A long-term solution to the Otago Regional Council's office overcrowding problems will not be put on the back burner now that an "interim" solution has been agreed on, council chairman Stephen Woodhead says.
The council has approved a near $1 million proposal to build a temporary council chamber and civil defence headquarters in the car park of its Stafford St, Dunedin, office block - about four years after it shelved its plan to build a $31 million waterfront office block and wharf redevelopment.
Mr Woodhead said the council would continue to look at a long-term solution once a new chief executive was appointed later this year and "bedded in".
Mr Woodhead's intention was then to propose, for next year's annual plan, the council look at "petitioning off" some of its reserve funds, each year.
"Then in five years we'll have an amount of capital required for a building. A new building would then be self-funding."
Using reserve funds would affect general rates as the interest from the funds was used to reduce general rates, but by petitioning funds off it would "wean" ratepayers off that reliance slowly, he said.
In the meantime, the ORC would continue to investigate a long-term solution.
