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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGolf Board - Minutes - 01/12/2022 Golf Board TYPE OF MEETING – (REGULAR) January 12, 2022 6:00 PM Zoom Meeting 01/12/22– MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER • Kathy Meyer called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM 2. ROLL CALL • Board Members Present o Devon Petersen o Kathy Meyer o Melissa King o Patrick Dawson o Rory Heath o Ross Liggett • Staff Present o Dawn Worth o Scott Phelps • Board Absent o John Litel 3. AGENDA REVIEW The Board welcomed Devon Petersen, Melissa King and Rory Heath to the Board. The new members introduced themselves. Melissa stated that she moved to Fort Collins a couple of years ago from South Carolina. She mentioned that she wanted to do something in the community, and she loves golf, so she felt that serving on the Golf Advisory Board was a good fit. She thanked the Board for this opportunity. Rory stated that golf is a good way for generations to enjoy the same game. He wanted to give back to the Community through golf. Rory believes in municipal courses and the access they provide to everybody. He mentioned his appreciation for the opportunity to serve on the Golf Board. Devon recently moved to Fort Collins from Wyoming. He informed the Board that he played at Collindale Golf Course for the first time in High School. Devon informed the Board that he previously served on a Golf Board in Lander, Wyoming. He mentioned that his love for golf started at a young age. Devon enjoys how a game of golf brings people together. He is passionate about public courses because everyone is welcome. Devon thanked the Board for his appointment. 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION No Citizen participation BOARD NAME TYPE OF MEETING – (REGULAR) 01/12/22 – MINUTES Page 2 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Rory expressed his concerns regarding the Minutes not reflecting that the posted December Agenda didn’t have the updated meeting link. Due to technical issues with Zoom, staff had to provide an alternate Zoom link to conduct the meeting. Dawn said she would review this with the City Clerk to determine the appropriate verbiage. The Board agreed to table the approval of the December Minutes until February. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS • BFO Scott briefly explained the BFO process. He stated that due to COVID, we were on a one-year budget cycle. However, we are now moving back to a two-year cycle and in the process of preparing our 2023-2024 budget. Scott mentioned that we will have enhancements as well as our ongoing offers. He stated that our budget is around $3.7 million. Scott reminded the Board that we are an Enterprise Fund, so what we make is what we have to spend. He will continue to update the Board throughout the process. • Concessionaire Golf Pro Contract Extension Scott reminded the Board that our Golf Professionals and Concessionaires are contract vendors. He explained that they are basically on an annual contract, with the possibility of two 5-year extensions. After the second 5-year extension we are required to go out for proposals. He stated that the contract extensions for Vince Buelk, Collindale Golf Professional, David McCleave, Southridge Golf Professional, and Rob Dahl, Southridge Food & Beverage Concessionaire, recently passed on second reading, without any issues. Scott explained that the Golf Professionals are paid based on a percentage of the greens fees, carts and driving range revenue, and they keep the revenue from merchandise and lessons. Mackenzie’s pays rent based on their gross sales. • POS/Tee Sheet Scott informed the Board that the contract with Lightspeed has been signed, but now there is an issue with the credit card processor. He mentioned that we also need to do the Range Servant upgrades. Scott is hoping to be able to go live now in February. Devon asked if the contract with the current system expired. Scott stated that we feel Lightspeed will be a better fit. He explained that we have had issues with GolfTrac’s reporting and the city chose this system because it had better reporting and marketing capabilities. Devon mentioned the difficulty of canceling tee times in the current system. Scott informed the Board that Highland Meadows has Lightspeed, and they think it’s user friendly and they haven’t had any issues. Scott will update the Board in February. • Irrigation RFP Update Scott stated that we have given verbal notice to Heritage Links as the contractor for the BOARD NAME TYPE OF MEETING – (REGULAR) 01/12/22 – MINUTES Page 3 project. He informed the Board that the Golf Division is going to tie in with the bond for the city’s purchase of Hughes Stadium. This will provide us with a