Jen Coutts, left, the customer service manager at Genesis Energy Recreation centre in Masterton who will manage the new CLM Queen Street facility, with lifeguard Victor Thompson, Chill Out Kids programme coordinator Olivia Bradley and CLM general manager Bridget Cairns. PHOTO/GERALD FORD
Leaders of the company that has managed Masterton’s Genesis Recreation Centre for 14 years met Gerald Ford to reminisce and talk about their continuing future in Masterton.
After 14 years a company starts to look like a family, and CLM is no exception.
The company has hired all Wairarapa staff since being awarded the contract in Masterton to manage the Genesis Energy Recreation Centre which includes the swimming pool complex, stadium and fitness centre.
From May 1, that centre contract will be taken over by Belgravia Leisure, which will maintain each of the assets there.
CLM Masterton will meantime continue to manage its after-school and holiday programmes from a new space in Queen Street Masterton.
“We’ve been part of lots of Wairarapa people’s lives for the past 14 years,” customer service manager Jen Coutts said.
“With the swimming side, the health and fitness, and the stadium which has been used for the Golden Shears, sports leagues and schools.”
CLM general manager Bridget Cairns said the company had “developed lots of things from scratch and grown our staffing”.
Coutts agrees: “We have provided a lot of opportunity for employment, that on paper didn’t look like they would,” she said.
“And some have been our best employees.”
Coutts said workers hired and developed by CLM in Masterton had been given new opportunities to train and travel that they might not otherwise have had.
“We had one of our best lifeguards go up to Auckland for the first time in his life.”
“We’ve been proud to develop the team. It was an all-Masterton team from the counter to the facility manager,” Cairns said.
Coutts added that some of the company’s former employers “have moved on to some quite cool places. Lots of students relied on holiday jobs here to fund study or travel overseas”.
From a head office point of view Cairns said CLM was “obviously very disappointed” not to be continuing the contract with Masterton District Council, “but we’re excited to be maintaining a presence here in Masterton”.
That presence is the continuation of the Chill Out kids programme after-school and holiday programmes, which will continue in a new premises in Queen Street, Masterton.
The programme, which caters for children and teenagers up to age 14, has 55 children in after-school care and up to 65 in the holidays.
“We have a real fun time with a full day being from 7am to 5.30pm with the kids,” programme coordinator Olivia Bradley said.
CLM is holding a free day at the pools on Saturday, April 22.
“CLM wants to thank the community for its support over the years, and invite the community to come in and have a free day at the pools.”
The way the Council has gone about this change has been very disappointing. One would have thought that the Council would have or should have consulted the hundreds if not thousands of users of the CLM facilities to see what they wanted to happen as well as find out users’ opinions of the fitness/swim programmes that have been offered. But instead it appears a Council level decision was made to switch providers. This is another example of a select few people using their powers to over-reach their mandate. And now because of the Council’s ‘wisdom’, we are stuck funneling money (subs/rates) into an Australian based company’s bank account. To the CLM staff who have effectively been made redundant from the process – thank you for your service to the community.