During deliberations on its long-term plan last week, the district council agreed to take over the Ida MacDonald Roxburgh Pool if asked to do so by the pool committee, which was given a week to make the call.
At a meeting late last week, committee members opted to do just that, with eight out of ten voting to vest the community asset with the council.
Pool committee member Rick Kristel, who chaired the meeting, said the decision had been "pretty straightforward" after two summer seasons spent struggling to recruit lifeguards.
"One of our fundamental goals in building the pool was for young people and older people to be able to make use of it anytime," he said.
"Having lifeguards via the council, we can make sure those age groups can then go to the pool whenever they like, which is what we wanted."
Health and safety obligations also factored into the committee’s decision, Mr Kristel said.
Some of the committee members had committed to the group "for building the pool, not running it", and handing the pool over to the council meant liability for the safe running of the facility no longer rested on the shoulders of community volunteers.
"In the days gone past, it wasn’t as big a deal, but it is nowadays," he said.
In its long-term plan consultation document, the council said taking over ownership would cost the district’s ratepayers $250,000 a year, which equated to an average cost of $260 per ratepayer in the Teviot Valley and an average cost of $16.85 per ratepayer across the rest of the district.
Mr Kristel said the pool became a "political football" as a result, and there appeared to be little consensus among local submitters on the proposal — some claiming the move was rushed and void of adequate local consultation.
During long-term plan hearings, Teviot Valley Community Board chairman Norm Dalley told the council the issue of what to do with the pool had caused "considerable angst" in the community.
"People are totally entitled to their views, but from the pool committee, we are very comfortable with what we did," Mr Kristel told Allied Press on Monday.
"We had to do what was best for our pool — the longevity of its running and access for our swimmers. That’s what it came down to in the end."
The pool opened in December 2023 after years of fundraising, community grants and volunteer hours by members of the pool committee.
It has three open-air pools heated by solar panel and heat pump water heating systems and was built behind Roxburgh Area School on the site of an 89-year-old pool that was demolished in 2022.
Mr Kristel said he was hopeful the community would continue to contribute to the running of the pool in a meaningful way, as it had done for decades, perhaps through fundraising and working bees.
The council is set to take control of the pool on July 1.
