by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Management at the City’s Fiddler’s Green golf course wants to take a mulligan on its operating agreement, but some on the City Council think a penalty stroke would be more appropriate.
After six years running the former military course at Cecil Field, the city’s air base turned office park, Meadowbrook Golf Group, Inc. wants to hand over management to Capstone Golf, a local company that runs a St. Augustine course. But several members of the City Council say Meadowbrook did a bad job as manager and don’t think the company should be allowed to cut and run.
Council member Daniel Davis said he was surprised by the course’s bad condition during a round played last year.
“I played it for the last time eight months ago, and I mean for the last time. It’s just been allowed to run down,” said Davis. “They (Meadowbrook) milked it for all it was worth and now they want to wash their hands of it.”
Meadowbrook’s management acknowledges that the course hasn’t been profitable, but they say they’ve done the best job they can. The course has structural problems and maintenance issues that would require an expensive overhaul to correct, said Geary Leathers, Meadowbrook’s vice president of operations.
“There are longstanding infrastructure issues that we’ve been dealing with from the start,” said Leathers. “These are significant issues that we’ve been dealing with fairly effectively, quite frankly. The course hasn’t been a commercial success for Meadowbrook, but it’s not due to any failure on our part to maintain a good facility.”
Davis was among the Council members who want to hold off on approval for new management. The City’s agreement with Meadowbrook allows the company to transfer the contract but Council opposition said it doesn’t know enough about Capstone to sign off on the deal.
Meadowbrook wanted Council approval at Tuesday’s meeting. But Council member Warren Alvarez, whose district includes Cecil Field, said the Council wouldn’t consider the deal until at least the end of March.
Alvarez said he never heard about the deal until he saw it up for vote on the Council’s agenda. When the proposal appeared before the Council’s Finance Committee Monday, none of the committee members had seen Capstone’s business plan or even a resume for owner Mike Pullen.
“Capstone might be a good group and this deal might end up passing as is,” said Alvarez. “But I can’t approve a company to manage a City course if I don’t know anything about it.”
Alvarez said he wanted to hear Capstone’s plan to turn the condition of the course around. Under Meadowbrook, deteriorating course conditions have led to less players and less money. The City’s supposed to share profits, but the course hasn’t been profitable in recent years, said Alvarez.
Some Council members said Meadowbrook shouldn’t be allowed to leave until the course is in satisfactory condition or until the City is compensated for what they perceive as the course’s deterioration.
“If we have an irresponsible operator here, why not go after them for damages?” asked Council member Lad Daniels. “That would send a real message that you can’t just rob the City’s treasury and then walk away.”
If the change in management is approved, Capstone would pay the City $60,000 and a percentage of annual profits for the operating rights to Fiddler’s Green.