At its meeting on 23 August, Council voted 8:3 in favour of completing the due process which will ultimately enable Council and the community to determine whether or not an Aquatic Centre in Denmark is feasible. The joint Council/DACCI Project Team had reported in April that there was not enough information available for Council to make an informed decision to proceed or otherwise and it identified those issues requiring further study (i.e. it provided a ‘job list’).
The Council Resolution sets three key dates. First the Director of Finance will be asked to comment on and assess the financial models, scenarios, assumptions and projections contained in the CCA Report and the Interim Report of the Project Team and the implications for Council’s future budgets and long term financial planning, The director will report back to the Project Team by no later than 30 November 2011. He will also be asked to convene a risk analysis seminar no later than 31 October 2011. The need for risk analysis has been stressed by the Department of Sport and Recreation and in the Interim Report’s ‘job list’ of unfinished business.
Finally, by no later than 28 February 2012, the Project team will be invited to report back to Council on its assessment of the Director of Finance’s assessment and the risk analysis exercise. This will also be the time to report on progress in addressing the outstanding issues already identified in the April job list and its recommendations on how to deal with any remaining problems. At this time, the Project Team will be expected to comment on its progress towards recommending “a decision to implement, amend, postpone, stage development or abandon the proposal”.
Clearly, whenever such a recommendation is made, it will be a new Council charged with the decision. Nominations to this new Council close at 4pm today and voting packages will be posted next Thursday. The poll closes on Saturday 15th October.
With this in mind, DACCI urges all those with an interest in the Aquatic Centre to discuss the issue with their candidates. From this perspective, all that can be asked is that the twelve members of the new council will make evidence based decisions rather than exercise their preconceptions. It was reassuring to see that, in its vote on 23 August, the outgoing Council scored well in this regard since 8 out of 11 voted for the evidence based approach.
Caption: The Leisure Pool at the Hobart Aquatic Centre operates at close to ambient temperature to optimise energy use. The shallow entry Toddler’s Pool in the foreground varies in depth from zero to 1.2m and leads into the side of a six-lane Lap Pool 1.0 to 1.4m deep running left to right. The green plastic frog shown here in rear view, allows even the smallest kids to climb safely and be disgorged down its tongue into the water.
Cyril Edwards, DACCI, denmarkpool@gmail.com and http://www.denmarkpool.blogspot.com.
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