The last column by our mayor (MyCity Logan, August 23-29) seemed to be a rebuttal to the issues surrounding the closure of the Eagleby pool.
I understand where he’s coming from and agree that council debates that go “in camera” (into confidential discussion,) leave no room for discussion of the details discussed.
What is being missed here and not being answered are questions that are not looking for sensitive information. For example, “Did the seven councillors and the mayor who voted for its closure visit the site before voting? Did they speak to local residents before voting?”
These are close-ended questions that shouldn’t fall behind the confidentiality clause.
We still have no answers as to why it’s shutting down in the first place. We have received a vague two-sentence response from Cr Power who said that the pool was simply “tired and dated”.
This pool was built in the early ’80s. The Springwood pool was also built around the same time and is receiving a $9 million upgrade. The Beenleigh pool is twice as old and is receiving a nearly $16 million upgrade after receiving a $5 million upgrade only a few years ago. Eagleby has thousands more residents than both of those places.
We have been told by our local councillor that it has to do with the electric shock incident and that is what was being discussed behind closed doors. The thing is, we are all well aware of the incident and the implications. It’s been reported on publicly.
We are knowledgeable as to how it can be rectified. We are even accepting of, as a worst case, that one section that is affected being closed (it doesn’t affect the whole pool complex). We also have to ask, if the OHS report has still not been concluded (hence the reason for a veil of secrecy,) why would council go to a vote now and not defer?
We also have asked and been answered with the “confidential” excuse being given, if our councillor and the other four who voted to keep the pool open, still think that it’s a viable option.
They were all behind the same closed doors for the debate, they all received the same information, and a substantial number of councillors came out of those doors saying, “leave it open”.
Surely on that basis alone we have a right to believe that that leaves room for continued discussion with the actual community who use the facility.
Nate Hamon,
Eagleby.
