City Re-Opening Golf Course

By
MARY ANN ANDERSON
The Hazlehurst City Council, during a called meeting on Monday, hopes to make par by reopening the city-owned golf course after it closed several weeks ago because of ongoing money woes.
The golf course has been failing and draining the city’s finances for years, and after discussing ways to keep it open or sell it since January of 2022, it was finally advertised for bids in spring of this year. Although several would-be buyers expressed interest, only one bid was received and it came from local entrepreneur Olin Wooten and was for $671,502.51, an amount Mayor Bayne Stone said was “totally out of line.” The council voted unanimously to reject the bid during the called meeting.
The meeting started out in the rough. Because of technical issues with the city’s email system, the 24 hours’ notice needed to notify the Jeff Davis Ledger, the legal organ for the county, was sent last Friday but not received by the Ledger nor any of its reporters. After clarification by Tommy Purser of the Ledger that the meeting was considered legal because the technical glitch was a “good reason,” Ward 4 Councilman John Bloodworth immediately called for a motion to go into closed session, citing that in the past any discussions relating to real estate had been held in closed session.
But Stone stated quickly that the discussions should be open to the public, saying that the golf course is of “such importance” for everyone in Jeff Davis County, adding, “I think this should be an open discussion because I think it will affect this community for years to come.”
City Attorney Ken W. Smith then advised the council members that they were entitled but not required to go into closed session, also telling them that they would have to vote on the matter.
Stone stepped in before the vote and explained that the city had for years attempted to run the golf course but failed to bring in the revenue that it needed to continue operating and that also it would need help from other sources. The cost to run the golf course is about $200,000 a year in expenses only, he said, as it is mortgage-free.
“We can’t finance it any longer,” Stone said. “It’s not fair to our constituents here in the city to bear such a burden.”
Then Purser, who in addition to being editor and publisher of the Ledger is the former councilman for Ward 2, said he was there to discuss the golf course and the reason others were there, too.
“If you’re going to talk about what you’re going to do with that real estate, how you’re going to operate, that’s not a reason for closed session,” he explained. “It’s obvious that you don’t want to reveal how much you were offered or how much you want to protect the taxpayers’ money. That’s the only reason to go into closed session.”
The council then voted to go into closed session, returning after only a few minutes to almost immediately vote to reject Wooten’s bid before going into further discussions in the open courtroom.
Stone led off by saying that in closed session the council had talked about other options to keep the course city-owned and open to the public. Bloodworth said that recently restructured Downtown Development Authority, which has the ability to get grants, had contacted him about leasing and running it, with Stone suggesting a “long stretch possibility” of discussing with Jeff Davis County commissioners about using Local Option Sales Tax or Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds to help out financially.
“These are just two avenues of possibility,” Stone said. “There should be a way to keep it for an asset for our community.”
Current Ward 2 Councilman John Ramay reminded the council to be “cognizant” of the fact of why the golf course was put up for sale in the first place, saying, “We can’t afford it. We’re pouring money into the golf course with extremely small amounts of revenue that you’re going to get out of it.”
But Ward 1 Councilman Dywane Johnson countered that with other entities, among them the DDA, county commission and school board, that the golf course can be saved, adding, “I don’t care if we do incur expense, we need to keep something for our children. We’ve got to have something.”
With Stone reminding the council that the city can’t afford on its own to keep the golf course, Ramay chimed in, “It is an asset to our community, but we don’t need the albatross around our neck of having 100 percent of the costs … somebody else has got to put some money into it so we can keep it.”
That’s when Johnson made the motion to reach out to “all the entities” to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. The motion passed unanimously.
While public comments are normally not allowed in called meetings, Stone generously gave the floor to several in attendance, including Purser, who reminded the council that, when he left the council in 2018, the golf course was in the best shape it had been in in 40 years. Shortly after he left, the only two remaining experienced golf course employees were fired, and the course has gone downhill ever since. He urged the city to “get someone in who knows how to run a golf course” and who is “trained and capable and knows how to do it.”
Joey Lee of Blackshear, who was a golf course superintendent for more than 20 years and has a degree in agronomy and turf grass sciences, also took the floor, saying that although the course has only nine holes, that it had always been one of his favorite places to play golf.
“My interest is simply that I would love to see this community keep its golf course,” Lee added. “Most people have no idea of what an asset a golf course can be for its community.”
Stone ended the meeting on a positive note, saying, “If everybody goes to work, and works hard, in next work session, this will be number one item. We’ve got to put some wheels on it.”