MTG job losses may number 'three or four'

Wayne Jack

The restructuring of MTG Hawke's Bay will see jobs lost but the number was likely to be far from reaching double figures as some critics of the museum have suggested.

Napier City Council chief executive Wayne Jack said the number of jobs set to go would "probably be three or four".

He said a number of the staff had been on limited term contracts and those contracts were supposed to have ended in March.

They were held over, however, while the commissioned McDermott Miller review was taking place.

The report was released to council last week and was critical of several aspects of the MTG's operation, particularly the make-up of the art and archival exhibitions.

Mr Jack said staff were aware some positions would be coming under the review microscope.

"They have been fully engaged in this process."

Mr Jack said the restructuring of the museum was the same as any business which had gone through a start-up process and that the report had been taken aboard.

"We are tweaking how it operates - it is about getting the right structure."

He said he was tiring of the barrage of criticism being levelled at what he described as a smart and strong new building which had been delivered on budget and which had already picked up a major professional award.

The first changes had already been made in the reduced admission costs.

The full process was expected to take about six months and he and the council had confidence in director Douglas Lloyd Jenkins and the curator team.

"This (report) has given him direction," Mr Jack said. Mr Lloyd Jenkins said he welcomed the decision to cut the entry cost and was enthusiastic about plans to place more focus on marketing. He also said there was a determination to "deal" with too many open walls in the wake of claims within the report that the museum appeared minimalist.