The demise of the Sandys 360 community centre has left former staff, some facing severe financial challenges, unpaid and unable to get answers.

“It has been two years since Sandys 360 closed and quality of life for the staff is bad,” said one, a struggling parent who asked not to be identified.

“Staff still have not been paid. Staff were paying their own insurance. We would get to the end of the month, get $750 and be told ‘this is it — hang in there, be patient a little longer’.”

Saying they were owed one year’s salary, the source added: “If you look at the Employment Act, they were meant to pay insurance for the period of redundancy, which was four months.

“On average, if you listen to staff, I don’t think there is anybody at this point who is owed less than $30,000.”

Former employees of the West End sports facility, opened to acclaim in 2009, are reluctant to rock the boat, the ex-member of staff said.

Some held back out of a fear that “a whistle-blower is not employable”, they added.

“We have just kept hoping that at some point we are going to get what’s coming to us. However, there are no answers to questions, no communication. Surely by now they must have some sort of plan.”

Melvyn Bassett, who had served as managing director of the facility, declined to comment on the issue last night.

Staff were initially told that wages and electricity costs were taking an unsustainable toll.

Belco, which disconnected power in November 2013, had refused to restore electricity without one-third of the utility bills paid off. Enough power was provided to keep the pool circulating.

HSBC bank refused to loan any further to cover operating costs, creditors had lost patience, and Sandys 360 depended on government grants for its survival.

The facility still receives unspecified government help, and a mistaken duplicate payment of $807,000 made in 2012 was never recovered, as reported by this newspaper last month.

According to a February 2015 letter to staff from acting chairman Stanley Lee, the facility had been “deemed insoluble” after a review of its finances by KPMG.

Staff were told that HSBC bank had “a proposal for Government”, and that the Bermuda Government intended to have a possible solution by the close of the fiscal year in March 2015.

“HSBC have the advantage as they hold the mortgage and any adverse action taken by any creditor will most likely produce a negative result,” the letter added.

“At this stage, there are no finances available to us for any matter.”

The former member of staff, who is supported by family, said there had been no communication since.

Blaming its collapse on mismanagement, the source said numerous outside parties had made overtures to preserve Sandys 360, without success.

“The hours were too long and the fees not high enough,” they said, noting that an offer to install solar heating — which would have drastically cut electricity costs for a large heated pool — came at a point where insufficient funds remained to install it.

Other sources said that there was insufficient population using Sandys 360 to support such an ambitious community centre.