City finance staff worked in an office with water running down a wall, and carpets so mouldy that unaware visiting councillors could go for a slide.

These are two descriptions that have emerged of what working life was like for Tauranga City Council while working in the now unused civic administration building.

Councillor Gail McIntosh outside the sealed section of the unused Tauranga City Council civic administration building. Photo: File

Councillor Gail McIntosh is chair of the steering committee that has been taking council through the Programme Business Case, leading to the decision to replace the old building.

She says the new building will cost an estimated $5 million a year to run. The existing leaking and mould-infested civic administration building hasn't cost the council anything, she says.

'It hasn't been costing us that because they haven't done any repairs and maintenance in the past years on those buildings,” says Gail. 'And that's why a new building will seem more expensive.

'That's why the building has fallen to bits because they haven't done repairs and maintenance, or done any work on the bloody thing. It's just a nightmare.

'When we saw what they were working in it looked bad enough without the water and the dampness. It was just a rabbit warren. It was really run down. It was horrible.

'I nearly went for a sixer on the carpet, and one of the staff saw me - it was more because my walking was a bit dodgy - but they quickly tacked it down.”

Gail noticed the dampness and the smell. She doesn't know why staff put up with it.

'Why they didn't say, ‘hey things aren't good', and I'm sure they did, and they just got sick of saying it probably. I think they thought because they were so called public servants they couldn't complain.

'I don't think they thought it was getting them sick, it was just a horrible place to live, and they do spend a lot of hours there.

'As an employer I would never get away with providing that for staff, they would never come and work for you. You feel as though you have to provide better. You have to provide for your staff if you want them to be professional and work.”

At this week's meeting where council decided to take the project to public consultation, Gail dared councillors to vote against it.

'Because we know that our staff, it's not their fault they have not been as productive as they could have been over the past 18 months as they have had to work from more than one site.”

The new building is not just for the city council staff, it is also where the public interacts with council staff and officials.

'It's more than just a building for them, it's something for the whole public to take pride in.”

She's looking forward to seeing it, but its completion will be two elections away.

'For some of us it might be two too many.”

She earlier criticised councillor Rick Curach's call for public tours of the building as an election ploy.

'The fact is it would help re-election chances if we opened it up to the public, but I don't think it's the right thing to do.

'Yes, there's a whole pile of people that don't believe that building is in the state that it is in, but they have just got to take our word for it or vote against it, and we have just go to live with that. That's one of the prices of being a democracy.”

Rick wanted those interested to be able to take a 15-20 minute tour of the building, to see why replacement is the best option.

The motion was largely unsupported.

It was pointed out allowing people to tour buildings deemed unhealthy for council to enter into would create serious health and safety issues.

CEO Garry Poole says the rules are for staff not to enter the sealed off areas.

'We are clear that stachybotrus and humans, they are not a good match,” says Garry. 'Safety concerns depend on the individual. We had members of staff who have had absolutely no concerns, and we have had members of staff that actually come down with severe symptoms within an hour.

'You cannot actually make a general statement about what are the symptoms because they are very much dependent on individual circumstances, but they are such that no one would knowingly enter into such an environment.

'We are still working through with some of our staff the residual health issues arising from their exposure from the working environment they have been in for a number of years. The building has been cleaned but we have no guarantee that areas sealed off are safe. That's why they are sealed off.”

Rick says those were long exposures and was suggesting only a brief walk-through. The building has been cleared out with carpets and wall fitting removed.

Councillor John Robson says a walk through will achieve nothing and ratepayers would find more information from the Prendos report on council's website.

'The issues with the building are not just the mould. There are seismic issues and services issues, neither of which will be apparent is a quick walk through.

Kelvin clout and Steve Morris supported the idea of a video drone fly-through.

Toxic mould Stachybotrys was discovered in the old civc administration buildings back in November 2014. Independent investigations revealed significant weathertight problems and building services issues with all four of the buildings. Photo: Bruce Barnard