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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGolf Board Minutes - March 11, 2025 1 (208) 359-3020 35 North 1st East Rexburg, ID 83440 Rexburg.org | Engage.Rexburg.org Golf Board Minutes – March 11, 2025 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 1. Review Prior Meeting Minutes and approval (Action Item): a. January 07, 2025 Board Member Wright moved to approve the Golf Board Meeting Minutes for January 07, 2025; Board Member Boehm seconded the motion; Board Chairman Johnson asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Board Member Boehm Board Member Parkinson Board Member Wright Board Chairman Johnson The motion carried. 2. Board Business/issues/problems/events a. First Term expiring for Paul Sorensen on 03/03/25 (County A ppointment) i. Could be reappointed to the 2nd 5-year term (Action Item) Finance Officer Nielson explained Board Member Sorensen’s first term expires on March 3rd, 2025. He reviewed all the board members’ terms. The city/county members alternate and there is one joint board member in between those appointments. Board Member Sorensen is a county appointment. The board members have the option to serve a second term for five years. There are some board members that are serving the five -year second term. The County Commissioners would also ratify Board Member Sorensen’s second term appointment. 2 Board Member Boehm moved to ratify the re-appointment of Paul Sorensen to the five-year second term as a Golf Board Member; Board Member Wright seconded the motion; Board Chairman Johnson asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Board Member Boehm Board Member Parkinson Board Member Wright Board Chairman Johnson The motion carried. b. Other Items as brought forward by Board Members 3. City or County Input/Issues a. Discuss Updates on Clubhouse Remodel (Action Item) i. Update on Costs with newest Change Orders Finance Officer Nielson reported on the progress of the Teton Lakes Clubhouse Remodel and reviewed the estimated costs. The original bid was at $92,789; however, there were a few change orders which increased the bid price to about $119,000. One of the change orders was adding the AC unit which is expensive. 3 Finance Officer Nielson reviewed page three of the estimated costs. There are three new orders. One of the new change orders which amounts to $2,425 was mandatory to meet code compliance because there were broken electrical wires and vent fan installations. The next change order is the stair entry rails. He said for the stair entry to meet code they need to install rails on both sides and the rails need to wrap around the wall. The third change order is double railing for stairs going up to the attic offices. He said the three change orders together are major costs compared to the original bids. Finance Officer Nielson said he is going to meet with the contractor tomorrow to determine if he can get a better price from the contractor. He added if the contractor does not give a better price, then one of the options would be to give them a $2,000 credit and get a bid from another manufacturer. Board Member Boehm said the amount of money that is being spent on this remodel the railing should be completed correctly and quickly; however, they could use a different contractor. Board Member Parkinson mentioned the two change orders for the railing seem high. Board Chairman Johnson asked for the amout of funds budget for the clubhouse remodel. Finance Officer Nielson replied that they had budgeted $160,000 for the remodel. 4 Golf Pro Garn said if the hand rails do not get installed in time for when the golf course opens he could block the front doors and route everyone up onto the deck instead. He said he does not think the contractor will be finished with the remodel before opening day. They are working on tile and carpet installation on Monday. b. Update on storm drain project in parking lot-scheduled to happen in Spring Finance Officer Nielson reported the City Street Department has scheduled a time to go look at the drain at the Teton Lakes parking lot. Board Chairman Johnson asked if it would be helpful to take pictures of where the water pools. Finance Officer Nielson said they have marked the areas where the water is collecting in the parking lot. c. Update and Discuss options for clubhouse food/snacks (Action Item) i. Prior vendor decided not to sign 6-month contract ii. Discuss whether to run through owners or Pro Shop Inventory Finance Officer Nielson said he sent Blister’s a six-month vendor contract for Teton Lakes and Blisters decided not to renew the contract so they will not be providing food service at Teton Lakes. Brady Gardner, the owner of Blister said it was not the price of the contract that he decided not to renew, it was because he desires to focus on building their business at the new location. Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Teton Lakes Clubhouse Food Service Options for Consideration report. He mentioned there is still the option of the owners running the restaurant side of the clubhouse or they can find a different restaurant to sign a six-month contract. If the owners run the restaurant, they would pay for all the materials, labor, and take all the revenue. The owners would provide some additional compensation to the Golf Pro to help manage all the items shown in column three of the report. Golf Pro Garn said if he runs the restaurant at the clubhouse he would scale back the food options and only provide hot dogs and grab and go items. Board Chairman Johnson mentioned the feedback for the City Council is that the city is not interested in selling beer at the golf courses. 