Borough Council Special Meeting

Grey River Argus, Volume LVII, Issue 10520, 30 January 1903, Page 2

Borough Council Special Meeting

A special meeting of the Council in connection wiih town hall plans and tenders was hald last evening in the Council Chambers, there being present His Worship the Mayor and Cra Sheedy, Petrie, Joyce, Bignell, Steer, Geiseking, McLean, and A«hton. There was also a large attendance of ratepayers. The Mayor explaine-i that whea at the last uieeiiug tenders were being conside ed it was proposed that Mr Lord should make a report to see if a modißjation of the plans could be maiesoas to bring the cost of the town hrtll wit: in the amount voted by the ratepayers. It was a momentous question and one requiring the careful consider , tion 01 the C-unciL He ilm being a special meeting the usual standing orders wou.d b« suapeudadso that Councillors would hive more freedom of debate. Before proceeding with th« business proper he would, however, read thefollowiug telegram received on Wednesday evening from Mr , Hannan : — ."'Bell now satisfied on all oln«o-----toons raised, but says Bank considered it was getting water rates as additional security. He is recommending fcha loan and is preparing draf o deeds for my peru al; but as Sydney head office muse be referred to, a definite reply cannon be expected until about Monday." The telegram was received. Mr Low> ? s ; Report. At the request of the Mayor the Town Engineer thea read his report as follows : "Acting under yeur imtruetions I have carefully examined the town hall plans with a view to modify them, so as to b ing the cost within the sum voted by the ratepayer* for this Work. I find as follows : — (1) " That it is impossible to res duce the internal finish of the buildi»g to effr-ct a greater saying than about L 250. (2) "That the general plan of the structure caunot be reduced sufficieatN ly to effect the reduction required, without cramping the accommodation, and rendering it perfectly unfit for the purpose for which it ia about to bo erected. (3) " Ab the poll of the ratepayers taken on the 10th July, 1901, L 4,000 was carried for the ereciiou of a towa hali proper, aud on 16th July, 1902, another poll was taken authorising L 4,000 for municipal buildings, and in order t© ki-ep laifch with the ratepayers the Couucil are bouad to erect chese struc ores. The only way to reduce the cost wibiiout spoiling the structure would br- to leave out the library wing for which no vote has been taken— putting in the foundations only at present. The library wing contains 14 rooms and conidors, and it left out will reduce the cost by L 2,753 and bring ■ hrf cost ef the town hali amd chambers down to L 7 :000. ( I wish to draw attention to the fact that the present design was adopted by resolutiou of the Council af>er ma'Hre consideration, and if thafc reaolution is rescinded and fresh designs ctlledf.r it will only add to the preliminary expenses at the cost of necessury room and sp»xer " In conclusion I ueg to point out that it is impossible to reduce the ground plan. A cown hall should be made large enough to hold a meeting of the ratepayers, and the Municipal' ofiiees mtast be of sufficient size to provide accommodation for our gas and water departments, which from this out will rapidly increase. " If the .buildings are reduced to out bare wants of to-day they will become useless and obsolete ia a very few years. There are already too many instances of this fact in the towns of New Zealand. Let us try to avoid falling int» a simiar error." The report was received. Cr Sheedy said he was sorry he was nob present at the last meeting. Municipal affairs were not satisfactory to himself and others of the Council an-i rightly and justly the ratepayers were adversely commenting upon them. The plans of ths proposed town hall were too elaborate aud costly for Greym oith. In the works in progress in the Borough m -re liability existed than Councillors sitting at the table could contemplate. The co3t of house connection with the water mains would exceed L 1,509 and thnt was not; provided for in the loans. He woud advise that competitive designs be called for a new town hall, cost not to exceed L 5,500, and that a premium of LSO be given for the besb design, coaditionally on the lowest tender not being LIOO over the price stated. There being some applause from the ratepayers, Cr Petrie called His Worship's attention that this was a meeting of the Council and not a public meeting. Cr Joyce said thst he wished every meeting of the Council had the same attendance of ratepayers. Cr Petrie, in explanation, said that applause was nob usual at Borough Council meetings. His Woi ship agreed and requested the ratepayers should not make any demonstration. Cr Sheedy, continuing, said it yras, nob wise of us to build a town hall as provided for in Mr Lord's plan. To furnish the building would cost between LI,OOO and L 1,500 and that must come out of " the money sanctioned by the ratepayers' vote.. He moved in the direction indicated; Cr Bignell seconded the motion pro forma, but cousidered that Mr Lord should prepare the new plans. Cr Sheedy— Certainly I Mr Lord could be a competitor. Cr Bignell— "A complete building at smaller cosb would certainly be better than an unfinished one on a larger scale. He agreed with the proposer that a large hall with stage, circle, ard seatiog accommodation for 1,000 peopje was unnecessary for ratepaye s' meetings, which would probably be held but once a year. Ho was certain that ratepayers would not sanction a further loan. He objected to competitive designs and no objectj ion could possibly be taken against Mr Lord's plan except that it was beyond the means of the Council. Cr Joyce strongly supported the motion. The Council had been tinkering with plans for the las b 15 years. What about Mr Turnbull's design ? (Mr Lord— lt is in the drawer.) The cown hall mess had made (he Council the laughing stock of tbe town and country, f \

