ALBURY and Wodonga city councils joint swimming pools alignment has been likened to an "open marriage" rather than a faithful union.
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O&M Aquatics Action Group leader Stuart Baker made the remark after Wodonga Council on Monday night supported a pools pay model with lane hire fees.
"When they (the councils) announced the contract they called it an agreement and it was seen as a wonderful thing, but as soon as there's a little trouble they treat it as separate," Mr Baker said.
"The marriage might be a little dissolved or it might be an open marriage where both parties do their own thing."
The former Albury mayor said there was a possibility each city could end up with different fees given the split.
Wodonga Amateur Swimming Club president John House said: "Given the deal with Aligned Leisure occurred under the Two Cities, One Community banner what applies in Albury needs to apply in Wodonga."
He said his council had been unwilling to discuss concerns.
"I think consultation through this whole process has been glaringly, obviously missing from Wodonga Council," Mr House said.
"We've made a few requests for meetings and Wodonga Council has just been sitting on their hands and waiting to see what happens in Albury."
Mr House said the perception promoted by councillors that swimmers have exclusive use over the pool at WAVES was wrong.
He said when training, club members used four of 10 lanes with the remainder open to the public.
"There's never been an issue where the general public haven't had room to swim in those six lanes of the pool," Mr House said.
Mr Baker said it was clear the debate over lane hire fees had seen fewer swimmers and water polo players use pools over summer.
"There's certainly been less participants this year and people are a bit demoralised by it all," he said.
"There are a lot of people who haven't been playing (water polo) this year; they've been a number of forfeits which means the numbers aren't there."
Wodonga Council's acting chief executive Debra Mudra on Monday night outlined the obligations to ratepayers required of pools operator Aligned Leisure.
"The contractor must provide monthly and quarterly reports to the council and council officers meet on a monthly and quarterly basis to discuss all facets that the contractor is required to report on," Ms Mudra said.
They include key performance indicators, business plan outcomes, marketing and promotion plan outcomes, incident reporting and maintenance reporting.
"The council believes it is reasonable to experience minor operational issues in any handover and transition period of four large facilities, also given the extreme weather conditions that have been a major factor, particularly over the summer," Ms Mudra said.
