Council’s Aging Building Discussed At Last Meeting

It is costing the Invercargill City Council $15.4 million just to keep its doors open every 10 years, and a new building is still a long way off.

Councillors discussed the issue around the table as they tightened up figures for the next Long Term Plan (2024-2034) at the last meeting for the year yesterday.

General manager of Infrastructure Erin Moogan told the meeting that they were still working through the different processes of what the future looks like for their building.

She said regardless of whether they gave the civic building a total refurbishment, built a new one or partnered with another council, the $15.4 million was the bare minimum needed to keep operating as they were.

Mayor Nobby Clark has been an advocate for leasing a building that all Southland councils could use, along with shared services.

The existing council building does not have efficient heating, is leaky and has old windows needing replaced, and the design is poorly laid out.

But it has been questioned many times by Southland local government leaders – is joining together the same as amalgamation?

Former Southland Mayor Gary Tong looked at putting forward a paper to restart the discussion around amalgamation last year.

“We have 68 elected members in Southland, but kids don’t like sharing toys,” he said.

Deputy Mayor Tom Campbell, who ran yesterday’s meeting, said it was difficult to make a decision on the building, but they would know more by the end of the next financial year.

“And then we’ll know if anyone is going to join us.  But until then we should be mindful of our spending in 2024-2025 and not make any commitments which are the larger items.”

CEO Michael Day told the meeting that the work that they were doing was to allow council and staff to occupy the building, as well as replacement costs.

“We are at the stage where we can’t patch things anymore, but we need to do those things, and it’s a high cost for a particular timeframe.”