5 County Commissioner Mendenhall asked City Attorney Rammell if there is anything the city and county need to be concerned with by allowing alcohol on the golf course premises. City Attorney Rammell explained he has heard of the following three operation practices pertaining to alcohol on city golf courses. The first practice the golf course will sale alcohol; however, they will prohibit the consumption of alcohol on the golf course because they want patrons to buy the alcohol at the clubhouse. The second practice is the golf course is not going to sale alcohol and will prohibit alcohol on the premises. The third practice the golf course is not going to sale alcohol nor will they prohibit alcohol on the premises. The third operation practice is more political and he wouldn't say there's a liability issue. Council Member C. Erickson said the City Council discussed, they do not want the golf course employees to sale alcohol. They were ok with Blister employees selling alcohol because it would become Blister’s liability. Discussion regarding prohibiting alcohol consumption at the golf course. Board Member Wright asked if golf course staff would police alcohol coming into the golf course. City Attorney Rammell said having a policy in place to prohibit alcohol at golf courses would create a policing issue for Golf Pro Garn. The policy would essentially create a training liability because measures are in place. Finance Officer Nielson said the options are to have the owners run the restaurant or the Golf Pro could run the restaurant. Having the Golf Pro run the restaurant would be a break even for the owners. These two options would not provide the same level of service as a restaurant. Board Chairman said he is in favor of allowing the Golf Pro to run the restaurant. Board Member Boehm said he too is in favor of the Golf Pro running the restaurant. Golf Pro Garn said he thinks it is good for the golf course to have drinks and snaks that patrons could purchase. He said he is in favor of allowing food trucks on the weekends to sale food. It is difficult for restaruant owners to make money at the clubhouse. Discussion regarding allowing youth groups use the restaruant to sell food as a fundraiser. Finance Office Nielson said the District 7 Health Department would have requirements that these youth groups would not be able to obtain. Board Member Boehm moved to approve the operations of the restaurant area of the Teton Lakes Clubhouse to the Golf Professional to sale concessions; Board Member Wright seconded the motion; Board Chairman Johnson asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Board Member Boehm Board Member Parkinson Board Member Wright Board Chairman Johnson The motion carried. d. Approval of Bundle Discount Ad and Terms (Action Item) Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the bundle price discount for Teton Lakes and asked the Board Members if there were any changes they wanted to make to the discounts. The bundle discount is for the 2025 golf season. He asked Noah to add the single cart trail fee. The bundle discount ends April 30th. 6 Board Member Parkinson asked if there is a reason why there is a discount close date. He said if the discount goes longer the patrons would be getting less season time; however, it could encourage them to continue to purchase the bundle. Golf Pro Garn said the bundle discount is not a large savings; however, having the close date encourages patrons to purchase the bundle discounts because the y feel like they are prepaying. e. Other Items as brought forward Staff or Elected Officials 4. Financial Report a. None to Report b. Will discuss the Capital Improvement Plan in April and the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget in May Finance Officer Nielson said he does not have any financial reports to review. In April they will focus on the capital improvement plan for the golf courses and in May he will review the full budget. 5. Golf Pro’s update of issues/concerns/problems/projects a. Additional discussion regarding new surcharge fee for non-residents of 10% for Season Passes and Punch Passes (Action Item) Golf Pro Garn said he was not aware of the non-resident 10% fee. Finance Officer Nielson said the fee was passed in the previous fees list and a public hearing process was held and the fee passed. Golf Pro Garn said he would prefer not to charge the non-resident fee for season passes because the amount of patrons from outside the county limits that purchase season passes is minimal. He explained if he were to see a large influx of pass holders from other counties then he would consider charging the non-resident fee; however, until then he does not desire to charge the non-resident fee. The golf course employees do not have time to administer the fee. 7 Discussion: Golf Pro suggested raising the cost of the weekend daily rates instead of charging the non- residential fee on season passes. Board Chairman Johnson mentioned for this year it may be a good idea to keep track of the amount of non-resident playing on the golf course. Golf Pro Garn said he is excited for the start of the golf season. The Pro Shop remodel is finished, and he is working on organizing the tournaments. Board Member Parkinson said the board members and Golf Pro discussed keeping track of how many non- residents are playing on the golf course. One of the concerns that has been brought up is how busy the course is when residents want to golf. He asked if there is any way to keep track of statistics in general to determine how much the course is getting used. Golf Pro Garn said the golf courses use the Four-Up Software to keep track of the number of patrons; however, there are season pass holders that do not always check in at the Pro Shop before they begin to play. The weekend play is where the golf course sees a lot of patrons from Idaho Falls. On Sunday every tee time is full. b. All Other Items as brought forward by Golf Pro 6. 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, marking sprinkler heads and noting pipe size. c. Other items as brought forward by Golf Grounds Manager Grounds Manager McFarland reported the greens are looking good. Board Member Boehm asked about the moss issue on the back greens. Manager McFarland said they are still battling the moss issue. They rebuilt the bridge on #2 in the middle fork. The pumps are being rebuilt because they were built in the 50’s, they were so worn out that they were losing 40% of the flow. Grounds Manager McFarland reported Tyler with the county is hauling gravel for the parking lot. They are currently trenching the main line at the Legacy Golf Course for installing that irrigation. They almost have the main line dugout. There are about 10 acres and hopefully they will be completed by the 1 st of April. Discussion regarding the rebuilding of the pumps. Board Member Johnson asked if the pump repairs are in the budget. Finance Officer Nielson said the pumps were forecasted into the budget. Board Member Johnson asked if the solar panels on the Teton Lakes clubhouse work because he heard Rocky Mountain power is only paying half of what they used to pay for power put back on the grid by the panels. Golf Pro Garn said he has not seen a large savings. 7. Determine Next Board Meeting Date/Time a. 4/8/25 at 4:30 pm 8. Tabled Agenda Items to Consider: a. Consider landscaped items at 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 05:10 P.M.