Management of the Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre will be handed back to the City of Ballarat, less than three years after a decade long contract was controversially awarded to the YMCA.
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The decision comes days after a series of confidential crisis meetings were held between the YMCA board and the council.
The Courier understands serious issues about the current management of the facility were raised, including breaches of occupational healthy and safety standards.
It comes weeks after the resignation of YMCA Ballarat chief executive Colin Hunt who left ten months after taking the top job and BALC director Scott Mckay who also left the company on the same day, four months after starting the role.
It also mirrored steps taken by the council last year to drop YMCA management of the Eureka and Buninyong pools.
In a statement released Monday morning, YMCA Ballarat acting chief executive Stephen Bendle said the organisation and the council reached a mutual agreement to cease YMCA’s management of the centre from this week.
Mr Bendle said the YMCA will still deliver its “core suite of programs and services” including swimming lessons, gymnastics programs and creche.
All employees will be retained by the council but Mr Bendle anticipated the management overhaul would be difficult for staff.
“We expect that this situation will be challenging for many YMCA staff members, some of whom have been working for the Y for years,” Mr Bendle said. Ballarat chief executive Anthony Schinck said current membership costs at the centre would be kept.
The City of Ballarat declined to delve into the specifics of the $5.8 million contract between the council and the YMCA deeming it a confidential agreement.
But Mr Schinck said there would be no cost to the council or ratepayers in the process of transferring the centre's management operations.
"It's not a termination of a contract because it was mutually agreed upon by both parties," he said. "It was agreed upon by both parties that the best way forward for the community was for the council to manage the centre."
The shake-up was welcomed by Ballarat sporting identity and former YMCA board member Steve Hardy who recently condemned a decision by Ballarat YMCA’s to drop a popular swimming program from its curriculum.
Mr Hardy said he felt the organisation “had lost its way” and was not adhering to its core values.
“My view is that the focus of this centre has not been in the interests of the people of Ballarat in recent times,” Mr Hardy.
“I hope that the council can steer the centre back on track and make it a focus to provide programs that are accessible and affordable to anybody in the community who needs it.”
