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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGolf Board Minutes - September 10 2024 1 (208) 359-3020 35 North 1st East Rexburg, ID 83440 Rexburg.org | Engage.Rexburg.org Golf Board Minutes – September 10, 2024 Council Members: Karl Boehm Paul Sorensen Brian Parkinson Eva Wright Non-Voting Members: Board Chairman Johnson Matt Nielson – City Finance Officer Colin Erickson – City Council Member Brent Mendenhall – County Commissioner Spencer Rammell – Attorney Cameron Garn – Golf Pro Seth McFarland – Golf Ground Greg McInnes – City Parks Manager Justin Beard – City Engineer 4:30 P.M. Golf Board Meeting Roll Call of Board Members: Attending: Karl Boehm, Paul Sorensen, Brian Parkinson, Eva Wright and Chairman Jon Johnson. Absent: Paul Sorensen, Eva Wright, and Karl Boehm 1. Review Prior Meeting Minutes and approve (Action Item): a. July 08, 2024 b. August 13, 2024 Board Member Boehm moved to approve the Golf Board Meeting Minutes for July 8 and August 13, 2024; Board Member Wright seconded the motion; Board Chairman Johnson asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Board Member Boehm Board Member Sorensen Board Member Parkinson Board Member Wright Board Chairman Johnson The motion carried. 2. City or County Input Issues a. Discuss recommendation to purchase and rent tables (15) and chairs (100) (Action Item) i. Estimated Cost of $4,000 - $4,500 ii. Added to the fee list a $2/chair/day and $8/table/day 1. Determine final recommendation Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the table and chair options: Sam’s Club – 25 tables $2124.50 – 152 Chairs (bundles of 4) $4559.24 – plus shipping $1112.65 – Total $7796.39 Lowes 15 bundles (contains 10 chairs and 1 table per bundle) $4245.00 – 10 tables $899.80 – Shipping free Total $5144.80 Competitive Edge – 5 bundles (contains 4 tables and 32 chairs) $9499.95 – Tables (4 pack) $749.99 – Table (Singular) $381.39 – Total $10,631.33 comes with a 10-year warranty on these items (except for the table brought alone) 2 Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the table and chairs analysis for the Golf Course with the potential of purchasing a trailer to haul and store the table and chairs. Board Member Wright asked where the tables and chairs would be stored when not being used. Finance Officer Nielson replied the tables and chairs could be stored in the men’s bathroom in the space near the shower by the locker rooms. He said taking them in and out of that space could be a chore, it may be worth purchasing the trailer. Board Member Sorensen suggested they label the tables and chairs so they do not get lost or stolen. Discussion regarding which vendor to use for the tables and chairs. They agreed the purchase of a trailer to store the tables and chairs would be preferred. Board Member Sorensen moved to approve the purchase of 25 tables and 150 chairs from the Sam’s Club, the purchase of a trailer to store the tables and chairs, and the tables and chairs must be rented from the golf course; Board Member Wright seconded the motion; Board Chairman Johnson asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Board Member Boehm Board Member Sorensen Board Member Parkinson Board Member Wright Board Chairman Johnson The motion carried. b. Measure and Design Floor Plan for downstairs bathrooms i. Work with Justin Beard/CAD Designers-still in process Finance Officer Nielson said city staff has not measured the areas for the downstairs bathrooms yet. The plan is to put the bathrooms where the women’s locker rooms are. They want to try to put all of the downstairs bathrooms in the footprint of the current women’s bathrooms. He believes they have ripped out the showers. c. Review and Discuss Proposal from Sephlin Hepworth regarding the Sephlin Foundation (Action item) i. May require contract or agreement Natalia Hepworth gave a presentation about the Sephlin Foundation. 3 4 County Commissioner Mendenhall asked if the golf course is involved in any other foundation like this one? He said the reason he asked is that both the city and the county will need to consider the liability if a child were to be struck by a golf ball or club. They would need to have some type of agreement in place to address liability and what the golf course is providing. Finance Officer Nielson explained there may be other nonprofits that have a similar proposal as the Sephlin Foundation. There needs to be a balance because our primary thing is to provide golf to the public, so we need to make sure that the golf course is still achieving its purpose of providing golf to the public. Board Chairman Johnson said the Golf Board is a recommending body so the County Commissioners and City Council would need to approve this proposal. Board Member Sorensen said there’s no better place