Invercargill City Council (ICC) yesterday voted not to consult on transferring museum governance to the council.
Previously, decisions made by Southland Museum and Art Gallery (SMAG) Trust Board had to be agreed upon by the ICC, Southland (SDC) and Gore District (GDC) councils.
Invercargill City Council chief executive Clare Hadley told councillors all the entities involved endorsed the proposal.
It was originally proposed consultation would take place through the Annual Plan process, but councillors decided no consultation was needed.
Cr Nobby Clark said the community wanted "traction on where the museum was going".
"The way forward is to do no further consultation ... once we get to the stages of setting up new trustees, that’s when you bring in some strategic partners around iwi and others."
Councillors voted to approve the recommendations, which included its option to not go to consultation and to work with its partner local authorities and the Southland Regional Heritage Committee, as well as request the SMAG Trust Board to modify the SMAG Trust Deed to introduce a skills-based board for the guardianship/ownership of the collection.
They also voted to revoke a September 24 resolution to disestablish the SMAG Trust and requested a "next steps" report from staff.
