Despite the chief ombudsman dismissing Mr George’s complaint against the Central Otago District Council (CODC) regarding what he deemed a lack of community consultation on the development of the Cromwell Memorial Hall, he is vowing to continue to fight.
After receiving a complaint from Mr George, the Office of the Ombudsman opened an investigation on May 1 into the council and its consultation surrounding the Cromwell Memorial Hall.
The complaint centred around an alleged lack of community input into the hall, in particular regarding the relocation of the existing war memorial to another area within the hall grounds, and the inclusion of the Cromwell Museum in the project.
Last week, chief ombudsman Peter Boshier informed Mr George and the CODC the council had "not acted unreasonably" in its consultation.
The ombudsman said the council had "identified collaboration with the community as key to its success and prepared a comprehensive plan for achieving this".
He said the public were given "multiple opportunities to express their views, including in the initial phases when ideas were canvassed, through a survey of shortlisted options, a series of public open days held during the design phase of the project and via a dedicated website".
"The option of incorporating the museum into the arts and culture centre was considered at an early stage, with the public having opportunities to be heard on this aspect of the project through the Let’s Talk Options survey," Mr Boshier said.
"It was also evident from an early stage that a multipurpose facility located in the heritage precinct would have an impact on the Memorial Gardens and the cenotaph and the public were consulted about this."
An external group — including the Cromwell RSA and Cromwell Museum Trust — also represented key stakeholders.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times, Mr George said he did not believe the Cromwell Community Board had acted in good faith and he intended to meet incoming council chief executive Peter Kelly when he arrived.
"I’m going to still keep campaigning though ... I would like to see the museum put on a different site and I would like to see the war memorial left as it is on its site that was chosen by my father, his mates and by the RSA in the day as the best site."
Mr George said he did not know if it was possible to reverse the hall design "but I’ll keep going until I’m sure that it’s not".
"I’ll pursue it until I realise I’m beating my head against a brick wall completely — literally the hall wall," he joked.
Council interim chief executive Dylan Rushbrook said while the work taken to investigate Mr George’s complaint had not directly slowed progress on the hall redevelopment, it came at a cost of $4500 in staff hours and "significant community board member time being diverted away from the project to seek out information required to address this inquiry".
