What the council bought

The item came to the 16 September ordinary meeting as a confidential report from the Director Engineering Services, item 11.2.1, and was dealt with in closed session because, the minutes say, it contained commercial information that would prejudice the position of the person who supplied it. The minutes describe it as the proposed tender for the electrification of the existing gas-powered heating at the Manning Aquatic Centre for the facilities pools and domestic hot water systems, including design, supply, installation and commissioning of the heating, hot water, electrical, hydraulic and building management system work.

Contract
No. 36.00871, Design and Construction of Electric Heat Pump System at Manning Aquatic Centre
Accepted tender
Goldman Plumbing Services Pty Ltd
Price
$1,574,028.50 including GST, lump sum
Scope
Pool heating and domestic hot water: design, supply, installation and commissioning, with electrical, hydraulic and building management system work
Tenders received
Four, all electronic; tenders closed 11 August 2026
Decision
Resolution CONF2026-71, 16 September 2026: 7 in favour, 1 against, 1 absent
The contract as the 16 September 2026 minutes (item 11.2.1, page 178) and the council's summary of tenders received for tender 36.00871 record it.

Crs Aubin, Cranston, Fry, Gullifer, Underwood, West and Wright voted for the resolution, which Cr West moved and Cr Gullifer seconded. Cr Robert Taylor voted against. Cr Packham was absent for the item. The minutes record the division but no debate and no reasons. When the council returned to open session, all nine councillors, Cr Taylor included, voted to adopt the report of the committee of the whole, which listed CONF2026-71 among the closed-session resolutions (ORD2026-264).

Earlier the same evening, councillors had elected Cr Ben Fry mayor on a 5-4 ballot over Cr Taylor, who had held the role since October 2024. As deputy mayor in November 2025, Cr Fry had announced the federal grant that helps pay for this work.

A job the plan expected around FY2030

The pool has been the council's biggest gas user for years. Its Emissions Reduction Plan, adopted in July 2022, recommended Replacing gas boilers with electric heat pumps at Bathurst Manning Aquatic Centre, but on a slower clock. It said The centre currently has two gas boilers that were installed in 2019, and Council would not be expected to replace these until around FY2030. The plan assumed the council's other gas sites would convert progressively from FY2023 to FY2030, and the Aquatic Centre's gas use in FY2030.

Since then the council has adopted a policy and won a grant. In June 2024 it adopted a policy titled Transition away from gas use at Council facilities, and on 16 September 2026, in the same meeting, it re-adopted that policy unchanged, 9-0 (ORD2026-254), with the next review due in September 2028. The policy says Existing gas equipment will be removed from Council buildings and facilities as soon as practical. It also says Gas boilers will be replaced with heat pumps when they reach the end of their serviceable life. For boilers the 2022 plan dates to 2019, the two sentences point to different timings, and the public minutes do not say which one this contract answers to. Then, in November 2025, the council announced federal money for the job.

  1. 2019Two gas boilers installed at the Aquatic Centre, per the 2022 plan.
  2. July 2022Emissions Reduction Plan adopted: heat pumps at around $410,000, conversion expected around FY2030.
  3. 19 June 2024Council adopts the Transition away from gas use at Council facilities policy (ORD2024-170).
  4. 13 November 2025Council announces a federal Community Energy Upgrade Fund grant of up to $1,786,923 for a two-site project including the pool heat pumps.
  5. 11 August 2026Tenders for contract 36.00871 close; four received.
  6. 16 September 2026Tender accepted at $1,574,028.50 including GST, 7-1. Gas policy re-adopted unchanged, 9-0.
  7. FY2030The year the 2022 plan expected the Aquatic Centre's gas use to be converted.
Dates as the sources give them: the 2022 Emissions Reduction Plan (pages 1, 46 and 47), the gas policy as attached to the 16 September 2026 agenda (attachment 8.3.9.4), the council's release of 13 November 2025, the summary of tenders received, and the 16 September 2026 minutes (pages 130 to 132 and 178).

The price against the 2022 estimate

The 2022 plan carried a costing from its consultant: Northmore Gordon estimated the costs to convert the Bathurst Manning Aquatic Centre’s gas equipment to heat pumps to be around $410,000, with estimated net annual energy cost savings of close to $28,000. The accepted tender is about 3.8 times that figure.

around $410,0002022 plan estimate to convert the Aquatic Centre's gas equipment to heat pumps (GST treatment not stated)

$1,574,028.50Tender accepted 16 September 2026, lump sum including GST

Bars drawn to the same scale. The estimate is from the Emissions Reduction Plan adopted July 2022 (page 47); the price is from resolution CONF2026-71 in the 16 September 2026 minutes (page 178).

The two numbers are not like for like, and the plan said as much. Its estimate came with the warning that Costs for upgrading electrical infrastructure, siting heat pumps and disposing of boiler assets may also need to be taken into account. The tender covers design and construction, including electrical, hydraulic and building management system work, and its price includes GST, which the plan's figure does not mention either way. Four years of construction prices also sit between them. How much of the gap each of those explains is in the confidential report, not the public record.

The money is not all Bathurst's. The council's release of 13 November 2025 said The Federal Government will contribute up to $1,786,923 of the total expenditure of $4,044,293 over our two-year Steps to Electrification and Net Zero project. That project spans two sites: a 780kWp ground-mounted solar system with battery storage at the wastewater treatment plant, and at the Aquatic Centre, where gas powered boilers will be replaced with electric heat pumps and additional solar will be installed. By our arithmetic the grant cap is about 44 per cent of the project total. The release does not split the grant between the two sites, and does not say how the other $2,257,370 is funded. It estimates the whole project will cut the council's emissions by about 900 tonnes of CO2-e a year and bring estimated operational savings to Council of more than $350,000 per year, for both sites together.

