CITY COUNCIL WANTS GOLF COURSE MANAGER

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Some City Councilmen are upset that the Golf Course Advisory Board this year apparently won't recommend the city hire a professional manager at the Jaycee Municipal Golf Course.

Last year, council members particularly Al Spradling III said they wouldn't support a fee increase at the city's golf course unless a "golf pro" was hired to manage the course and improve its condition.

The initial fee-increase proposal was amended in light of the council's, and several golfers', concerns about the condition of the course.

At Wednesday's City Council meeting, Spradling asked the city staff about the status of the golf course and whether steps were being taken to hire a professional course manager. He said the minutes of the golf board's last meeting indicate the board won't recommend the manager be hired.

But Assistant City Manger Al Stoverink said the board hasn't taken an official position on the matter and only discussed it at its last meeting.

"We will present more information on the issue at their meeting next week and will have a recommendation for the council by May," Stoverink said.

But Spradling said May would be too late for the city to hire someone to prepare the course for the 1991 season.

"May's a little late," he said. "If you're going to consider this thing, it's going to have to be before May. Your season starts in May.

"If you get a professional involved, he's going to want to have some course development in place before that."

Councilman David Limbaugh said some board members indicated when the fee-increase proposal was debated late last year that they would hire a professional course manager this year.

But Stoverink said the board has some new members who have taken a "more active" role in trying to improve the course. He said board members now want to "wait and see" if the course improves to the extent that hiring a manager won't be necessary.

But Spradling said he thought the board and the city staff was delaying a decision this spring in order to let the matter "die" for another year.

"It's easier to not do anything and let the season go by, and then it's too late to do anything," he said. "You might as well forget it this year.

"This is something that takes time to put on board. I see what they're doing, they're delaying it, because by the time the decision's made, the season's gone."

Spradling said he thought the matter was "being ignored." Councilman David Barklage said he agreed.

"I think, without saying it Al," he said to Stoverink, "you're saying it. The staff is not interested and the advisory board is against it."

Barklage suggested that Spradling make a motion to the council that the staff hire a golf course manager and usurp any golf board recommendation.

But Spradling said the board needed to make a recommendation on the matter, one way or the other.

"If they want to just have a facility out there to grow grass, that's fine," he said. "They can sell it and build condominiums.

"But they need to make a recommendation. We've spent a lot of time for a questionable piece of real estate our there."

Spradling said he thought someone needed to "make a more significant contribution" at the course to improve its condition and make it more competitive with other courses in the area.

In other business Wednesday the council:

Gave final approval to a law that requires the posting of four-inch address numbers on homes and six-inch numbers on commercial and industrial buildings.

Approved a resolution to authorize the city to apply for Missouri Department of Agriculture matching funds for lighting improvements at Arena Park.

Conducted public hearings regarding the city vacating its interest in a portion of an alley between Middle and Independence Streets and the city's latest Community Block Grant Development Program application.