better rate as we are able to use this for collateral as well. Scott said they are not anticipating receiving the money for the bond until the first of May, which is when we will be able to finalize the contract with Heritage Links. He said the unfortunate thing is that we have seen substantial inflationary increases since our initial quote. Scott explained that we will be appropriating $1.2 million from our reserves so we can pre-purchase those materials to avoid further inflation. He remined the Board that our initial quote was 3.7 million and once we received the final quote it increased to 5 million. Scott stated that we are estimating the new system will reduce our water needs by 25% and that the pond dredging, and lining will allow us to store more water at the course. The second reading will take place this week and Scott doesn’t anticipate any issues. • 2021 Annual Report On a motion by Ross Liggett, seconded by Kathy Meyer, the Board approved (6:0) to approve the 2021 Golf Board Annual Report. • Player Assistant Policy Scott reminded the Board that we modified the Player Assistant policy. He reviewed the two options that the City Attorney’s office prepared. One option was to pay the Player Assistants no more than 20% of what they would be paid at minimum wage, which would then offer around $78 worth of golf a month if they worked 24 hours. Scott and the Golf Professionals were concerned that this option might pose an issue with staffing, so they determined option 1 would best. He explained that they will receive compensation for the 24 hours/month that they will be required to work. They will also receive better golf benefits than what they have currently. The Player Assistants will be able to play up to 18 rounds/month at any of the 3 city courses, rather than just their home course. Scott mentioned that they will also be allowed to utilize their play benefits during leagues. He said the Golf Pros are currently working on their schedules to assure that the Player Assistants will be able to reach their 24 hours/month. Scott also stated that we have extended the play benefits for the current Player Assistants so that they can utilize their play privileges throughout the winter. He informed the Board that we are hoping to utilize Lightspeed’s time clock system to assist the Pros with tracking the hours worked. Scott informed the Board that the Player Assistants will now be considered employees of the Golf Professionals, which is now part of their contracts. The Golf Professionals will be compensated for the hours they are paying the Player Assistants as well as their overhead, like insurance and worker’s compensation. Scott explained the current process to the new Board members. He stated that they currently do not receive compensation for their work, but rather free golf from the city. Scott BOARD NAME TYPE OF MEETING – (REGULAR) 01/12/22 – MINUTES Page 4 mentioned that this has caused some confusion and concerns for our City Attorney’s office. Scott explained that this all started with the Fair Labor Standards Act. He understands that there are some downsides to this, but it’s the law and the City Attorney’s office wants to assure that we are complying with the law. Scott mentioned that they researched other courses and feel this is our best option. Scott stated that this policy affects the Golf Professional’s contracts, so we had to make a decision, since their contracts start this month. Rory expressed his concerns regarding this policy. He is worried that this will now hinder those on disability and social security from participating. Rory stated that he personally knows individuals that will no longer be able to participate in this program, and we are potentially discriminating against older individuals and those with a set income. He said this came up quickly, with little explanation, and would recommend that we delay this decision. Scott asked Rory to submit his presentation from the last Board meeting to Mike Calhoon. Mike can then forward it to the City Manager’s office. He stated that he appreciates’ s Rory’s opinion, but he doesn’t feel comfortable switching the path that we are taking. We will evaluate this throughout the year and tweak it next year if we feel the need to. Devon offered to participate with further discussions that may need to take place with the City Attorney’s office. Kathy reminded the Board that there is certain protocol that needs to be followed. They can go to Council as a citizen, but they can’t go representing the Golf Board. Rory asked if the Board could implement a disability subcommittee for this. Rory stated that it’s only January so there is still time to work through this prior to the season starting. Kathy recommends moving forward with the policy. Kathy mentioned that this discussion has