HomeMy Public PortalAbout2022.01.12 GCAC MinutesGCAC Min utes
January 12, 2022
5 :00 PM Golf Course Club House
Roll Call : Suzanne Gebhards, Erick McCormick, Kris Chr istensen, Rita Balli-Neal,
Todd McKenna, Ken Stearns, Eric Bouchard . Al lan out sick .
Public Comment : Guests Tony Araquistai ne, and Kara Jeffus. No public comments.
Approve Minutes for December 8, 2021 : Motion made and ca r ried with
unanimous approval.
. Eric's Report : Met with Men's club about bridges . They will support tee boxes
and will conside r funds for bridges. Eric is waiting for a cost estimate from Matt
Falvey to build the pads for the bridges .
Hired a new ass istant, who may now be leaving due to housing and family medical
issues.
I nstalled lights in the bathroom, one more coat on the countertops and will i nsta l l
on a Monday/Tuesday when the restau rant is closed .
Code enforcement has installed new signs stating that all dogs must be on leash
and not chase the deer.
Rates are on the council meeting agenda for the 27th . The Consumer Price Index
is at 7% so expecting Council to come back and ask for more of a rate increase . He
asked if they wanted to revis it rates and they said no .
Hoping to move the meeting to the 16th so he can attend a conference in San
Diego and recruit for an assitant superintendant.
Golf Show tour starts i n Boise Jan 10th -12th, followed by Spokane Jan 19th and
20th, then two weeks later in Seattle March 5th, 6th funded by South West Idaho
Tourism association.
Jan 25th -28th is the PGA show in Orlando, Flor ida .
Restaurant closed last week because of a COV ID outbreak.
Allan's Report : All Men 's tournaments were full as of January 2nd . Eric will email
the last two months financials .
Monthly Topic: Open Topic, Discuss the management model for the Golf Course:
• Eric B. reports that Warm Springs all employees are city employees, the tournament
coordinator is seasonal and also a city employee . They have a dir ector of golf who
manages both Quail Hollow and Warm Springs. All concessions are managed by the city.
They have five profess ionals that teach lessons . City sets all rates and fees, not sure if at
recommendation of a committee or the director of golf. Quail Hollow ope rates at a loss
each year versus Warm Springs that ope rates at a profit. Neither has a restaurant just a
hot dog sta n d .
• Ken Stearns -Lakeview -Owned by the city which pays a management fee to Kemper
Spo rts of approximately $105,000 per year. All staff employees of Kemper Sports except
the kitchen staff which are on contract. Although city likely owns the liquor license . The
master plan recognizes that having the city manage the course results in a 13% cost
increase versus management by Kemper.
• Todd McKenna-Bend Oregon, no municipa l golf courses.
• Kris Christensen -Centenn i al and Ridgecrest. Both professionals and maintenance are
salaried by the city. Food service, and snack bars maintained by the pros. Golf lessons
provided by pro and assistant, and they split a percentage of the profits . Men's and
Women's associations run the golf tournaments . Quest ions -who gets the profits, are
there paid positions within the association to run the tourneys?
• At Ridgecrest the pro gets 75% of all lessons. The pro and his staff run the tournaments.
• Red Hawk -owned by Canyon Golf Partners, pro shop runs tournaments, lessons are
sepa rate . They have no food service.
• Suzanne Gebhards -Purple Sage GC-run by the city. All staff are
• Rita -Idaho Falls - 3 city courses, talked with Tim Reinke, PGA professional -now director
of golf, who has been t h ere for 40 years and worked under two types of management
scenarios . They dropped the pro -management contr act and moved to city management
and now all employees can take advantage of Pers i retirement program . Starting salaries
for golf professionals are at $75,000/yr and current max is at $95,000. Assistants are paid
$23/hr + overtime and holiday pay. Lessons are $65, city gets 20%, pro's get 80%.
Everything is owned by the city including the pro-shop retail inventory. Tim and other
professionals love this model and are happy to stay in current position. Incidentally the
city doesn 1t have to pay sales tax. Tim is the Director of golf and reports to the Director of
Parks. All other pro1s and superintendents report to Tim. His salary is $105,000. Season is
early March to November. Salaried employees work year around . All advertising is
inhouse, range balls, pencils, score cards, etc. are sponsored by outside businesses.
• Comments from guest Tony Araquistaine and his experience from Elko Nevada, he
recommends contract restaurant and proshop. City hires a director of golf who would
supervise proshop, restaurant and superintendent to make all groups work together.
