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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGolf Board - Minutes - 09/18/2002City of Fort Collins Cultural, Library, and Recreational Services Golf Board Minutes: Regular Meeting of September 18, 2002 Council Liaison to the Board: Councilman Bill Bertschy Staff Support to the Board: Jerry P. Brown, Manager of Golf at 221-6350, and Patty Carroll, Administrative Aide at 416-2265 Call Meeting to Order: Chairperson Bill Rutledge called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Agenda Review: There were no changes to the printed agenda. Items of Note: • Dave Johnson and Larry Buckendorf called and will both be unable to attend the meeting. • Jerry informed the Board that Boards and Commissions Application forms are available for anyone interested in applying. Frank Blanco's term is expiring and he will leave the Board at the end of December, and Grant Sherwood has reapplied. • The Board's & Commissions Appreciation Event will be held at the Lincoln Center on Friday, November 15. Frank Blanco will be honored that night. • The City Clerk's office requests notification of new phone numbers and addresses from Board members. Please provide these to Jerry. • Executive Session Guidelines adopted by City Council were presented to the Board. Approval of Minutes: Claire Nelms made a motion to approve the Minutes of the Special Meeting of August 5, 2002 as revised. Mike Sanders seconded the motion. The Board voted unanimously to approve the Revised Minutes of the August 5, 2002 Special Meeting (6:0). Citizen Participation: There was no Citizen Participation at this time. and Recommendation: Revised Sheldon Lake on Link Mueller, City of Fort Collins Utilities, presented the new plan. Jerry said Staff has approved the change. Link reviewed the project as originally proposed. He stated that he had to look for more storm water storage and he explained the drainage issues. If a berm Golf Board Minutes September 18, 2002 Page 2 is created, it will help control water drainage. He said this would reduce acres of sod needed on the course from seven to two. The pipe can now be laid down Mulberry Street to Sheldon Lake. This will decrease the amount of pipe needed. The height of the berm will be about 6 feet. He proposed raising the 6`h Green approximately 2-3 feet. It was recommended that we use the same turf. This work will probably start in early November. We will build a temporary green on #6 and temporary tee boxes on #7 during construction. We also need to raise the #7 women's tee box. Some electric and stoma sewer work needs to be done. The irrigation contractor is scheduled to come in sometime in December. Grim Construction will come in between January and March. In March the #6 green will be raised and reconstructed by Leisure Time. Mike Sanders asked about standing water. Link said they don't expect a lot. Water has to be detained in a pond. There is a box under the berm that controls the turn. In bad storms, water will be held back. Former Golf Board Member Henry Fry wanted to know if they looked into burying the ditch. Link said yes and it would cost much more and detract from play. Henry disagreed. Claire disagrees with Henry. She does not feel the ditch should be buried. Henry feels people will be unable to see where to hit the ball. Dave Sadler, City Park Nine Golf Course Superintendent, thinks it will make it better. Claire agrees with Dave. Henry feels the hole will be ugly, hated by golfers, and slow. Bill Rutledge said a lot of people may lose balls and he thinks there is a potential danger of people going into the ditch. Link said the berm slope is 10 to 1 and that the cart path should alleviate the problem. Mike mentioned people would go to the top of the berms to find their balls. Lauren DeRosa is concerned about people coming up to the berm. Mike said they have created a difficult shot. Mike feels a sand bunker would help. Mike wanted to know if something could be done to compromise with a minor excavation. Bill wanted to know if the original concept was to excavate between holes 6 & 7. Link said yes. More discussion ensued. A question was again asked as to how high the berm would be. Link said it's approximately 6 feet. This is the reason the 96 green has to be raised. Mike then suggested having berms all around the back of the hole to help with golfer perspective on the lay of the green. Claire thinks it would be a new challenge for the golfers. Mike also wanted to know about the "grill" and how to keep balls from going in. Link said it was being done in concrete and it should not create a problem. Link and the golf staff then agreed with the higher back berm concept, and after further discussion, Mike made a motion to approve the new plan as modified, Claire seconded the motion, and it was unanimously approved (6:0). UPDATE ON CAPITAL PROJECTS • The Collindale Clubhouse is moving right along. Jim Greer, Collindale Golf Professional, said the plumbers are there, siding will start tomorrow, roofers are there, and parking is being worked on in the west area. Jim said they are on schedule and you can see progress is being made. Henry Fry said he originally had reservations about the new Clubhouse but he is now very impressed. Jerry said the project is still on budget. The Clubhouse is scheduled to open January 3, 2003. Jerry then Golf Board Minutes September 18, 2002 Page 3 explained that the artwork at the Clubhouse is coming along and how it would appear in the mosaic rock. Mike Sanders wanted to know if there are plans for a grand opening. Jerry said not at this time, but probably in April. Jerry said Henry pushed to get the Clubhouse and thanked him for his support. • The SouthRidge Golf Cart Storage Building is starting and is scheduled to be completed by Halloween. The SouthRidge Field Restrooms have been delayed. The neighbors we need for the sewer and water easement have refused to allow the easement for hole #5 through their property. • The #1 white tee at City Park Nine has been a problem and our solution is a new alternative #1 white tee box which probably will save us on liability concerns. • In regard to the water issue, codes allow parks and golf to use treated water as an emergency backup. Shrinkage is a major problem in the ditches with moving water. We can install treated water lines to guarantee a source of water during droughts and as an alternative water source in emergencies. • We are going to replace the