Councilman Rob Crawley Cedar Hills Chat Room Facebook post about Questionable Free Golf

July 18, 2015 at 8:46 a.m. –

(Note: This version of Crawley’s post was removed by a moderator, but was resubmitted with the final two paragraphs removed – highlighted in BLUE below – and added a one paragraph conclusion.)

I raised the concern a little while ago on the forum about the original contract between the city and the developer. Based on our contract to purchase and maintain the golf course, the developer was able to enjoy charging a premium for the homes surrounding the golf course while pushing off the risk and costs of maintaining the golf course to the city.

This appears from hindsight to have been a very one-sided contract. Through my research I found that in addition to the sweet deal the developer got from the city, they were also given (in the contract) 50 years of gift certificates with 30 free games per week for those 50 years. An astronomical amount of free golf. I asked if anyone knew why we would throw that on top in this already lopsided contract. Nobody had a good answer.

I have called two previous city council members, who were here at that time, and asked them if they knew why this happened. I want to document these conversations:

First I called Pete Cannon and explained the above. His response to me at first was that he didn’t remember that we gave them free golf with the contract. But after recounting the contract and the fact that the land of the golf course was given by the developers to the city, he can understand why we would give some gift certificates to the developer. The city paid the developer for the costs of developing the golf course (I believe management fees were included in this, but no land costs). However, he was shocked that we would give that much free golf for that many years. At the end of the conversation I asked if there was anything he would like to add. He said that “for what it is worth, I am sorry for voting yes on this as it has cost the residents a lot of money.  The arguments for the golf course were convincing and we thought that it would be saving the residents tax dollars through profits. I wish I had been more conservative and voted no. I remember Ken Cromar pulling me aside and telling me that the golf course industry trends are not looking good and that the numbers would surely lead to losses. I wish I would have listened to Ken.”

The other previous council member I called was Terry Sparks. He said he didn’t remember anything about free golf for the developer and said it sounds excessive the amount they were given. However, he defended his vote for the golf course because the residents had voted by a narrow margin in favor of it and as an elected representative he felt it best to follow the voice of the people

I haven’t had a chance to talk to Mayor Sears about this yet, but I am troubled by his actions. I have heard from credible sources that over the last 10 years since the start of the golf course he has been golfing for free quite often and sometimes bringing friends with him to golf for free. I would think there would be a little more humility than to take advantage of his previous position and not help the golf course succeed by at least paying for his golf. I know two years ago in the golf course committee meeting that I was told that for his free golf he fixes divots he sees and informs the staff of any thing he sees that needs improvement. However, fixing divots is what all responsible golfers would do and suggestions for improvements are what the golf manager and employees are responsible for. Lately I have heard that he has been given gift certificates from the developer (part of the 50 years of 30 rounds per week) that he negotiated with the developer. This looks really, really bad.

I have been told that someone from our staff has confronted Mayor Sears on this issue. I have heard conflicting accounts about whether he has used any of the developer gift certificates this year or not. I would suggest that Mayor Sears apologize to the city for taking advantage of the situation that he was a key part of creating and pay for all of his golf in the future.

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Monday July 20, 2015 – revised & re-posted by Crawley around 3:00 a.m.

[apparently same post – minus last two in BLUE above regarding former Mayor Brad Sears, until this last paragraph in conclusion…]

I still don’t understand why we gave so much free golf away to the developers. Mr. Cannon did mention that on hindsight we were getting free land. However, according to our agreement with the developer, we were requiring that land for open space and so thee land was really a liability as the developer was required to maintain the golf course on that land in exchange for getting higher density on the housing. The amount of free golf still doesn’t make sense to me.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1595779503974389/

[Final Note:  Councilman Rob Crawley is a current CFO, and former CFO for other companies and a former CPA.  

He has calculated the potential cost of 30 free golf games per week, for 50 years, at a potential cost of over $2,000,000.  No wonder some folks don’t want to discuss this issue and fight so hard against exposure.]

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