Old Business: Request for Allan:
• Date change for the Women 1s Senior Scramble.
• Taking extra effort to correctly print score cards with correct combo tees .
• Discussion regarding use of Cedar in ladies tournaments. 11 okay with it, 12 not okay
with it ever, 7 ambiguous responses. The general feeling is that people from the valley
don 1t appreciate having to play Cedar and that the participation would be reduced. Many
felt rotating so that Cedar is played one day by all is fine.
New Business: For Allan -The men's club would like to hold their club championship on Aug
27th & 28th.
Next Meeting: February 16th, 2022, 5:00 PM
Topic: Develop plan for Local Option Tax request(s), Review Bylaws sent out by Eric.
Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 6:25PM .
Rita Balli Neal Chair Eric S. McCormick Golf Director
Conversation Notes from Phone Call between Tim Reinke, PGA pro and
Golf Director at Idaho Falls Golf Courses and Rita Bolli-Neal held on
January 12, 2022.
Note: The Golf Advisory Committee members took assignments to
investigate other city owned golf courses to determine how their operation
is managed. My assignment was the city of Idaho Falls golf courses.
Tim Reinke was very forthcoming with information and details on how the
city of Idaho Falls operates its city owned golf courses. He has worked at
Pinecrest Golf Course for 40 years and I found him to be a wealth of
information.
Background: The city owns three 18 -hole golf courses — Pinecrest, Sand
Creek and Sage Lakes. Each course employs a golf pro, an assistant pro, a
golf superintendent and an assistant superintendent. Prior to 2007, the
golf pros were contract employees and not direct employees to the city.
During the recession, the city was trying to run their courses in the most
fiscally prudent way possible and determined it was in their best interest to
transition all golf course workers to become city employees. Although this
meant a reduction in income to the pros, looking at the big picture of health
insurance and PERSI retirement benefits, this resulted in a win win
situation for both the city and the pros. (Note: All current staff at the time
selected to stay and work as city employees rather than contract
employees which facilitated an easy transition.) Their playing season runs
from March to November, but the pros and assistant pros work year round.
There are holiday merchant sales in December, new equipment safes in
January and marketing and prep work before the new season starts. The
rest of the city staff work as seasonal employees. Also the city utilizes a
Golf Advisory Committee to advise the city on operations very similar to
McCall.
Details: In 2007, the transition year, Tim was promoted to Director of Golf
Operations for the city. He continued as the head pro at Pinecrest Golf
Course, but also assumed a management role where all of the other pros,
assistant pros, course superintendents and their respective staffs work for
him and he reports directly to the head of Parks and Recreation. In 2007,
the salary for the other two pros was set at $75,000/year and with annual
raises and adjustments now make $95,000/year. Tim's original salary in
2007 was set at $85,000/year and he now makes $105,000/year. The
assistant pros were making $20/hour which became an accounting
nightmare for overtime and holiday adjustments, so they now make
$23/hour.
Lessons are another source of income that was traditionally income solely
for the pro or assistant pro. The city now has a flat rate of $65/hour for
lessons and that income is split between the city and the pro with the city
receiving 20% of all lesson income.
All operations are managed by the city which include pro shop
merchandise, golf cart rental, equipment rental, driving range, golf
tournaments and restaurant services. (Note: The city is able to buy
merchandise for resale without paying sales tax, unlike operating under a
contract scenario.) In the past years the entire operation has been able to
operate in the black without any subsidies from the city.
The pros have become very savy in offering marketing/advertising rights to
local businesses. They used to outsource their advertising opportunities
by employing an advertising agency, but have moved these responsibilities
to managing and selling in-house to reap all of the profit. Besides naming
rights (like putting greens or special social rooms), they sell sponsorships
for all kinds of operating costs; like driving range balls, pencils, tee boxes,
scorecards and even golf carts. This is in addition to golf tournament
sponsorships.
The city website for the three golf courses is very robust and most golfer
information is available including the ability to book tee times. They also
have a wide variety of golf rates which 1 thought was very interesting. I
asked if these were cumbersome to administer, and his reply was no they
are not. I encourage you to go to their website and review al of their
information including their rate structures.
Tim was very agreeable to answering any questions and believes their
model is working well for the city of Idaho Falls. He is very willing to
contribute any information that would be helpful in designing our future
model of golf operations for the city of McCall.
I encourage Anette and Eric to reach out to Tim Reinke with any questions.
He can be reached at (208) 612-8485.