The City of Newcastle has confirmed a decision has been made on a tender of its pools in response to questions about it quietly advertising a public notice in a Sydney newspaper a week ago calling for comments on the proposed lease.
City of Newcastle CEO Jeremy Bath has selected Bluefit as the preferred tender for the management and operation of the pools, triggering a call for public submissions on the proposal.
The council confirmed this after the Herald asked questions about a classified advertisement in the Daily Telegraph on Monday, July 3, which said the council is "inviting comments on a proposed lease to Bluefit... for the management and operation of its five inland pools".
"The initial term of the proposed lease is 7 years, with two 7-year options at CN's discretion, pending capital investment," the advertisement continued.
The notice also appeared on the council's website on the public notices page as a link titled 'Proposed Lease'.
The Local Government Act requires the council to give public notice of community land lease proposals which are greater than five years. The public must be given 28 days to make a submission, and if someone makes a submission objecting to the proposal, the council cannot grant the lease without the Minister's consent.
Regular swimmers at public pools in Newcastle said they were not aware of the call for public submissions.
Several Newcastle councillors also said they were unaware of the open submission process.
"It comes as a surprise," Greens councillor John Mackenzie said.
"It's highly uncommon for us to not promote opportunities for feedback through local media."
The Herald asked the council where the notice was advertised, why it was not advertised in the Herald and why the Daily Telegraph notice did not include City of Newcastle branding or a logo.
The council did not answer those questions, but a report from the CEO which the council said will be published on its website on July 11 says "a public notice will be placed on the CN website, as well as advertised in a widely available newspaper, and made available at each of the five swimming centres".
The five pools are currently closed for the winter period.
The council also put out a media release about the tender after receiving the Herald's questions.
The decision to award the tender does not permit the signing of a contract with BlueFit, the CEO's report said, "rather it triggers the inviting of comment from any member of the public regarding the appropriateness of the proposed lease".
"At the conclusion of 28 days public exhibition, the CEO will consider any submissions and then take any required next steps in forming a final decision," the report said.
A decision on whether to award BlueFit the contract to manage Newcastle's local pools will be made in August.
The decision was delegated to the CEO after Labor councillors declared conflicts of interest in the matter, meaning a quorum of councillors could not be reached to vote on awarding a tender.
The CEO report said the lease will cost $1,411,292 per year, and "represents a saving of $39 million to ratepayers, when compared to an in-house operation".
Lambton, Mayfield, Wallsend and Stockton were previously leased to BlueFit. Beresfield was run by council, while Bluefit managed its turnstile and kiosk.
Submissions can be made in writing to The City of Newcastle, Inland Pools Lease, PO Box 489, Newcastle, 2300. Submissions close Monday, July 31.
