We'll see you in court, the Rangitikei District council told the Bulls and District Enterprises Inc committee last week.
We'll see you in court, was the Enterprise committee's response.
The tit-for-tat court action has been sparked by a wrangle over the historic Bulls courthouse.
Bulls and District Enterprises (BDE) secretary Marilyn Guinan said yesterday the old courthouse building was vested to the people of Bulls through the BDE 20 years ago and the 33-year lease still has another 13 years to run.
For the past 11 years, rental from Scully's Lavender boutique had been going to the BDE for the betterment of the town, she said.
But council chief executive Clare Hadley told the Chronicle the BDE had been renting out the building illegally.
Even the council doesn't own the old courthouse - the Department of Conservation does and it is designated a reserve under the reserves act, she said.
"The council is merely the guardian of the building for DoC. Now that Mr Scully's lease is up we need to return the building to what it was originally meant for – the Bulls community."
However, Mrs Hadley said because the Lavender shop had become an integral and popular attraction in Bulls and was a popular stop for travellers through the town, council was considering applying to have the reserve classification changed.
"It's locally grown lavender and very well known so really it would be a shame to see it go.''
During the past few months the BDE had done every thing asked of it by the council in a bid to retain the old building and were fed up and angered by last week's decision.
"And we had to read about it in the local community paper first – it's not on," Mrs Guinan said.
They (the BDE) were told the building must now be used as a community building like a playcentre or kindergarten.
The council had also said they would not like to see a duplication of other facilities in Bulls.
The BDE's suggestion of community youth group in the old courthouse was given the thumbs down by council, Mrs Guinan said.
Ms Hadley said, as it was an old historic building there was a high risk of damage with young people gathering there.
"We can't take that risk and the youth group wouldn't be using the building all day every day so it wouldn't have full community use," she said.
But the BDE believes the motivation for the council's action is to gain control of the small amount of rent money. It was initially the town's information centre before being leased to Mr Scully in 1998.
"The lease documents were even prepared by the Rangitikei Council's own lawyers, with the full knowledge and agreement of council,'' Mrs Guinan said.
BDE committee members John Bowen, John Guinan and Neil Curgenven were adamant that it was a situation that should never have arisen.
"Most of the improvements to Bulls over the past 20 years have only happened because of the enterprise committee,'' they said.
These have included the marketing campaign through the "A-Bull" theme, building the huge wooden bull, building and installation of planter boxes, repiling and painting the courthouse, installing a wheelchair ramp, purchase and installation of an $80,000 security camera system and financial assistance to the Friendship Club, and Bulls Museum.
"We work hard for our town and the council can't just come in like this and take over the courthouse –it belongs to us and our community," the Enterprise committee said.
Court battle looms over courthouse
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