By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Rooks County is in process of purchasing the Rooks County Golf Course, but not all local residents are pleased with the purchase.
The 70-acre-golf course, which is 5 miles north of Plainville, is owned privately by a family that lives out of state. Recently, the family has been unable to care for the course.
The course has fallen into disrepair, and membership renewals and statements for cart shed rentals were not sent out this year.
“Because of the maintenance issues, people didn’t have to join,” said Roger Hrabe, director of Rooks County Economic Development. “They could just go out and golf. People were keeping their sheds out there and their carts, and no one was being paid.”
The Hambright family, which owned the course, was seeking to sell the nine-hole course, the only grass-green course in the county.
Hrabe said economic development agreed to put up the $130,000 for the purchase of the course with the county retaining ownership and providing management of the course. The county agreed to buy the course with economic development funds on a split vote with Commission Chairman John Ruder and Commissioner Larry Poore voting for the purchase and Commissioner Corky Hagan voting against. A verbal agreement has been made with the owners, and the county is waiting for the contract to be signed.
Hrabe said saving the course is a quality of life issue for the county.
“If you start looking at the percentage of people who golf out of your total county population,” Hrabe said, “it’s not high, but it is a quality of life issue that a lot of people want and a lot of people would use whether they are residents or not. If you are going to attract people, whether you are attracting younger people coming in or keeping the retired people here, it is something that is important.”
The course is currently being run by volunteers. The county’s hope is that the course will be able to regain enough paying members that the course will be self-sustaining. The county has estimated an annual operating budget of $30,000. The county has a group of five volunteers who have agreed to serve as a board for the course, Ruder said, but the county is waiting on the sale to go through to formally organize that group.
Ruder admitted the county did not have a formal business plan for the golf course, saying he thought that “was putting the cart before the horse.”
The lack of a clear business plan and questions about maintenance and operating expenses at the course drew concerns from community residents.
Shayn Balthazor, Rooks County resident and business owner, started a petition requesting that certain questions be answered about the course before the sale went through. The petition also requested the sale go to a public vote.
“I started the petition because I didn’t feel that the commissioners had done enough research or analysis into costs, overhead, condition of property and equipment or potential income,” Balthazor said.
Balthazor attended two county commission meetings to speak on the issue.
“I stated that if any other business owner or prospective business owner asked for help from economic development (where the money to purchase the golf course is coming from), they would be required to have a business plan before economic development would consider helping financially,” he said.
Balthazor raised concerns about the septic system, which had allegedly seeped in the area of the clubhouse in the past.
Ruder said the county is hoping the septic tank just needs cleaned out.
Hrabe said maintenance does need to be done at the course, specifically work on the cart sheds. Ruder said it was the county’s hope that once the county gained ownership of the course and started collecting fees again, money could be set aside for these upgrades.
Hrabe said none of the maintenance issues, including the septic system, appeared to be serious. Ruder said the course is in working order at this time. It will be staffed strictly by volunteers until further notice, Ruder said.
Balthazor also expressed concern about the property tax implications and objected to the economic development money being used for the purchase of the golf course. As county property, the golf course would be tax exempt.
“The money is coming from economic development, which receives its revenue from a mill levy,” he said. “The money is taxpayer paid money, and taxpayers pay mils on their property tax. I’d like to see this money put toward bringing new business to the county or help a private owner purchase the golf course without footing the whole purchase. I’m not sure how the county purchasing the golf course will help develop the economy in our county.”
Hrabe said if private owners could eventually be found to purchase and operate the course again, the county would support that.
Because no fees were being collected by the current owner, the number of members or potential members is in question.
Ruder said as few as 40 to 50 paid members could mean the golf course could be self-sustaining. Hrabe was optimistic, saying the course had the potential for as many as 200 members. He said the numbers are a matter of conjecture, but the county is basing membership goals on what they once were.
Balthazor said there were too many unknowns.
“I oppose the purchase. If they had done a proper business plan, knew costs, overheads and true income potential, and could know with little shadow of doubt that it would be successful, I might be (swayed) for the purchase of the golf course,” he said. “Ultimately, we the petitioners just wanted the commissioners to do their homework and then give the voters the opportunity to vote on the subject. We wanted to be informed and then decide if it would be a good investment for the county as a whole.”
Balthazor, who is a former member of the golf course, said the petition received more than 250 signatures and was presented to the county clerk within 14 days of the legal notice of sale appearing in the local newspaper. However, this was after the commission had already voted to purchase the property on June 29. Poore said the petition was not considered for this reason.
“We were not asking much,” Balthazor said, “just a say in how our tax dollars are going to be spent on a subject that isn’t a necessity to the business of running the county.”
Despite the petition, Ruder and Hrabe both said most of the feedback they had received on the purchase of the golf course has been positive.
“The folks that are talking to me are happy that the county got involved,” Ruder said. ” Our goal is to save the golf course.”
Commissioner Corky Hagan was out of state and unable to speak to the Hays Post before publication.