Museum plan closer as trustees decision nears

The new torchbearers for Tauranga's long quest to get its own museum are expected to be named next month.
Interviews have finished for the stand-alone community trust needed to bring the museum project to fruition.
Jon Mayson, the chairman of the disbanded Museum Project Steering Group, said the interview process had produced a list of recommended trustees.
Tauranga City Council chief executive Stephen Town expected the list would be considered by the council on September 21.
The trust deed allows flexibility on the number of trustees, ranging from five to seven.
Rob Hicks, a member of the museum supporters group, understood there had been some good applicants for the trustee positions, with more than enough to fill the trust. Most applicants were aged in their 40s and 50s.
Mr Hicks' group kept the momentum going until the council decided three months ago a community trust should take charge of the project.
The key recommendations of Mr Mayson's steering group was the museum should be built in Cliff Rd and a community trust should be the torchbearer for Tauranga's aspirations to join the rest of New Zealand's cities by having its own museum.
The council decided in May not to confirm Cliff Rd as the site, deciding to leave that decision to the trust.
A museum trust deed has been drafted by Tauranga lawyer Alan Tate.
Mr Hicks said a stand-alone trust avoided the risk of the project becoming a political football. The goal was to raise $10 million-$11 million before the first spade went into the ground.