Increasing costs in recent years led to council withdrawing paid staff from weekends, with the facilities manned throughout the week but volunteers being sought for Saturday and Sunday.

In eight out of 10 months this year there has been at least one weekend day where the museum and visitor centre were closed, with more than half of weekend days being affected in June, September and October.

General manager Steven Pinnuck wrote in his report to council that there had been concern from business owners and visitors regarding the closures, which happened when volunteers were unavailable. 

Warren and Helen Thompson, who run the Submarine Cafe, wrote to council in November about visitors’ complaints.

“People coming off the freeway to go to the visitor information centre or making a special trip to Holbrook for the museum have expressed their disappointment when it has been closed,” Mrs Thompson told The Border Mail.

“One family had travelled from South Australia especially because their son had connections with submarines.

“Traditionally in Holbrook, busy days are Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, when people are travelling through and stop at towns off the Hume Freeway.

“The museum is brilliant – people who we have sent over have come back and said ‘Thanks’ and that they enjoyed it.

“It’s a pity that on two of the busiest days, when people want to access it, it is sometimes closed.”

In the past five years, the visitor centre and museum have generated between $20,000 and $28,000 in income annually, with costs to council typically above $150,000 – though they were lowest in 2017/2018.

Mr Pinnuck outlined three options to reinstate paid staff to the weekend shifts as a trial, favouring the scenario in which the working hours of council’s Tourism and Communications Assistant changes to include Saturday, and a casual staff member is employed for Sunday.

The change in the council staffer’s hours would mean the visitor centre and museum would close every Monday, except for public holidays.

If councillors vote to approve this option at tonight’s meeting, a three-month trial at the cost of $5074 start on January 1.

A five-year lease for a electric vehicle charging station to be built by the NRMA at the same Submarine park precinct will also be up for vote tonight.

The NRMA wants to establish its first charging station for electric vehicles in Southern NSW at the Gallipoli Victoria Cross Rest Area in Holbrook.

A $10 million fast-charging network across NSW and ACT is being built, with five completed so far.

NRMA chief investment officer Rachel Wiseman said the approximate $100,000 investment to build a single station in Holbrook would “activate the Greater Hume region for electric vehicle motorists”.

“We know that Australia’s uptake of electric vehicles has been quite slow and one of the key reasons for this is range anxiety, which is why we’re working towards solving that problem,” she said.

“Unlike many existing EV chargers, ours would be a universal adaptor, allowing most electric car models to use the charging plug. 

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“It would also be a fast charging station, which will allow most EV motorists to charge their cars within about 30 minutes, as opposed to the three to six hours it takes many existing public stations to charge.”

The request for an initial five-year lease term will go to vote tonight.

There are also plans to set up stations at West Wyalong and Narrandera.