By Pepper Parr
December 13th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
It was the final Council meeting of the year and there was some tidying up to be done.
The City Auditor, not a person seen very often, was present when Mayor Meed Ward said:
Mayor Meed WArd: “This is not about changing what has been agreed to by both clubs,”
“And finally, a brief comment on the motion memorandum regarding the audit of space allocation for competitive swimming.
“I do want to thank all of the community members who’ve been involved throughout this entire process for sharing your thoughts with us. I know it’s been a difficult process, and I am hoping that through the process there will be some answers for communities so that we can, together deal with this matter and move forward in a positive way.
“I am encouraged by our conversation at audit, that the community understands this will not be do-over of the process.
“This is not about changing what has been agreed to by both clubs, but if there is any opportunity for us to do better at what we do, I know our entire staff and our city council are always looking for continuous improvement opportunities.
“In that light, I think it’s important to, you know, make sure that we provide those opportunities to review ways that we can do better. So with that, I will call the vote.”
More pool time needed Drawing was produced using AI
What this amounts to is the Mayor saying we can admit that we made a mistake but we aren’t going to do anything about it, which is not the way the folks at Burlington Aquatic Devilrays Club (BAD) see this situation./
The ‘mistake’ came close to ending the existence of the BAD club; as it is, they are hanging on by their fingernails.
A “do-over” is exactly what is needed.
The public thought that Burlington City Council was in place to serve and support the citizens of Burlington. Are they wrong?
The Audit Committee will be asking Staff questions about just how the swimming pool allocation time was arrived at. The meeting is scheduled for March of 2026.
This is ridiculous and a total waste of time and taxpayer money. If the Audit Committee doesn’t completely investigate all of the reasons for the failed and questionable “RFP Process” what is the point of the Audit??
I suggest the following should be immediately added to the Audit Committee for investigation and review:
Why was BAD’s Bid not opened? Who decided not to open it? (this requires a name and position at COB, and what authority did they have?);
There was no “Certificate of Incorporation” available for BAD, was this investigated and if not, why not? (who made this decision?);
Were both bidders equally qualified as to having the requisite and required number of Burlington resident Swimmers to qualify for “Swim Time” at Burlington funded pools? Was this confirmed? And if not, why not?;
Were the number of “Swimmers” for each orgainization judged on the Youth or Adult programs? Or both? And was this included as part of the RFP?;
There are so many unanswered questions. And the only way to properly access this entire RFP process is to dive deeper and get the real answers.
If someone at COB failed in this process, they should be made accountable.
And, at the end of a proper and informative Audit, there should be a clear answer as to who deserves to have “Swim Time” at Burlington Funded Pools.