The Local - Mt VictoriaAt a public meeting, the Mt Vic community was seeking answers for a shock decision to remove funding from the Hub. Jane O’Loughlin was there.
Around 100 people turned up to an emergency public meeting on 3 June held to discuss the future of the Hub, following a surprise decision by the Wellington City Council not to award it funding for the next financial year.
The meeting, chaired by Wellington Central MP Tamatha Paul, heard from Hub Board members as well as supporters from the community.
Board chair Johnny Crawford said the Board had been “blindsided and devastated” by the news, revealed in a “three minute phone call” from councillor Nicola Young a couple of days before the grants subcommittee.
Johnny said there had been no signals that funding was at risk, and council staff had recommended the funding be awarded.
“It's very unusual for councillors to go against recommendations like that. However, less than two days before the meeting, I received a quite unusual phone call from the councillor in charge of the committee, saying that they would not be accepting the recommendations and that they’d be withdrawing funding from us. The reasons that were provided in that three minute phone call were really vague. They were inconsistent with the information that we provided. And I left feeling kind of confused and I think we all felt really blindsided. That was the first and last official communication we've received from councillors on that Grants Committee. The council unanimously voted to remove funding after an amendment was put up by the chair.”
Board member Alice Carmody said that the ‘hub and spoke’ model the Hub used, which was more about maintaining community relationships than running a community centre, had been praised by the council. “The latest community facilities policy from 2023 states the impact of our model in the community could be replicated and has a positive impact.”
Alice listed the activities the Hub provided were listed, such as organising community dinners, the olive harvest, seedling swaps, and street clean ups.
In additional the Hub office itself was used by a variety of groups fly fishing, Dungeons & Dragons, Grey Power and ‘Friday after Five’ social meet ups, as well as meetings for the Hub itself and other groups.
Treasurer Matthew Ordish outlined the Hub’s budget, and the financial challenge it now faces. Annual expenses included rent, salaries, the newsletter, activities and administration.
Income was predominantly from the council ($80k) with around $7.5k coming from room rentals.
Matthew said the Hub had a lease for its building until June 2027, which assumed an obligation of $19,000.
Additionally the Hub had $35,000 put aside as savings.
The Board was considering a number of options, including keeping the space but cutting back on activities, and paying staff until the end of the year.
“We could retain our staff until Christmas and we could be pay rent to 2027. We've been dubbing this the ‘exiting with grace’ option,” Matthew said.
Other speakers from the community gave their support for the Hub, including Get Lost Cycling, and Clyde Quay School principal Cameron Ross.
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