Council agrees to write off missionary ship's debt

RUST RAIDERS: Students from Aquinas College volunteered their time to remove rust from the Pacific Hope. PHOTO/FILE

Tauranga City Council has decided to honour a "gentleman's agreement" and write off debt totalling $37,000 racked up by the Pacific Hope medical missions ship.

Marine Reach Ministries had been paying about half the normal fee for its berth at Sulphur Point's Bridge Wharf.

The discount was never ratified by the council and followed informal discussions last year in which Mayor Stuart Crosby acted as an intermediary between Marine Reach and council staff. Mr Crosby was the patron of Marine Reach.

"The outcome of this was an informal agreement between the council and Pacific Hope to locate partly on the berth, with the remaining length of the boat tied to mooring piles," councillors were told yesterday.

It was agreed to write off the $37,000 debt to the end of this month and to allow the discount to continue to April 30 - approaching the time when the ship's refit was due to be completed. Based on past payments, the total discount will reach nearly $48,000.

Although the discount had never been agreed by the council when it started last August, Councillor Kelvin Clout said it had been a gentleman's agreement.

The council decided that Pacific Hope would be charged the full commercial rate from May 1.

In another decision, a request by Marine Reach for the council to adopt the Pacific Hope was lost on a knife edge vote.

Marine Reach spokesman and Tauranga lawyer Graeme Elvin sparked a long debate when he commented on the reason why staff recommended declining adopting the ship - that the council's focus was on local community priorities.

He reassured some disbelieving councillors that adopting Pacific Hope would not cost ratepayers any money, but was a really good idea.

Mr Elvin urged the council to live up to its vision for Tauranga to have a heart and soul by not only looking inwards but to have plans and purposes beyond itself and become part of a wider world.

Supporting the move were Crs Rick Curach, Bill Grainger, Steve Morris and Kelvin Clout. Also opposed was Cr Gail McIntosh.