for kids to be than on a golf course. There is so much to learn from playing golf. What the Sephlin Foundation is proposing is awesome and it’s good to have local people involved in helping the youth of the community, it is appreciated. d. Review and set rates for the new scorecard and pencil advertising for 2025 and 2026 (Action Item) Staff Accountant Phethean reported the scorecards have gone up by 50% in price. He had to buffer the price of the scorecards, so they only need to go up $100 to be able to cover the costs. He recommended a sponsor commitment of two years to keep the cost low. Board Member Wright said Forsgren will sponsor the scorecards for two years. Staff Accountant Phethean said there are sponsorship bundles so if someone wanted to be a sponsor for the scorecards and donate for a bench there would be a 10% discount, etc. as shown in the sponsorship levels below. The pencils have doubled in price and so before he was able to get the pencils for about $1600 now the price of the pencils is $3100. Matt has contacted Beehive Credit Union to see if they would sponsor the pencils since they are already sponsors. Finance Officer Nielson said typically they have given the current sponsor the option to renew and if that sponsor were to say no then they would open that item up for sponsorship. Board Member Boehm asked which bridges are being replaced. Grounds Keeper McFarland said the bridge in the middle needs to be replaced and it would be nice to replace the wooden pedestrian bridge with a cart bridge. Finance Officer Nielson said city staff members are meeting with more institutions for a lot of different things, and he will mention the bridge sponsorships for Teton Lakes. They will be meeting with Frontier Credit Union tomorrow morning. 5 e. Other Items as brought forward Staff or Elected Officials Commissioner Mendenhall said during the Madison Foundation Tournament there was heavy rain that caused a drainage problem in the Teton Lakes parking lot and prohibited them from going into the clubhouse. It inconveniently creates a very large puddle right in the front doors of the clubhouse. Golf Pro Garn has laid some pallets down to get across the parking lot into the clubhouse; however, it was not the most impressive view of the clubhouse. Discussion regarding installing a French drain where there is a drainage problem. Board Chairman Johnson said he remembers when they were grading that section of the parking lot, they decided to put in a stormwater detention vault where it slowly fills up. This drainage issue is just over to the west of the clubhouse so not northwest of the clubhouse, by the new landscaping. Commissioner Mendenhall mentioned when the parking lot was torn up, they talked about drains so if the drain can be fixed it should be fixed. Board Chairman Johnson said the vertical drain installed over by the cart storage area is not exactly in the right place either. The drain does an ok job, it is just not in the perfect place. 6 Board Member Sorensen asked who would look at the drain problem? Would it be the city or someone from the county. Finance Officer Nelson said the city engineer Justin Beard could take a look at the drain to see how to best address the draining issue. Board Member Sorensen said the parking lot at the Legacy Golf Course becomes a mud hole when it rains. He suggested two loads of gravel be spread at the Legacy parking lot. Board Member Boehm said another option is to block off the parking lot and put grass down and not let anyone park there. Discussion: There is asphalt 100 feet away from the parking lot where people can park; however, there are more elderly patrons playing at the Legacy and it would be hard for them to walk to the clubhouse. He wondered if carts could be parked over on the asphalt so people could load up and drive the cart to the clubhouse. Discussion regarding parking the carts further away from the clubhouse. The carts could be stolen and there is not much room on the asphalt to park the carts. Golf Pro Garn asked if the parking lot at Teton Lakes could be swept to remove rocks and sand. 3. Finance Report a. Review of Golf Report through 8/30/24 Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Budget Report for the golf courses. The projected profit margin at Teton Lakes went down over the last month. The projected profit margin at the Legacy went up. The Legacy profit is showing about $47,000 and Teton Lakes is showing $41,000 and both golf courses have slowed down since Labor Day. Finance Officer Nielson asked Grounds Manager McFarland if he has ordered the rough mowers. Manager McFarland said he has ordered the rough mowers. He said he is purchasing two smaller mowers; however, the pump shaft snapped off the bank mower. The bank mower was bought in 1998 so the remaining funds in that account will be used to fix that mower. 