Council’s comments are ‘incredibly unfair’, says historical society

The president of the Marlborough Historical Society says the board undermined his integrity and made unnecessary comments by handing him back management of the museum.

Paul Davidson said they wanted to work in partnership with the council to find a solution for the museum, which had been run by the council for a year.

But on Monday, during deliberations on the annual plan, the council agreed to withdraw its staff from the museum.

As of Tuesday, Davidson said he had yet to hear directly from the council and that he learned of the council’s decision through a media statement.

While welcoming the decision, he said he found the council’s comments misleading.

Davidson said the mayor’s comments criticizing the company were “incredibly unfair,” “disrespectful” and “downright unnecessary.”

In the statement, Marlborough Mayor Nadine Taylor said the council had tried to negotiate in good faith with the company, but it appeared the company’s representatives had “not really negotiated in good faith with us”.

“The negotiations were difficult because every time the board met with the (company) representatives, their demands changed.

“The Council has simply reached the point where trust has been lost and we can no longer work with the current representatives of the company.”

The council took over management of the museum last year after an assessment by the Marlborough Heritage Trust, which had run the museum for almost a decade.

It remained closed for several months, before reopening in December with a new manager.

At hearings on the long-term plan earlier this month, the Heritage Trust called for the museum to be returned and proposed a “reset”.

Part of the proposal called for the city council to purchase the museum building, owned by the trust, for $5 million. The trust would use the interest earned on this $5 million to invest in the region’s heritage.

The historical society owned the building, but the land belonged to the municipality.

During annual deliberations on the plan, the council decided it would not purchase the building. The trust would, however, receive a $40,000 operating grant from the council.

Davidson said the trust was now left with minimal income to operate the museum and also had other heritage assets to maintain, including Cob Cottage and Beavertown at Brayshaw Heritage Park.

“The council has lost sight of the fact that it is supposed to represent the community and has turned this into a fight between the council and a community volunteer organisation that has been around for a long time,” he said.

Society treasurer Dale Webb said Wednesday that the $40,000 grant offered by the council was not even half of the minimum needed to operate the museum.

However, the trust was determined to reopen the museum soon and make it “the vibrant community facility it once was”, Webb said.

Davidson wanted to assure the community that the “many treasures” housed at the museum would be kept safe.

“We don’t know exactly what they have done with this product over the last 12 months.

“So there will be a lot of control, management and organization of the collection, but the community can be assured that the collection of donated objects that is entrusted to the museum and the historical society is cared for and kept safe,” safe and appropriate conditions.

The council’s museum staff would operate under the new Heritage Marlborough brand and focus on supporting the region’s heritage organisations with collections and project management, staff and volunteer resourcing, archives management and promotion, and an extensive archives digitisation programme.

The museum would close at 3 p.m. on June 27 so that current staff could vacate the building, and the reopening of the museum would be up to the historical society.

LDR is local journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

© Scoop Media