MidCoast Council drops-in on Tea Gardens Pool Myall Coast Myall Coast - popup ad Myall Coast News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - January 31, 2024 Pool users came to the drop-in at Tea Gardens to help Council know what they really want and need. REPRESENTATIVES from MidCoast Council came out to Tea Gardens Pool from 11am-1pm on Tuesday 23 January for the second of two informal ‘Drop-Ins’. The previous planned drop-in, late last November, saw considerable community anxiety that the pool may be shuttered for good. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au “Council is not closing the pool,” a MidCoast Council spokesperson re-iterated last week. This issue has arisen from the sporadic and unexpected closures last season, the main cause of which stemmed from the current manager, The Y, following an organisational policy of having a minimum number of lifeguards present. Any day when at least two lifeguards could not be sourced, the pool was forced to shut down. This facility is used by a wide cross-section of the community, from learn-to-swim to swimming carnival preparation, and weightless walking for rehabilitation, to name a few. “The Hawks Nest Tea Gardens Progress Association and local volunteers do a great job keeping the place up, especially in the off-season, and this drop-in, during the holidays, is to let daytime pool users informally drop in while they were actually using the pool, and tell us what they want regarding the future of the facility,” Council’s spokesperson added. “Council thinks it will be better for a smaller operator, one that can potentially operate without the restrictions of larger operators. “A smaller operator could work to a more flexible timetable, such as with quiet-time closures in the middle of the day, but with no hours reduced at popular times.” Council is still running its ‘Have Your Say’ survey on pool management, and strongly encourages all pool users to go online and fill it out. “We are getting an excellent response on the Survey, including usage stats, and also support for the YMCA, and we are happy to get more data. “It closes Sunday 4 February. “Parents can get kids to fill it out, out the Survey, too.” Council’s survey can be found here: https://haveyoursay.midcoast.nsw.gov.au/swimming-pool-operations-review/tea-gardens-swimming-pool-operations. By Thomas O’KEEFE Tea Gardens Pool has multiple uses, and lanes can be designated as such.
