As golf course clubhouse decision nears, most councilors keep their opinions – and membership status – private
Published: 11-30-2023 5:02 PM
Modified: 11-30-2023 6:01 PM |
It turns out just one Concord City Councilor is a member of the city-owned Beaver Meadow Golf Course.
However, before the Monitor learned that information through a public records request to the city, most councilors, including Concord’s current and future mayor, chose not to disclose that information when asked in a survey.
With a looming public hearing on Dec. 11 to consider building a new clubhouse on the property, the Monitor asked every sitting member of the City Council several questions about the coming decision, including their membership status. Five of the 15 members chose to answer the questions, while the other 10 said they did not want to answer or ignored the questions altogether.
“In the interest of transparency, I will not be answering,” Mayor Jim Bouley said. “I will decide my opinion after I hear the public testimony.”
Only Ward 3 Councilor Jennifer Kretovic, an outspoken advocate for building a new clubhouse, is a member of the golf club, according to city records. The course has about 400 members. The Monitor did not ask if councilors were regular customers of the golf course or clubhouse.
Several residents wanted councilors to reveal if they were members of the golf course prior to the decision to bond more than $10 million to build a new 15,000-square-foot clubhouse, which spurred the Monitor to ask.
Councilors can move forward on a vote to approve a $10.3 million bond to pay for the construction of a new clubhouse following the public hearing on Dec. 11. It will be the last meeting of the outgoing council and many of the newly elected councilors had brought up the golf course bond when campaigning. In addition, a flyer circulated before the election identified all the candidates who were in support of a new clubhouse.
A decision to borrow money through a bond takes a two-thirds majority, or 10 votes of the council to pass. On the current council, three members have said they oppose the clubhouse bond because it is not the right time given other city priorities.
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The rest chose not to answer or ignored the question.
“I’m going to respectfully decline to respond to your poll,” said Byron Champlin, a current at-large city councilor and mayor-elect. “I will be deciding on reconstruction or some other path after the city staff presentation and public testimony in December,” he continued.
Champlin has already shown support for the clubhouse project.
Last month, he said a vote on the bond should be a surprise to no one and declined to support slowing the process down, despite rapidly changing costs and designs.
“How many discussions have we had about the golf course?” he said. “Numerous public discussions and public meetings.”
The council has had little public debate on whether to renovate the existing 4,500-square-foot clubhouse versus building a new 15,000-square-foot structure that is more than three times the current size. Costs estimated to renovate the building came in around $1 million, while new construction will be more than 10 times the cost.
When the council accepted the recommendation of the golf course building committee in December 2021 to build new instead of renovating, it did so with no debate or discussion.
In addition, Bouley has suggested that the next council could reverse the bond vote. In order for that to happen, one of the councilors who voted in favor of the bond would have to make a motion to reconsider the previous vote, according to Robert’s Rules of Order, which govern public meeting proceedings. Such motions are exceedingly rare without new information that materially changes the initial decision.
Ward 1 City Councilor Brent Todd said his membership status would play no role in his decision on the project.
“I’ve never personally used the city pools, but regardless I support their upkeep and maintenance because the public has indicated that’s what they want. I have used our public libraries, and I also support them, despite that some residents have told me libraries are antiquated and a waste of taxpayer dollars,” Todd wrote in an email to the Monitor. “Important overall is the sense of community that these amenities generate, and the public’s desire for them; certainly that always needs to be balanced with costs and sensitivity to taxpayers, especially those on fixed incomes.”
The pace of the clubhouse discussion has been swift since Bouley initiated an ad-hoc clubhouse committee one year ago. In April, the committee gathered for a visioning session, and by August, new building designs and site plans were unveiled. Then the project took a twist and was scaled back.
Until last month, the designs called for a three-story clubhouse that would be about 18,000 square feet, with an estimated cost of $4.9 million. Now, it’s a scaled-back single-floor structure after the New Hampshire Golf Association decided against leasing a space in the clubhouse.
But, the cost has more than doubled to $10.8 million, with $500,000 already spent on design work.
The initial budget figures of $4.9 million for the clubhouse construction were a placeholder until costs were finalized, Brian LeBrun, the deputy city manager of finance, said in July. The committee charged with coming up with a design said it was never concerned about cost.
At-large councilor Amanda Grady Sexton said she opposes the plan to build a new clubhouse and instead supports renovating the existing one.
“I think it’s time to scale back on our spending in Concord,” said Grady Sexton. “Families across the city are struggling in this economy, and all municipalities are facing new expenses caused by the skyrocketing costs of trash and recycling services, staffing challenges, less federal funding for human services, and the public safety expenses associated with the opioid epidemic and homelessness. In addition, the school board is discussing a new middle school that could cost hundreds of dollars more per year on our tax bills, which will of course also raise the price of rentals.”
But for others, like At-large councilor Fred Keach, the clubhouse construction is seen as a vital investment in the city’s recreational resources.
“The golf course is one of many recreational assets that tax dollars fund. My goal is to make each recreational opportunity as self-sustaining as possible,” wrote Keach. “Recent dollars spent on the golf course have resulted in a return on investment and I expect this to be the case again. These improvements go far beyond that of supporting golf and would serve the community in other very broad ways.”
Ward 5 City Councilor Stacey Brown, who had consistently questioned the need for golf course spending, suggested at the last council meeting to hold off on making a decision on the clubhouse until the next council takes office in January. Her motion was shot down by a vote of 12-3.
Michele Horne, incoming Ward 2 councilor, feels the decision is being rushed and more time is needed for public information sessions to be held on the revised project.
“All the while we were campaigning, people were asking me questions about the $5 million Beaver Meadow project and then less than a week after the election happened, they’re talking about voting on a $10 million Beaver Meadow project, which I think doesn’t give the opportunity for the community at large to get their questions answered,” she said.
Keach and others in support of the project reject the notion that the project is being hastily pushed through before the new council assumes office.
“Opposition has only become an issue since this year’s election,” said Keach in response to the questionnaire. “I sense that some see that a new incoming council as an opportunity to reverse course on the work of the last 2½ years and circumvent the work that has gone into this project to date by the current council and community.”
Most new councilors have expressed skepticism about the clubhouse expense and say they want more information. If the new council were to decide the issue, at least five or six members of the council are expected to oppose the bond.
While the city consistently promotes the idea that the new clubhouse will generate more revenue than now, those projections and the amount of income it will contribute are uncertain.
City estimates show taxpayers are expected to pay back the bond, not the golf course. The tax burden for Concord residents ranges between $39 a year and $6 in the last year of the 19-year bond for a home worth $300,000.
City budgets show profits and losses at the golf course. Beaver Meadow was cash-positive in 2022 and 2023 and lost money between 2014 to 2019. In addition, the city is anticipating net losses starting in 2025 through 2029.
Even if the golf course brought in $100,000 a year, it would take 100 years to pay off the clubhouse bond, not including interest.
“If there are city councilors that are confident that this is the best idea for the city, then surely they have no issue meeting with the community members over the next few weeks and answering the myriad of questions that have been raised since the proposed project went from $5 million to $10 million,” wrote Horne.