DICKINSON - Golf was the topic of conversation at Wednesday's regular monthly Dickinson Park Board Roundtable meeting.
Golf was the topic of conversation at Wednesday's regular monthly Dickinson Park Board Roundtable meeting.
The first piece business addressed was the lease agreement with proprietors of The 19th Hole restaurant located at Dickinson's Heart River Golf Course, which is operated by Jacob and James Odermann.
Dickinson Parks and Recreation District Director James Kramer said the biggest change in the lease agreement was more leniency with the restaurant's hours of operation, especially in October.
"October is a very iffy month as far as the golf course goes," Kramer said.
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The new terms allow the Odermanns to close earlier when business is slow.
"What we're trying to do here is give them the flexibility of not just sitting there when no one is there. If the golf course is empty at 7 on a Sunday night, we'll give them the flexibility to make that decision and not require them to be there," Kramer said.
The board also passed decisions regarding the name of the Labor Day Golf Classic. As of Feb. 27, the tournament is now to be titled the Kevin Bergman Labor Day Golf Classic in honor of Bergman's memory. Bergman was the longtime golf pro at the course who died recently.
"Kevin ran that tournament for 20-plus years, so we're going to rename the tournament after him," Kramer said. "We're still talking about other things that we're going to do for a memorial."
Park Board President Mike Lefor said Bergman's dedication to Dickinson's golfing community was more than worthy of this recognition.
"The success of the Labor Day Golf Classic is due to the hard work and dedicated efforts of Kevin Bergman and his staff," Lefor said. "I think it is appropriate to pass this resolution to honor the memory of the man who gave so much to his community"
The board also elected to begin the process of filling Bergman's position.
"What we'd like to do at this point is get the position open to see what type of interest we have and from that point, you know, we'll have to make some other decisions. We don't need to tie ourselves to any specific decisions right now on how this position may or may not be," Kramer said.
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Park Board Commissioner John Gaffaney pointed out one of many possibilities regarding Bergman's former position.
"The chance is there also that we might not be able to find one person that can fit both positions. We might have to hire two. I think our hands are tied until we can see our applicants," Gaffaney said.
Kramer opted to postpone discussion regarding responsibilities of the position until a later date.
"We're going to leave all of that stuff kind of open ended and go for the most qualified, best candidate and then we'll negotiate a package. I think we need to focus on finding the right person who is a good fit for us and then take the next step," Kramer said.
Commissioner Scott Kovash discussed time issues related to filling Bergman's former position.
"What do we do in the event that this takes longer than we hope?" Kovash asked.
Gaffaney and Kramer agreed the golf course would open, even if the position was not filled in time.
"We're going to have to use existing part-time and full-time staff. We're going to utilize those people...and it's going to be a total team effort, but we'll make this work," Kramer said. "It's going to be a mixture of a little bit of everybody pitching in."
