Community Board Member Jackie Elliott has raised a number of questions relating to a proposed new tourism logo for Kāpiti.
Ms Elliott raised her concerns at a recent Kāpiti Council meeting.
“My reason for public speaking on this agenda item is, that I was the only elected member to ask Council whether ratepayers were paying any part of the cost of this rebranding. I asked what was the project budget as none of this information was included in the proposal documents for discussion on the agenda and I asked what would be the cost to Kāpiti’s ratepayers,” says Ms Elliott.
Ms Elliott said despite a number of senior Council staff being present, no attempt was made to answer these questions and they remain unanswered.
“My comments on the design were, as I said during my public speaking, the result of asking members of the public their opinion of the new design and giving the feedback to Council for consideration that morning.”
KCNews understands the cost of the controversial designs is in the region of $30,000.
Ms Elliott says given the high degree of public opposition to KCDC spending large amounts of rate payers money on unnecessary projects this latest example will be upsetting to many in our community.
“KCDC has only recently bought in a new logo so to do it again makes very little sense at all.”
Ms Elliott says at the meeting Council did not accept the logo, and it has been sent back to the designers for further work. “But at what cost, we still don’t know.”
The logo, received strong opinions for and against at the meeting.
Councillor Ross Church said the logo was not consistent with council branding and the ‘k’ would spark all sorts of comments about exactly what it depicts.
“I showed it to a Scots person who said ‘it looks like the Loch Ness monster on legs’.”
Councillor Tony Lester backed the logo, which he said was “absolutely excellent”.
“We’ve positioned ourselves for the future, it captures the hills, and the coast, and it captures our future as more of a city.”
Councillor Hilary Wooding did not like the ‘k’, which looked “cut in half”.
During public speaking Gavin Bradley, a highly successful brand advocate said the design missed the key point of difference we have here. “It leaves out the word Coast which is our most significant branding advantage.”
KCDC strategic projects manager Philippa Richardson said the decision was based on the idea that Kāpiti is much more than just a coast.
Kāpiti’s Eden Design won the bid to produce the marketing brand that will be owned by the council, but available to all tourism operators.
Councillors voted to delay a decision to approve the logo till a demonstration image including “coast” is presented.
Cr Lester voted against the decision, saying he approved the logo as it stands.
