Seeking a lessee was a "great" news, in that it would remove the "danger" the vessel could be lost if the Otago Harbour Ferry Inc tried to run the service itself and incurred significant debt, he said.
It was a "very wise step" and a "very good decision". It was also pleasing the overall restoration project was nearing completion, and the ferry would become a community asset, he said.
The incorporated society began advertising the lease on social media on Thursday.
About $500,000 has been spent on the restoration. In anOtago Daily Times report last June on the more than 11-year-long restoration project, Cr Staynes said the Dunedin City Council had put no more money into the project since it turned the vessel restoration body down for $25,000 funding in 2011.
Cr Staynes said last year Mr Sutherland had been in touch since the funding was declined, looking for input into the idea of leasing the vessel to an operator. Cr Staynes said yesterday that as a then member of the council’s economic development committee and its finance committee, he had been asked to liaise with the society. The need to seek a lessee had been part of the council’s earlier recommendations, he said.
Society chairman Shem Sutherland said offering the lease was a "significant development" in the overall restoration project.
The 12.9m Elsie Evans was the only vessel of its kind in New Zealand and had positive potential, he said yesterday.
The society was happy to work with the lessee and there were potential "win-win" benefits for both parties, he said. The vessel’s physical requirements were "99%" completed. Completing survey requirements after the restoration was expected to cost about $7000, he said.