Monday, May 19, 2008

Golf Course Update: A Suggested Boss Godfrey Summer Project

Privatization -- exploring neoCON dream options

This morning's Standard-Examiner provides a brief update on Boss Godfrey latest management fetish: staunching the purported financial bleeding at Emerald City's Mt. Ogden Golf Course. Among other things, today's Ace Reporter Schwebke article provides an interim tally of suggestions heretofore submitted by various community-minded lumpencitizens. Interestingly, letting the course "go to seed" reportedly drew a plurality of the ersatz "votes."

There was however one creative solution which appears to have particularly caught our "can do" mayor's eye -- one that we agree ought to be thoroughly explored. We provide the gist from Scott Schwebke's opening 'graphs:
OGDEN — Mayor Matthew Godfrey says he will look into a recommendation that a not-for-profit organization be allowed to manage financially troubled Mount Ogden Golf Course.
The recommendation was the most intriguing by far arising from a March open house to gather public suggestions to resolve the golf course’s money woes, said John Patterson, the city’s chief administrative officer.
Leaving aside the still unresolved question, whether the MOGC would be running at a "break-even" if not recently saddled by Godfrey bean-counters with "repayment" of a debt arising from the course's original construction (a debt repayment obligation apparently NOT originally contemplated by previous Ogden City administration officials,) we agree that it might be fruitful for the Godfrey and his well-paid "suits" to aggressively explore private management options.

Privatization -- the neoCON dream.

A quick Google search reveals no shortage of golf course management companies who might be solicited to bring MOGC operations to a new level of operational efficiency.

We say it's time for Boss Godfrey to get moving on this. Soliciting bids for competent golf course management would be an ideal diversionary summer project for Godfrey and his "A-Team," we think, while some of Godfrey's other projects and schemes (Larry Mylar and Gadi Leshem, anyone?) continue to flounder into the summer. And who knows? If Godfrey were to pursue the resuscitation of our MOGC with the same level of obsession demonstrated with respect to his gondola delusion over the past three years, a highly persuasive (and charming) visionary like Godfrey would surely succeed in luring a golf course manager/developer who's actually willing to bring some of his own cash to the table -- right?

Well...?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about turning it over to the "Ogden Community Foundation"? It's the perfect combination of "non profit" organization with a FOM board.

Anonymous said...

Why not kill 2 birds, how about turning it over to the homeless shelter?

Anonymous said...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the golf course already managed by a not-for-profit organization? It's called Ogden City.

Anonymous said...

Howbout we wait until Old Man Holding dies? He has one foot in the grave,and another on a banana peel. Ask future MO Golf Course Developer Chris Peterson about this.

OgdenLover said...

In reading today's SE article, I wondered how many people making suggestions or endorsing them actually either live in Ogden or have some sort of real investment here as opposed to outsiders.

Anonymous said...

Elmer have you seen Holdings will, Peterson may not even be in it. The 2 calls that mentioned to sell the MOGC for development must of come from the Geigers.
I still haven't seen any advertising or promotion to get players to the course.

Anonymous said...

i would like to see the mayor post all of the written responses with names of those who wrote them that the mayor received relative to what should be done with the golf course.

in almost all public hearings the responses are posted for the public to read. this should be no different.

Anonymous said...

As soon as I learned of the request for suggestions on the golf course, I sent in a list of questions and requests for information. My intent was to learn as much as possible about the current situation before formulating an opinion on what should be done. (I know this isn't the usual procedure here in Ogden, but sometimes my scientific training gets the better of me.) So far I have received no response to my questions. I've heard through the grapevine that some of my questions were answered in the materials provided to the city council in preparation of their recent work session on the golf course. So I guess I'll have to contact the council and ask for a copy of that packet. Perhaps it was naive of me to think that the administration would actually answer questions from the likes of me. (Two years ago I asked the mayor a few questions about the gondola, and those haven't been answered either.)

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