Even if the motion to reverse the May decision had passed, the $1-a-year lease would not have proceeded, with the club withdrawing the offer.

An email was read to Orange City Council's meeting on Tuesday from club chief executive officer Daniel Perkiss referring to statements from councillor Glenn Taylor at the club's annual general meeting.

"Mr Taylor informed the floor the offer would not be taken up by OCC due to cost concerns - given the above communications, the OESC board has now formally voted to remove this offer from the table to allow us to move onto new projects and ventures," he said.

Putting the rescission motion forward, Cr Taylor said he was not representing the council at the AGM.

"They may have interpreted that I was a spokesperson of council, I wasn't, I've been a member of that club for 40 years and I signed in as a member of the club," he said.

Cr Taylor said even though the offer had been withdrawn, councillors needed to demonstrate they did everything they could.

"One of the drivers behind Orange City Council putting a facility at Hill Street was the lack of indoor facilities - now we're effectively back to one public facility," he said.

He said it would take years before the council could access funding to expand the aquatic centre, but his colleagues stuck with their initial decision not to proceed because it would cost $20,000 to get an accurate costing on bringing the pool up to scratch.

Councillor Joanne McRae said if she lodged a rescission motion for every vote she lost, council meetings would become long.

"When we come to council and we have a report and we make a vote, we actually have to stick with it," she said.

She said a former Ex-Services' swimmer had joined the aquatic centre and been impressed with the facilities.

"I would rather see that we put the funds into future facilities which are owned and are under the stewardship of Orange City Council rather than prop up an old facility that's in a club, which to be honest makes most of its money off poker machines."

Receive our free newsletters delivered to your inbox, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up below ...