News

Apr 22, 2023

Unreliable Makino Aquatic Centre frustrates pool users

A district council is being taken to task for the irregular hours its public

A district council is being taken to task for the irregular hours its public pool is keeping, and a lack of communication with the public about it.

Makino Aquatic Centre in Feilding recently scaled back its opening hours on weekends, closing at 4pm instead of 6pm, due to staff shortages, while problems with heating the pools has caused a number of late starts and the cancellation of lessons.

Rose Fowler had been a regular late afternoon swimmer at the pool on weekends as part of her rehabilitation after breaking her collarbone in a quad bike accident last summer.

Having paid $140 for a three-month pass, and also paying a targeted $192 annual rate for the pool as a local resident, she was frustrated both at the unreliable availability of a public amenity, and the failure of the council to tell the public why the hours were reduced and what was being done to bring them back.

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She said it was hopeless trying to get to the pool earlier on Saturday afternoons for people who had children.

Swimming lanes were also closed between 11.30am and 1.30pm on weekends while the inflatables were in use.

Lido Aquatic Centre in Palmerston North was open until 8pm on weekends, while community pools in Ashhurst and Levin opened even later than Makino, until 6pm and 5pm respectively.

Earlier this week Stuff reported on the strain for swimming lane space in Manawatū pools.

Fowler raised the issue with district councillors at a meeting on Thursday, saying ratepayers were being shortchanged. Sacrificing opening hours at the weekend, when most families were able to use the pools, was "absolutely crazy", Fowler said.

A media release from the council, issued within minutes of Fowler's address, explained that a shortage of qualified lifeguards and maintenance issues were providing challenges at the aquatic centre.

The council's general manager for community Lyn Daly said retention and recruitment was an issue for aquatic services throughout the country, and Covid-19 and seasonal bugs meant they sometimes did not have the necessary staffing levels to run the pools safely at full capacity.

The sudden and tragic death of aquatics manager Nita Reihana in February also had an impact on the team.

"In an attempt to address some of the issues around staffing, a new staff structure and roster has been created which aims to maximise the availability of staff," she said.

"It has meant a reduction in our opening hours on weekends, but the new roster and structure means we are less likely to need to close to the public at short notice over the winter period."

Daly said the intention was for opening hours to resume to normal as new staff were recruited and trained.

The team was also combating pool temperature fluctuations. Some equipment had already been replaced, and the facility would be assessed in June to see if the issues had been resolved or if further work was required.

"We apologise to the community for the impacts to service. It is frustrating for our customers and staff, and our team is working systematically to find solutions to the issues identified."

The public would be kept updated on the issues through the Makino Aquatic Centre website and social media channels.

Fowler was appreciative the council had stepped up its communication with the public.

When there was no response to her April 24 email to the council about the pool opening times, she emailed each of her 12 elected representatives, including mayor Helen Worboys.

None of them replied, but she received an email from the aquatic services manager on May 4.

Several councillors and the mayor apologised to Fowler for not getting back to her, some noting that it was an operational issue that the councillors wouldn't have been informed about.

Fowler said after the meeting she didn't expect they would necessarily have a solution or the answers to her questions, but had hoped they at least cared about an issue frustrating a lot of people in the community, and should have been aware of the agitation on social media.

"They should have cared, and they should have had their ear to the ground. I guess they don't have young families."