KEY POINTS:
The future of Auckland City Council's controversial new logo is being reviewed, with one senior councillor saying he wants to retain the city's sailing heritage.
"Most Aucklanders are proud of Auckland being 'Auckland City of Sails'," says Citizens & Ratepayers deputy leader Doug Armstrong.
"There are some iconic
features around, like Rangitoto and yachts sailing on the harbour, and I tend to buy into something that reinforces that City of Sails thing. Personally, I'm not certain that the new logo does that."
Mr Armstrong, who chairs the finance committee, has asked chief executive David Rankin to consider the cost and implications of keeping the old logo, or a modified one.
The council approved his request last night.
The new council had no idea about the new logo until last week, he said, and needed to hold Mr Rankin accountable for what happened.
Mr Rankin led a project to dump the sails and volcano of the old logo in favour of a wavy blue triangle.
The new logo adds the word "council" to identify Auckland City as an organisation, not a place.
Only a handful of senior councillors were privy to the new logo. The Herald understand it is the culmination of a rebranding exercise over the past year costing about $1 million.
In a memo to Mr Rankin, Mr Armstrong asked for a report on events leading to the new logo, the cost of introducing it over the next few years, the implications of keeping the old one, the possible costs of defending the logo if it is challenged and the best way forward to ensure the council ends up in a better position in terms of branding.
In another development, the council brought in lawyers yesterday from the firm Buddle Findlay for a meeting with Triangle Television.
The broadcaster is demanding the council drop its new logo for events and entertainment purposes because its own similar one has been used for those purposes for 10 years.
Triangle's lawyer, trademark expert John Hackett, said there was goodwill between the parties and negotiations had started. The firm had a bottom line but would not reveal it.
Mr Rankin last night defended his actions against claims by some councillors that they were not consulted on the logo and it should have been approved by the council.
Staff started to look at the logo some time ago, Mr Rankin said. Focus-group feedback raised two concerns about the old logo: the word "council" did not appear and it was hard to read.
It was part of a programme to improve customer service and communication.
Mr Rankin said he had discussed the logo and the decision to hold it back until after the local body elections with the previous political leadership, including former Mayor Dick Hubbard.
Mayor John Banks said the logo had been a mistake, but he was not going to bag Mr Rankin because he had buy-in from senior politicians in the previous council.
