Geoff Helisma | Steve Pickering might be relatively new to the Ulmarra community, but he sees that as an advantage when it comes to a last ditch bid to save the Ulmarra pool from Clarence Valley Council’s wrecking ball. Mr Pickering, who is the president of the residents association, Ulmarra Village Inc, says he is reacting to what the community desires. Free of the baggage that came with a previous fight to save the pool, which was voted down 5-4 by the valley’s councillors in December 2016, Mr Pickering’s focus is on doing what he feels is “the right thing” to do. Mr Pickering’s advocacy has won the first round of what he perceives will be “a long, long fight” to reopen the pool, which has been closed since the end of the 2016/17 swimming season. At the October 16 Clarence Valley Council (CVC) meeting, Cr Karen Toms, who previously voted to close the pool, led the charge. Councillors Simmons, Clancy, Ellem and Novak voted against a motion to close the pool at the December 2016 CVC meeting. Debate and discussion took close to two hours of the meeting, with various amendments debated. Councillor Andrew Baker proposed deferring demolition of the pool and facilities until December 17. However, Cr Toms argued that the time frame was too short. Eventually councillors, Toms, Simmons, Clancy, Ellem and Novak held sway, extending the date to March 19, 2019 and resolving “to allow for any community organisation or government department to submit any innovative ideas for the community to take over the responsibility and running of the pool, including social enterprise models, purchasing or leasing the facility known as the Ulmarra pool”. During a debate about how long the Ulmarra community would be given to come up with a plan, Cr Toms said she was “very interested in social enterprise and business [combining] to solve a problem”. “It’s a perfect model for this problem,” she said, “we have a community who wants to take over the pool … [and] we [CVC] have a problem, a pool that costs too much to run.” She said allowing only 60 days to find a solution would “not demonstrate that we [CVC] are open to community heroes stepping up”. “What will it hurt to change from December to March [to allow] … for more ideas from the community?” she said. Councillor Andrew Baker had a different view; he said it was “only on the mayor’s advice” that he “included the 60 days” in his amendment and that extending the submission date was “a little bit cruel to the community”. Councillor Greg Clancy disagreed, saying that it wasn’t promoting “false hope … we’re just giving enough time [for the community] to pursue a whole range of possibilities”. Councillor Arthur Lysaught judged Mr Pickering to be “a smart operator” but “believed 60 days was sufficient”. Councillor Peter Ellem pointed out that time would be needed to liaise or negotiate with the NSW Education Department, noting that “people switch off during December and January”. Meanwhile, Mr Pickering said the cost of running the pool would be the main issue. He said he was in the early stages of communicating with potential users of the pool, including Rathgar Lodge nursing home, local schools and the SES. People interested in assisting can contact him via email at info@ulmarra.com.au.