Both Wakatipu Swim School and Water Discovery were told in December they would only be allowed to access the $18 million swimming pool on Sundays and during a five-day block in the January school holidays, in efforts to help reduce a $77,000 funding deficit.
The decision has outraged many Wakatipu families, with some even choosing to boycott the swimming centre, which opened last May.
At last month's meeting of the QLDC's Finance and Corporate Accountability Committee, a statement of intent and annual plan were tabled by Lakes Leisure, the group charged with the running of Alpine Aqualand.
At that meeting several residents addressed councillors during the public forum, reading statements regarding the management of the swim school facility at Alpine Aqualand.
Queenstown Lakes Mayor Clive Geddes said the committee agreed to do two things when the agenda item was discussed.
The first was to pass written comments and a summary of verbal statements from the public forum to the directors of Lakes Leisure "for information and consideration", as they were not present during the public forum.
Mr Geddes said while Lakes Leisure had provided information regarding its decision,"the committee . . . asked if the board of Lakes Leisure could relook at the reasons, and justifications for why, it made the decision".
Lakes Leisure was also asked to provide chief executive Duncan Field with information relating to the "background" of its decision to limit the operation of swim schools at Alpine Aqualand.
While Lakes Leisure was a council-controlled organisation, Mr Geddes said the council, as shareholder, would need to have a "very clear understanding of the consequences" before giving the Lakes Leisure board any direction on the issue.
"The decision to allow private swim school people into Alpine Aqualand was made by the board of Lakes Leisure and the decision to discontinue that arrangement was made by the board of Lakes Leisure, as they are entitled to do.
"Despite ongoing negotiations between the parties . . . the position remains as it is.
"The council will review the information from the board [but] the council has to be quite careful with how it behaves with any of its CCOs."
Mr Geddes said while the board members were responsible to the company and the council, the council in the past had "declined to take on relatively small matters that relate to management".
However, it had taken interest in "major items", which included debt the Queenstown Airport Corporation accrued to fund the redevelopment of its tarmac and the 10-year capital expenditure projections for all its CCOs.
"The board of the company is there to offer effective and efficient day to day management.
"In some respects [this issue] is a minor matter.
"The council would have to have a very clear understanding of the consequences of making decisions around a matter [like this].
"We [would] have to think very, very carefully before [the council] used its discretion as shareholder to review that decision.
"There are clearly consequences for the independence and integrity of the board involved."
