The collection - of which some material dates back more than 150 years - is housed beneath overhead sewage and water pipes in the Dunedin Civic Centre basement and at risk of flooding or other damage.
Members of the Archives & Records Association of New Zealand have for years been lobbying the council to do more to protect the collection, and earlier this year won a concession when the council agreed to begin moving the most sensitive materials.
However, association members Peter Miller and Stuart Strachan, speaking at yesterday's DCC annual plan hearing, remained horrified at storage conditions in the basement.
As well as the risk of flood damage, stemming from overhead pipes, the archive was stored in a facility that lacked climate control or fire protection, had unsealed and eroded concrete floors and no space for visitors, reading facilities or future expansion, Mr Strachan said.
''It's almost a litany of everything you don't want in an archives repository area.
''It's really a terrible state,'' he said.
The collection comprised 4000 linear metres of documents, making it among the largest in the city and by far the most important cultural asset in DCC hands, as well as an important legal and administrative resource, he said.
If anything were to happen to it, ''it would be an absolute disaster'', Mr Strachan said.
''It would be a calamity.''
The council also remained in breach of an Archives New Zealand directive, issued in 2014, which required archives to be located as far as possible from natural and man-made hazards, Mr Miller added.
DCC community services general manager Simon Pickford told yesterday's meeting the council recognised it faced a problem and was already working on short-term solutions.
That included moving the most important materials away from the basement to another off-site storage facility, he said.
''That's happening at the moment.''
Longer-term, the council also planned to explore other options, including sharing the storage facilities of another council-owned venue, like Toitu Otago Settlers Museum, he said.
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Mr P Miller and Mr S Strachan, with the greatest respect, it is obvious you don't have any street credibility with Cull and Bidrose. If I was you I'd ask Lee if he could get on the case so he can keep emailing Bidrose and Cull. it will be like a dog with a bone but it is sure to get noticed. Option 2 is: You could always look under one of the carpets in Bidrose and Cull office, as Cull and now obvious of late Bidrose has a tendency to sweep things under the carpet hoping they will not get noticed. Shame on you DCC. But I guess they have shuffled any allocated funds to continually be used as the rework that always happens with any project they touch, To be honest they might be safer if they were in 20 ft containers and moved to Mega or Bunnings.
Jeez, talk about a dog with a bone. Look in the mirror.
I do every day when I wake up and when I do, I can honestly stand up straight with integrity and honesty. Wrt to the dog with a bone which part? you got to look on the lighter side of life and take the Mickey sometimes. IMHO Lee would make a 100 times better mayor than Cull will ever be.