Jones Golf Course to stay open for the year

CEDAR RAPIDS - Jones Golf Course will stay open for the year but city staff will look into whether it and the city's three other courses should be privately operated, the Cedar Rapids City Council agreed Tuesday.

The council voted 7-2 to have staff seek proposals to investigate whether the city's golf operations should be privately managed. The resolution also eliminates a vacant position at Jones.

Mayor Ron Corbett and council member Justin Shields dissented.

Jones Golf Course opened as a nine-hole course in 1959. Another nine holes were added after a renovation in 2001 and its current clubhouse dates to 2004.

Debate over what to do with the course has been ongoing for months.

Jones' closure was seen as a key part of stopping financial losses at the city's golf department. In the last five years, the department has lost $1.1 million with Jones being responsible for $803,719 of that. Those losses are partially linked to Jones having to close due to flooding.

During Tuesday's meeting, council members were given two options: either have Jones closed and used for other purposes, such as wetlands and recreation, or issue the request for proposals to explore the private management.

'The goal and purpose of this discussion is to give staff some direction because, frankly, they've been in a knot for the last several months on what council wants done or doesn't want done,” Corbett said before the vote. ' … It's really decision- making time.”

Council members Pat Shey and Susie Weinacht also spoke initially in favor of using the course for other purposes.

A majority of the council, though, wanted to keep the course open as the city looks for other options. The council did not take a vote on closing the course, since there was not enough support.

'I think we need to make sure that we keep Jones Golf Course on the table for that (request for proposals) rather than pulling it off. The last thing we want to do is take away an asset that we have negotiating ability with before we know whether the private sector has any interest in operating that golf course,” council member Kris Gulick said.

Council member Ann Poe said there should be room for a compromise, such as keeping half of the course open.

'I just don't, at this point, feel comfortable that we've done everything we can to market and pull people into these courses and make a go of it. I'm just not there,” Poe said.

Besides weighing the question of private management, putting out a request may also allow the city's department to propose new options.

Even though they voted on the same side of the issue, Shields told Corbett he 'unfairly brought this to a head.”

'We were trying to explore different avenues to what we could do with Jones Golf Course, but your insistence brought us to this point tonight,” Shields said. 'Tonight, you demanded that we either vote it up or down. There's people who are going to make a decision tonight that I don't know if they're properly prepare to make.”

Corbett say it was time for the council to make a decision on how it wants the staff to proceed.

'All of you have had numerous hours upon hours of time talking to the staff about this,” he said.

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