Dispute over museum space shortfall

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule.

A fundraising booklet given to potential MTG Hawke's Bay donors said the $18 million building would store the region's museum collection "with room left for further growth".

Napier City Council has ordered a review after revelations the new facility does not have enough storage space to house the existing $44 million collection, let alone any additions.

Council chief executive Wayne Jack said last week it appeared the new building, opened late last year, would be able to house only about 40 per cent of the 100,000 items in the museum's collection.

The city's mayor, Bill Dalton, and former mayor Barbara Arnott have both disputed the shortfall in space is as large as Mr Jack claimed. The council said yesterday the true extent of the problem would be determined by the review, which has been put out to tender.

In 2009, as part of its fundraising efforts for the new museum and art gallery facility, the council produced a glossy 29-page booklet setting out the case for the new facility and asking for contributions.

The booklet said "our collections have outgrown the available space: our need for more room has become great".

It went on to describe the planned collection storage area at the new facility. "A large, flexible, dedicated collection store provides a high standard of care for the current collection, with room left for further growth. Temperature and humidity control, fire protection and security will all be improved."

A copy of the booklet was provided to Hawke's Bay Today yesterday by a person who was approached at the time and asked to make a donation to the project. The person, who asked not to be identified, said they were shocked to hear the facility was now short of space, given the emphasis put on the need for more space in 2009.

MTG Hawke's Bay was funded by a $6 million contribution from Napier City Council, $6 million from central government, $2.5 million from Hawke's Bay Regional Council and $1 million from Hasting District Council.

More than $1 million was also contributed from community and philanthropic trusts and private donors.

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said he learnt of the storage issue only two weeks ago. Mr Dalton told a Napier City Council meeting last week Mr Yule knew about the problem last year but Mr Yule said he would be willing to swear an affidavit stating that was not the case.

As well as investigating the storage issue, the Napier City Council review would also examine why exaggerated visitor number figures for MTG were included in the council's planning documents. The council has revised down the expected annual visitor count at the museum from 690,000 to 120,000.

It also plans to review the $15 entry charge.

A council spokeswoman said yesterday the result of the review was expected mid-April.

Asked about the terms of reference for the review, the spokeswoman said the council would look to make them publicly available once the tender was let.