Tauranga City Councillor Murray Guy is concerned the community and council are getting left behind in the museum planning process.

In the open forum at the projects and services committee meeting, Murray expressed concern about how the museum planners are advancing; saying the museum already has a name, two preferred sites and there is talk of concept plans – without any council or community involvement in the process.
'The community got left behind with the previous administration and I'm concerned they are getting left behind again,” says Murray.
The name is for the website, says museum steering committee member, Mayor Stuart Crosby.
The website will be online soon and is going to be the main communication between the community and museum steering committee.
The steering committee returned its first year's $75,000 of community funding to the council. Some of this year's funding will be spent on developing the concept.
He said before he went to the media to announce the two preferred museum sites, steering committee chairman Jon Mayson informally briefed councillors before going to the media.
'The chairman tried to do the right thing,” says Stuart.
After the meeting, Murray produced a copy of the steering committee minutes showing the name Te Whare Taonga was the one to be considered for the museum.
'The overarching principle for any museum initiative was to ensure council started with a clean slate,” says Murray.
There were also to be no predetermined agendas, or high-jacking by minority interests.
All processes were to be transparent with the wider community included from the outset.
'It would appear the museum project steering group is choosing to adopt a similar path to those previously entrusted with progressing our city's museum aspirations,” says Murray.
He says the steering committee meetings are generally confidential.
There is no community engagement. The preferred sites are already narrowed to two.
The public consultation is scheduled to begin in two months.