Dargaville Information Centre To Close

Changes to the way Kaipara District Council provides information will see the Dargaville Information Centre close on Wednesday 1 July 2009 and its information functions incorporated into existing Council facilities like the service centres and Dargaville Library.

No decisions have yet been made concerning the future of the Council owned building in Normanby Street that houses the information centre.

The re-organisation has been prompted by changing tourism trends like greater use of the Internet. Also declining visitor numbers and income plus the growing cost of providing the service.

Only 1895 people passed through the doors in December 2008, compared with 4115 in 2005 and 2539 in December 2007. Revenue from commissions has also declined, compounded by Taharoa Domain bookings now being handled at the Kai Iwi Lakes instead of the information centre.

This year the centre is projected to run at a $40,000 operating loss which is funded by Council.

While operating costs have been cut by not replacing staff and reducing opening hours this has accentuated the drop in visitor numbers and added to dissatisfaction over the level of service.

During the past year the Council has looked at number of options, from retaining the status quo to ceasing to provide an information centre in Dargaville. They included:

Moving the information centre to the town hall foyer, either as a separate entity or combining it with an expanded library. The latter would have helped alleviate library concerns over lack of space and had the advantage of sharing staff and reducing costs. But both reduced the usable area of the town hall and the shared version affected the War Memorial Flag and bar space. Community concerns over the impact on the hall were highlighted during a meeting with 35 stakeholders.
 

Investigations were also made into moving both library and information centre to Dargaville’s former post office building, providing a main street location for both services and preserving an iconic building. However the estimated cost of around $850,000 was considered too high for a building not owned by Council.
Two private operators expressed interest in providing an information service for Council but would have required a similar level of Council funding to the current operation.
In January an industry group, the Dargaville Kauri Coast Promotion Society, expressed interest. It would have required financial assistance initially but has not delivered a business plan requested by Council.
 

Other options included Council relocating its Customer Service Center to the Information centre building but the cost outweighed any advantages of improved service and freeing space in the council building.
 

Council also considered manning the centre with a mixture of paid staff and volunteers. This may have addressed some dissatisfaction with the present service but would do little to deal with the declining numbers. A request for likely volunteers produced only a very small number

 

Mayor Neil Tiller believes the decision to incorporate the provision of information into other existing council facilities is the best way to provide an affordable, effective service.

“The information centre was no longer sustainable, especially in the present economic climate.,” he says. “We will continue to provide an information service but it will be along the lines of what is already being done very successfully and at minimal cost as apart of normal operations at the Kaiwaka Service Centre.”

Mayor Tiller adds that Council is still happy to consider any approaches from local organisations or businesses interested in providing a service.