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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGolf Board - Minutes - 08/17/2005City of Fort Collins Cultural, Library, and Recreational Services Golf Board Minutes: Regular Meeting of August 17, 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 7:30 p.m. at the SouthRidge Cart Building. Agenda Review: There were no changes to the agenda as printed. Items of Note: ♦ Jerry reminded the Board that Lary Buckendorf and David Johnson's terms expire in December and they both stated at last month's meeting that they were going to reapply. ♦ Jerry introduced the City's Purchasing and Risk Management Director Jim O'Neill. He explained that Jim is ultimately the one responsible for the golf professional contractual process and he is the one who signs the agreement with the City. ♦ Lary Buckendorf arrived at 7:50 p.m Approval of Minutes: Grant Sherwood suggested that a change be made to the draft Minutes on page 4, top paragraph, last sentence, clarifying that the Golf Fund transfers $120,000 yearly to the General Fund for overhead. The Board unanimously agreed that the change be made. Then, on a motion by Grant Sherwood, seconded by Lauren DeRosa, the Board unanimously (8:0) approved the Minutes of the July 20, 2005 Regular Meeting, as corrected. Citizen Participation: None Consideration of Extending the Term of the Agreement with the SouthRidge Golf Professional Gordan Michael feels that the atmosphere at SouthRidge has changed since Dale has taken over and he has done a great job despite all of the construction that has taken place around the course. Fred Frantz, a member of the SouthRidge Men's Golf Association, stated that we are very fortunate to have Dale and that all three golf professionals and their staff s are great. Collindale Golf Professional Jim Greer stated that he fully supports Dale. He has known Dale for many years and he respects him and the way he handles his Golf Board Minutes August 17, 2005 Page 2 business. In his opinion Dale is a great player and he's one of the best in this State, even in this Region, and it's neat to see his name in newspapers. He feels Dale has really turned things around since the previous Golf Professional left. Jerry mentioned to the Board that he received 18 a -mails supporting the extension of Dale's agreement. City Park Nine Golf Professional David McCleave feels Dale does a great job and that there can't possibly be anyone that can do better. SouthRidge Concessionaire Rob Dahl feels that Dale runs an honest, clean business and that we are getting a tremendous value with Dale. SouthRidge Superintendent Randy Bonneville feels Dale and his staff has done a fine job, however he's concerned about the Service Fee increase. With the wage freeze the City has implemented employees have not received an increase in pay since 2002 and Randy stated that he has had to make a number of cuts in his budget. He feels that this increase would be unfair to the maintenance staff. Jerry informed the Board that he had a discussion with the CLRS Director Marty Heffernan in regards to this. He mentioned to Marty that Jim O'Neill suggested potentially using the CPI which would be an annual calculated increase rather than a set percentage increase. Jerry and Marty both feel that we should honor the original bidded commitment. Jerry stated that the investment we make in our Pro Shop is important because they are our front line of our business. He doesn't look at the Service Fee we pay the Golf Professional the same as wages because that money isn't just going directly into Dale's pocket. He has to pay for his staff, benefits, and his merchandise sales are going down, and driving range sales have also gone down. David Johnson said that he feels we couldn't easily replace Dale. Shane Houska mentioned that Dale puts in a lot of hours and we should abide by our commitment. Jay Kammerzell suggested that we extend Dale's agreement and feels we should consider implementing a website for Pro Shop sales. Jerry mentioned to the Board that they still have a month to decide if they would like to extend Dale's agreement, or they can vote tonight. David Johnson said that we haven't heard anything negative so he suggested a vote tonight. Jay Kammerzell then made a motion to extend Dale's agreement including the 4% annual increase. The motion was seconded by Deron Grothe and approved unanimously (8:0). Dale then offered to give half of his annual increase for maintenance purposes and he thanked the Board for their confidence in him. Other Business ♦ Jerry stated that he recently received an e-mail from Shane Houska after the Chamber of Commerce cancelled their tournament at Collindale. The Chamber stated they didn't have enough players and some felt that the course is too hard. Jerry gave them the option to take their tournament elsewhere and they chose to do so. Jerry mentioned that Shane suggested we do some brainstorming to discuss ways to bring in more revenue, etc. Jerry feels that's a good idea, and said the market in golf has changed dramatically. He explained that for