MTG director resigns

Council chief executive Wayne Jack dispelled any notion Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, above, was pushed or MTG's difficult re-birth was a factor in his resignation. Photo / Duncan Brown

Despite the facility's poor performance and an independent report calling for a senior management shake up, the MTG Hawke's Bay director was not "pushed out the door", says Napier Mayor Bill Dalton.

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins announced yesterday he would resign in December to pursue "other interests" after eight years in the job.

"Was I pushed? No," he said. "I'm proud of what I've done. It was a personal decision. I've just turned 50 and I wanted to think about doing something else and return to my writing."

Mr Lloyd Jenkins said the gallery's "baptism of fire", since it's $18 million re-opening last September, did not pressure him into resigning.

"The council wants to go forward and I think they should go forward with someone new - some new energy."

Mr Dalton said it was disappointing but not surprising to loose Mr Lloyd Jenkins. He was adamant the director was not ousted.

"You can rest assured he wasn't pushed out the door."

He said the problems plaguing MTG were not a factor in Mr Lloyd Jenkins resigning.

"No, absolutely not.

"Even before the MTG project came about he was already making noises about resuming his writing career."

"Douglas is a very well-known writer and is very keen to re-launch his writing career ... He has been very generous in giving us four months' notice."

Mr Dalton said Mr Lloyd Jenkins would not be paid an exit package and would receive "whatever salary he is owed" in December.

Napier City Council chief executive Wayne Jack dispelled any notion Mr Lloyd Jenkins was pushed or MTG's difficult re-birth was a factor in his resignation.

"If he wanted to go [because of the problems] he would have gone during the review process."

In June, Wellington consultants McDermott Miller released a Napier council-commissioned report which heavily criticised MTG and outlined a plan to fix the facility's poor performance.

The gallery's transformation from the old Hawke's Bay Museum and Art Gallery was advertised as a state-of-the-art building, housing the region's treasured art and history collection, valued at $45 million.

However, visitors stayed away, in part because they were reluctant to pay the $15 adult admission charge, which resulted in fewer patrons visiting the museum than before the upgrade.

The report said while the story of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake was told at the MTG, other aspects of the Bay's society "are totally absent".

"No wonder people are not flocking in," it said.

The report suggested senior management required a shake-up and advised a deputy director role with a "strong marketing orientation" would best complement the "academic background" of Mr Lloyd Jenkins.

Mr Jack said in June "probably three or four" jobs would be lost in an MTG staffing restructure. The restructure is still not final but at least one other staff member has already left.

Storage issues, stemming from the gallery's extensive taonga Maori collection and conservative storage rules following the Christchurch earthquake, also created angst after it emerged up to 60 per cent of MTG's collection would need to be stored off site, adding to costs.

The report forecast visitor numbers could be lifted from an expected 31,400 this year to between 44,000 and 58,000 per annum if their recommendations were followed, which would jolt the annual revenue from $421,000 to between $583,000 and $753,000. Mr Jack said Mr Lloyd Jenkins had been an asset over the years.