Gunnedah Shire Council is looking for a local business to operate the pool cafe in the upcoming summer season.
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The council will call for expressions of interest after Kinfolk Student Cafes declined to run the kiosk for a second season.
But Owen Hasler floated the idea of council running the cafe itself.
"If it's only going to operate on a summer season basis, why aren't we contemplating operating it ourselves and employing a couple of young people?" Cr Hasler said.
"Some of us were hoping at one stage - when we applied for the funding to develop the poet's walk - that we might have had a cafe ... up there to serve the visiting public to the museum and now the murals and the Mackellar Centre as well as the pool."
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Council's infrastructure services director Jeremy Bartlett said the idea had been considered but a "significant analysis" on its viability hadn't been carried out.
"One primary concern ... is the ability of council to staff that type of facility," Mr Bartlett said.
"Given that the pool is only open during essentially a five-month window of the year, it becomes very difficult to retain staff for that type of purpose ... and then continually training, it does become a fairly significant operational issue for the organisation."
If it's only going to operate on a summer season basis, why aren't we contemplating operating it ourselves and employing a couple of young people?
- Cr Owen Hasler
General manager Eric Groth told the councillors that a benefit of expressions of interest is that "it will provide council with information on which we can make that type of assessment".
"Without expressions of interest, it's difficult to compare the option of running internally against anything that may come from the community," he said.
Cr Hasler still said they needed to "carefully monitor" the process and "if we only get one season out of a future such expressions of interest, I seriously believe we should consider an alternative".
"I'm happy enough to let it go to expressions of interest again. Let's hope we get greater longevity and commitment to the facility this time around," he said.
The council will advertise for expressions of interest in the coming month ahead of the start of the 2019/20 season in November.
