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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGolf Board - Minutes - 04/20/2005City of Fort Collins Cultural, Library, and Recreational Services Golf Board Minutes: Regular Meeting of April 20, 2005 Council Liaison to the Board: Councilmember 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 7:00 p.m. at the Collindale Clubhouse. Agenda Review: There were no changes to the agenda as printed. Items of Note: ♦ Board Members Larry Buckendorf and Grant Sherwood notified us that they would be absent from the meeting. ♦ Jerry mentioned that City Council will appoint a new Liaison to the Golf Board in May. ♦ David Johnson introduced new Board Member Shane Houska who was appointed to replace Mindy Markley. Approval of Minutes: On a motion by Jay Kammerzell, seconded by David Thilmany, the Board unanimously (6:0) approved the Minutes of the March 16, 2005 Regular Meeting. (Lauren DeRosa arrived at the meeting a few minutes later). Citizen Participation: No Citizen Participation at this time. Public Input/Comment: Proposed 2006 Golf Fees and Charges In January staff presented to the Board conceptual thoughts on where we were interested in going for 2006/2007 on the fees and charges. There was discussion at the January and March meetings, and the Board voted unanimously in March to make the staff suggested fees and charges their recommended fees and charges. These recommended fees and charges were then published. Jerry mentioned an e-mail from former Board Member Byrd Curtis who was asking if there had been a "typo" that we put January 31st as the expiration date of the Annual Pass. Jerry responded back to him stating no, that this is the direction that the Board generally recommended two years ago. Jerry met with the City Park Nine Women's Association this morning and there was a suggestion that we change the age group for a Senior discount rate. Jerry told them that he had already been looking around at other fees and charges for Senior's for weekday passes like ours. He suggested to the Board that we amend the plan that he had submitted that was approved last time and add a third Annual Pass Base Rate for those ages 62 to 74, which would be consistent with our age 62 to 74 Green Fees, and charge $338.00. Jerry said that staff agreed with this recommendation. Jerry stated that the purpose of the Board meeting was to hear what the citizens had to say. David Johnson then opened the meeting up for citizen participation. Dwain Bloyer spoke to the Board about his concerns. He stated to the Board that he greatly enjoys golf, Golf Board Minutes April 20, 2005 Page 2 however he is contemplating not getting an Annual Pass with the City next year. He mentioned that the Golf Board has tried to eliminate the Annual Pass in the past. He is considering playing at Mountain Vista where he can get an annual pass for less, which includes unlimited golf Monday -Friday, and not be charged a surcharge (Per Play Fee) unless he uses his annual pass on Saturday and Sunday. He also mentioned that it would be cheaper for him to play at Link-N-Greens. Dwain went over the revenue figures that he and his wife have generated for the City courses. He also stated that he has brought along other players to the courses and feels that they will follow should he decide to no longer play at the City golf courses. He mentioned that he lives near SouthRidge, but he prefers to play at City Park Nine, however, he feels that the greens at City Park Nine are currently in terrible shape. In his opinion we have lost 152 Annual Pass cardholders because they feel no loyalty. He feels that we shouldn't assume that increasing fees always generates more revenue. He gave the suggestion of reevaluating the past Annual Pass fee decisions, open Collindale on Fridays to Annual Pass cardholders, set up an Annual Pass Appreciation Day, and make SouthRidge more accessible by getting rid of the higher surcharge (Per Play Fees). David Johnson asked Collindale Golf Professional Jim Greer about Fridays. Jim stated that it was different when it was first implemented, but now they are pretty much jammed, and Friday's generate the most revenue for Manno's Grille at Collindale. Dwain stated that City Park Nine is pretty jammed on Fridays also and that last year they scheduled tournaments on Friday mornings and the annual pass cardholders couldn't play. Jerry stated that he was unaware that this had taken place. David Johnson told Dwain that we would hate to loose him. Dwain said that he enjoys playing at the City courses, but like he stated before he can play at other courses for less. David Johnson feels having a pass for ages 62-74 is a good idea. Jerry reminded the Board that the previous, as well as the present City Manager would like us to have a couple of years operation before considering making any significant changes to the Annual Pass structure that was modified in 2004. Jerry reminded everyone that inspite of that fact we "lost" 152 Annual Pass cardholders and played 6,000 less rounds in 2004 we had more revenue because of the Green Fees. Pat Finnegan asked if Mountain Vista was charging the same rate as last year. Jerry said he understood they added an annual pass this year. Pat stated that last year Highland Meadows tried to attract more players by charging a lower fee and now their rates have increased. Jerry stated that Deryle O'Dell and this son are the sole owners of Mountain Vista so their circumstances are different from Highland Meadows. Jerry mentioned to Dwain that the money he spends at the courses doesn't all go to the City Golf Fund. The money he spends in the contractual restaurant or pro shop goes into their personal accounts. Dwain was also under the impression that the City was going to drop the surcharge (Per