7 8 9 Finance Officer Nielson said he is going to transfer a fairly substantial amount of funds into the irrigation system account. With all of the improvements they have scheduled for next year, he believes the fiscal year will end with about $555,000. They will still carry over about $310,000 in revenues even with all of those improvements in the next fiscal year. 4. Golf Pro’s update of issues/concerns/problems/projects a. Further discussion on Youth on Course and potential Youth Punch Pass (Action Item) b. All Other Items as brought forward by Golf Pro Golf Pro Garn reported they are wrapping up the golf tournaments, they only have two tournaments left for the year. Board Member Boehm asked if Teton Lakes is still busy with out-of-town patrons. Golf Pro Garn replied, the weekends at Teton Lakes are still full of out-of-town patrons especially on Sunday when the Idaho Falls golf course is full, and patrons can’t get on that course. Board Chairman Johnson said a decision was not made last meeting regarding the Youth on Course and Youth Punch pass because there was not a full quorum. Finance Officer Nielson explained at the Legacy golf course through July they had about 242 people participate in the youth on course. The process for the youth on course is the patron purchases a pass for $30 and every time they golf, they only pay $5. Then the youth on course reimburse the golf course $5. So basically, the golf course is getting $10, which for the legacy is great because the rate is only $8.50 causing a net positive. However, at Teton Lake the junior rate is $13.75 so some revenue is lost. When he nets the two together through July there is a difference of about $3,600 lost in revenues compared to full price. Had the golf courses not participated in the youth on course and assumed the youth came and paid full price which would not have happened anyway. Finance Officer Nielson said the last time the Golf Board met they discussed continuing the youth on course at the Legacy only and discontinuing the youth on course at Teton Lakes; however, instead offer a youth punch card. The youth punch card cost would be $137.50 which is 12 rounds of golf for the price of 10 rounds. For example, at Teton Lakes 1100 rounds of golf were played with the youth on course, it is difficult to know the number of people that played the 1100 rounds of golf. 10 Board Member Boehm moved to approve to discontinue the participation of Youth on Course Program at Teton Lakes and instead offer a Youth Punch Card for the price of $137.50 for 12 9-hole rounds; Board Member Sorensen seconded the motion; Board Chairman Johnson asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Board Member Boehm Board Member Sorensen Board Member Parkinson Board Member Wright Board Chairman Johnson The motion carried. Commissioner Mendenhall asked how we can teach youth golf etiquette. Other than going through a foundation type of program. It's getting desperately needed as the number of youth desire to play golf. Discussion: A video of golf etiquette could be viewed by the youth golfers. Commissioner Mendenhall said there was a bus full of youth students being dropped off at the Legacy golf course, he wondered if the school could have the students watch a golf etiquette video before they arrive at the golf course. Board Member Boehm asked about the Sephlin Foundation. Golf Pro Garn said he is not in favor of supporting the Sephlin Foundation because of the lack of communication. There is a foundation called First Tee America that is ran professionally that Teton Lakes could support. There is also the city recreation program that introduces children to the game of golf. Commissioner Mendenhall said another foundation would add to an already crowded golf course. Discussion: If the Sephlin Foundation desired to sponsor a golf tournament then that is something the golf course could work with and some of the proceeds from the tournament could offset some of the costs. Finance Office r Nielson explained the nonprofits in the past have asked for some kind of a discount such as the Dare Tournament they don’t get charged a green fee because the tournament is held at night. The Madison Memorial Hospital and Chamber of Commerce are two other non-profit tournaments that a policy was specifically created for them which was half off the green fees. The policy also states that only three non -profit tournaments per year would receive half off the green fees. 11 Finance Officer Nielson said the Sephlin Foundation could write a check for $5000 that specifically goes to pay for youth to participate in the city’s recreation programs not just golf through scholarships. This is the kind of approach the city has taken in the past to help administer the proceeds that someone donates to benefit the