The central library is one of many buildings closed in Wellington's Civic Square due to seismic issues. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
The central library is one of many buildings closed in Wellington's Civic Square due to seismic issues. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
Wellington City councillors have ruled out privatising the closed central library following the suggestion it could be sold to a developer and leased.
Strengthening the library with base isolators could cost as much as $200 million once building service replacements and fit-out costs are taken into account.
Draft consultation documents outlining three options to strengthen the building to various levels of the New Building Standard were before councillors today.
In the documents council officers sought approval to approach the "developer community" through an Expression of Interest process, noting the council has an obligation to be prudent and open to alternative options to funding projects.
"For example, a developer may be willing to purchase the existing Library building, remediate it and lease Council the space required for a Central Library. This would allow Council to have a more flexible arrangement for the Library space and free up funding for other Council projects", the document read.
At a full council meeting today Mayor Andy Foster acknowledged some people saw that process as a precursor to privatisation and suggested the situation had been misconstrued.
"We are not going down that track as far as I can see and I don't think there is any appetite in council to do that," he said.
Councillor Rebecca Matthews says the council needs to be clear about ruling out privatisation. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
Foster amended the wording of the document to remove and reference to the "developer community" and instead reference what ideas and approaches the building and construction sector may be able to contribute to remediation outcomes and reduction of costs.
But councillor Fleur Fitzsimons didn't think that went far enough.
"For all the Mayor's assurances here today the paper still suggests the possibility of selling the central library building and his motion does nothing to remove that possibility.
"I want it on the record that we are committed to all groups and all residents being treated equally in this process, not a special secret process for developers or any other interested group."
She unsuccessfully tried to introduce an amendment that directed officers not to undertake a separate process with the developer community and that council maintained ownership of the building.
Councillor Rebecca Matthews shared the same view and said the council needed to be clearer about ruling out privatisation.
"It undermines the trust and faith of the community in the rest of the process that we're running.
"The perception is already that this council is too close to developers and we need to be very careful about how we go forward."
Councillor Jenny Condie argued the Expression of Interest process would actually be more transparent than developers having backroom conversations with individual elected members or officers.
But Matthews said that didn't change the fact the library could be privatised.
"I have no interest in transparently privatising the library any more than I do in covertly privatising it. The nature of our libraries is the public building and the public good that they provide," she said.
In the end it was councillor Jill Day who successfully tagged on to Foster's amended wording that any discussions with the construction industry would be done "while maintaining council ownership of the building".
"Civic Square is about the people and we need to make sure that the people feel ownership in that," she said.
