Snowy Monaro councillors have decided how they’ll proceed on the controversial pool projects. Photo: Google Earth.
The timeline and funding for the completion of long-delayed upgrades to two Monaro pools are locked in, following more than four hours of political debate.
Snowy Monaro Regional Council (SMRC) had been carrying out upgrades to the Cooma and Bombala public pools. Those works included refurbishing the main pools, new filtration systems and plant room upgrades.
But in late April, SMRC cancelled the main pool upgrade contract with builder Dalski amid claims that subcontractors for the project weren’t being paid.
At the time, council CEO Noreen Vu told the meeting that the decision followed Dalski’s “failure to remedy the issues in the show cause notice”.
In an extraordinary meeting following that decision, the councillors have now agreed to proceed with finishing the upgrades.
Council meeting documents state the works are “approximately 90 per cent” finished, with about 17 weeks of work still needed.
To handle the remainder, SMRC will now self-manage the project at a cost of $588,793.
A staff member warned of the possible risk of losing grant money if delays continued, despite an extension granted to SMRC.
“The pool should have been complete by now,” he said.
“The grant funding body is being very accommodating … I would hazard a guess that the funding body would not be very considerate of a body of works and changing the scope of works from what was approved.”
Bombala and Cooma pools have been closed for several months to allow for the works. Bombala Swimming Pool/Facebook.
During the meeting, councillors also rejected plans for a wet-edge pool for Bombala, despite agreeing to scope different options for the pool’s edge.
The wet-edge proposal was put forward by Cr Bob Stewart, who urged his fellow councillors to adopt it.
He said that while it would be a “financial burden” on the council, it was what the community wanted.
The meeting heard that a wet edge would cost the council “very roughly, two million [dollars] plus” to install.
It follows community concerns around the height difference between the water’s edge and the pool’s concourse.
“The engineer and certifier [who have visited the site since the works stopped] have confirmed all works are compliant and will both be signing off and certifying the designs and the works that have been built,” council documents state.
Cr Tanya Higgins urged action on the project to keep the grant money and avoid reputational damage if the pool upgrades weren’t delivered.
She said that losing that money “not only jeopardises” project delivery for the Bombala upgrades, but also for Cooma.
“I have confidence that we can go forward and complete a pool, and we can put some things in place to mitigate the risk [to the council] that aren’t going to cost millions and millions of dollars and take more and more time.”
Cr Higgins said the council could push for further funding and pool upgrades in the future.
The need for the pool to resume availability was echoed by Cr Narelle Davis, who said the “as is” design would see the venue open for the 2026/27 swim season.
“Whilst it might not be optimal or the most contemporary design, I think it might be a stretch for us to be saying that the project is not safe … Let’s just get the bloody pool done.”
During the meeting, councillors agreed to authorise Ms Vu to pursue cost recovery and legal remedies in relation to the terminated contract.