Cr Steer was against cutting down of pr6Hentphv>s, but strongly in favor of calling for designs for a building not to exceed LSOOO in cost. A town hatl proper as proposed was not ie quired, and the p «sent state of th-. Borough finances would not warrant an increase of debt. Of the LBQOO sanctioned L7OOO was available for building, extras, furnishing, ground decoration, etc, and LSOOO was •llthatceuld be allotted for th© new build' ng. Cr Ashton said ths ratepayers allocated a certain sum for n specific purpose and the money should b? so expended. Therefore, the L 7,000 available shouli, in his opinion, be spstit on tl\e building. Cr McLean considered that if Mr Lord's plans cou'd be carried out fo LIO,OOO the. building would be a cheap one. Tue Council, however, c^.uld not run further into debt aud under the circumstances h« wouLl support Mr Snnedy's motion. He »ou d, however, suggest tliatthe premiu-u ofFered. be increased t» UIOO, as the smaller sum was not sufficient inducement for good architects to compete. Cr Petrie said that the Council could net go beyond the amount voted for the purpose and the money c uld not be expended for any other purpose. All admired Mr Lord's plans 'and- would like to see the building erected, but only L7,250,u0t sufficient, was available for the purpo-e. He could not sea his way to tinker with the pissenb. plans and would never agree to the proposed conference between the Council and contractors. His Worship s.id that Mr Lord •was misunderstood at last meeting. What he meant t» convey was that the contractor should execute work at schedule rates; thus if the library wing; was left out the cost would-be reduced by its schedule value, L 2,750. Cr Petrie, continuing, said that the theatre propeted woul-L clash with private enterprise. He would favor fresh plans and that Mr Lonl piepnre them. All was pleased with hi-* p ans and if withiu the estimate the building would have been agreed to. Duriag the last couple of years the pi ice of building and material hud considerably advauced. Whe'eas then a cube of brickwork cost L 22, it now cost L3O. Tho Mayor said he was pleased to see Councillors so unanimous on the mater. He admire 1 ! Mr Lord's plan and all the contractors vr ere pleased with it also, The mc; eased cost of labour and material accounted for the estimate being exceeded. After Mr Sheedy had leplied, The Mayor proposed that ihe Coun* cil's previous resolution approving ef the p>ans when the tt nders were c .lied be rescinded. Carried unanimously. Mr Lord said that'in his own justification he might say that on a ground plan ol' that size it would be impossible to reduce cost of the Miperstructure. He spent four months in designing the work and whs sorry his labor had been lost. H - objected to som etitiv-e designs and would net t>e a eomp titoi . The Mayor then read 'ho reaolu ion proposed by C Sheeny and seconded pro forma by Cr Bignell, " That competitive de.-igns be called for a town hall, co-t not to exceed L 5,500, and pie uiura offered to be L 50." Cr Steer moved an amanWnient that the co t should not exceed L 5,000. Cr Petrie ol.j cted, as he declared had been carried, Cr Sheedy supporting his contfin ion. A discussion in which all councillors tock part ensued, the majority deciding that the motion had n^ver been put, the Mayor iuling accordingly. Cr Steer's amendment was then put and lost by 5 to 4, and the original motion was carried, Cr Steer dissenting. On the motion of Cr Petne, seconded by Cr Sheedy, it was resolved that Mr Lord prepare the details necessary for competitors and submit same to the Council at their next meeting.