By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
NORTH KINGSVILLE — A subpar season will cost two Village Green Golf Course workers their jobs during the winter, North Kingsville council members agreed at Wednesday’s regular meeting.
The municipally owned course’s greenskeeper and mechanic will be laid off through March 2010 to ease strain on a troubled budget, members said.
While council approved the layoffs, the mayor does the hiring and firing, said Daniel Madden, the village’s solicitor. The action won’t become official until Mayor Terry McConnell returns from a medical leave, Madden said.
Councilman Mark Kauppila, chairman of council’s golf course committee, said the 18-hole lakefront facility is “in trouble.”
“They’re not hitting their budget,” he said.
The golf course and its long-time manager, Tim Scanlon, were the subject of debate at a meeting earlier this month. According to meeting minutes, Councilman Lawrence Eller said the course has earned about $319,00 so far this year, down from previous years.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Kauppila said the golf course has between $80,000 and $100,000 “in the bank going into the new year.”
“The golf course is losing money,” he said. “It has for a number of years.”
At that meeting, council voted 4-2 to offer Scanlon a contract for 2010. Voting no were Eller and Michael Lynch, according to meeting minutes. Lynch and Eller said the course needs a manager who can pay more attention to detail and paperwork, according to minutes.
Scanlon accepted the contract, Kauppila said after the meeting.
Village Green will remain open through November, council learned Wednesday.
Elbert Hanna Jr., a resident in the audience, asked if council had considered turning some salaried workers at the golf course into hourly employees to save money. “The committee could look hard and long at that,” Kauppila said.
In other business, council learned the Maples home for mentally disabled persons on Route 20 will be replaced by a one-floor structure. The matter, which will involve a property split, will come before the village planning commission, members said.
