The Becky Pierce Municipal Golf Course has been closed since New Year’s Day, after the Huntsville City Council voted to end an agreement with Robertson Golf Management. Finding an acceptable new management company and then making needed upgrades could keep the course closed into next year, the City Administrator said.
Since New Year’s Day, the Becky Pierce Municipal Golf Course in Huntsville, Ala. has been closed to the public, television station WHNT News 19 reported, after the Huntsville City Council voted last year to end the agreement with the course’s old management company, Robertson Golf Management. And the city council plans to keep the course closed until an acceptable replacement. for its management can now be found, WHNT reported.
Huntsville’s City Administrator John Hamilton told WHNT that the city plans to be diligent in looking for a new management company, even if that costs it a few “strokes” with avid golfers.
“We don’t want to throw a little bit of money at it, either ours or theirs, and then two years from now have the same conversation all over again,” Hamilton said.
The city has a clear vision for the type of partner it’s looking for, Hamilton added. “Somebody who has the experience to operate a course successfully, has a good understanding of the investments that are required to make it work, and then has the capacity to actually do it,” he explained to WHNT.
So far, however, finding the right partner hasn’t been easy. “The one response we got was not suitable,” Hamilton said. So now the city is going back to the drawing board, to seek out new potential partners.
“We’ve met with three other entities that have previously expressed interest in operating the course [and are] evaluating their proposals and their assessments of the course,” Hamilton told WHNT.
Even after the right match is found, WHNT reported, the course will have to remain closed to implement upgrades, which the city can’t start on now, with funding still up in the air.
“The agreement we would reach with [a new management firm] would define how much of an investment the city would make, versus how much [the new firm] would make,” Hamilton explained.
It’s therefore clear that upgrades to the course won’t happen overnight, WHNT reported. “I think the earliest you could possibly see that course open again would be towards the end of this calendar year, but really early next year is more likely,” Hamilton said.
Currently, the Huntsville City Council, which would have the final say on any operating agreements between a golf management company and the City of Huntsville. hasn’t allocated any money for course upgrades in this year’s budget, WHNT reported.
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