March 14, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
The Smithville Golf Course, Swimming Pool, and Tennis Court will soon be under new management.
During a special meeting held Tuesday evening at city hall, the aldermen voted 4-0 to hire Ken Lacy and Pete Ferguson to manage the facilities for at least one year. Aldermen Gayla Hendrix, Shawn Jacobs, Josh Miller, and Danny Washer voted in favor. Alderman Jason Murphy was absent.
(CLICK PDF LINK BELOW TO VIEW PROPOSAL OF LACY AND FERGUSON)
The city will pay each of them $1,000 per month. This equates to a shared annual wage of $24,000. Lacy and Ferguson will also be offered the city’s healthcare insurance package which is a $7,000 benefit to each of them. The city will receive revenues generated through the facilities.
The mayor and aldermen held a workshop concerning the future of the golf course on Saturday.
“We had a workshop Saturday at the golf course to get an update on the condition, the maintenance, and how everything is looking. Everything is looking wonderful. The report was that potentially the golf course could be ready to open by April 1,” said Alderman Hendrix.
The city had previously had the golf course and pool leased to Tony Poss but he surrendered his lease last August. After that, the city entered into a one year maintenance agreement last September with Riverwatch Golf & Resort to upgrade and maintain the golf course at a cost to the city of $74,115.
The aldermen decided at that time to begin looking for a manager by spring instead of leasing the facility again.
During Tuesday night’s meeting, Alderman Hendrix moved to hire Lacy and Ferguson as managers. She said their proposal was the best of those submitted for consideration.
“We had some applications submitted for manager but after reviewing everything, I would make a motion that we hire Ken Lacy and Pete Ferguson. I thought their proposal was by far the most economical and they are the best qualified for the position. I feel like we are very fortunate in this small town to have people of this expertise willing to do this and it will include management of the golf course, swimming pool, and tennis courts. They will be in charge of all of that” said Alderman Hendrix.
Alderman Miller suggested that the deal with Lacy and Ferguson be subject to a review after one year.
“Since we don’t really know what kind of revenue this golf course will bring in, I think we should at least make sure we have the option of looking at this again in a year,” said Alderman Miller.
The board gave its approval.