Changes at Marlborough Museum hoped to meet ‘escalating’ costs

Staff at the Marlborough Museum and Edwin Fox will have to reapply for their jobs due to a new structure for heritage funding – should those jobs still exist.

The Marlborough District Council last week announced the Marlborough Heritage Trust is to be “wound up”, following a decision to restructure how heritage is funded in Marlborough during a public-excluded council meeting.

It came after a council review of the Marlborough Heritage Trust in 2021, after it was highlighted not a single dollar was put towards building or upgrading heritage assets in the council’s long-term plan.

Marlborough District Council economic, community and support services manager Dean Heiford said while the council provided some funding to the trust, it had “struggled” over the years to get extra, meaningful funding from elsewhere – and its costs over the years had been “escalating”.

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“The size of the investment there was getting quite big, and council was not willing, at this stage, to pour more and more money into that organisation and that heritage sector without a major review and understanding where those public funds were going,” Heiford said.

Job advertisements for a Marlborough Museum manager and Edwin Fox Maritime Museum manager were posted on February 16 – with the intention to fill these roles so the people hired could help develop “structures” and have input into further recruiting.

Heiford said given the overall structure was yet to be established, he could not confirm if or how many jobs would be impacted.

“Unfortunately it’s all been in public excluded, because it’s been talking about finances of an organisation and individual employment agreements,” he said.

While he wanted people to have “certainty” about their employment, they also needed to operate within existing budgets, he said.

“Then council will need to make some longer-term investment decisions for the whole heritage sector next year, but we know there are some legacy issues here that need to be looked at.

“I feel for the staff because it’s uncertain, but we can’t just transfer those positions across.

“We needed to look at a structure that fits council, and also being local government, if there’s a new structure, we need to advertise positions and be fair and transparent.”

He said next year’s long-term plan would provide an opportunity to consider the “wider issues” surrounding the heritage sector.

“We’ve got Picton Museum as well, we’ve also got investment required for the Edwin Fox in terms of stabilisation and upgrades there.

“I know that Renwick Museum have got some aspirations, there’s Havelock Museum, and we’ve already put a whole lot of funding into the new Flaxbourne Museum.

“So the heritage sector is wide and varied, and that’s not even talking about Omaka (Aviation Heritage Centre), or the heritage aspirations iwi have too.”

He said Brayshaw Heritage Park, next to the Marlborough Museum in Blenheim, also needed maintenance, including upgrades to water, power, sewage and new public toilets.

The trust, which oversaw the Marlborough Museum and Edwin Fox, was established in 2016. At the time, the Marlborough District Council agreed to shift $243,100 of heritage funding from the Marlborough Historical Society and Edwin Fox, into the trust instead.

It committed $20,000 a year to the trust for operational costs, and $188,100 towards the Marlborough Museum’s operating costs, chief executive salary, archives management and insurance, the Marlborough Express reported in 2016.

Meanwhile, at last year’s annual plan deliberations, the council backed a number of heritage projects.

This included $30,000 for the Edwin Fox, the oldest merchant ship in the world, as it had a leaking roof and badly sealed dry dock walls, a 13.5% increase to the Picton Historical Society’s operating grant and a $250,000 underwrite to the Flaxbourne Heritage Trust to assist with the construction phase of its proposed heritage centre, subject to the trust securing other funding.

This was on top of $170,000 in extra funding the council signalled it would give the Marlborough Heritage Trust for operations through to 2023.

Marlborough mayor Nadine Taylor confirmed any funding that was signed off by councillors during last year’s annual plan remained in place despite the restructure.

“Council absolutely acknowledge the need to fund some of those specific projects,” Taylor said.

“A lot of them are around collection protection, and we recognise the urgency of that, that funding is still urgent, and still has to be applied to that purpose.”

Trust spokesperson Cathie Bell said it would be sad to see the trust go, but there would be benefits from the council taking over operations.

“Staff will become council employees the way that library staff are, and so will be paid market rates which will be good. Our staff do an excellent job for the region,” Bell said.

“Marlborough is rich in heritage, and this move will give the museum and the Edwin Fox financial stability.”