Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

This week Tauranga City Council agreed to assess if an affordable museum can be included in council's office rebuild project.

This is the first time since 2006 council has agreed to take the lead on the museum project. Councils since 2007 have dangled what I believe are token gestures in front of an independent museum trust, and unrealistically expected them to sort it out. Funnily enough, there has been little traction on the project since.

Nearly a decade on the museum discussion has not gone away. We have a neat opportunity to potentially co-locate a museum next to the library and art gallery as part of the council office rebuild project.

It all depends on modelling financial scenarios to see how a museum fits within the wider rebuild project, and whether it can be sustained long after it opens.

We are aware of the project's risks of scope creep leading to financial unsustainability. It's noted as the biggest risk of the project. But it's worth taking a wider look at all the land we own in the city centre as we could sell some of it to help fund the rebuild project. That's if council chooses to own its future building.

We also need to look at how to incorporate a new carpark building in the northern area, which needs to happen as soon as possible.

Then, there is the visitor information centre, which is currently underneath the Council Chambers. We are working with Tourism BOP to find the best way to provide information to visitors in an increasingly digital world.

This new council has a reputation for delivering projects that have been hanging around for years, such as the Greerton Library, the Marine Precinct, and committing to the university campus to name a few.

Some of these projects are not going away. Council needs to take the lead on these issues to determine whether they are viable to be included within the rebuild project.

We will model the financial scenarios and seek your feedback on different options during March to April 2016.

Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text me on 0276989548, and follow me at facebook.com/a.younger.voice

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