about 15 years golf was doing very well and there wasn't as much competition. Even though golf was doing well many national organizations were pushing it to grow even more, and they were also encouraging developers to build more courses. In 1990 The National Golf Foundation started a project to hopefully open a new golf course everyday for a year. They Golf Board Minutes August 17, 2005 Page 3 wanted to see 365 new courses a year opened and they projected that there could be 3,650 courses built in 10 years which would meet the supply and demand at that time. Courses are still being built but the game of golf itself has flattened out. There hasn't been any growth for a few years and it's not predicted to recover quickly and with all of the additional courses it just exacerbates the problem. The way we market, how we present our courses, and encourage players to come to our facilities is different now than it was just a few years ago. He stated that the courses we have are different from each other so we may have to market them in different ways. He explained that there isn't a rule that states that each course has to have the same fees and times, but it does make it easier for the players. He has spoken to the Golf Professionals about this and they are also thinking of new marketing ideas. He mentioned that in a conversation he recently had with Marty Heffernan he was told that Marty knows people that won't play at Collindale because they feel it's too difficult. Jerry said that we have raised the skirts on a lot of the trees near the fairways so that players wouldn't have a difficult time getting their ball out. He has had suggestions from people to cut down some trees. Jerry said that one of those suggestions came from the architect that designed the course. Jerry also mentioned that Greeley lowered their fees by $4.00 across the board and to the best of his knowledge it hasn't made a big difference. He asked if the Board would like to brainstorm "marketing" ideas as a whole, or if we should put together a subcommittee and then bring the ideas to the next meeting. David Johnson suggested that any Board member interested can attend the committee meeting. Jerry said that if more than three members meet we would need to post an announcement so the public would be informed. Shane said that the reason he brought it up is that we are always talking about the fixed budget and we just can't run on a fixed budget anymore. Jerry said that we will set up a meeting in September before the next Regular Board Meeting and any Board Member interested may attend. Jay Kammerzell feels it would be helpful to have a list of constraints and asked Jerry to provide that for the marketing meeting. ♦ Jerry informed the Board that July was the best month we've had in 3 years. We made 15.1% revenue for the year in that month despite the high weather temperatures. As of today we have added another 10% since August 1st and hopefully we'll still have some nice weather ahead. Board Member and Staff Comments/Reports Jerry explained the issues the golf courses have had over the last week. Someone broke into the cart storage basement at Collindale and stole all of the Concessionaires' alcohol. Jim Greer noted that the locksmith never took out the manufacturer's combination and the thief(s) were able to press any five numbers and open the lock. At SouthRidge, the kitchen water heater broke on Saturday and we were unable to get a new one until the following Monday. There was also some vandalism at SouthRidge, as the #4 Green was dug up with a shovel and there were multiple sets of footprint that appeared to be headed to the Oak Ridge Neighborhood. Randy Bonneville said that it was 18" deep in some Golf Board Minutes August 17, 2005 Page 4 parts and about 300 sq ft. At City Park Nine a lady was hit on the arm while driving past the course. Jerry stated that he took the Risk Manager out there and he has requested that we raise the net behind the #5 Green. Jerry also received notice that the new E-Z-GO golf carts at Collindale that we recently purchased have a potential fire hazard issue. He has contacted the Regional Manager for the company and he stated that there wasn't a problem. Jerry questioned the memo he received and the manager said that they are no longer selling them, but there wasn't a problem with us continuing to use them. A technician was sent out to Collindale to inspect the carts and they have assured us they would be fine, but we shouldn't fill up the gas tanks completely. Jerry mentioned that he has as also sent an e-mail to the President of the company. Adjournment: On a motion by Shane Houska, seconded by Deron Grothe, the Board unanimously voted (9:0) to adjourn at 8:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dawn Worth Administrative Aide Meeting Attendance Board Members Staff Larry Buckendorf Jerry P. Brown Lauren DeRosa Dawn Worth Deron Grothe Randy Bonneville Shane Houska Rob Dahl David Johnson Jim Greer Jay Kammerzell David McCleave Dan Preble Dale Smigelsky Grant Sherwood David Thilmany Guests Craig Fabrikant Fred Frantz Gordon Michael