WODONGA'S mayor has compared swimmers to cricketers in supporting lane hire fees at her city's pools.
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Anna Speedie drew the parallel as her council voted 4-1 on Monday night to have a monthly licence usage model for the rest of the city's contract with pools operator Aligned Leisure.
She said the arrangement would "make the fees for swimming only $30 more expensive than an adult for a cricket season".
"Cricket has a four-week shorter season and also cricket is often training up to half the number of times over that season, therefore the actual cost of a swimmer is actually lower than cricket," Cr Speedie said.
She said it was "unfair" that pool users were not contributing at similar rates to other sporting participants.
The gallery on Monday night was filled with swimming figures, including O&M Aquatics Action Group leader Stuart Baker and Albury and Wodonga club chiefs.
Cr Speedie acknowledged the fiasco surrounding lane fees, noting the council wrongly believed they were being applied by previous Wodonga pools contractor, the YMCA.
"Upon reflection could this process have been done better?" she asked.
"The answer is 'yes', however it is always really easy to reflect in hindsight.
"The fundamental position still stands, users must contribute to their use of community assets and we must ensure equity and fairness is applied across all our sporting codes."
Councillor Danny Lowe opted to vote against the immediate introduction of the monthly model.
"We...did enter this agreement as part of our Two Cities, One Community approach and we should continue to have a combined approach to reach an agreement that would be acceptable to Aligned and the community as a whole," Cr Lowe said.
"Whatever happens consistency regarding lane hire fees, both sides of the border, is key.
"I feel a winter consultation with an August 15 deadline to have a solution for the community as a whole is necessary."
Councillor Libby Hall said that last year she had supported the continuation of the YMCA as Wodonga's pools operator.
"I never saw the contract agreement that was to be awarded to the pool manager before the decision at council was made," Cr Hall said.
"So I was not aware of what the details were in the contract and what was in and what was out.
"I think this should have been made available to us at the time, but having said that I don't think it would have made a difference to the lane hire fees and the situation we are dealing with now."
Former John Watson said it was "not our responsibility" to speak to user groups, that was the role of Aligned Leisure.
Deputy mayor Kat Bennett and councillor Ron Mildren did not participate in the debate because of conflicts of interest.
They related to Cr Bennett's job at Gateway Health and Cr Mildren being a board member of Mungabareena Aboriginal Corporation.