trustees, nor would it change the fact the museum was earthquake prone, she said.

'We as a trust board had the courage to do something that should of or could have been done in 2013.'

A 2013 Opus report had identified 13 critical structural weaknesses in the three buildings and pyramid that make up the museum, and all were less than 34 per cent of the building standard, she said

The trust board had tried to convey to the public that it had done its due diligence when making the decision to close, Biddle said.

'We have been consumed, as a trust board and councillors, into defending our actions and we really need to get on and get the job done.'

She would be 'quite happy' if she lost her seat on the council because she had put public safety and people first, she said.

During the debate, council chief executive Clare Hadley said she had not commissioned a legal opinion before the museum closure, but had received oral advice.

The Southland Museum and Art Gallery Trust board had sought out a legal opinion before making its decision to close the museum, she said.