Lake Talbot swimming pool is now open and ready for visitors but it was by far one of the most contentious issues dealt with by the Narrandera Shire Council during the Argus newspaper’s more than three months recess.

The contention revolved around the Council’s decision to go against its staff recommendation and adopt a local tender for the lease of the Lake Talbot Water Park.

Council adopted the dearest tender, a local one, at its July meeting and at its next meeting in August identified funding sources to pay for the extra half a million dollars sought by the successful contractor.

The staff proposal to the July meeting was to accept a ($1,056,272.73 ex GST) quote from Leisure and Recreation Group but it was ousted in favour of the tender from current local contractors Eskapold Logistics ($1,527,257 ex GST) on the basis of their “excellent service in all aspects over the past 15 years”.

Council’s August meeting then adopted the 2021-22 budget amendments to fund additional lease payments for the pool on the motion of Cr Narelle Payne seconded by Cr Jenny Clarke. These included cuts to human resources training, Bettering Barellan and Grong Grong community funds, the Parkside museum, railway station, arts and culture and other areas.

A foreshadowed motion by Deputy Mayor Cr Kevin Morris and Cr Tracy Lewis that the extra funding be found by increasing the Lake Talbot entrance fee did not proceed and Cr Lewis requested her vote be recorded as against the motion.

The five year budget for the water park is $1,419,164, which covers the contract amount and electricity to run the plant. Council has allowed $70,000 annually for electricity, leaving a budget of $1,069,164 for the contract and ancillary expenses.

Only one tenderer, Leisure and Recreation Group, was within the budget, which meant the extra cost incurred by choosing the local contractor needed to be covered by reducing another council budget.

The staff proposal became known just prior to the Council’s July meeting and resulted in a public outcry on social media and in the community amid calls for the Council to reject it and re-appoint the local tenderer.

Cr Tracey Lewis’s amendment to the motion to accept the cheapest tender and extend the current lease for 12 months to provide an opportunity to capture a full year’s expenses and incomes lapsed after Mayor Neville Kschenka ruled it out of order.

The successful motion moved by Cr Narelle Payne and seconded by Deputy Mayor David Fahey that Council not accept the staff recommended tender for a five year period (with option of five further years) in favour of the local tenderer in view of their excellent service was adopted.

The motion also called for possible funding sources to be identified at the Council’s August meeting, where they were subsequently adopted by Council.

Eskapold has 15 years experience managing the Lake Talbot water park and Leisure and Recreation currently manages six pools across Cootamundra, Cobar, Bland and Lachlan local government areas.

Council’s assessment panel considered the Leisure and Recreation Group the best value for money.

The assessment panel’s comments on the two tenders, Leisure and Recreation Group and Eskapold, were:

“Leisure and Recreation Group is a professional and well presented submission, with evidence of good management systems in place, a smaller operator with sound regional facility management experience and the tender price under budget application.

“Eskapold has 15 years experience of managing the Lake Talbot Water Park, demonstrated basic documented systems, lacked adequate information on systems that would reduce risk and enhance operations and did not fully demonstrate abilities to operate the facility, rather relied on Council’s knowledge of their past experience. Tender price over budget allocation.”

The staff report to Council concluded that there was always some risk in engaging a new operator and there would be a period of integration into a new site and adjustment by the users and community. This risk was counteracted by engaging a contractor with well-developed systems and experience which resulted in a reduction of the overall risk to council.

A late staff report tabled at the Council’s July meeting pointed out that price was only one of the criteria assessed. The panel also looked at ability to manage risk and safety, capacity and experience, benefit to local community and value adding with the final recommendation focussing on value for money.

Among the residents and groups to speak out publicly against the staff proposal prior to the July meeting  was former local shire councillor Bob Manning.

Mr Manning said the Council had acted against its own ‘Buy Local’ campaign in recommending the new contractor and the 60% weighting given to price in the tender process was at the cost of safety, an arguably significantly more important consideration in the management of Lake Talbot Pool.

He previously called on Facebook users who lived in Narrandera and surrounds to contact at least one councillor to express their concern.

Mr Manning pointed out that the Council at its June meeting had supported A Buy Local Campaign and the staff recommendation regarding the pool contract did not reflect this call.  He also considered the process to be procedurally unfair.

“In the report provided to Council, the submission of Eskapold Logistics Pty Ltd was totally critical without any good features, which does not reflect the community views of their performance nor the fact that they were ranked highly against the other tenders.

“It is also important to reflect on what the referees had to say in regard to the successful operation by Eskapold Logistics over the last decade. The question arises were the referees actually contacted, as there is no such mention in the Council report, compared to Leisure & Recreation Group Pty Ltd, particularly in regards to the question of structure and operational management abilities.”

The Narrandera Swimming Club lodged a submission against the proposal to give the contract to the Leisure Group.

“Our biggest concern besides our satisfaction with the current operator is that engaging a new operator with the potential for lane hire fees that would force the Swimming Club to charge training fees for club swimmers and increase costs and fees for the annual swimming carnival.

“Also a significant proportion of our squad and learn to swim participants would drop out of swimming and participation in the Club if private lessons and monthly training fees were introduced by the new operators.

“Swimming is a skill that saves lives and as a river town it is an essential skill for young people, not just those who can afford it.”