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1972-02-29 Special CC Minutes365 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE COUNCIL AND THE RECREATION COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF ALAMEDA HELD TUESDAY - - - FEBRUARY 29, 1972 The meeting convened at 7:30 o'clock p.m. with President La Croix presiding. ROLL CALL: The roll was called and Councilmen Fore, Levy, Longaker, McCall and President La Croix, Jr., (5), were noted present. Absent: None. On roll call by the Clerk, members of the Recreation Commission were noted present as follows: Commissioners Blanchard, Heaney, O'Maley, Steele, Tebaldi, Towata and Chairman Kranelly, (7). Absent: None. Also in attendance were Messrs. H. D. Weller, City Manager; F. M. Cunningham, City Attorney; and D. Grant Mainland, Director of Recreation and Parks. Receipt of the Notice and Agenda of this Special Meeting had been acknowledged and was on file with the Clerk. The purpose of the session was for consideration by the Council and the Commission of recom- mendations which had been submitted on the Golf Course operations. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. President La Croix announced this was not a public hearing. After the Council and the Commission had deliberated on the subject under discussion a recess would be declared and an opportunity would be provided to members of the audience to submit questions on cards to be furnished. In this way, it was hoped anyone so desiring would have the opportunity to submit questions germane to the issue under consideration. President La Croix then read a prepared statement that the joint meeting had been called for discussion of the Commission's letter to the Council dated February 14, 1972, with regard to the future direction of the Municipal Golf Courses. He stated the Commission had been studying the problems of the Courses for well over a year and had submitted a number of alternative approaches. Of the options presented the Commission felt, and he said he felt the Council agreed, that only two appeared to justify further joint consideration. These were (1) retention of an architect to develop a plan for complete remodeling of the South Course, with financing of the project in some way by the City; (2) leasing of the entire Golf Course complex to a private firm under conditions which would assure reconstruction of the South Course and retention of sub- stantial policy control by the City over the operations. He urged that discussion be confined to the issues set forth and the attempt be made to avoid repetition and comment on matters not pertinent to the issue. The President said, as he saw it, the basic and only issue confronting the Council and the Commission was a method by which the South Course could best be reconstructed, for which it seemed quite clear that capital costs in the vicinity of $700,000 would be required and the choice was simply between the use of City funds or funds to be provided by a private lessee. He said the conditions which had brought the City to this point and any degree to which the Golf operations were self- supporting were not pertinent to the making of this choice; whether or not changes in organization, fees or concessions might be expected to improve the relationship between revenue and cost, the need for a major capital expenditure remained and that was the issue to be concerned with this evening. President La Croix requested, therefore, that the temptation be resisted to go over old grounds and debate other aspects of the Golf subject which had nothing to do with the particular decision under consideration. He said he had made his statements in the hope that the work session would be fruitful in deliberating the issues before the Council and the Commission at this time. President La Croix then invited Chairman Kranelly to comment. Chairman Kranelly stated the Commission, after receiving direction from the Council to conduct a study of the Golf Course operation, had appointed a committee of members of its group to study the matter and its report had been unanimously approved and adopted at the last meeting of the Commission and forwarded to the Council. He summed up his remarks with the thinking that the matter came down to two points. If the City was to continue to operate the Golf Courses as a recreation facility, with which proposal the Commission would be heartily in accord, there would have to be recognition of the fact that the Courses should be brought up to the best possible condition and be made the best possible facility and then be operated in the best possible way with respect to bring- ing in the maximum amount of income and hoping to come as close as possible to equaling expenditures although it would have to be recognized that it was a recreation facility and therefore would have to be subsidized by the City. If this were not to be the case, he said, and if the Courses had to be operated at a profit the only thing to do would be to put the operation in the hands of a private concessionaire or lessee. The Commission felt this was the only way the operation could be guaranteed to earn a profit for the City. President La Croix thanked Chairman Kranelly for his remarks and called for discussion, first, on retention of an architect to develop a plan for remodeling of the South Course with financing of the project in some way by the City. At the suggestion of Councilman McCall that the Council receive a report on the Committee's study, Chairman Kranelly stated the members of the committee studying the matter had been Commissioners O'Maley, Steele and Tebaldi, Chairman. Commissioner Tebaldi, upon request, explained that the Recreation Department staff had contacted approximately fourteen architects and members of the staff, Mr. Garcia of the Golf Course staff and Mr. Cummings, the Golf Professional, had conducted the interview of these people, which had boiled down the list to three architects. The committee had then met with the three finalists and the selection late in January, after numerous meetings, had been Mr. Robert Dean Putman on the basis of his background, capability in his own field and in others, knowledgeability and experience. Commissioner Tebaldi said Mr. Putman was involved at the present time with two golf courses in Spain and had recently laid out and developed the Rancho Canada courses in the Carmel valley. 