Council agrees to Taumarunui trust takeover of pools

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 652, 3 September 1996, Page 8

Council agrees to Taumarunui trust takeover of pools

While Ruapehu District councillors agreed at their last meeting to the idea of contracting out the running of the three council swimming pools, the decision as to who will run them was left open. Some councillors were concerned that in the long run it may be better to negotiate a contract with Sport Wanganui, so the resolution was altered so as to allow the chief executive the power to negotiate a contract with the Taumarunui High School Community Trust "and/or Sport Wanganui". Council chief executive officer Cliff Houston said the contract would only be let if the price was

the same as or less than the costs to the council of running the pools itself. Last year the council spent $1 17,000 running its three pools. Mr Houston said the council was not wellplaced to run the pools as there was a high degree of staff supervision required and that it was outside the council' s core activities. The advantage to the Taumarunui trust would be if it could run its own pool, the Trusbank Pool at Taumarunui High School, along with the council pools achieving economies of scale. Any savings would mean a profit from the contract. Cr Dempsey said any money the trust made would not be as a hand-out from the council, that

any profit would be earned by the trust through their hard work. Cr Stephen Mastrovich was opposed to the motion, saying the contract should be put to open tender. He said giving it to the Taumarunui trust could be unfair, citing the example of the National Park swimming pool operators who had not been given a chance to compete for the contract. Any contract should allow for the possibility that the Ohakune pool cover project may proceed at a later date, said Cr Bob Peck. He said while Dennis Beytagh's proposal to cover the pool was not possible at present due to a lack of funds, he would be concerned if the contract inhibited such

a project should funds later become available. Mr Houston said it would be possible to cover that point in the contract. The council needed to take care in entering such an arrangement, said Cr John Compton. He cited the example of the previous Ohakune Borough Council' s dilemma when it leased the Ohakune pool to Victoria Park Markets, who subsequently decided to delay their development plans and stopped community use.of it. The motion to allow the CEO to negotiate a contract with the trust and/or Sport Wanganui was passed but was not unanimous, with councillors Peck, Compton and Mastrovich voting against it. ,