Final Tauranga City Council meeting held in leaky Willow St chambers

Tauranga City Council chambers, pictured in 2020 with a full elected council. Photo / NZME

Tauranga City Council's Willow St chambers room has hosted its last meeting before its eventual demolition as part of a larger civic redevelopment.

The council held a resumption of Monday's meeting in the chambers on Wednesday, in which commission chairwoman Anne Tolley marked the milestone.

"It's quite a historic day. This is the last time Tauranga City Council will meet in these chambers. I think that's worth taking a few minutes to recognise," Tolley said.

"It has been a centre of decision-making for the city for . . . years, opened by the honourable Winston Peters (in 2004).

"This is the last time these walls will be listening to these debates. What stories they will tell. There have been many highs and lows."

Tolley paid tribute to "all those people that have taken part in those debates".

On Monday, as commissioner Bill Wasley began to speak, he was interrupted by a leak from the ceiling which began to drop onto him.

The council will move its main public meetings to Regional House on Elizabeth St, which houses Bay of Plenty Regional Council. These are expected to resume after the Christmas holidays in January.

Regular committee meetings will be held at the council's 306 Cameron Rd site.

The council's customer service centre and library will also move and be temporarily housed at He Puna Manawa (formerly the Goddards Shopping Centre) between Devonport Rd and Grey St. The service centre will remain open on Willow St until January 21 and reopen at the new location on January 24.

The library will close on February 20 and reopen at He Puna Manawa by the end of March.

Demolition of the Willow St council building is expected to begin in April.

The initial indicative cost to redevelop the main civic precinct and waterfront area is $270 million to $300m.

The commission is expected to make its final decision on how the delivery of the project will be phased and how it will be funded by June 30, 2022.