Aratoi report 'the truth' - Goodwin

Masterton District councillor Brent Goodwin said he was pleased "the truth is finally out" after about 16 years of questioning the claimed visitor numbers.

A manual count of visitors to Aratoi carried out in the first half of last year showing visitor numbers much lower than previously claimed was discussed briefly at a Masterton District Council committee meeting on Wednesday.

Councillor Brent Goodwin, who has often spoken out over what he claims are false figures at the art and history museum, succeeded in getting the manual count report compiled by then-interim manager at Aratoi, Robin Dunlop, on the policy and finance committee agenda.

Because Aratoi's quarterly report is expected to be presented to the council's audit committee next week, Mr Goodwin was asked by Mayor Lyn Patterson to restrict his remarks to two minutes.

Mr Goodwin said he was pleased "the truth is finally out" after about 16 years of questioning the claimed visitor numbers.

He said former Aratoi board chairwoman Kristy McDonald and current chairman Frazer Mailman deserved recognition along with Mr Dunlop for the report.

"It gives me confidence that with strong leadership from council, Aratoi can be put on the right track," Mr Goodwin said.

He said a manual count done 12 years ago was "laughable" and another done five years ago never surfaced in the public domain.

Mr Dunlop's count showed - when extrapolated over a full year - that Aratoi could expect 25,350 visitors, the equivalent of 70 a day.

A three-month count done in 2012 using an electronic counter indicated Aratoi would receive 76,400 visitors a year, or 212 a day.

Mr Goodwin said at a council workshop recently he had questioned whether a service contract council had signed for three-year funding would have been invalidated had Mr Dunlop's report and its findings been known at the time of signing.

It was his opinion council now had to sit down and renegotiate its service contract with Aratoi.

Councillor Pip Hannon asked what Mr Goodwin was wanting to achieve and said "you just can't take money away from a community facility". She said Mr Goodwin's "information has been received and duly noted".

Mrs Patterson said Aratoi had stated it was doing a lot of work on visitor numbers and accepted accuracy was "an important component".

Mrs Patterson said the debate could "happily go through to our next annual plan workshops".