366 Councilman Fore inquired how Beachcomber Golf had been selected as a possible lessee, expressing the thinking that submitting the proposal to bid would undoubtedly bring several offers. Commissioner Tebaldi said the firm had not been solicited, that the committee had not been seeking someone to lease the Golf Course properties or run the concession as a whole at the time Beachcomber Golf had approached the City. He said he was not aware of anyone else who might have approached the City in this respect. Upon inquiry, Mr. Mainland stated he had had no contact with other parties interested in conducting the Courses in a lease arrangement, that Beachcomber Golf, inasmuch as it had taken over Tilden Golf Course and apparently intended to continue this type of operation on various courses in the East Bay area, had approached the Recreation Department as it was aware of the study in progress. With regard to a further question by Councilman Fore as to its ability to perform financially in its proposal, Mr. Mainland said he had not investigated the proposal to this extent. Upon inquiry by Councilman McCall as to whether there were other firms in this type of business in the State or in the nation operating on a lease basis with options as recommended by the Commission, Mr. Mainland said he felt sure there were other firms as leasing was not a unique situation as far as golf was concerned. City Manager Weller stated he felt the assumption in naming the Beachcomber Golf organization was that it had been the only one in the immediate area which had actually demonstrated the capacity to perform. He said he felt there would be no objection, if this should be the direction of interest, to calling for bids or inviting evidence of interest from others, commenting that Beachcomber Golf had two or three similar operations in Southern California plus the one at Tilden Park and, so far as he knew, they had been satisfactory and successful but he felt it should not be indicated that there was any feeling on the part of the Commission or the staff that the City was dealing with only one prospective interested party. Chairman Kranelly explained that the unsolicited Beachcomber proposal had been forwarded to the Council with the knowledge that its operation had a proven record and it was intended only to show the Commission and the Council what was possible. He said it was fully realized if the Council should consider the matter of leasing the facility the proposal would have to be put up for bid to give other organizations the opportunity to quote. President La Croix said he felt very strongly that if consideration were to be given to hiring an archi- tect and developing a plan for complete remodeling of the South Course to be financed by the City, the taxpaying public of the City should not be assessed to accomplish this, that the vast majority of the users of the Courses came from outside the City and were not taxpayers in Alameda. He suggested that in considering the possible remodeling of the South Course, only one plan would be open to the City and that would be selling off of land under jurisdiction of the Recreation Commission for financing the project. He called for discussion on Item No. 1, with regard to hiring an architect to draft plans for remodeling of the South Course. Councilman McCall said it was known something would have to be done, there had been discussions by the Commission, the staff and the general public, and the only way to determine the cost factors would be to hire an architect and if he was wrong in his understanding that the Commission had in mind proceeding in this direction as quickly as possible he would like to be so informed. Chairman Kranelly said he would be very happy if the City could develop the Course as desired by the Commission and keep it as a recreation facility; doing this would presuppose the matter of the capital expenditure and whether the facility would support itself. He said he felt these were matters to be settled. If this should be the decision the architect would be retained, he would develop a preliminary plan and then come up with final plans and specifications at a cost of approximately $12,000 to that point; the architect would want $3,500 for a retainer, $4,000 for a plan fee and an additional $5,500 for final plans and specifi- cations. At that point the City would be informed on the cost factor, and it would have a complete plan for remodeling the South Course, including correction of the soil condition, drainage problems, et cetera. Councilman McCall inquired as to whether, if Mr. Putman were to be hired, he would anticipate a regula- tion eighteen -hole course or, as an alternate, consider it as an executive course and submit alternate proposals, and whether a rate increase of fifty cents would take care of the overall cost of the architect and any other contingency. Chairman Kranelly stated the Commission had explored these avenues and submitted its recommendations