Palmer council under fire for handling of golf course contract

Palmer’s council and its city administration came under intense criticism at its meeting Tuesday, March 10, over the handling of a contract renewal for Palmer golf course management and the decision to have a city employees do the job instead of a private contractor, Eagle Golf Course Management.

“We’re setting this up for a disaster,” said John Alcantra, deputy mayor and a member of the council. “Running a golf course is a 7-day-a-week operation, not an 8 to 5 job.”

The last time the city tried to manage the golf course was not a success, he said.

Eagle Golf not only earned a profit for the city but it established Palmer’s reputation as having the finest golf course in the state and traditionally the first to open in the spring, he said.

Eagle Golf’s contract ended In early February after company president George Collum found he couldn’t accept last-minute changes made in the contract by city manager Kolby Zerkel and an attorney under contract with the city. Zerkel said the changes were standard for municipal contracts, but Collum said they would have impaired his ability to manage operations efficiently.

Collum also objected to the changes going beyond what the city council had approved in meetings in December and January, and that in late January he was presented with a “take it over leave it” final contract draft just before the deadline.

The golf course was not on the council’s action agenda last Tuesday but it largely dominated the meeting with a crowd that turned angry at times, to the point that Mayor Jim Cooper told one person to leave the room. Comments during the public participation part of the meeting were highly critical of the manner in which the golf course issue had been handled.

“Running a golf course is very difficult,” and requires an experienced operator. “George’s (Collum) product was the best. Why you would kick Eagle Management out is beyond comprehension, one person said. Other commenters said that it seemed like the contract was set up so that Eagle Management couldn’t sign it.

“This was not a good-faith negotiation. The terms were so biased toward the city,” that Eagle Golf would not sign. “We’ll never really know what happened,” in closed meetings when decisions were made. The owner of the Palmer Bar said that if the golf course loses its popularity it hits his bottom line. “We stand to lose $50,000 to $60,000 a year from golfers who stop by after playing golf,” he said.

Several who spoke said they suspect a hidden agenda being pushed by influential people in the aviation community was to oust the current operator and set the gold course to fail and lose money when city workers can’t operate it as well and turn a profit like that delivered by Eagle Golf. This would set things up for an expansion of the Palmer airport onto land now used by the golf course, it was said.

Other commenters faulted city council members for letting this happen. Time should have been given to iron out any contract difficulties. “You (the city) have no idea what it takes to run a golf course,” was a common remark.

Some comments were not polite: “This is not only embarrassing. It is disgusting.” Another comment: “You guys gave crapped in your own lunch box.”