Wodonga councillor Olga Quilty has called for better management of the indoor pool at the city's leisure centre.
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Her concerns were aired as the council voted 6-1 to have Aligned Leisure continue to manage the city's pools at the leisure centre and WAVES for a further five years.
At Monday night's council meeting, a tender of $4.83 million was agreed upon, subject to Albury Council also entering the same deal for its pools at its meeting on March 25.
Cr Quilty said she and her family were regular patrons at the leisure centre.
"With hand on my heart I would like to see better management of this aquatic facility," Cr Quilty said.
"We had discussions some time ago and were told that due to several COVID years of closures, the management and the attendance of the facility has suffered and we were assured it will pick up and get better.
"I don't think this facility is having its best day at the moment."
Councillor Libby Hall had praised Aligned Leisure, a subsidiary of the Richmond Football Club, that began managing Albury and Wodonga council pools in July 2018.
"I think that they've probably been doing a good job in managing our pools," Cr Hall said.
The entity was one of two providers to submit a tender for the contract, with the other Belgravia Leisure managing pools in Towong, Indigo and Alpine shires.
An aquatics working group, involving staff from Albury and Wodonga councils, assessed both submissions and scored the bids on various criteria with Aligned recording 100 points compared to Belgravia's 92.
Aligned scored more on capacity, capability and methodology and program delivery, while its scores on experience and social and sustainable benefits to the local region were equal with Belgravia.
Deputy mayor Danny Chamberlain expressed concern there were only two suitors.
"I'm a little disappointed that we didn't get more tenders but it's possibly reflective of the post-COVID environment where it's fairly limited to get the number of people to get together and tender for these things," Cr Chamberlain said.
"Prior to that there were a number of other municipalities/councils and whatever that may have put a tender up."
The new agreement, if supported by Albury Council, will take effect from July 1, 2024.
The operating cost for the Wodonga pools in 2023-24 has been budgeted at $1.07 million, with the highest annual figure for the next five years put at $1.02 million with 2024-25's figure set at $959,940.
