The future of three City of Detroit municipal golf courses — Chandler Park, Rackham and Rouge Park — is uncertain.
The administration announced plans Tuesday to shutter them following a deadlocked City Council vote on a management contract, writes Katrease Stafford of the Detroit Free Press, who goes on to report:
Detroit's chief procurement officer, Boysie Jackson, said in an interview with the Free Press that council has a seven-day window to reconsider its vote but once that date passes, the city would have to begin the bid process all over again.
The courses would shut down March 23, Jackson said, because the city's current contract with Oakland Township-based DBA Vargo Golf Detroit expires March 22. Palmer Park, which is another city-owned course, is not impacted by the closure.
That's because the city decided late last year to transition Palmer from being an 18-hole golf course into a driving range because of rising costs and a need for nearly $3 million in capital improvements, according to Jackson. A Palmer Park advisory council has been created to help decide what the city will do with the course.
Detroit City Councilman Roy McAlister told the Detroit Free Press after the vote on the contract that the city's administration did not inform the council that a closure was on the table. McCalister said he met in private with city officials and was told the contract with Vargo could be extended or the city could restart the bidding process.
"I asked twice about that and they never said that," McCalister said. "...To sit up here and say they're going to have to close the courses because of council ... to say we'll have constituents and residents of Detroit think it's council's problem ... that's unfair and that gets under my skin. If you're going to (close the courses), then you should have presented that to council, there could have been further discussion but they didn't do that."
But Tuesday before council, Detroit's chief procurement officer, Jackson, told council the city would "run the risk of not being able to open the golf courses" on time, if a contract wasn't approved prior to March 22, the Freep reports.
Council member Mary Sheffield made it clear during the council session that she doesn't want to sell the golf courses and wants them opened on time.
