Changes under way at Grand Island Golf Club in Lee County

LEESBURG _ When members of Grand Island Golf Club get their bills in the next few days, many of them will notice one of the first steps the Lee County Commission is taking to get the taxpayer-owned recreation complex out of a financial hole.

The bills may be slightly different as the Lee County Parks & Recreation Authority has worked with Grand Island’s staff to pare down the number of membership categories to “five or six” according to Luke Singletary, a Lee County Commissioners and a member of the Authority.

“This will make billing easier and put people in the right categories,” Singletary said. “It should result in an increase in revenue, we’re just not sure how much yet.”

Singletary is a recent appointee to the authority, which has been given 90 days to come up with ways to improve the financial situation at the club, which features an 18-hold golf course. In recent months, Grand Island has spent about $300,000 for operating expenses that the County Commission has had to cover.

“We should see a pretty immediate effect,” Singletary said. “We’ll see if we lose or gain members.”

Singletary said the authority has been working with Grand Island’s staff to make changes to become more efficient and to allow a more precise snapshot of the club’s financial situation.

For example, Singletary said, the club has added a point-of-sale system in the grill.

“They’ve been operating on handwritten tickets and handing those in at the end of the day,” he said. “It’s hard to keep up with inventory, what’s going in and what’s going out, or the cash on hand if the tickets get lost.”

Singletary said Grand Island was able to obtain software for the food operation at no cost from the vendor for the club’s pro shop.

And lunch at the club could get a little more expensive. Singletary said there may be an across-the-board price increase on food at Grand Island.

Singletary said the authority and county staff members have called for proposals on the possibly of adding a new driving range at the club. Grand Island’s previous driving range closed when part of its property fronting Ledo Road became unusable with the construction of an automobile dealership.

“It’s pretty evident looking at the financials that we lost a lot of revenue when we lost the driving range,” Singletary said. “We lost a lot of rounds played.”

Singletary said there may be a correlation between the lack of a driving range and the number of rounds played.

“People want to warm up before they play,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s the end all, fix all, but at least we’ll have an idea of what it would cost us.”

The request for proposals will be reviewed on Tuesday, according to Lee County Manager Ron Rabun. The Parks & Recreation Authority meets two days later.

“We may or may not take action on building this thing,” said Rabun. “It’s not automatic that we will build it.”

“I would be willing to bet no action will be taken on the 5th (of March authority meeting),” Singletary said.

Singletary said several people in the golfing community, including those instrumental in the start-up of Stonebridge Country Club, have reached to offer assistance to the authority.

“People are coming out of the woodwork to help us,” he said.

Rabun believes the 90-day review of the Grand Island situation, which is about one-third of the way completed, is off to a good start. He cited the appointment of Singletary to the authority, along with new members Vic McKinley, Jacob Baker and Jamie Knight.

“We now have a full board,” Rabun said.

“We’ve had a good board in the past,” interjected county commission Vice Chairman Dennis Roland. “If this continues to lose money, how long do we continue to operate? … I’ve been fighting this for eight years.”

Obviously committed to the 90-day review of Grand Island, Singletary challenged Roland to “make a motion” if he wanted to close the facility during Tuesday night’s regular commission meeting. With no motion forthcoming, County Commissioner Bill Mathis encouraged the group to “move on” to the next item on the agenda, which Commission Chairman Rick Muggridge did.