Dubbo Regional Council (DRC) will offer a contract for the management of the Dubbo Region Aquatic Leisure Centres to Belgravia Leisure under the fully external management model.
Councillors met for an extraordinary meeting on Friday 30 June to make the decision on whether to keep the aquatic centre management in-house or award it to an external company.
The extraordinary meeting followed a previous resolution of council that called for a Request for Proposals for the contract management of the three centres. Belgravia Leisure will be offered the contract for the running of the three centres including Dubbo, Wellington and Geurie from next season.
Dubbo Regional Council Mayor Mathew Dickerson said Belgravia would be able to add additional value to the management of the pools for the community that Council would not have been able to do.
“Belgravia Leisure is a management organisation with over 30 years of industry experience in managing swimming pools and currently manages more than 160 swimming pools on behalf of clients across Australia and New Zealand.
“They have been in the industry for a long time, they have a good track-record and we are excited to see what they can do to increase the participation across our aquatic leisure centres,” Clr Dickerson said.
“They have a lot of experience in what works and an operator at that scale will be able to value-add to the offerings, making the centres all the better for our community.”
Under a previous resolution made by Council in April, the contract will allow Dubbo Regional Council to set a minimum and maximum season length date for each centre, a minimum and maximum opening hours for each centre, a minimum and maximum admission fee and a minimum and maximum for other fees.
The slide opening hours, kiosk opening hours and fees for the slide and kiosk will be set by the contractor.
The contractor will be responsible for all operational maintenance while Council will remain responsible for all capital works and asset maintenance over $2,000 that may be required at any of the three facilities.
There are six affected full time Aquatic Centre staff members. They have been kept up to date throughout the process and will receive assistance through the transition period, with face-to-face meetings held to update them on the outcomes of the resolutions and next steps. Casual staff will also receive information to update them on the situation.
