As we enter the long stretch of winter, the early dark days and the pervasive cold, we find a sense of community and belonging in places like the swimming pool or arenas. In the absence of the amenities of the big city, we appreciate these facilities just a little more, knowing they are part of the lifeblood of the town.
We can’t take these facilities for granted, since they are run at a great cost and with much effort on the part of small towns.
That’s also true of the St. Paul Golf Course, and the non-profit board that ran it deserves credit for in providing a service to the community for years. However, the course’s ambitious expansions, including the $1 million clubhouse and the back nine course, sounded alarm bells for more than one person. At the time, recalled Mayor Glenn Andersen, the board felt it could undertake these projects and survive.
As it turned out, they couldn’t.
Last Wednesday, the board put a gun to council’s head, with members saying they needed help immediately, that they had a $372,937 working capital deficit, and they wouldn’t be able to keep operating without support. Council kept calm and made the only decision it could, given the circumstances, saying in all effect, “We’ve lost confidence in you – we’re pulling the trigger.”
Judging by their visible shock after council moved to terminate its land lease, the board members didn’t look like they saw the decision coming. But with people’s jobs on the line, commitments made to the public, and hundreds of thousands of dollars owing, the board should not have let the situation escalate to that point. It put council in that position of having to make a hard decision, but the right one.
Running town facilities at a loss is one thing, having to rescue a non-profit from a massive deficit after a lack of communication and financial transparency is another. Perhaps more hard decisions will have to be made, such as having a hard look at whether the town needs an 18-hole course or should redevelop it.
We are thankful for our facilities and we hope that the golf course remains one of them, long after the dust from council’s decision settles.