Why the pool comes first

On the plan's figures, gas is a small slice of the council's footprint, and the pool is most of that slice. The 2022 plan says Natural gas represents only ~2% of Council’s carbon footprint. In the FY2019 baseline year that was 927 tonnes of the council's 47,459 tonnes of scope 1 and 2 emissions; landfill was 64.6 per cent and electricity 20.7 per cent. Within gas, the plan says The Aquatic Centre is the site with the largest gas consumption, representing 69% of total gas consumption.

Natural gas in the council's FY2019 emissions: 927 of 47,459 tonnes CO2-e, 2.0%

The Aquatic Centre's share of council gas use in FY2021: 13,783,829 of 19,983,667 MJ, 69%

Each bar is its own whole, drawn to scale. Emissions from Table 1 (page 6) and gas use from Table 8 (page 24) of the Emissions Reduction Plan adopted July 2022.

So the pool is where most of the council's gas went in the plan's years, but on the plan's own numbers gas is a small part of what Bathurst emits. The plan also noted that the NSW Energy Savings Scheme recognises pool heat pumps for certificates, and that this can also be taken into account to determine the case for early retirement of the gas boilers. Whether the council is claiming certificates is not in the papers we read.

Our view

Labelled as opinion. Moving the pool off gas is what the council's own plan and policy ask for, and doing it while a federal grant is on offer is a defensible reason to beat the plan's FY2030 timing. The weak point is the public account. A ratepayer can see a $1.57 million price and, in the council's own plan, a $410,000 estimate for converting the same pool, and nothing in the public record that bridges them. Tender pricing is properly confidential. The reconciliation is not: how much of the contract the grant pays for, what the council's net cost is, what part of the gap is scope, GST and four years of prices, and what the plan's $28,000 a year in savings looks like now. A one-page note in open session would answer it without disclosing anybody's bid. As at 7 October, a search of the council's website returned no announcement of the contract.

How we sourced this

We read the full 180-page minutes of Bathurst Regional Council's 16 September 2026 ordinary meeting, including the closed-session record of item 11.2.1, resolution CONF2026-71 and its division (page 178), the adoption of the committee of the whole report (ORD2026-264, page 179), the policy review in item 8.3.9 (pages 130 to 132) and the mayoral ballot in item 8.1.1 (page 13). We read the gas policy itself as attachment 8.3.9.4 to the 16 September agenda (page 783 of the attachments), the council's summary of tenders received for tender 36.00871, the council's release of 13 November 2025, and the 63-page Emissions Reduction Plan adopted in July 2022. The council's site answers a browser but refuses plain scripted requests; we read each document in a browser on 7 October 2026 and kept copies.

Our arithmetic. 1,574,028.50 ÷ 410,000 = 3.84; 410,000 ÷ 1,574,028.50 = 26 per cent (the first bar's length); 1,786,923 ÷ 4,044,293 = 44.2 per cent; 4,044,293 − 1,786,923 = 2,257,370; 927 ÷ 47,459 = 2.0 per cent; 13,783,829 ÷ 19,983,667 = 69.0 per cent, which matches the plan's own figure.

What we have not done. We have not seen the confidential tender report, which holds the evaluation and any reconciliation with the 2022 estimate. We have not asked the council how the grant is split between the two sites, what it will cost the council net, or when work at the pool will start; the public minutes give no construction dates. We have not checked the federal grant program's own records. The tender summary names the other three tenderers; we have not, because the record says nothing about their bids.

Sources

  1. Bathurst Regional Council, Minutes, Ordinary Meeting of Council, 16 September 2026 (PDF, 180 pages, read 7 October 2026): the mayoral ballot (page 13), item 8.3.9 and resolution ORD2026-254 re-adopting the gas policy (pages 130 to 132), item 11.2.1, its reason for confidentiality and resolution CONF2026-71 with its division (page 178), and ORD2026-264 (page 179).
  2. Bathurst Regional Council, Agenda attachments, Ordinary Meeting of Council, 16 September 2026 (PDF, 884 pages, about 128MB, read 7 October 2026): attachment 8.3.9.4, the policy Transition away from gas use at Council facilities, adopted 19 June 2024, resolution ORD2024-170 (page 783).
  3. Bathurst Regional Council, Summary of tenders received, tender 36.00871 (PDF, 1 page, read 7 October 2026): closing date 11 August 2026 and four tenders received electronically.
  4. Bathurst Regional Council, Council Takes Steps to Electrification and Net Zero (media release, published 13 November 2025, read 7 October 2026): the Community Energy Upgrade Fund grant, the project total, the two sites and the estimated emissions and savings.
  5. Bathurst Regional Council, Emissions Reduction Plan, Final Report, adopted July 2022 (PDF, 63 pages, read 7 October 2026): the FY2019 carbon footprint (Table 1, page 6), gas use by site (Table 8, page 24), the roadmap item on pool heat pumps (page 29), the boilers, the FY2030 timing and the 69 per cent share (page 46), and the cost estimate, its caveats and the Energy Savings Scheme note (page 47).

Swim at Manning, work in pool plant, or read the papers differently? Tell us and we will check it against the documents and log the outcome here.