The Bombala and Cooma public pools have been closed for upgrades for several months. Photo: Bombala Swimming Pool/Facebook.
At least two Monaro pools could be out of commission for the coming summer season.
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.
The main contract, with Dalski Pty Ltd, was cancelled in late April, before the company entered external administration under Worrells.
Council documents from April’s extraordinary meeting label the works as “approximately 90 per cent” finished.
At the time, the council planned to have the pools open for the 2026/27 swim season.
But the council’s May progress report has thrown doubt on that timeline, with a spokesperson admitting it is “at risk”.
According to the report, the delay is in finding a new contractor who can complete the plant room and filtration equipment works at both pools.
“Due to the specialist nature of this work, contractor availability will be a significant factor in determining whether the November 2026 reopening date target can be met.”
Previously, SMRC estimated that 17 weeks of work was needed to finish the projects.
The progress report also states that an extension has been granted for the Bombala pool project, in light of the contract changes, but poured cold water on calls to redesign the pool’s edge.
“Representatives from the [NSW Government’s Stronger Country Communities] Fund have advised Council that the current pool edge design complies with all relevant requirements and that no further extensions will be granted to allow the edge to be redesigned,” the statement said.
“Council has sought input from a specialist pool designer to confirm whether the pool edge design changes requested by councillors and the community could be completed by the extended completion deadline.”
During the meeting, Councillor Luke Williamson outlined a proposal to offer relief to subcontractors.
Under his motion, the council will seek legal advice on the possibility of paying part of their outstanding invoices from SMRC’s unrestricted funds.
SMRC CEO Noreen Vu said the outstanding invoices totalled about $350,000.
Cr John Rooney pushed back on the plan, saying it wasn’t the council’s place and it risked setting a precedent.
“There are a lot of competing demands on our unrestricted reserves, and if we agree to all of these requests, there won’t be any unrestricted reserves left,” he said.
“I understand the desire and the sentiment [behind the motion] … but they have a legal avenue of their own to pursue the principal contractor for the monies owing to them.”
During the meeting, councillors also received a report outlining issues with Jindabyne’s pool.
Cr Reuben Rose failed in his push to have council staff prepare a list of priority projects to be handed to councillors in June.
He said the “quite concerning” report highlighted ongoing safety and maintenance problems that weren’t fixed during roof placement works in 2022/23.
“It identifies ongoing mould, condensation and corrosion issues within the building. It identifies slip hazards and disability access shortcomings,” he said.
“It refers to chemical handling training gaps … This is something that, I think, we can’t just bypass.”
Ms Vu told councillors that work on a region-wide aquatic strategy was underway.
Under the current timeline, it’s expected the document will be ready for adoption by March 2027.
Cr Tricia Hopkins said a Jindabyne-specific list would mean “duplicate work” for staff.
“[To] ask the staff to create another report — focusing purely on the Jindabyne pool — when at the same time we’ve got an actual strategy of all of our pools literally in the final stages does seem to be a little bit superfluous,” she said.
