PANAMA CITY — Bay County has offered to lease Bay Dunes Golf Course for three months to a company that operates a course on Panama City Beach.
The Bay County Commission on Tuesday will vote on the agreement, which proposes to pay $25,000 a month to Holiday Golf & Racquet Club and give all course revenues to the company. The company, which operates Holiday Golf Course on the beach, would operate and maintain the course. The three-month agreement would kick in from the date the agreement went into effect.
“The agreement is temporary and should provide sufficient time for the Board to evaluate its options for the property, which could include seeking proposals for long-term maintenance and operation,” the agenda summary states.
Bay Dunes, at 5304 Majette Tower Road, opened in the early 1990s after being built on top of a county landfill.
Tony Ray had been leasing out the course property since 2011, but county officials recently served him an eviction notice after he could not produce a bond the county required. Ray then sent county officials a letter stating he would be leaving on his own volition.
After hearing golfers plead with them to keep the course open, the County Commission on Dec. 2 agreed for the county to take it over for two months. But the issue of who would staff and maintain the facility was not decided at that meeting. Commissioners discussed everything from using inmate labor to having the golfers pitch in to keep the course open.
Holiday Golf Course president Allan Bense said he was glad to help out the county through this period and will continue to do so any way he can.
“They needed a little hand for 90 days,” he said. “I said, ‘great.’ “
Bense said he doesn’t expect his company to run the course longer than 90 days, but added, “never say never.”
“Our thing is on the beach,” he said. “We will assist the county any way we can.”
He said that includes helping the county develop a request for proposal for a new course operator.
“We’ll keep the course in as good of shape as we can and hope they find someone to run it and do a great job,” he said.
He said it is difficult for a working person to find reasonably priced courses like Bay Dunes.
“When you go over the bridge to play golf, it gets pretty expensive,” he said. “Hopefully they can find someone to run and manage it on a long-term basis. There are not many opportunities for the little guy to play.”
Bense said courses are expensive to maintain and are closing every day throughout the country.
Assistant County Manager Dan Shaw said Friday the county contacted Holiday Golf Course officials to see whether they could help get the county through this period on a temporary basis.
“Basically, that’s what they are doing,” he said. “They aren’t going to make any money.”
Shaw said Bay Dunes has been closed this week but could open in the coming days.
“Keep in mind we don’t own anything other than the course,” he said. “This operator (Ray) when he leaves is taking everything — flags, sticks. We have to replace that stuff. We subsequently made a deal with him to buy some of it from him so we at least have rudimentary stuff out there. They have taken items like carts and mowers and heavy equipment out of there. In order to run the course you have to have that.”
Shaw said the county has determined that it would cost $36,000 a month to bring in the equipment to maintain and operate the course, and greens fees wouldn’t come anywhere close to covering this amount.
He said the goal is for the county to spend no tax money on the course.
Shaw said next week the county is going to issue requests for proposals for a long-term operator of the course.
“The Holiday folks are out there today trying to get the course set up to play if possible,” he said. “It may open up this weekend. It hasn’t been open all week.”
The contract up for a vote on Tuesday states that Holiday Golf shall use “its best efforts to do day-to-day maintenance of the course.”
“Major capital expenditures for repairs in excess of $5,000 and authorized by the county will be paid by the county,” the agreement states.
Under the proposed contract, Holiday Golf is required to provide the county with a monthly revenue and expense report.
The county will carry property and liability insurance for all buildings and improvements, the agreement states.
The meeting at the county government center on 11th Street begins at 9 a.m.