THE Tea Gardens Swimming Pool will be managed by the YMCA for the 2021-2022 swim season.

In the minutes of the recent MidCoast Council meeting, a motion was passed stating ‘that Council allow the General Manager or his delegate to enter into an agreement with the YMCA providing management and operational services inclusive of lifeguard duties at Tea Gardens Swimming Pool for the 2021/2022 swim season’.

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In a rare act by the MidCoast Council, Councillor Len Roberts wished for a closed committee matter to be ‘generally’ discussed as he believed the information was relevant for the general public.

Cr Roberts discussed the recent announcement in the media by Premier Gladys Berejiklian that local pools could reopen, however, this was in regards to supervised pools.

“We are a unique Local Government Area in that we have several pools, but at this stage only three of them are supervised and other pools in our area only have a lifeguard on duty in the Summer months.

“Last year groups in Tea Gardens were still able to utilise the pool as they organised insurances and COVID-safety plans and now the Council has come up with a plan for this pool that we believe the public will be absolutely thrilled with.

“However, that is only the Tea Gardens pool. We have Krambach, Bulahdelah, Nabiac, Stroud, to name a few that are smaller and unsupervised pools that the public has an expectation to be open.”

Cr Roberts continued to discuss the necessity the Council workshop plans for these pools at the earliest convenience.

Councillor Karen Hutchinson also spoke to the motion stating that she has been in conversation with staff about opening up the other smaller pools in the region

Councillor Kathryn Bell strongly supported Cr Roberts’ comments, believing that “this should be in the community domain because we’re talking about community facilities, community pools”.

“I’m very concerned that one pool is singled out, or if that’s not necessarily the case, the community don’t know that because the report is confidential,” Cr Bell said.

General Manager Adrian Panuccio stated that the Councillors should move the recommendation and then if there is an operational matter for the other pools, that the Council should get information out to the public with respect to these.

By Tara CAMPBELL