Ratepayers of Corowa, Mulwala, Howlong and Urana will bear the operating cost of the facility as it will come from rate revenue. Other services currently provided by council will have to be cut to accommodate the extra impost of operating a heated 25-metre, eight-lane pool.

Gail Law was quoted in The Border Mail on September 4 last year that she didn’t want Chris Gillard sacked because of the cost of $500,000 or more to ratepayers, but now she will vote in favour of a heated pool facility which will shackle the ratepayers of Federation Council to an ongoing cost the same or more, year after year?

The projected operating cost of a heated facility $500,000 by Otium (the pool consultant) is well under comparable regional facilities, in fact less than half.

Will seniors and learn to swim customers use Corowa's heated facility when they realise it won’t be another HP Barr Aquatic Centre (where they apparently patronise). HP Barr will have more facilities, classes and probably cheaper entry – just because more people live in Wangaratta, therefore higher rate revenue to subsidise operating costs.

Comparative aquatic facilities in our region offer gyms and creches, will Federation Council have to introduce these services, in direct competition with local businesses, to increase patronage and income for a heated facility?

A 50-metre facility can attract destination tourism through aquathons, marathons, water polo competition, swimming competitions, inflatable fun parks, etc. A 50-metre facility offers much more diversity than a 25-metre pool.

Corowa had a heated pool facility at the Corowa Golf Club which failed financially.

Can we just proceed with the tendering process for a 50-metre facility with a splash pad, and when the numbers stack up for a heated facility, we get one of those too? We need to stop stalling this project!

I encourage all residents of Indigo Shire to read the “Draft Economic Development Strategy” (88 pages) and the “Indigo Destination Game Changer 2023 Tourism Strategy” (134 pages) along with the “Indigo Destination Game Changer 2023 Tourism Strategy Summary” (22 pages – yes the “summary” is that long!) that can be obtained from Indigo Shire offices or downloaded from the website.

These tomes of “cut and paste” waffle of almost biblical proportions would have made Sir Humphrey Appleby of the TV series “Yes, Prime Minister” fame very proud.

In “Yes, Prime Minister” it was common for the bureaucrats to “snow” their political masters under with paperwork and documents so that they (the bureaucrats) were left free to build their own little empires.

Fiction often reflects reality. Consultants were paid tens of thousands of dollars of ratepayers' money to produce these documents. Consultants only tell people what they want to hear.

Wouldn't it be good if the Council stuck to “roads, rates and rubbish” and saved us all a great deal of money? Residents of Indigo Shire have until July 13th to comment about these documents.