and these matters would be for Council decision. He said it had been indicated in preliminary discussion with the architect that the Golf Course would be on a reduced area; this would force putting it into less acreage and the Course would certainly be a shorter, more compact, and very likely an executive course as close as possible to a championship course and if not possible, it would definitely be an executive course to fit into the area available, encompassing the course, a new driving range, and other features. Upon request by Councilman McCall for an expression of where funds would be obtained to accomplish the project, Mr. Weller reported he felt there were four alternatives, one of which could be disposed of rather rapidly - the possibility of a revenue bond issue which he felt could not conceivably receive the majority vote of the people of the community. Second, on the basis of past records, he felt there was no way the purchasers of the bonds would have any assurance they would ever be paid off by Golf Course revenue as the record had been quite the contrary, so he felt the possibility of a revenue bond issue was too remote to be considered. A general obligation issue, which was the type passed by the City in 1955, he also felt would not get the necessary two - thirds majority and again it would be extremely difficult to finance as it would become a direct burden on the taxpayer. Another possibility, to which Councilman McCall had alluded, was that of increasing green fees and he said he felt this was a self - defeating principle as increasing the fees sufficiently to retire this kind of bond issue would cause the volume of play to drop to the point where there would be no more money available for the purpose. He said it seemed to him that the avenue of bond financing was pretty well out of the question as it had no practical application in this kind of situation. 367 Mr. Weller said the most obvious possibility would be to draw from the City's Capital Outlay Fund as done in the case of the North Course project and this could be done, although it would have to be done on the basis of the Council's judgment as to priorities of the capital needs of the community and with the clear understanding that the money, in all probability, would never be paid back. In other words, it would simply represent a contribution to a particular kind of public facility and this could be done. The other possibility, and the one recommended by the Commission, was the sale of City -owned properties on Bay Farm Island, either a portion of the present South Course or the acreage just off County Road and Golf Course Drive, or both, with a part or all of the proceeds being used to finance reconstruction of the Course. He said he felt the economics were such that this could probably be done. Here again was the question of equity which the Council would have to determine as a policy judgment as a community asset would be sold and the proceeds would be utilized for a particular and specific purpose which would not necessarily run to the benefit of everyone in the community. He said he thought this would be the most promising way of financing the project if the South Course reconstruction were to be financed from City funds. Commissioner Steele said he had made a study of recreation properties in the City, of which there were 347 acres, and 133 acres of beach and regional properties, including the Golf Courses, so there was not actually too much land in City possession. He questioned sale of the land, whether the City would lose or gain in the future by such sale, and whether anything would be accomplished. Mr. Weller said his personal view was that the value of open space would depend to a considerable extent on its location and his guess would be, irrespective of the avanue followed, that a portion of the present Golf Course would become surplus in any case simply because the present Course was too loose and a bad course in the sense of its physical layout, and the surplus land available was not adaptable to general public recreational purposes. He said in terms of the agreement with Utah and assuming the development would take place, the City would be able to acquire approximately ninety acres, depending upon the actual configuration of the development, which in the judgment of the School District, Recreation Department and the City staff would be adequate to provide for the open space and public recreation requirements on Bay Farm Island. This was over and above the land under discussion so he felt the easy and proper answer to the question was that the City would not be selling land which it would subsequently want to buy back, that the land in question was really surplus in terms of its location and its other potential public utility, and it would be a mistake to rebuild the Course on the same acreage simply because it would enhance and increase the maintenance problem, the length of the irrigation system and it would do nothing to improve the playability of the Golf Course. He said the determination of the acreage required and its location, which would be determined by an architect, would be based on the judgment of what would be neces- sary to come up with a good sound golf course, not on the basis of where the highest value of land was which the City could peddle as surplus. He said whether the amount would be thirty, forty or ten acres, he did not think the City would be stripping itself of an asset which it would subsequently regret having lost. In reply to a question by Councilman Longaker, Mr. Weller said consideration had been given to using some of the land in question at some time in the future for barter or