MONTE VISTA—The post went live on Dec. 6, 2018 on the Friends of the Monte Vista Golf Course Facebook page:

“This is a quick note to let my fellow golfers know that the city has withdrawn the [Monte Vista Golf] course from their budget… This, including lack of involvement by members has led us to this point! We will be voting next Tuesday at 6 p.m. to give the course back to the city and discuss our options!!! If it is given back, all assets will be auctioned or sold, debts paid and paying members given back any "extra" if there is any! I am asking that you come to the meeting if you want to have a voice in this. Please let others know of this as well!”

Thanks
Jake Mellott

Mellott is vice president of the Monte Vista Golf Club board, and his plea set off a maelstrom of responses:

Pamela Weiden My Grandmother was Betty Duncan Tripp and she was a member of the Monte Vista Golf Club for years. My husband and I were planning on golfing there in the spring and hope it's still open.

Margaret Van Bibber Where is the lottery money going that the city gets? Surely the golf course qualifies for some of it. [Golf] is a recreation for the very young and the very old. Is there anything else that such a wide range of age could do besides bowling in Monte Vista?

The Monte Vista Golf Course is an historic nine-hole municipal course that has served the San Luis Valley since 1928. In the early days, there were 102 members and a round of golf cost between $6 and $12, depending on the golfer’s age and gender. The city paid about $300 a year for course upkeep, which wasn’t much considering it was dirt fairways and sand tees. In the 1950s, fairways were seeded with grass and the course held dances, parties and tennis clinics. Members even had use of the city’s swimming pool for a time.  

But in the last several years, the course has struggled to stay open. Now, due to debt, it is again in jeopardy of closing.

While one constant has been a holding pattern in rates of just $12 for a round of golf, a lot has changed since those early days. The golf club no longer has tennis courts, and course-upkeep costs have risen dramatically. There are employee wages and other related costs. There’s ongoing maintenance for things like mowers, old buildings and an aging sprinkler system. Then there’s the seasonal lease of 15 carts, which costs about $10,600 every year.

According to a five-year business plan put together by the golf course board in 2018, the course’s average annual expenditures are $135,650.00, with an average annual deficit over the last four years of $12,309. The shortfall doesn’t even take into consideration the estimated 166 million gallons of water used every year and lease of the land from the city, both of which are fortunately provided pro bono to the course. “Value of the water provided to the course annual is $2.50 per 1,000 gallons, or $415,00 a year,” stated a fact sheet provided by the city for a meeting held at the golf course’s pro shop on Dec. 11— the Tuesday following Mellott’s Facebook plea.

The pro shop was packed on that cold evening— despite the building’s heater being out— with people wanting answers to an array of questions: How did the golf course get to this position? Why isn’t the city honoring a commitment from earlier this year to provide financial support? What can be done to keep the golf course from closing? And what can be done to develop a sustainable business?

Avenues discussed previously as possibilities for helping the golf course included money from the Conservation Trust Fund and Great Outdoors Colorado (lottery money), both of which are relatively restrictive in the use of the funds. For example, money cannot be used for golf course operations or maintenance, such as employee wages, building repair or cart leases. It can be used for things like sprinkler and mower repair and landscape improvements, like transitioning to a dry-land course with more native vegetation.

Though the course’s future was not determined in the mid-December meeting, it did bring the community together. Not only were golf course members there, Monte Vista city officials attended: Mayor Dale Becker and City Councilors Kathleen Ellithorpe, Gary Johnson and Victor Sigala. And everyone seemed to want the same thing, which is for the golf course succeed.

To that end, the board agreed to meet with city officials for work sessions to help with ideas. After the meeting, the board met in executive session to discuss the matter of closing the club. “A motion was made by Adelmo Martinez to vote to keep the club open, to be revised in December 2019 based on the progress made during the year,” Mellott posted in Facebook. “The motion was seconded by John Hindes and a vote was taken … 5-0 to keep the club open!”
The golf board will be attending city and member work sessions to help build the relationship with the city and improve member involvement. In the meantime, the board developed sponsorship levels to raise money. Sponsorships are available from $75 to $2,500 and more.

Stay tuned for an update after the city and board work sessions. Information will be posted on the Monte Vista Golf Club Facebook page. To become a sponsor, call Jake Mellott at 580-3712.