by Emma Ballingall
An earlier opening of the Warragul outdoor pool and a spectator shelter at Bellbird Park will soon be rolled out.

The two projects, costing more than $82,000, were late additions to the 2024/25 Baw Baw Shire budget after gaining unanimous councillor support at this month's meeting.
It followed an investigation of eight complex projects raised by community members during budget submissions in May.
The Warragul Leisure Centre's outdoor 50m pool opened yesterday for a one-month trial.
Costing $36,780, the season extension trial was the only project supported by officers.
An officer report said the outdoor pool would open to the public in October. Opening hours will be 6am to 9am as well as 4pm to 7pm on weekdays, 6am to 9am on Saturdays and 1pm to 4pm on Sundays.
Although originally aimed to be a two-month trial for September and October, the pool couldn't be heated and cleaned in time for operation in September.
Following the trial, an early spring opening of the pool will be reviewed for 2025/26.
A spectator shelter for Bellbird Park West user groups in Drouin will be allocated $45,597 after Cr Keith Cook urged its inclusion.
The report said Drouin Junior Football Club supported the submission, noting lack of shelter at the oval. The club also requested consultation on its specific location before any work occurred.
Two other user groups - Drouin Cricket Club and Gippsland Umpires Association - understood the request, with the cricket noting it "couldn't hurt" to have the shelter in summer.
However, both outlined that a spectator shelter was not their main priority. The kitchen, toilets and shower facilities within Andrews Lounge were ranked higher needs.
The Bellbird Park West Committee of Management noted investment in spectator shelter and seating in 2022/23.
As a result, the report said officers did not recommend supporting the submission. Instead, they urged an additional spectator shelter to be included in a future upgrade of the oval's player changerooms, amenities and umpires space.
Other projects investigated included a Trafalgar to Moe pathway, Drouin Community Hub activation, remnant tree policy, Neerim East Rd pedestrian crossing, Stringers Creek pedestrian bridge in Walhalla and Drouin Civic Park masterplan completion.
None gained officer support.
With only $82,377 remaining in the 2024/25 budget, these two projects exhausted the allocation. Cr Cook moved an alternative motion to fund both the outdoor pool trial and spectator shelter.
He said Bellbird Park welcomed hundreds of players and family supporters on Friday nights and Sundays over winter, with many small children playing Auskick or junior football. Training is also held three nights per week.
Cr Cook said 22 submissions were received for the shelter, which would allow parents and siblings to shelter from rain and sit in comfort to watch their children play.
"It's been in the masterplan for five or six years and the money is available," he said. "So let's put it to good use and build this shelter."
Cr Tricia Jones said council received 109 community submissions seeking a share in the budget's $401,000 unallocated cash surplus.
She said it was the first time council had used a categorised approach, with more straightforward category one projects taking a share of $318,000 and more complex category two being investigated.
"For the most part, unfortunately, the category two participants were not successful," Cr Jones added.
Cr Michael Leaney supported the two projects but called for the budget submission process to be "dramatically reviewed."
"We are now in September and the budget was meant to be finalised months ago," Cr Leaney said. "I think it gives false hope to people who are encouraged to put in budget submissions."
He said it seemed council were not willing to do the planning for all proposals, noting people behind Neerim East Rd pedestrian crossing and Walhalla pedestrian bridge would be upset with the final result.
"I can see the basic concept...but I think we actually need to reverse engineer this," he said. "We need to go out to the community earlier. This process has probably had unintended consequences of upsetting people who've put up a lot of work."
Cr Peter Kostos called for further consultation before the Bellbird Park shelter was built.
"The different clubs have got different opinions and it would be nice to have an overall consensus," Cr Kostos said. "I would love to have more clarity over actually where it is and what it will be spent on."
Cr Darren Wallace said he was disappointed to be making budget decisions in September.
"We either need to start earlier or we need a different process," Cr Wallace said.
He said the oval shelter came out of a 2019 masterplan and it would be "a massive win for a little amount of money".