Marcus Gower
Waipā district councillor Marcus Gower has been told he’s not a member of the Te Awamutu Museum Board Trust – and hasn’t been for four years.
Gower learned he wasn’t a council representative on the trust when appointments were discussed last week – and then thought he was a member in a personal capacity.
Now he’s been told he’s not a member at all – even though he has continued to receive trust correspondence.
Trust membership was raised by The News in a series of questions to the council and trust chair Dean Taylor last month.
The trust owns the collection which is earmarked to form the basis of Te Ara Wai – a Waipā museum to occupy the old Bunnings building in Te Awamutu, where the council plans to invest more than $27 million to develop a major attraction.
Roger Gordon
The News has suggested there is a disconnect between the Trust and council and asked questions about what assurance the council has that the collection will be made available, and about the collection itself.
Councillor Roger Gordon, in an email to staff, has also raised concerns – but was told in response by mayor Susan O’Regan that “the only thing we require from them at this point is certainty of access to the collection which the Chair has provided us with”.
Documents provided by the council comprise two letters of support from Taylor, one dated August 2018 which says the trust agrees in principle to the collection being housed in the Waipā Discovery Centre.
The other is a letter of support to the Provincial Growth Fund.
Susan O’Regan
“The Te Awamutu and District Museum Trust Board and the Waipā District Council have a Deed Arrangement for Operation of the Te Awamutu and District Museum and a Memorandum of Understanding that underpins and provides for the collection to be managed, stored, and displayed, according to the best and current museum curation practices and standards, ensuring the past will live on for generations to come,” it reads.
The council has also indicated it has agreed a procedure with the Trust “in the event of any deaccession of any pieces within the collection”.
Taylor responded to all questions from The News this week from his New Zealand Herald email. He is the editor of the Te Awamutu Courier.
Dean Taylor, Museum trust chair
He said suggestions the trust had not met since 2017 were not true. He declined to provide The News with the trust’s latest set of financial accounts or his annual chair report, noting the trust was not required to do so. He also noted the trust was not required to file annual accounts or be registered under the new Charities Act
“Our relationship with the [Waipā District Council] staff we need to interact with is excellent,” he said.
“Waipā District Council has two letters from the board in which we give our absolute support for Te Ara Wai and guarantee the availability of the collection.”
Read: Brown takes Museum post
Update
Meanwhile, after The News went to press, we received a statement read to the Te Ara Wai Governance committee by Dean Taylor on Monday.
“The Museum Trust Board is the kaitiaki of the collection of artefacts and archives which is recorded, stored, curated and exhibited by Te Awamutu Museum.
The genesis of the collection was with Te Awamutu Historical Society and private collector Gavin Gifford and became the Te Awamutu Museum Collection when the Museum was operated by Historical Society volunteers. The Trust formed in the late 1980s to take over the collection and operate the Museum with professional staff.
The model changed following discussions between the Trust Board and Council in the mid to late 2000s and Council became the operator of the Te Awamutu Museum and employed the staff.
A contract between the Trust Board and Council in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding was drawn up and is still the guiding document.
The role of the Trust Board is to approve the acquisition of items for the collection, to approve the deaccession of items from the collection and to approve the loan of items from the collection, such as when Uenuku was exhibited at Te Papa as the centrepiece of Tainui.
The Trust Board liaises with Council’s Museum and heritage manager Anne Blythe and her staff to undertake its responsibilities as and when required. Appropriate paperwork is completed by the Trust chair.
We have an excellent working relationship and will soon be discussing a project to further rationalise the collection to ensure it is fit for purpose for Te Ara Wai and tells important Waipā stories.
The Trust Board has always been committed to providing the collection to the Te Awamutu Museum for the benefit of the Te Awamutu community and Museum visitors, researchers and students.
In 2018 the Trust Board put their assurances in writing to Waipā District Council and gave their full backing to the Te Ara Wai project. In 2019 a further letter was written to be used in support of any discussions regarding funding, sponsorship or other support for Te Ara Wai.”
