Clearwater may buy golf course clubhouse
By LESTER R. DAILEY
Article published on Wednesday, June 25, 2008  |
CLEARWATER – The City Council on June 19 unanimously approved a “term sheet” to guide city staffers in their negotiations with Clearwater Country Club Management Inc., which owns and operates the clubhouse at the municipal golf course.
Under a proposed deal, the city would buy the clubhouse, at 225 Betty Lane North, and the surrounding 5.7 acres, which are adjacent to the city-owned golf course, but the country club would continue to manage them.
The city and the club have had an 85-year relationship, but many of the 276 members are octogenarians, and they’re dying off faster than new members can be recruited.
“If you can’t bring new members in, the story will never have a happy ending,” Councilman Paul Gibson told the club’s volunteer board of directors.
“We have evolved over the past five years from a private club to more of a municipal golf course,” the club’s treasurer, John Bailey, said.
Last year, club members played 29,000 rounds of golf on the course, as did non-members. But despite cost-cutting measures and a membership drive, the club is having trouble staying in the black, and maintenance is suffering.
“I’ve talked with people who play the course and say that it could be maintained better than it is,” Councilman John Doran said. “We have some catching up to do.”
City officials made it clear that, if the deal goes through, the club must adhere to strict maintenance standards.
Even so, Gibson balked at the $2.13 million total cost of the purchase, which would consume 40 percent of the city’s general fund. In the end, however, he joined his colleagues in voting to continue the negotiations.
“I think the challenge for the management now will be to bring in outsiders (to play golf) and bring other uses for the clubhouse,” Mayor Frank Hibbard said.
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Article published on Wednesday, June 25, 2008
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