This week in Council
Sue Brooks April 22nd, 2010
Firstly I must apologise for anyone needing an email or phone response from me. This week, and most of last week, has been wall to wall meetings and functions and I’m very behind in answering email and phone calls. Tomorrow is a no meeting day (yippee) so I plan to catch up.
This week Council accepted the reports from the Economic Development Advisory Committee and Maryborough Urban Renewal Reference Group. The economic development group want to progress a conference type centre in Hervey Bay and will form a smaller group to help progress this.
Council received the Financial report for March which included a list of budget revisions. I decided to vote against this report as I don’t agree with the $500k transfer from reserves for employee costs. Council also received our amended operational plan and a quarterly report on implementation of our Corp Plan and Operational plans which is a good document to read in terms of understanding all the things that Council does and how well we are achieving our aims etc.
Council ratified ‘generally’ the recently amended seafront oval concept master plan which includes the currently being installed All Abilities Playground. This is being constructed where the temporary fencing is currently located.
We also approved our own application to extend the Tavistock complex to incorporate more space for staff and storage. We scaled back the project so the extra space will not be used to provide office space for Councillors or a new Council Chamber. Space in the building was an issue prior to amalgamation and is an even bigger problem now.
Councillor Dalgleish moved a motion to repeal or rescind the decision made at the meeting last week in relation to the tenders for the management of some of the Council owned cravan parks. Cr Muckan seconded this motion and after much debate the recision motion was lost. Councillors against the motion to rescind included myself, Crs Hawes, McNeven, Hovard and Arthur with the remaining Councillors voting for. The Mayor didn’t have a casting vote as per the LGA, so the motion was lost. I am glad that the tenders can now be finalised as per the decision made last week.
In the confidential session of the meeting decisions were made in relation to Council controlled land and options for the ‘structure’ of Council now that the Director of Development Services position is vacant.
The most newsworthy item I have left for last and involves the future upgrading of the Maryborough Swimming Complex. Council has committed to a budget and included plans to retain a 50m length pool within the upgrades. I fully supported this unanimous decision as it was clear that the community strongly values a 50m pool and I’m pleased that we can support their wishes. In the newspaper today there was part of a quote I read out at the meeting that I thought was interesting in light of the debate about the pool. So I will conclude this post with the quote by Shane Gould….
I think lap swimming is done by many, many people other than dedicated Olympic or competitive swimmers so I don’t fully agree with Shane but I do think her comments are food for thought. I wish there was more land available at the complex to allow more variation in the eventual outcome. Cheers, Sue
ORDINARY Aussie swimmers are being forced into “boring” pools for the benefit of an elite few, says triple Olympic gold medallist Shane Gould.
Gould said Australia’s public pools were boring rectangular boxes because they were built for those “copying” the Olympics.
“Unfortunately, for most of the population, swimming for nationalistic projects is preventing more use of swimming pools,” she said.
“The reason this sort of pool is designed this way is to find and nurture the golden fish . . . I was a golden fish. Lap swimmers are just copying what the Olympic model prescribes.”
Speaking at an event in Melbourne yesterday, she said only 40 Australian swimmers went to the Olympics every four years.
“While that’s the peak experience of a swimmer’s career, why should everyone else pay for it?” she said. “Rather than modelling it on competitive swimming, model it on everyday swimming.”
Gould said instead of pools being rectangular boxes divided into lanes with ropes and black lines, they should be built to mimic nature, with uneven surfaces, curved, muddy edges, overhangs and moving waters.
This would make swimming pools more interesting and multi-purpose, helping people to swim confidently in natural environments, where most drownings occur.
http://www.news.com.au/national/shane-gould-slams-boring-olympic-pools/story-e6frfkvr-1225852990667
- Council related issues
- Comments(7)
Heartily agree with Shane Gould . There is far too much emphasis in Australia on “winning” and “there is no prize for coming second” . A swimming pool funded by the taxpayer should benefit the ninety per cent ( or whatever) of swimmers who just want to keep fit and have fun. Let the elite do their thing in a privately funded purpose built pool if they wish – and if it were next door to the ‘fun’ pool then kids watching could make the shift if they wished.
Interesting comment from Shane Gould. It would be nice to have true aquatic centres, but I’m more content swimming in a 50m box than a 25m box. Now lets talk about a diving pool .
While I agree with the decision to maintain the 50m pool I can’t help but wonder about the engineers report regarding the structural damage under the pool. Are we going to be opening a “can of worms” when unearthing the existing pool. It has been leaking for years now and there is bound to be undermining. I just hope that this doesn’t “blow out” and end up costing a lot more than anticipated. As for having a “natural” swimming centre we always swam in the ocean filled pools or in the ocean itself, much better than the chlorinated water.
Hi Sue,
Was the $500k transfer from reserves for employee costs related to the recent exit of the Director for planning?
Frank
Hi Frank. The costs are employee related and as such I am sorry but I am not at liberty to say. The answer that the CEO gave me when I asked the question in Council will be available via the minutes of the meeting on the Council web site.
“This week Council accepted the reports from the Economic Development Advisory Committee and Maryborough Urban Renewal Reference Group. The economic development group want to progress a conference type centre in Hervey Bay and will form a smaller group to help progress this.”
Has the “Maryborough Urban Renewal Reference Group” report been publicly released? How would I get a copy of this?
I suggest that you contact Cr O’Connell to see how much information is availabe regarding this report. All the Bridge to Brolga information is available,as I recall, but due to the commercial nature of some of the information in the above mentioned report it has not been made public at this time. Cheers, Sue