trade -off for upland park area as place utility played a large part in the location of any public area, public parks particularly, and the City would undoubtedly be better off if such an exchange should be made. Commissioner Steele said he had studied the General Plan which recommended one acre of land for recreation for every 700 people. He pointed out that this could represent 700 acres for recreation in the future. President La Croix expressed the personal thinking that this was something the City of Alameda would not be able to reach, that this was a maximum figure. He pointed out a number of recreational facilities which had been provided in the City over the years on short acreage. Mr. Weller said he would like to return to the point of the location, accessibility and utility of the land, stating if the desire were to satisfy the ideal conditions prescribed in the General Plan, which he said parenthetically were almost arbitrary in consideration of standards of library facilities or school facilities, the same kind of massive deficiencies would be encountered as no community could meet standards established by people in a particular field. He suggested that taking the whole 700 acres of Bay Farm Island the City could wind up with a park of this size but it would have no utility nor would it respond to the needs of the community. The area must be put where the people are and where the people will use it and merely saying that the City needs 700 acres for recreation had no meaning. He expressed the opinion that in terms of the particular situation under discussion, selling or releasing the area would not have the place utility required to bring up the standards mentioned. President La Croix suggested that Item No. 1 had been quite thoroughly discussed and it would be proper to request that the staff through the City Manager submit to the Council at the earliest possible date a report and recommendations as to the possibility and feasibility of moving in this direction to correct the undesirable conditions on the Golf Course, hiring an architect to prepare plans and acquiring the necessary funds. This was agreeable to other members of the Council and the City Manager was requested to proceed accordingly. President La Croix then brought up for discussion Item No. 2, leasing the entire Golf Course complex to a private firm, on which a twelve -point summary dated February 9, 1972, had been submitted to the Councilmen for information. He requested clarification of Item No. 6 - "Absorption of personnel not otherwise placed." Mr. Mainland stated this matter had not been discussed at any depth but Beachcomber Golf were interested in personnel who were familiar with the golf operation and the Course itself; presumably some employees would be placed in other Departments of the City and if there were any who were not so placed Beachcomber would offer employment to these people at the Golf Course operation. President La Croix commented that there were several Golf Course employees in the audience and he pointed out that the employment and consideration of these people was paramount in the thinking of the Council. In explanation, Mr. Mainland, who had conducted discussions with Beachcomber Golf after the preliminary meeting with the committee, stated he felt the proposal was pretty well spelled out in the summary of twelve points which was, hopefully, a broad look at what could be expected if a lessee should take over the opera- tion of the Golf Course setup, although there would obviously be many points in the actual lease which were not covered in the summary. 36 President La Croix enumerated the points of the summary with brief discussion. Councilman McCall inquired if absorbing by the lessee of personnel not otherwise placed would provide to the employees the same status now enjoyed with regard to salary, wages and fringe benefits, express- ing the thinking that the statement was wide open and did not mean what it said. President La Croix said this was a fair question but the discussion had not reached a point where these matters had been firmed up. With regard to Item No. 9 regarding development of a neighborhood park, Mr. Mainland said the proposal had suggested the lessees might be willing to take unused portions of the Golf Course for this purpose. He said he had suggested the location might not be suitable for a neighborhood park and Beachcomber had indicated they would do the same thing with another location, not on the Golf Course. Councilman Longaker raised the question of reduced costs for senior citizens. Mr. Mainland said there had as yet been no spelling out of any such points. Councilman Longaker said it was obviously a very attractive thought to go from "instant debt" to "instant profit" without the proposal of selling any land or raising taxes or the City putting out any additional funds. He said he felt the Council would have to take a good look at any possible contracts and any other groups which might be interested in bidding on this kind of setup would have to be taken into consideration. President La Croix suggested that this matter be referred to the staff through the City Manager for possible meetings with the Beachcomber Golf people with notice to the public that any parties interested in this phase of the golf program who might wish to contact the City of Alameda with regard to a possible lease arrangement should be afforded the opportunity to do so, as this was only proper, with the request that the Council receive a report and recommendation at the earliest possible date as to the direction it might take in this respect. He said he would want to see, first of all, with all due consideration