The Waitaki District Council's assets committee this week looked at a range of options to rebuild a section of the roughly 80-year-old, three-tiered wall that failed in 2016.
After heavy rain, stone blocks tumbled on to the busy Severn St (State Highway 1), just months after the council spent $45,000 on improvements for the wall.
Council roading manager Michael Voss recommended the council seek community feedback on a range of options from a $190,000 single-tiered wall with a coloured concrete finish to a $1.3 million two-tiered wall with Oamaru stone facing.
Mr Voss' report recommends the committee leave the report on the table, solicit community feedback and note that council officers believe the cheaper single-tiered, coloured concrete wall is the way to go.
Only Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher voted against noting council officers' desire for the cheaper rebuild.
He said Oamaru was known as a heritage town and "as soon as we [the council] make a point of it" it would appear the coloured concrete fix was the council's recommendation in the public's perception.
At a June 21, 2017, council meeting, the council decided to investigate a "proper rebuild of a retaining wall" after earlier in the month the assets committee recommended a $150,000 mitigation of the wall's damage.
At the time, Mr Kircher said he had received "quite a lot of feedback" since the committee decision was made.
"I, for one, didn't want to be the mayor who basically downgraded that wall," Mr Kircher said at the time.
"I just couldn't see how it was going to look as good."
This week - before the meeting - he said he stood by those words.
"I still stand by my original words - I don't want it to be downgraded. And if I could be convinced that it could look as good at a fraction of the cost, then I am open-minded about that. But I don't want to end up with something that looks shoddy when it is a heritage item.
"It's a pretty iconic part of the entrance to Oamaru."
