Tenants want representation

Oamaru artist Donna Demente says the artists, artisans and ‘‘eccentrics’’ who have given Oamaru...
Oamaru artist Donna Demente says the artists, artisans and ‘‘eccentrics’’ who have given Oamaru an international reputation are not represented on the board of trustees that oversees the Historic Precinct that houses many of them. Photo by Hamish MacLean.

New blood is needed on the board of the trust that oversees the heart of Oamaru's tourism district, a heritage precinct tenant says.

Oamaru artist Donna Demente last week invited supporters to her business, the Grainstore Gallery in Harbour St, to confront Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher about the Waitaki District Council's appointees to the board of the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust.

The trust owns 15 buildings in the precinct.

Of the seven trustees, the council appointed three, two of whom had been in the role for roughly a decade.

Ms Demente, who described herself as an "eccentric'', said the board made decisions in an "ivory tower'' and the trust operated in a "very corporate way''.

"I feel at the moment it is a board of business people and there is no representation from the arts and culture sector, which is very important.''

About 60 supporters attended the meeting, she said.

It is not the first time in recent years the trust has faced controversy.

In 2014, a trustee quit the board for reasons including ongoing friction between the trust board and its tenants, a need to involve the community more in its activities, and the way the trust had handled its sale of the Oamaru railway station.

After the meeting, Mr Kircher said he saw at it "concerns around communication'' as well as "quirky type people'' who "want to be recognised a bit more''.

"My big concern is that these public spats cause more division than anything else, we're actually better off sitting down and talking about the issues, what they are, so we can get them resolved.''

It was "not a black and white situation'', but he said he would talk to all the trustees about the issues raised.

He said he backed the council appointees to the board.

Long-serving Cr Peter Garvan and deputy chairman Graeme Clark were both "stalwarts of heritage and tourism'' and the third council appointee chairwoman Kate Proctor added valuable administrative expertise to the group of trustees.

"I'm really keen to get this resolved and out of the way - to get this behind us.''

Before his council appointment, Mr Clark was previously the North Otago Historic Places Trust appointee, an appointment Heritage New Zealand no longer made to the board.

In total Mr Clark has served as a trustee for eight years, but he has been a member of the trust for the past 26 years.

He was not opposed to new blood on the board. However, he said an arts and culture representative could be better suited to a group such as Tourism Waitaki.

"Our core function is to preserve and maintain and restore one of New Zealand's most noteworthy collections of 19th Century commercial buildings, and I would like to think that in 100 years time they are still there.

"In the early 1990s there were literally a handful of people who were interested in the precinct and the majority of people would have been happy to see it bulldozed.''

It would be quiet again in the winter, but the Harbour and Tyne Sts area was thriving, he said.

The four trustees voted in by the trust's membership would be filled at the end of March.

Nominations closed in January.

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz

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