An open letter from Brendon Shiels – President of the Ovens & Murray District Swimming Association.

The Albury and Wodonga Councils have a problem with the contract to manage the Council pools that
they signed with Aligned Leisure. Rather than admit to their mistake they have been trying to transfer
the cost of their mistake on to the Local Swimming & Water Polo Clubs.

When the Albury and Wodonga Councils tendered for the pool management it appears that the Council
officers responsible did not understand the fees charged to the pool user groups despite operating the
pools for a number of years.

The schedule of fees provided with the tender package included a lane hire fee which is normally
charged to businesses wanting to use Council facilities.

In the Albury Council information session the Management of Aligned Leisure admitted that they
“assumed” the lane hire fees were charged to all user groups (ie: all business and volunteer user
groups). Further, they put the lane hire fee in their cost model and never tested this assumption. It has
become clear that the Council Officers responsible did not pick this up (if it was listed as an assumption)
and this resulted in Aligned Leisure being awarded the management contract.

Since awarding the contract, the Councils, through their Media departments, have maintained the
application of these fees has been “Inconsistent”. The truth is that the application of these fees has
been very consistent – the previous pool operators did not apply them to Volunteer Swimming and
Water Polo Clubs. The inconsistency is that the Council Officers responsible did not understand the cost
model for the pools they were responsible for.

The Council Officers and Aligned Leisure then tried to cover up this mistake by attempting to charge the
Swimming and Water Polo clubs lane hire fees. Based on the level of fees suggested, we estimate that
they are trying to collect an additional $100,000.00 a year or $500,000.00 over the period of the
contract.

If the Aligned Leisure assumption had have been flagged by Council or tested by Aligned Leisure by
contacting a Swimming or Water Polo Club then the results of the tender would have been very
different.

We understand the YMCA, as an incumbent manager, did understand the fee structure and their tender
did not include lane hire fees to volunteer clubs. If Aligned Leisure had tested their assumption and
removed the fee from their model their tender amount would have been at least $500,000 more than
that of the YMCA and we would have a different pool operator.

The Presidents of the Swimming & Water Polo Districts then had 3 meetings with the operator and the
Council Officers responsible. At these meetings it felt like we were talking to 3 representatives of
Aligned Leisure. We explained that Swimming and Water Polo clubs could not afford these charges,
which in the case of swimming where 90% of the swimmers are 16 years old or younger, these costs
would pass straight through to the Swimmers parents.

We then had the publicity machine of the Councils swing into action with the Mayors publicly saying
that Swimming had it too easy for too long and needed to pay up. I have been on the board of the
Ovens & Murray District Swimming Association for over 11 years and we have never been approached
by Council about contributing more to the operation of these pools.
There have been various comparisons with other sports written by the Councils, but they all miss the
point. Swimming is a life skill, it is the one sport that can save your life. By having affordable prices to
enter the Council pools you are keeping kids out of the rivers and provide the skills these kids need if
they accidentally fall in our unfenced rivers and creeks. Do the sports of netball, basketball, football,
cricket or tennis provide the participants with a skill that might save their life?

The Ovens & Murray District Swimming Association Inc. was established on 7th December 1947 and
currently consists of 15 Swimming Clubs in 2 Divisions in North East Victoria and Southern New South
Wales. The Association is managed by a Board elected from members of the affiliated clubs. The
District provides the timing equipment and Nationally Qualified Officials to all swimming Meets run in
the District. The Association also provides timing equipment and Officials to local School meets and
other Swimming events such as the “Big Splash” and the Deaf Games. The District is also the hosting
authority for any State level meets that are offered by Swimming Victoria.

Brendon Shiels – President, Ovens & Murray District Swimming Association