Mayoral portraits up for discussion again

Former Dunedin youth councillors Christina Weston and Grant McNaughton get to work in 2016 under the gaze of three former Dunedin mayors. A tradition of painting portraits of former mayors will again be discussed by a Dunedin City Council committee this week. PHOTO: GERARD O’BRIEN

Matters up for debate include whether a tradition of painting portraits should continue, or photographs should be used, and whether outgoing mayors should continue to be expected to pay to add a link to the mayoral chain.

The Dunedin City Council might also introduce a scholarship as part of the mix for recognising former mayors, it has been suggested.

Protocol for how former mayors should best be recognised has evolved over decades and has sometimes been a vexed issue.

In 2005, Sukhi Turner labelled her oil portrait "ugly" and a photograph ended up being used instead.

A photograph would have been the preference of the late Dave Cull, whose mayoralty ended in 2019, but he was voted down.

His widow Joan Wilson said earlier this year people had stopped her in the street to say they did not believe the painting was a good likeness of him.

Portraits have cost up to $23,000 to commission, including GST.

There has also been some lack of comfort about the council imposing its will on former mayors by expecting them to pay for what might reasonably be interpreted as a council expense, adding a link to the mayoral chain.

It has yet to be determined how the most recent past mayor, Aaron Hawkins, should be recognised.

The council’s civic committee was split 6-6 when it voted in March about requesting a report about options to come back before it in May.

The motion was approved on committee chairman Cr Bill Acklin’s casting vote.

That resulted in a report, which contains no recommendations, other than that the committee considers options, appearing in Tuesday’s agenda.