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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGolf Board - Minutes - 09/17/2008City of Fort Collins Culture, Parks, Recreation and Environment Golf Board Minutes: Regular Meeting of September 17, 2008 Council Liaison to the Board: Councilman Diggs Brown Staff Support to the Board: Jerry P. Brown, Manager of Golf at 221-6350, and Dawn Worth, Administrative Aide at 416-2265 Call Meeting to Order: Board Chairperson David Johnson called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. at the City Park Nine Clubhouse. Agenda Review: Jerry added the appointment of Board Members to the RFP Selection Committee to the Agenda. Items of Note: ♦ Deron Grothe and Grant Sherwood notified us that they couldn't make it to the meeting. ♦ Jerry informed the Board that the City Clerk's office said that all Golf Board Members had successfully completed the B&C training. Approval of Minutes: On a motion by Larry Buckendorf, seconded by Dan Preble, the Board unanimously (5:0) approved the Minutes of the July 16, 2008 Regular Meeting. Citizen Participation: None at this time. Continued Discussion: Golf Division Management Transition Executive Director of CPRE Marty Heffernan stated that staff has been discussing the Golf Management transition since Jerry announced his retirement. He said it is our goal to keep the Golf Division running as an Enterprise Fund. Marty reminded the Board that the Greeley Golf Division had to borrow money from the General Fund and it ended up being a bad situation so it's in our best interest to avoid that. He informed the Board that we are strongly leaning towards not replacing Jerry and distributing his duties amongst our current staff. Marty said we will also be working closely with the Recreation Marketing staff for our marketing needs. He feels that we are very fortunate to have competent staff which allows us to have this as an option; however if at any time we feel this is not working we will then hire someone to fill the position. Marty also informed the Board that Director of Parks J.R. Schnelzer will be taking over the majority of the management responsibilities and he does have previous golf course experience. He said that it's our hopes to save the Division some money with this transition and putting that money back into the courses. Marty feels the maintenance area could use more focus. He said that he has heard from the Superintendents and they would like to be able to pay their hourly staff a little more as well. J.R. then explained that we looked at a number of different scenarios and although nothing is off the table this appears to make the most sense so far. Shane Houska was concerned that J.R. would become overwhelmed with additional responsibilities. J.R. said that he is already over Parks, Cemeteries, Horticulture, Forestry and Golf. He agreed that we have very competent staff and that everyone will be able to pitch in on the Golf Board Minutes September 17, 2008 Page 2 responsibilities. Marty informed the Board that Bill Whirty was upgraded and has taken on additional responsibilities in Parks and will likely help out as well. Dan Preble asked if J.R. would be conducting the Golf Board meetings and J.R. said yes and that he also has experience conducting Board meetings and addressing City Council. He then stated that the Golf Division needs some improvements but it is not broken and that he doesn't foresee any significant issues during this transition. Collindale Golf Professional Resignation Jerry announced the resignation of Collindale Golf Professional Jim Greer. He informed the Board that over the past few months we have had some concerns with Jim's management procedures and after holding several discussions with him, Jim felt it was in his best interest to resign from his duties as the Collindale Golf Professional. Based upon a suggestion from Jerry, he also felt that it was in the best interest of the Golf Division if he assigned his contract to SouthRidge Golf Professional Dale Smigelsky. Jerry said that we will then go out to bid for the SouthRidge Golf Professional position if Dale chooses to accept the position at Collindale; however if Dale declines then we will go out to bid for Collindale. Marty said this hasn't come easily. He feels that this is a good plan and would like to move forward. Marty believes Dale has done a great job at SouthRidge throughout the years and he would be a good addition to Collindale. He said that it's our belief that Collindale can bring in more revenue and Dale has the ability to help with that. Larry Buckendorf asked if Dale's contract would have the same conditions as the current Collindale contract. Marty said we are in the process of discussing the terms and conditions with Dale. He stated that it is also our concern to make it favorable to the City as well. Larry expressed his surprise and was wondering why the Board hadn't heard anything until now. Jerry explained that once he announced his retirement last year it was determined that the CPRE Administration Financial Analyst Dawna Gorkowski would be taking over the financial aspects of his position and therefore she wanted to become more familiar with that process. She began to review all of the contractual vendors accounting information and began to question why Collindale wasn't bringing in the amount of revenue we felt it should. Jerry mentioned that after receiving Jim's resignation Jim said he felt somewhat relieved. David Johnson asked if there was a possibility of Dale then assigning his contract to City Park Nine Golf Professional David McCleave. Marty said that is a possibility; however we would prefer to go out to bid. He explained that it might not appear fair to others who are interested and the Collindale situation is somewhat unique. David Johnson asked if we would then go out to bid for City Park Nine if David McCleave was to get SouthRidge and Jerry said that would be the case. Larry asked if we felt that transition will run smoothly and Jerry said that is his impression. Larry asked if Dale would take over Jim's equipment as well and Dale said that would be the easiest rather than shifting things around. Shane asked if the City had any unresolved issues with Jim and Jerry said that we still owe him some reimbursements but other than that there's nothing at this time. There were no objections from the Board regarding the Collindale Golf Professional Agreement Assignment. Possible SouthRidge or Collindale Golf Professional REP Jerry explained the RFP process to the Board. He stated that we are not certain if we will be going out to bid for SouthRidge or Collindale at this time so you need to appoint two Golf Board representatives to serve on both committees. Jer y stated that several Board Members have been serving on the Board for a while so they are familiar with the process. He mentioned that those who are not chosen to the committee still review the Golf Board Minutes September 17, 2008 Page 3 applications and are free to make recommendations to those Board Members who are serving on the committee. Larry said that he would like to serve on the SouthRidge Committee since he plays at the course often. SouthRidge Superintendent Randy Bonneville stated that he has worked at the course for over 25 years and would appreciate serving on the committee as well. Jerry explained that J.R. is the person who chooses which staff member serves on the committee. The Board briefly discussed which Board Members would serve on the committees. On a motion by Larry Buckendorf, seconded by Dan Preble, the Board unanimously voted (5:0) to elect Eric McCrery and Larry Buckendorf with Deron Grothe as the alternate to the SouthRidge Committee, and David Johnson and Shane Houska with Dan Preble as the alternate to the Collindale Committee. Review 2009 Adopted Golf Fund Budget Jerry provided the Board with a copy of the latest Financial Statement. He explained that we had an unexpected increase in fuel and energy costs for 2009 and he is going to ask for additional funds to help with these increases. Jerry said that we would have been even further behind had we not increased the fees for 2008 and increasing the fees in 2009 should help some as well. He said that we seldom have the cash to purchase equipment and have to do so through Lease/Purchase. Randy stated that it's difficult to maintain the course with the unexpected increases. He said that it's surprising how fuel related the Golf Industry is. Dan asked if play at SouthRidge was slow and Randy said that it's typically slower after Labor Day. Dale mentioned that the Leagues are over as well which makes it slow down. Dan asked if there were any upcoming tournaments and Dale said that they have a few coming up. Jerry said that we should be ok if we have good weather over the next few months. Randy stated that when the weather is good in November and December play is typically high at that time. Adjournment: On a motion by Eric McCrery, seconded by Shane Houska, the Board unanimously voted (5:0) to adjourn at 8:30 p.m. Meeting Attendance Board Members Larry Buckendorf David Johnson Dan Preble Shane Houska Eric McCrery spectfully submitted Dawn Worth Administrative Aide Staff Guests Jerry P. Brown Pat Finnegan Randy Bonneville David McCleave Marty Heffernan J.R. Schnelzer Dale Smigelsky Dawn Worth