Player Fee) at SouthRidge. Jerry said that he wasn't sure who had given Dwain this information, but it was incorrect. Lauren DeRosa told Dwain that the Board appreciates him coming to the meeting and she wanted to let him know that the Board does give a lot of thought to golfer recommendations. Dwain asked the Board if the 152 Annual Pass cardholders purchased the punch cards instead of an Annual Pass. Jerry told Dwain that we have no way of knowing that since we only track Annual Pass cardholders. David Johnson stated that we aren't out to make money and that we're more concerned about breaking even and when we make the increases it isn't to make money for the City. David asked if there was any input on the senior pass? Jerry asked the Board if they felt that $338 would be a sufficient amount to charge for the new age 62-74 pass? Jerry mentioned that this would be implemented next year. Deron Grothe asked Jerry if he was Golf Board Minutes April 20, 2005 Page 3 aware of any other cities that have the same set-up. Jerry stated that to the best of his knowledge we're the only city that has the age 75+ pass. He mentioned that he didn't want to take the pass to below age 60, but age 62 matches our green fees. Lauren asked Jerry if we had any data that showed the number of rounds played per age group. Jerry told her we didn't and this is more of a marketing and public relations decision than a money decision. The total Annual Pass dollars that we got in 2003 was around $220,000 and last year was around $125,000. Out of a $2.2 million -dollar budget that's not a lot. The real loss was the drop in rounds from 150,000 to 120,000 in the last three years, like many of the other courses in the area. According to an article titled "Front Nine" from the National Golf Foundation the Rocky Mountain region is still loosing. Shane Houska mentioned that we were one of the last regions to go into the bad economy and we're one of the last to recover. David Johnson said that he wouldn't mind changing the age to 60 since it seems like a more reasonable age. Jerry said that we should then change the Green Fees age to match. Dwain said that 60 would match Mountain Vista's annual pass and Link-N- Greens senior rate. Lauren asked if we needed to designate a new Annual Pass Per Play Fee for that age group. Jerry stated that he felt that the Per Play Fee should remain at the same rate as the adult fee. There was then a motion made by Jay Kammerzell, seconded by Lauren DeRosa, to implement a new Annual Pass for players ages 60-74 and to change the Green Fees to ages 60-74, and approve the balance of the 2006 Fees and Charges as submitted; recommending the same to the City Manager. The Motion was approved unanimously (7:0). Board Input to City Manager on 2006/2007 City Budget Preparation Jerry noted that at the March Meeting the Board decided to wait until the April election took place to give their recommendations to the City Manager for City Budget Preparation. A number of things have taken place since the last meeting, including the ballot issue number one was defeated, the new City Council Members have been elected, the City Manager put together a new budget concept, and Council then stated that they are interested in this new type of budget known as "Budgeting for Outcomes". The City of Fort Collins has never put together a budget like this before. This is not necessarily new for Golf since we've always had to budget our expenditures to our revenue, but the General Fund has never had to do that. Jerry stated that over the past few years there are things that the City hasn't funded. City employees have not seen a pay increase since 2002 or haven't been able to go to conferences or training, and we haven't been able to open fire station #14, and there are other departments that have been cutting their budgets. He also mentioned that Police Services has requested 12 new officers and since the voters approved "unionizing" the Police Department they will go to arbitration and will probably be allowed some or all of the new officers. We've been cutting the Golf Fund over the past few years and we've only been purchasing things that are necessary. Dan Preble stated that it seemed unreasonable to make a recommendation without knowing the budget process. David Johnson suggested that we wait, but Jerry told the Board that the recommendation had to be made at this meeting. Jerry mentioned a couple of memos that he previously provided the Board and suggested that we make similar recommendations. Jay Kammerzell suggested that we include the fact that our per player rounds were down and we had less revenue, but we're still struggling to get by. David Johnson suggested that we mention that similar problems are occurring nation wide. Dan Preble suggested we make them aware that we haven't purchased equipment unless absolutely needed. The Board then asked staff to work with Chairperson Johnson to develop a recommendation memorandum to the City Manager. Jerry said he would e- mail a draft to all Board members by Friday to review, but the Boards input is due next Monday. Golf Board Minutes April 20, 2005 Page 4 Other Business Jerry asked the Board if they had any questions about the financial and statistical reports or correspondences he had provided. He mentioned that he provided the first quarter expenditures for the three golf courses and administration as requested. There were no questions. Adjournment: On a motion by Shane Houska, seconded by Deron Grothe, the Board unanimously voted (7:0) to adjourn at 8:03 p.m. Meeting Attendance Board Members Lauren DeRosa Deron Grothe Shane Houska David Johnson Jay Kammerzell Dan Preble David Thilmany Respectfully submitted aaw �� Dawn Worth Administrative Aide Staff Jerry P. Brown Dawn Worth Jim Greer Guests Dwain Bloyer Pat Finnegan