Editorial: Delay in returning missing icons unacceptable

What weighs 4.2 tonnes, has been missing in action for nearly four months and no one can say when it will return?
It is not a trick question, and the answer, of course, is the Higginbottom Fountain.
The popular landmark that has wowed visitors to Virginia Lake for years was removed on March 1 for long-deferred maintenance and taken to Edmonds Industrial Coatings' plant in Castlecliff, where it was expected to be sandblasted and some minor repairs carried out.
As was reported yesterday, there still is no anticipated time for when it might be reinstated to its rightful place. Nor has any information been forthcoming on when the John Ballance statue will be repositioned outside the council offices in the city centre.
It, too, was removed from its normal resting place after a vandal removed the left foot. As far as we are able to report, no one has been caught for this damage.
What is particularly disconcerting about these two cases is that no one has been able to give any indication of what exactly is required in the way of repairs, how long that might take, or the cost.
The situation is bordering on farcical, and one can only hope the council isn't paying an hourly rate for the repairs.
I am not suggesting that Edmonds Coatings or sculptor Chris Elliott are in any way to blame for this delay.
They will have their own commitments, and it is reasonable to expect that if a job has proven to be quite complex it might take longer than anticipated to complete the work.
But surely it must be possible to give some hint of when these landmarks will return. In two months, the United States rugby team will be in town ahead of the Rugby World Cup, and we need to present our best side to the media contingent that will follow their every move. We simply must have those landmarks back by then. Any further delay must be deemed unacceptable.