The long running debate about the Lismore Lake Pool continues with councillors, the General Manager and the Federal Member for Page all getting involved.

During the June 16 council meeting when the Operational Plan for 2020/21 was being discussed and ultimately passed, there was passionate discussion about the Lismore Lake Pool.

Councillor Nancy Casson put an amendment forward to include the Lake Pool in the 2020 Operational Plan with no funding attached but stated she was aware of funding through the Federal member for Page's office.

This was disputed by Mayor and Chair of council meetings Isaac Smith who said there was no forthcoming funding. Cnr Casson replied that "It is funded Mr Mayor, it is funded and I'm clarifying that with the Federal member's Office.

Cnr Casson went on to say there were text messages sent to Mayor Smith and General Manager Shelley Oldham about funding offered for the Lismore airport flight landing, the Hannah Cabinet and the Lake Pool.

Ultimately, the amendment was then voted down by the majority of councillors so the Lismore Lake Pool was not included in the Operational Plan for this coming financial year funded or not.

The fight doesn't end there.

Yesterday, Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan released this statement.

"There was no request from Lismore City Council for the funding of Lismore Lake Pool. I informally approached Council that I could get $2 million for the project during the 2019 election campaign. Council said they were not interested as they were looking at selling the land."

The Lismore App then received this statement from the General Manager of Lismore City Council Shelley Oldham;

"Council is in regular communications with both State and Federal Governments regarding grant and funding opportunities. We follow a strict process of analysis, evaluation, and consultation prior to any submissions being made to Local Members to ensure any funding accepted does not impact on future budget maintenance and our resourcing strategy.

Preliminary conversations are conducted regularly, and before proceeding with any submissions to State and Federal members the Corporate Planning processes are followed to ensure appropriate levels of probity, transparency and alignment with councils direction.

Up to, and until, this process begins all communications are confidential, as to not impact a variety of matters, including procurement, cost benefit analysis, maintenance impacts, risk evaluations and more. Unfortunately, as has been made clear throughout recent public Council meetings, the issue of Councillor and Staff confidentiality has been a recurring hindrance.

I am aware of a draft press release referencing potential grant funding from a Federal Member of Parliament that has found its way into Council. At no time had council sought funding, been consulted as to whether funding was required, any agreement been made, nor any formal process initiated, as per the appropriate processes. The Federal MP in question was notified some time ago of a security breach within his office and I am sure that will be handled by the affected MP in an appropriate manner.

It is the responsibility of all members of Lismore City Council to adhere to confidentiality guidelines, but at times this has been ignored to the detriment of both Council’s public perception and broader community outcomes, and once again this seems to be the case.

We want to make it clear that we are always looking at any opportunities that will better enable us to deliver on the outcomes detailed in our Delivery Program and the activities in the Operational Plan.

Recently we have secured Federal funding of $4.2m to facilitate improvements to the Lismore Regional Airport, State and Federal funding of $4.7m to facilitate upgrades to Oakes Oval and Crozier Field and $1.5m in State funding for CBD revitalisation.

Now more than ever it is important we work closely with all levels of government to secure funding and ensure our community is not impacted unnecessarily given recent circumstances."

Regardless of funding being offered and rejected, the fact remains that the Lismore Lake Pool is not included in the Operational Plan for 2020/21 but have we heard the last of this controversial community facility that was closed in 2011, some nine years ago? More than likely....no.