youth in the community to participate in programs the city already offers. Discussion regarding instructors giving golf lessons at the golf course. Finance Officer Nielson said he will inform the Sephlin Foundation about the non -profit tournament policy; however, the other items she has requested is not something the golf courses can accommodate because it jeopardizes their first priority of providing services to the public. He said he will mention the non -profit tournament application. Board Member Wright asked if they should limit the Sephlin Foundation tournaments to the Legacy course. Board Chairman said the Sephlin Foundation would complement the city youth golf recreation program. Golf Pro Garn said for beginner golfers the Legacy golf course is a good introduction to the game course. The next step would be the Teton Lakes Junior Program and then the IGA. Golf Pro Garn said the Sephlin Foundation could use the putting range at the Legacy to teach the youth that has signed up through the foundation. Board Member Sorensen said he doesn’t believe the Sephlin Foundation could use the course as much as they would like because of the daily use from patrons unless they pay the same price charged to regular patrons. Finance Officer Nielson said there is a class fee of about $250. He wondered if that would be an option for the Sephlin Foundation. Golf Pro Garn said there is a high school class that uses the course at the $250 charge; however, the golf course provides an instructor to teach putting and chipping, the class last about an hour at the Legacy course. The $250 charge covers four sessions. Golf Pro Garn said depending on the age of the kids they might need to break them up into groups of five or six kids per group with each group having an instructor like they have for the city Golf Recreation Program. Finance Officer Nielson said the group rate may not apply to the Sephlin Foundation. 5. Golf Grounds Manager update of issues/concerns/problems/projects a. Tee Box, netting, and Range Lights at Tee Box (Seth and Cam to come back with design proposal) b. Update on mapping with GIS and our City Works Coordinator mark the location of all irrigation lines and equipment on a map with coordinates. i. More work to be done here with marking sprinkler heads and noting pipe size. c. Other items as brought forward by Golf Grounds Manager Board Chairman Johnson said there is one place that slows down on play at Teton Lakes, it is on hole six of the middle. It’s a place that gets a lot of water causing lush vegetation on the left over the sand trap. He wondered if the grass could be cut 10 feet further out. Grounds Manager McFarland reported they have completed vericutting of the greens. It took them about a month to complete the vericutting, hopefully next year it will take less time. The cart path near number one they capped with road base to try to get rid of the ruts. They will be putting in a drain on the right side of fairway 11 to remove a dip that had formed there. Grounds Manager McFarland continued to report on the work being completed on the golf course grounds. They are almost done with top dressing the South Fork fairways and have used about 140 ton of sand to complete the top dressing. He said he would like to top dress the fairways every year for the next 10 years and would like to expand it to other fairways. Grounds Manager McFarland said the pump intake screen has been delivered so they will start the replacement of that screen tomorrow. This is their last effort to make that work before they need to find something more extensive. They hope to finish the trench near 18 by October for the new culvert coming down from the red tee box. Also, in October they will start aerating the North Fork and South Fork fairway tees and banks. Grounds Manager McFarland asked about the closing date for the Legacy. Discussion regarding when to close the Legacy. Golf Pro Garn recommended they close the Legacy on October 13 th. 12 Discussion regarding the cross-country ski path. Grounds Manager McFarland said as long as the ski path does not cross most tees or any greens. 6. Board Business/issues/problems/events a. Other Items as brought forward by Board Members Discussion regarding several altercations at the golf course. 7. Determine Next Board Meeting Date/Time a. 10/08/24 at 4:30 pm 8. Tabled Agenda Items to Consider: a. Consider landscaping items in the service shop area after completing main parking lot/clubhouse improvements. 9. Executive Session (Statute 74-206)-Only held if necessary, and subsection authorizing the executive session must be stated-Generally held after regular meeting to discuss labor contract matters. (If necessary) (j) To consider labor contract matters authorized under section 67-2345A (74-206A) (1) (a) and (b), Idaho Code. Adjournment 6:10 P.M.