14 December 2017
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Aquatic Centre/InfraCore hikoi to council
Enquiry
- The Council meeting was only eight minutes long, before going into at least half an hour of confidential, were any additional items added to the confidential agenda?
- A member of the public said the meeting felt "rushed" did they rush to go into confidential knowing the hikoi was arriving?
- The public session of the meeting lasted eight minutes, has there ever been a shorter public section of a council meeting?
- Why did council go into lock down and not allow members of the public into the council meeting? When they arrived it was still in public session.
- Why did no member of council leave the meeting to accept the petition?
- In the past the council has sent a representative to accept a petition? If yes, why not this time?
- Protesters were concerned CLM will take all profits from the aquatic centre out of Rotorua, will it be at CLM's discretion where the profits go? Has any agreement been made to keep any aquatic centre profits in Rotorua?
- Will CLM continue the community swimming programs that are currently offered by Swim Rotorua?
- What was the consultation process with staff in regards to the outsourcing and their job security?
- Ngati Whakau gifted the land the aquatic centre sits on, was it part of the consultation process?
- One member of the public said if council did not have the skills to see a $700k gap in the budget then they should be audited. Will there be any process to have the council's budget audited by an external organisation?
- Have the aquatic centre operations costs been cut each year? What were the operation costs each year for the last ten years?
We will also be needing to speak the Mayor, so if you could make sure she is expecting our call.
Response
The Daily Post was offered an interview with the Mayor and CE Geoff Williams - the full interview can be viewed at THIS LINK
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Media: Te Kaea (Maori Television)
Topic: Aquatic Centre/InfraCore hikoi to council
Enquiry
Reporter sought comment from the Council regarding the hikoi by Aquatic Staff and supporters this morning to their concerns:
i) They want the community pools to continue to be owned and run by the community, and not by outside management group Community Leisure Management.
ii) They are also disputing Lakes Council's lake of consultation over the outsource decision and no opportunity given for staff to present alternative ideas for the pools running.
- What is the response from the Council to their concerns?
- Why were marchers shut out from the Councillors meeting today?
Response
From Operations Group Manager Henry Weston:
The Aquatic Centre will still be owned by the community - it has not been sold or privatised.
We are partnering with an expert in this field to deliver the outcomes we determine.
36 of the centre's 38 permanent staff have opportunities for jobs with the new managers, on the same pay and similar conditions. We're continuing to explore options for the remaining two.
The new partnership is expected to result in improved outcomes for the community through new and extended programmes and initiatives.
All current services and programmes will continue and there will be no change in fees with the changeover.
The centre will also be run by the external contractor for approximately $700,000 less per year than it has been costing council to run it in-house.
In terms of the process, negotiations are ongoing and the matter is going to mediation so it wouldn't be appropriate to comment on that at this time.
