In response to community concern after three weeks of no communication from the Central Otago District Council, Teviot Community Board chairman Norman Dalley is seeking assurance the Roxburgh town hall and entertainment centre will be rebuilt.
Fourteen fire appliances and two command units travelled from as far as Dunedin to attend the blaze in the more than 110-year-old building in early February. In the end, fire destroyed the town’s historic town hall and even its historic facade had to be ripped down for safety reasons. The building housed the town’s cinema.
At a Central Otago District Council meeting last week, Mr Dalley asked: "Are we going to get what we had? Will it be replaced? Are we going to get a heritage building? Are we going to get a building or facility of equal capacity?"
He said there seemed to be little or no understanding of how a rebuild might be funded other than from its $6.5 million insurance cover.
"It was an iconic building that had a very proud history."
The community was disappointed about the lack of communication from the council around what the plan might be, Mr Dalley said.
He asked about creating a road map to get the outcome the community wanted.
Council chief executive Peter Kelly said the building was insured for $6.5m, a fair "chunk" of which would have to go towards the cleanup and the new design.
He said if there was not enough funding through the insurance cover for a complete rebuild, the council would have to look at other options and with a long-term plan coming up it could look at other funding mechanisms.
How much money was left after the cleanup would largely determine what could be rebuilt, Mr Kelly said.
He pointed out building a new Omakau hall was coming in at a good price and a good sum of money had been left over from what had been budgeted.
— Graham McKerracher
