Mulliganz workking on golf course

The City of Hazlehurst took a major step toward returning the city-owned Twisted Pine Golf Course to a useable condition by agreeing to lease the course to Mulliganz Golf Club LLC, created by four local men.
The action came last week at a called meeting of the City Council. Mulliganz was established by John Turner, Joel Poe, Tyler Clifton and Rod Rentz. Before the council’s action, work had already begun on revitalizing the course which is in a terrible state of disrepair.
The four men proposed the lease agreement at the council’s June work session and last Thursday’s action sealed the deal.
According to the lease agreement drawn up by City Attorney Ken Smith, the lease is for three years, Mulliganz will pay for all expenses for the maintenance and repair of the course. Additionally, Mulliganz will operate a restaurant, pay for a liability insurance policy, reimburse the city for its cost of insuring the course for fire or other casualty loss, and be responsible for repair and maintenance for all equipment and fixtures.
Also, Mulliganz will assume the costs of all utilities.
After 12 months, Mulliganz can request that the city offer the course for sale to the public by highest bid at a minimum bid of $500,000. If Mulliganz is the accepted bidder, the organization will be credited towards its bid for the its cost of improvements to the course. If Mulliganz is not the accepted bidder, the city will reimburse Mulliganz for its expenses out of the proceeds from the sale.
John Turner, manager of Mulliganz, estimated that the course will be open for use approximately at the end of the summer.
Also at last week’s called meeting, the council finalized the city’s 2024-2025 budget (see article elsewhere), accepted the bid from Reynolds-Swain Insurance for its cyber, property, liability and workers compensation and approved expenses for Fire Chief Charles Wasdin to attend training.