Uncertainty surrounds the opening date of Tauranga's $16.3 million BayWave aquatic and leisure centre as negotiations to decide the fate of the council's pools management contract drag into their fourth week.
H2O Management launched a rescue bid to save the contract when it looked like the council would invoke an escape
clause following the jailing of company director Peter McNamara for rape.
With construction of the aquatic centre due to finish about September 19, time is running out for Tauranga City Council to confirm a management contract because commissioning will be linked to training new staff.
The last council estimate of the opening had been Labour Weekend but council communications adviser Frank Begley said on Friday that the opening date had not been confirmed.
He said it depended on how negotiations went with H2O management.
City Mayor Stuart Crosby said council chief executive Stephen Town was still working through the issues with H2O's co-director, Joanne Percy.
There had been no reporting back to the council on progress with the negotiations - either formally or informally.
"We have given Stephen the discretion to resolve the issues."
Mr Crosby said the construction contractor and operator of BayWave needed to have things running smoothly before the pools opened to the public - the opening date depended on the commissioning process.
Also at stake in the negotiations was the $3 million that H2O Management intended to inject into the aquatic centre, in exchange for exclusive management rights to all the council's swimming pools.
The threat that the council would bail out of its contract saw top swimming coach Clive Power prepare a business case to help H2O cope with the absence of Mr McNamara, who was jailed for seven years on August 5 for rape of a woman 16 years ago.
Mr Power asked the council to stick to the status quo until it completed a risk analysis of the business case; to reduce the length of the 15-year contract; and to put in rigid review measures. His business case called for the appointment of a new chief executive for H2O and new directors.
The council's escape clause, prepared in the knowledge that Mr McNamara faced criminal charges, related to H2O's ability to run the contract. It was made clear both directors needed to be available, to protect the council's interests.