existing old netting and wood poles on the driving range at Collindale. The new steel poles and netting will go south along Lemay and east toward the #9 Fairway by the Maintenance Building. Jerry said the 1,038 feet of 55 foot netting will be installed in November. • Bill Rutledge asked about vandalism damage at SouthRidge. Jerry explained what happened and the amount of damage. Rob Dahl, SouthRidge Concessionaire, said the police have increased their patrolling of the golf course. They drive around in patrol cars on the Cart paths. Bill wanted to know if there are enough lights at SouthRidge, and Jerry said we will probably install a few more. Collindale/Horsetooth Sidewalk Issue The letter on the Golf Board's position on the sidewalk was presented to Council. Henry Fry stated he had talked to Councilmember Bill Bertschy about the issues and said Mr. Bertschy said nobody on Council was concerned enough to take the matter up again. Henry has also talked to Councilmember Karen Weitkunat. She said the decision has been made and is beyond the point where it will be addressed. She did state it keeps coming up. She told Henry it never hurts to be heard. Henry doesn't know if Council will consider the finances issue if it keeps coming up. There has been no direct response to the letter from Council. Sidewalk construction is scheduled for October 14. The netting will go in later. Bill Rutledge feels we have done everything we can. Appointment of Two Board Members to the Collindale Restaurant/Snack Bar RFP Review Committee It has been suggested that one Board Member who has served on a previous committee and one who has not be appointed to serve. Five Board Members expressed interest in Golf Board Minutes September 18, 2002 Page 4 being on the Committee. Jerry suggested a secret ballot by the Board Members. Lauren DeRosa received 5 votes, Mike Sanders 4, and Claire Nelms was named alternate with 2. Review of Tournament Reservation Jerry explained we have had lots of inquiries about use of the new Collindale Clubhouse for tournaments. Historically we've had two tournament policies, one for Collindale/City Park Nine and one for SouthRidge. Because the City took over the operation of SouthRidge from the Bucain Corporation and they had many tournaments scheduled, we retained their policy and between 80 to 110 tournaments are held from the end of April through September. The biggest complaint from the public is you can't get on SouthRidge during the weekends because of the tournaments. Jerry last year asked Dale Smigelsky, SouthRidge Golf Professional, to monitor tournament play, and asked for his recommendations. Some tournaments have dropped out and were not replaced. Collindale does not run a lot of tournaments. Over the season there are approximately 52 weekend days for tournaments, April through September. The men's association helped Collindale get started in the 1970's. This is when golf passes were introduced. In 1997 Jerry asked the Golf Board to categorize "special privileges." The Men's Association donates to the Golf Course. From an economics point of view, we tried to determine how much we were losing with passes. Jerry wants the Board to decide whether we continue to operate in this direction or go to another system. Jerry is concerned about public accessibility to courses. Jerry said that generally that tournaments bring more money to the City and the snack bar. Grant Sherwood wanted to know about the problem of the public not being able to play. Jerry likes the way SouthRidge handles the tournaments. Bill Rutledge wanted to know if there is some reason for this policy to be addressed. He wanted to know if Jerry and the Pros had broached the problem. Jerry said yes. Mike Sanders wanted to know if anyone has other views on how this should be handled. Henry Fry explained how things have been working. Mike wanted to know if there are any restrictions for membership. Henry said members have to be 18 or over, male, and pay a fee. There is a limit of 400 for membership in the Collindale Men's Association. Henry explained what the dues cover. Jerry said we want to leave as many times as possible open for the public to balance play. Mike said if we are guaranteeing more access to prime time, and allow the Association to use passes, they are getting a lot of play for less money. He said we would have one of the best Clubhouses in area. Jerry does not want to see the Men's Association left out completely. The Golf Professional is the big loser for shotgun tournaments. Jim Greer said it is important to decide the issue before the Restaurant bid package goes out. Bill wants the staff to review and make recommendations to the Board. This item will be discussed again in October. Golf Board Minutes September 18, 2002 Page 5 Other Business • Frank Blanco wanted to know how the $6.00/player fee and $6.00 concessionaire fee came about. Jerry said this was decided several years ago. Kevin Wilcox, Collindale Concessionaire, said it's amazing that these guys get such good food and service the way the fees are now. Kevin thinks the public player subsidizes the tournament player. Kevin said the concessionaires need tournaments in order to keep operating. Jerry said these fee rates should probably be raised. • Jerry again mentioned the water issue. Doug Evans, Collindale Superintendent, explained the water situation to the Coloradoan, who then changed their editorial opinion in our favor. Council voted for reduced water consumption. It appears we'll make it through 2002, but next year may be different. • The revenues remain at approximately the same growth levels as a month ago. Jerry still thinks we'll be close to breaking even by the year's end. • Henry Fry wanted to make a comment. He stated he has enjoyed the time he has spent on the Board. His one bit of advice is for the Board to listen to the silent majority. Mike Sanders commended Henry for his many years of service. Adjournment: Mike Sanders made motion to adjourn the meeting, and Lauren DeRosa seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6:0) to adjourn at 10: 07 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Patty CaaKoll Administrative Aide Meeting Attendance Board Members Staff Guests Frank Blanco Jerry P. Brown Andrea Faucett Lauren DeRosa Patty Carroll Henry Fry Claire Nelms Rob Dahl Jeff Moore Bill Rutledge Pat Finnegan Link Mueller Mike Sanders Jim Greer Charlie Ogren Grant Sherwood Dave Sadler Mike Perry Kevin Wilcox Owen Randall Don Silar