The long-awaited facility was opened to the public and he wanted to be the first to use it.
"I stood there and waited for the building contractors to leave, and then I rushed over to push the flush button.
"I wanted to be the first person to do it after all the work I put into it. There was a sense of satisfaction in it."
The Northeast Valley resident has spent the past two years urging the Dunedin City Council bring the public toilet project to fruition.
"I’ve been pushing for this for two years."
He said the toilet was necessary because more than 100,000 tourists visited Baldwin St each year.
Previously, there were no public toilets in the area, and in some cases tourists were going on to residential properties and using their backyards as a toilet.
Frustration at the time it was taking the DCC to deal with the issue prompted him to make a submission to council and do some of his own research regarding the type of toilets available, prices and plans. He then passed the research on to the DCC.
"Nothing was happening, so I decided I would do my best to make it happen.
"It’s been a long, long wait since June last year, to get to where we are today.
"I had the greatest pleasure being able to examine the new facility closely, after many years of discussion and little progress."
Northeast Valley resident Alan Percy lives directly across the road from the new toilet facility, and said it was popular with cruise ship tourists yesterday.
However, he questioned whether the DCC had done enough to solve the problem.
"There were about 100 people queued up to use the toilet this morning.
"They should have made it a two-berth. I can’t understand why they have spent $90,000 on one toilet when there’s room for two. It’s just crazy. It’s helping but it’s not solving the problem."
Perhaps the passing of time will tell.