been taking place for a while. Rory was under the impression that this was first discussed in December. Scott informed the new members that this discussion started in September. Scott will continue to update the Board through the implementation this new policy. • Youth Scholarship Fund Scott mentioned that he and Valerie will be meeting with Nina to discuss the Youth Scholarship fund. He said we currently have around $10,000 in the fund. Scott informed the new members that Nina oversees our City Give program. He stated that the next step is to prepare the applications, so we can start issuing the scholarships in the spring. Scott is hoping that the Lightspeed system will have the capability of allowing us to take donations through the system. He mentioned the importance of growing the game and making it more affordable for juniors to participate. Devon asked what the scholarships will provide. Scott explained that they will receive a $150 certificate to use for various things like an annual pass, greens fees, pro shop purchases, etc. Rory asked if we offer income-based fees. Scott explained that the Recreation Department offers free and reduced programs that we have discussed tying into. However, we felt it was best to implement the Youth Scholarship program first and revisit the free and reduced program later. Scott informed the Board that the city is also looking into a city BOARD NAME TYPE OF MEETING – (REGULAR) 01/12/22 – MINUTES Page 5 pass to be utilized for various things throughout the city. Rory asked if we ever hold a club drive. Scott mentioned that we don’t hold a drive since we are already receiving donated clubs. Patrick stated that every course has plenty of clubs that have been donated. Scott said the Youth Scholarship subcommittee with provide an update at the February meeting. 7. NEW BUSINESS • Staff Presentations Scott informed the new members that staff presents to the Board at the beginning of the season. Typically, we split up the presentations however, we are going to have everybody present at the next meeting. He stated that we will be providing them with a template and setting a 10-minute limit for each person to present. Kathy mentioned that they typically do a season review and discuss upcoming projects. She suggested that the new members review the minutes from 2020 to have a better understanding of what they typically review. 8. FINANCIAL UPDATE/ROUNDS REPORT Scott reviewed the rounds report. He mentioned that we ended the year with 94,496 rounds. Devon asked if this is our max capacity. Ross explained that you’re doing good if you’re at 75% capacity. He stated that Lightspeed will be able to provide better reports to help determine this. Ross stated that the city’s goal isn’t necessarily to maximize revenue, it is to provide a community experience and a sustainable operation. Scott said our goal is 80,000 rounds, so we’re happy to have surpassed our goal this year. We are hoping to continue this trend. Scott informed the Board that we are having issues with being able to report timely financial information. He said we are hoping to have the December and year end numbers in February. Scott reviewed the November revenue report. He then reviewed the 2021 pass sales. Scott mentioned that a lot of people purchased Premier Cards. He is assuming this was due to COVID and the uncertainty of play since the Premier Cards do not expire. 9. BOARD MEMBER REPORT 10. OTHER BUSINESS Ross mentioned that City Park Nine and Collindale previously allowed golfers to play a few holes with their children after the last round. He suggested we formalize a program like this because it’s a great opportunity to introduce them to the game without affecting the pace of play. He has been looking into an application called Quick Golf that might be beneficial. This would track the number of rounds and allows the golfer to pay through the app. and BOARD NAME TYPE OF MEETING – (REGULAR) 01/12/22 – MINUTES Page 6 the app. would cut a check to the city. Rory said he has played a lot during twilight, and he suggested implementing a super twilight to allow golfers to play 6 holes or less. Devon said this would be a good opportunity to utilize when the course isn’t busy. Scott said this is something we can further discuss. After a brief discussion, the Board chose John Litel, Melissa King and Ross Liggett to serve on the Youth Scholarship Subcommittee. Rory asked if we could discus implementing a disability subcommittee. Scott stated that we can further discuss this at a later time. Scott informed the Board that Valerie was unable to present tonight due to COVID so Marketing will be presenting in March. 11. ADJOURNMENT On a motion by Kathy Meyer, seconded by Ross Liggett, the Board adjourned at 8:45. Respectfully Submitted, Dawn Worth Dawn Worth