of a proposed lese the retention of existing pesonnel and an explanation of what could be done in providing similar positions for these people in City government. He said he felt this was a paramount consideration. It was stated there were twenty -four full -time employees at the Golf Course at the present time. Councilman Levy said he felt consideration should be given to the services to be offered by the proposed lessee and cost of play compared to the present rates. Councilman McCall said he realized this was a business deal but he felt if private enterprise could make a go of this business the City could do the same thing by good management and the City was now up against the wall for production to get the best possible from everyone on the Golf Course, in City Hall and everyone concerned. He suggested the various facilities at the Courses might be leased separately for a full operation with greater stature, and this would bring higher return to the City. He said he felt the members of the Recreation Commission were seriously interested in the Golf Courses and in the City of Alameda and they would find the way. He expressed the opinion that the Beachcomber proposal should be considered only as a last resort, saying he did not want to see the Golf Course operation get away from the City. President La Croix commented that he knew of very few cities which had tried as hard as the City of Alameda to make its Golf Courses break even and it had not proven over the many years of operation that it was possible to come close to breaking even. For this reason he said he felt it was necessary to take a good long look at the lease proposal, and if agreeable to the Council he would ask the City Manager, working with the City Attorney and the staff, primarily Mr. Mainland, to discuss the possibility of lease with the Beachcomber people and with any other interested parties who might have the ability to perform in this area, and to report back to the Council at the earliest possible date its findings and recommendations. Mr. Weller said he did not know whether Beachcomber Golf or any other private lessee could make a go of the Golf operation or not but he suggested there were some substantial differences between public and private operations. He explained some advantages a private company would have as compared to the City's position in this respect. At this time, the President declared a ten - minute recess during which anyone in the audience who so desired could submit written questions on the subject under discussion. Upon reconvening, questions with regard to various aspects of the Golf Course problem, the proposals under discussion, and the personnel involved were answered by members of the Council, the Commission and the staff. President La Croix thanked those in attendance for their interest and questions and assured those present of the interest and concern of the Council and the Commission. He invited Chairman Kranelly to make a statement. Chairman Kranelly said inasmuch as the Commission did not often have the opportunity to meet with the Council he would like to express a few thoughts. He said he hoped the study by staff of the matter under discussion and submittal of recommendations would be done as expeditiously as possible and that the matter of financing the project, if the decision should be to retain the Golf Courses as a recreation facility, would be approached with an open mind, particularly with respect to the point made by Council- man Fore that he would not consider the sale of any City -owned land. He recalled that this had been one of the points of the previous Golf Course study submitted by the Director of Recreation and Parks and it had come about after much discussion and consideration between the Planning and Recreation Departments and the committee working with them on the subject. He said it had been felt that three areas on the Golf Course property could be considered surplus, one of which was nearly twenty acres which might produce in the neighborhood of one million dollars, depending on the zoning. Councilman McCall said he could only come to the conclusion that the Recreation Commission leaned toward leasing the Golf Courses, so long as it would be on a good deal. President La Croix stated he felt the Commission had done exactly what the Council had requested it to do and had moved expeditiously in making a study and submitting to the Council proposals which its members felt should be balanced, weighed and studied for decision in the best interest of the community and, hopefully, for the best interest of the golfers. He said he felt the Commission had done an outstanding job and that, since the question of the Courses had been raised, the staff working at the Courses and within City Hall and the Commission deserved a great deal of credit for the good changes which had come about in the last year. He complimented all who had been involved. He said the Council would move on the matter as expeditiously as possible, as evidenced this evening; at the time a decision was to be made as to the direction the Council would take in the matter, he said, an open hearing would be held on the floor of the Council Chamber for discussion of the issue and no decision would be made until the opportunity had been provided for proper questions. He commended Chairman Kranelly and members of the Commission, who serve the City without remuneration, and thanked them for their contribution to the interests of the City. ADJOURNMENT: 2. There being no further business to come before the meeting, the City. Council and the Recreation Commission, meeting jointly, adjourned. Respectfully submitted, City Clerk �t