Community fury at pool delays

By Tim Howard

The prospect of a scaled back Grafton Aquatic Centre and delays in awarding a tender has created fury among pool users.

Around 30 of them gathered outside the pool in Turf St, Grafton, on Thursday to vent against Clarence Valley Council’s handling of the project.

The demonstration occurred nearly a year to the day – September 17 – after the council announced Grafton pool would close permanently.

Last month, at an extraordinary meeting, called to note the results of negotiations between council and companies tendering for this project and a project in Yamba, councillors voted against accepting the advice.

The vote has little more than symbolic value, except to indicate further action, including a motion to rescind approval for the project, could have majority support.

For a representative of local pool users, GDSC Swimming Club president Stephen Donnelly, evidence of the council losing focus on the project was infuriating.

He said the there had already been a look of work behind the scenes on the project including geo-technical studies to uncover the structural deterioration of the site, which caused its closure.

Mr Donnelly was disappointed the council appeared to have changed its mind over the pool project.

“It’s come to crunch time and we have four councillors who want to proceed with the project and five who don’t, based on the vote at the meeting,” he said.

He said the group who gathered at the pool on Thursday were determined to show the council what the public thought of it backtracking on the project.

“We’re on Facebook and the phones encouraging people to go to the September 26 council meeting to show them what we thing,” Mr Donnelly said.

‘We want people to email or phone councillors and write letters to tell them what they think.

“We’re also getting a petition together to show the council what the community is feeling about the delays.”

Mr Donnelly said councillors opposed to continuing with the current project spoke about costs blowing out from $24 million to $30 million or more and interest rates climbing above 6.5%.

He said delaying the project would also be costly and in a worse case scenario might mean the pool complex was not completed.

“The South Grafton Pool is costing council $400,000 a year to run,” he said. “bringing contractors back in, the cost of re-tendering, the increasing cost of materials all these things add up to delaying the project adding to the cost.”

“And what happens if in a few years there’s a new council and they decide we only need a 50m pool and we’re stuck with that.”

Cr Peter Johnstone has consistently argued for a minimalist approach to replacing the Grafton pool complex.

He has no issue with the overall multi-pool design, but argues price constraint and difficult economic conditions mean the council should concentrate on building just a 50m pool initially and tackling the rest of the project when funds became available.

He attempted to further this proposal at the meeting, but Mayor Ian Tiley ruled him out of order and his attempt at a motion of dissent was unsuccessful.

But he did make his position clear.

“What I would say is that the costs are clearly well beyond what really we’re expecting and I think we should be closing this process now and looking for alternatives and exit routes,” he said.

Cr Johnstone said he had been given a figure of just over $9 million to build a 50m pool, which, with around $6 million council had reserved for project would limit the amount of council borrowing to a few million.

But Cr Johnstone said he would hold off on bringing a rescission motion until he heard the result of the negotiations with tenderers, due at the September 26 council meeting.

“It will depend on what figurers we get from the tenderers and the attitude of the councillors,” he said.

Cr Johnstone was hesitant to mention a date when Grafton would have an 50m pool again, but suspected it would not earlier than 2025. He did not agree with a possible 10-year delay, which was a figure fellow councillor Alison Whaites mentioned in a media report.

A change.org petition has been raised asking the council to finalise a decision on the pool and commit in writing to an immediate commencement to build the full, three-stage plan or, option 2, a FINA standard 50m pool as the starting point of the project, with additional stages of the aquatic centre to come as funding is sourced.

Diocese Announces Vision For The Next 100 Years Of Healthcare

The Diocese of Lismore today announced its vision to ensure the Northern Rivers and surrounding communities continue to be provided with high quality health care, announcing plans for a new private hospital, in the Uralba Street health precinct.

The new hospital will be built directly across the road from the Lismore Base Hospital, and the new hospital will facilitate the provision of expanded private health service opportunities and a consolidation of existing services.

“Our vision is to see a new private hospital created, surrounded by a thriving community of healthcare professionals providing cutting-edge specialist medical services,” said Greg Isaac, Diocesan Business Manager for the Diocese of Lismore.

“Since 1921 St Vincent’s Lismore has had a clear purpose to provide healthcare for the community in faith, hope and charity with compassion and respect. The plan we announced today will see the legacy of St Vincent’s Lismore continue long into the future.

“It is our unique history as a cornerstone of the community that has inspired us to think beyond the present day about how the growing and changing needs of our community will be best met for the next hundred years.”

“What we know is that innovative developments, like the one we have announced, will attract additional highly skilled specialists and create more, not