By JESSE GRAHAM
Indoor pool issue heats up and council’s…
RESIDENTS are rumbling against the Yarra Ranges Council as the Healesville indoor pool issue heats up and council representatives backtrack on previous statements.
The Mail has been contacted by numerous dismayed residents after the story broke that the Jack Hort Memorial Pool at Healesville High School might close its doors before its 25th anniversary next year.
Healesville’s Helen Campbell Drury told the Mail that she was furious about the pool cutting back hours and, in particular, council’s response to the situation.
“It’s going to come back and bite them on the bum – the community needs a pool,” she said.
“We pay our rates – I think it’s not unjust to ask the shire to pay for a swimming pool.”
She said she was awaiting contact from a concerned resident, who was talking about starting an action group to protest further cuts or closure of the pool.
Ms Drury’s comments come after council’s Director of Environment and Engineering Mark Varmalis told the Mail on 20 January that no agreement existed between council and the high school in regards to the pool running at a deficit.
“The operational management cost of the facility remains Healesville High School’s responsibility,” he said at the time.
Contradicting his previous statement, Mr Varmalis, however said on 31 January that a joint agreement did exist between the two parties, and was created in 2001.
Mr Varmalis said the agreement included a clause “advising (that) if a deficit was realised, the council and Healesville High School will work together.”
He said the agreement was not in regards to paying 50 per cent of the deficit costs, as pool manager Ross Ilsley told the Mail, but that it simply stated that the two parties would discuss how to meet the deficit.
“Active discussions between Healesville High School and council on the short term and long term outcomes of the Jack Hort Indoor Pool are in progress,” he said.
Council representatives and Healesville High School principal George Perini met on Thursday 30 January to discuss the situation, and Mr Perini said the agreement was now being acknowledged.
“The council, in that agreement, has a process to follow around working with the school when there’s a deficit – that’s what I expect to continue,” he said.
Mr Perini said the agreement between council and Healesville High School had been signed for a 30-year period, with it expiring in 2031.
Mr Varmalis said that, following the meeting, council had sought the financial information on the pool’s operations, which would inform any future support to the pool.
Ms Drury, who is an accountant and was a regular lap-swimmer at the pool before the cuts, said the council was notified in December that hours would be cut if additional funding had not been received.
She referred to the council’s annual report between 2012-2013, which recorded an operating profit of $10 million, and suggested that $100,000 of the council’s profits could go to the pool.
A more up-to-date annual report is not yet available on the council’s website.
Ms Drury said that, while the pool may not be a profitable venture, additional funding could mean bringing more hours to the pool, which would return swimmers isolated from the pool since the cuts and generate funds to keep the pool running.
She said that she could no longer swim at the pool before going to work, as she had done in the mornings prior to the cuts.
A feasibility study is currently being undertaken to discuss the idea of a new aquatics facility in Healesville, which would replace the Jack Hort Memorial Pool.
A spokesperson for the Yarra Ranges Council said that the matter was expected to come before council around April.
