Council to give financial advice to Tōtaranui commemorations trust

Friday, 22 March 2019

Representatives from a number of groups met in Picton earlier this month to discuss the 250th commemorations marking the coming together of two cultures.

Organisers of the region's dual heritage commemorations have been offered budgeting advice after they asked for an extra $60,000.

The Marlborough District Council's planning and finance committee approved the top-up funding to the Tōtaranui 250 Trust on Thursday, subject to a budget review.

The trust hopes to erect a commemorative installation on or near the Waitohi/Picton Foreshore.

The Marlborough-based trust is part of a wider group co-ordinating commemorations across New Zealand to mark the coming together of two cultures following Captain Cook's first visit 250 years ago.

The trust received $100,000 a year from the council for three years, between June 2016 and June 2019, to go towards celebrating the event.

A replica of Captain Cook's tall ship The Endeavour in Picton in March, 2009.

Tuia Encounters 250 co-chair Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr, left, talks to Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene in Picton about the commemorations earlier this month.

* Captain Cook commemorations to leave a legacy on Picton foreshore

* Captain Cook party takes 'two birds with one stone' approach**

Meretoto/Ship Cove was recognised as a historic place by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga thanks to its history as the first landing site in Marlborough.

Council-appointed trust member Dean Heiford said the extra money would help cover employment and other fixed costs from June, when the funding stopped, to December, after the event had taken place.

But Councillor Mark Peters said while he was not against the request, he 'struggled' with the trust's budget.

'It worries me that quite frankly this budget is lacking in a lot of areas. I've done a lot of budgets over 40 years, and I think this budget needs a lot of work,' he said.

'I found the budget very inclusive of much travel, accommodation and catering … I'm happy if the $60,000 is approved, but I think it should be tagged to get a bit more back.'

The trust had a project list that totalled over $2 million, but were 'about $1m short', with about $511,000 in funding applications and about $493,000 in the bank, Peters said.

Councillor Trevor Hook, who headed the meeting, said Peters had some 'good and valid questions' and there was 'no doubt' these would 'have to be worked through'.

Councillor David Oddie said he had similar concerns about the trust's budget, but also didn't object to their $60,000 funding request.

Heiford said trustees agreed the budget needed 'a lot of work'.

'Until now, we've had a whole lot of unknowns. We'll keep refining it [the budget], and are more than happy to take up the offer and take up your [Peters] advice,' he said.

Marlborough Mayor John Leggett said the funding request was a 'safety belt' for the trust, which would leave a 'clear set of accounts' and not impact rates.

'We need to show them a very strong message today that we do support them,' he said.

Councillor Gerald Hope said the council should not make stepping in a habit when dealing with budgets in future.

'I think if you start delving into an arms-length relationship with the trust that has been empowered to do some work, or an entity, there may be a precedent there I'm not comfortable with,' he said.

As the trust's council appointee, Heiford's reassurance that the budget was realistic and achievable should be all the council needed, Hope said.

Councillor Nadine Taylor said she felt the trust was just 'hitting it's straps now, with all the right personnel in place', which was 'later than we'd like to have seen it'.

Councillor Cynthia Brooks said while she had no underlying issues with the trust, she felt she was 'flying blind'.

'I'm not getting a clear signals about what's actually going to be happening and a timetable of events … I see a lot of money is going into photography, and videography, and promotional material, but as of yet, we haven't seen it.'

Heiford said a programme of events would soon be released.

Part of the reason it wasn't released sooner was because the flotilla, which the other programmes hung off, had not been clarified until about two weeks ago, he said.

It was confirmed earlier this month that commemorations in Marlborough would begin with a visit from two tall ships from November 21 to 26, two months before January 15, 2020, when Cook landed in Meretoto/Ship Cove 250 years ago.

The ships would spend four or five days in Waitohi/Picton, where people could go aboard, as well as spending time at Meretoto/Ship Cove in Tōtaranui/Queen Charlotte Sound.

Accompanying the tall ships would be three waka toa, from Marlborough, three waka houroua (double-hulled waka), two from New Zealand and one from Tahiti, the New Zealand Navy and a range of other maritime vessels.

Tōtaranui 250 Trust co-chair Raymond Smith said the trust had seen 'a journey of ups and downs', from the Government's promise that events at landing sites would be funded, to it having 'no control' over funding to specific sites.

The national co-ordiantion committee Tuia Encounters 250 had also been 'very, very slow' on communications around securing boats for the navigation flotilla, he said.

The council agreed to fund the $60,000 request from the forestry and land development reserve, with the provision that the grant be subject to a review of the budget.