Cr Augee told councillors as trustees of the caves they had a duty of care and the same duty as councillors.
At the ordinary meeting of Wellington Council, the councillor also described to his fellow councillors the many concerns about a recent meeting as ‘soul destroying, a great disappointment and demoralising’.
The councillor supports the privatisation of the caves resources and the lease of it to an operator who can assist in marketing and promoting them.
“We are there to protect this reserve,” he told the councillors in what could be called an impassioned plea for the future direction of Wellington’s best-known site and the balance he believes can be found.
But others have problems with the future of the caves site including cave specialist Keir Vaughan Taylor who wrote to the council expressing concern.
Mr Taylor thought privatisation would be bad for the operation of the complex.
“In any opinion there has been insufficient information from Council about such discussions to the advisory committee,” Mr Taylor said in his letter.
“Also (there have been) strategic concerns voiced in advisory meetings that have not been communicated by the Council,” he added.
The caves bring in more than 50,000 people a year to the district which rates third behind the Western Plains Zoo and the Parkes Telescope.
They are currently up for lease by the council and meetings related to that concern have been confidential to date.
Councillors also discussed numbers and those on tour. These have been reduced to 80 for the Cathedral Cave, 20 for the Gaden Cave and 25 for the Phosphate Mine.
“At times we had 106 people on tour and we had complaints,” Cr Augee said. “This is not a tour it’s a bloody riot,” the councillor said while speaking passionately about the Wellington Caves stressing his problem was with the best interest of the caves.
Source: Wellington Times