OSH ouch

Put away that stimulating afternoon pick-me-up, Watchers. Settle back with something more soothing, like a cup of chamomile tea. Then take a look at the Council memorandum that reveals you and your fellow Wanganui ratepayers are up for $1 million just to bring the Sarjeant Gallery into line with Occupational Health and Safety laws.

Ian McGowan's memorandum of 27 June 2005 estimates $904,000 in 2003 dollars - likely to be well over $1 million and rising now, we suspect.

Then there's this from Issue 170 of WDC's "Community Link", 4th September 2004:

Estimates to upgrade the Sarjeant Gallery to modern building compliance and OSH standards, and to bring the basement storage and staff areas up to the required standard will cost approximately $6.01 million.

So clearly OSH requirements are not the only issues that must be addressed. And there may be far worse problems to be addressed than those listed in the memo, though more on that later as we extract more information throughthe LGOIMA process.

Note that the summary of the OSH report was sent to Councillors as a memo instead of being included in a committee agenda where it might meet a little more public scrutiny. We had some degree of difficulty in obtaining even this much information, so it's clearly something Council doesn't want to talk about.

While the ongoing lack of maintenance may not be the fault of this Council, it's still its responsibility. But with a buy-election looming and spending promises being made for much more exciting things like pool extensions, facing the reality of repairing an inadequate and possibly dangerous asset is the last thing the Diva wants people pondering as they contemplate their "nil" rates rise.

The issue came up at the Strategy Committee in June this year when Ian McGowan was asked for a report on "issues requiring attention at the Sarjeant Gallery and the independent OSH assessment report". That resulted in the memorandum being issued.

Then at the Strategy Committee on 28 June this year the Diva is recorded as asking that the OSH report on the Sarjeant Gallery be referred to the next meeting of the Community Committee.

But the Minutes of the Community Committee meeting held on 21 July show no reference to the report, nor has there been anything since.

Our intrepid LGOIMA expert Matt Dutton asked Kevin Ross to explain this. He responded that "we" are well aware of the problem. Assuming the "we" was referring to Council officers, Matt then asked him "what's happening at a political level?" The Heart of the City may take care of it, according to our Kev.

Perhaps with some foresight Council could add a little bit to what has to be spent anyway, get some money from the government, fund raise in Auckland and elsewhere and then Wanganui might even be able to raise the cash, not just to upgrade the gallery, but to actually improve it. But then foresight has never been the ironically-named Vision's strong suit.

With building costs going through the roof, $6.01 million will be more like $10 million once we actually get around to doing the job. Council might have squandered opportunities for external funding, and the goodwill of Gallery staff, but OSH and other requirements remain.

After being only too happy to make a political football out of the Gallery extension, it seems the Diva would rather play hide-and-seek with the maintenance issue.