The Beagle Editor, Many of your readers will be interested to learn of the latest news surrounding the Mackay Park Leisure Centre I attended the Batemans Bay Indoor Aquatic Centre Committee (BBIACC) meeting held at Catalina Club on the 19th Sept 2018 I offer a summary of the meeting for the readers who were not able to attend; After minutes of last mtg accepted etc. & treasurer’s Report ie. $70 000 in interest account $3,000 in daily operating account Eurobodalla Council's Director of Planning, Lindsay Usher, presented an update re. Aquatic Complex His points : It was an exciting project. They were making progress. Four architects had nominated and one has been selected . “Go to wow “ planning being done now ie. exterior & interior by the same architect ... one contractor to undertake the whole project BUT it will be in stages as funding not available yet . A Project Manager has been appointed & will take over, answerable to Council . Community groups to be consulted soon. Questions from the floor to Mr Usher.... Q1. When will community consultation be undertaken A. October Q2. Has a schedule of consultation been drawn up A. Not yet Q3. How will The Sunset Committee be involved A. A meeting with Sunset Committee will be held soon Q4 Who will draw up the list of pool users groups to be consulted? Will the Swimming Club who have to date not been consulted be on the list ? A. Council will draw up the list of pool users to be consulted and your group will not be on it ! We have consulted the Swim Club a number of times . Q5 What is the situation with funding ? A. The grants submitted on 4th Sept 2017 have not yet been awarded. Q6. Where then did the $26 million dollars come from A. I don’t know & don’t care ! As long as we have it ! Q7. What is the total cost now? It was $ 46.3 million ? A. Cost has gone up as you would expect Q8. Where is the additional $ 27 million plus money coming from A. Because of ministerial changes in Canberra recently it’s slow to work through the system of advocacy for Federal funding but it will be in stages so we are setting up the Project to meet the delays & the contractor from Sydney is on side with this stage approach so the aquatic centre will be built in stages as money becomes available . Q9. If there is a change of government have you been lobbying with shadow ministers to pursue the federal grants A . Yes Q10. What is the recurrent annual cost of running the (6) water bodies in the new complex . A. I’m not going to go into this with you now it would take more than 30 minutes . Have you read The Otium Report ? It’s all in there . The reply from myself, as the questioner was "yes I have read the Otium Report & it’s not in there Q11. I asked the President of BBIACC Chair of Meeting why they sold out the BB community & accepted a 25 m pool instead of a 50 m pool ? At this stage the meeting erupted they all turned on me ....told me to shut up etc. where had I been We had to take what we were offered ie. a 25 m pool ! Even Lindsay Usher turned on me said I created trouble wherever I went ! I asked him to repeat it & withdraw his comment ... Meeting was a shambles now with the president jumping up throwing her hands into the air. As the secretary joined in so did others in the room !! It was all happening ... with only about 15 or so people at the meeting .... I said that the Council & Lindsay Usher had lied about the Project & mislead the community without consultation of key pool user groups . The President of the BBIACC said the group wanted a Centre that catered for most users & that’s what they were getting & that they’d worked long & hard for a new aquatic centre. Mr Usher suggested that the Save the 50m Pool group wanted the funding stopped . I responded that this was not true that the Save the 50m Pool group wanted a review and all cards put on the table & all pool user groups included & a 50 m pool considered . Mr Usher left at this stage but I did offer that he didn’t know his facts & that he was out of order on his comments during the meeting . He was angry when he left . The Chairperson asked for a show of hands to indicate that they’d learnt a lot from the Planning Directors update re. the proposed new aquatic centre project . All but me put up a hand . Belinda Shalders the newly appointed Eurobodalla Shire Council’s Pool Manager of all 3 sites B.B. , Moruya & Narooma then addressed the meeting . Of concern from what was revealed is the exclusive public consultation re. the draft plans for the proposed Complex & the staged building process . Once again key user groups will not be consulted especially the Save the 50m Pool group! Mr Usher stated that he had it in writing that $26 million was guaranteed from State Government regardless of the government in power & that advocacy, although difficult, was on going for $27 million Federal grants . Mr Usher also stated that grants applied for last September had not been awarded yet Peter Coggan Member of the Save the 50m Pool Group
