Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Little Rock OKs $160,000 for golf course
Little Rock’s Board of Directors on Tuesday voted to allot a city golf course, which is run by a nonprofit, the money it asked for to finish out the year, the latest decision amid years of confusion over what the city’s obligation is to the course. City directors approved a resolution to appropriate $160,000 for the operation of The First Tee of Central Arkansas golf course, near Colonel Glenn Road and South University Avenue, for the last four months of 2018. The vote was 6-2, with City Directors Joan Adcock and Ken Richardson voting against the resolution. Ward 1 City Director Erma Hendrix was absent. Ward 5 City Director Lance Hines serves on The First Tee of Central Arkansas board and did not participate in the discussion nor the vote. City Attorney Tom Carpenter said the golf course has been the city’s responsibility to maintain since 1999. It became city property in 1994, when the land was purchased as part of a capital bond issue intended to create a park in the western part of the city. In 1999, the city entered into an agreement with the World Golf Foundation that allowed The First Tee to operate a Little Rock chapter of the now-international nonprofit on that land. The youth development organization was given $5 million in seed money by Little Rock finance executive and philanthropist Jack Stephens, said Laura Nix, executive director of The First Tee of Central Arkansas. The Florida-based organization uses golf to teach life skills to children ages 5-18, and to introduce to the sport children who might not experience it otherwise, particularly girls and members of minority groups. Late in the 1990s, the city had not yet developed the land into a golf course, so Stephens and his family members paid for the construction of a 7,000-squarefoot learning center and the 110-acre golf course. The facility is known as the Jack Stephens Youth Golf Academy. The Stephenses, along with other private donors, paid for the operation of the golf course for more than 10 years, contributing more than $6 million, Nix said. Private contributions dropped in 2009, she said, so the nonprofit began asking the city to contribute financially to the course’s operation and maintenance. The course is run by the nonprofit’s board rather than the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, as the other three city-owned golf courses are. “It’s a blessing and a curse to have a golf course that you are responsible for,” Nix said in an interview, describing the financial demands of a space she called an oasis within the city. Through the years, the city has funded the course intermittently, classifying it in budget documents not as a city-run golf course but as one of about a dozen “other agencies” that receive annual appropriations. Nix stressed that the money the nonprofit was asking for Tuesday was specifically to run the facility and not pay for its programming. The First Tee is one of several youth development organizations that the city allocates money for annually, separate from its facility costs. It received $12,050 for its programming in 2017. The course was appropriated $191,500 in 2016 and $246,500 in both 2017 and 2018, according to the 2018 city budget document. Through the budget and amendments to it, Nix said, the course has received $391,000 so far in 2018, which was higher than previous years because of improvements made to the building’s heating-and-air-conditioning system. The additional $160,000 goes toward wages and benefits for course and facility employees, as well as other maintenance and utility costs. She added that the money the city allotted in 2017 ran short of covering the course’s costs. The city authorized a 15-year renewal of the contract beginning in 2014, but Carpenter said it was brought to the city’s attention that someone who signed off on the contract was not authorized to do so, raising questions about its legitimacy. At Tuesday’s meeting, Carpenter said he believes the course is the city’s responsibility, despite questions about the contract, but is working on a new contract. At-large City Director Dean Kumpuris agreed. “All of us want to try to make this city better, and the only way to do it is through public-private partnerships,” he said from the dais. “In order to do those, we need to support the people that are supporting us.” Before the vote, Adcock made a motion to table the resolution until a new contract is in place. “We cannot spend the citizens of Little Rock’s money without a contract,” she said. The motion failed, with five city directors voting against it. City Directors Doris Wright and B.J. Wyrick voted with Adcock. Looking ahead, City Manager Bruce Moore said the city is in the beginning stages of studying the role of golf in the city, with recommendations to be made available within the first months of 2019. Moore, along with Kumpuris, questioned whether a city of nearly 200,000 people needs four public golf courses. The other city-owned golf courses are Rebsamen Park Golf Course, War Memorial Golf Course and Hindman Golf Course. Little Rock Parks and Recreation Director John Eckart said it costs the city about $2.3 million to operate those three courses, and they take in roughly $1.5 million in revenue. Rebsamen Park Golf Course comes the closest to breaking even, Eckart said. The First Tee course, which has nine holes, is the city’s second-largest. Rebsamen Park Golf Course encompasses 120 acres, Hindman Golf Course has close to 90 acres, and War Memorial Golf Course has about 60 acres, Eckart said. According to information provided by the nonprofit, The First Tee’s programming reached more than 15,000 children in central Arkansas. The number of participants has increased over the years and has become more diverse, Nix said. In 2018, 49 percent of participants were white and the rest were members of minority groups, according to a report Nix provided. Thirty-six percent of participants were black and 49 percent were female. Tuesday’s vote came after a violent weekend in Little Rock. The city saw five homicides in less than 60 hours, and three of the victims were 20 years old or younger. At Tuesday’s meeting, several Little Rock residents, including former city board candidates Robert Webb and Vicki Hatter, expressed their concerns about the violence and about opportunities for youths. Dozens of people were also at the meeting to show their support for The First Tee, with some pointing to it as one of the programs that could help the city’s youths stay off the streets and learn conflict resolution. “As a black female, I understand the importance and concerns,” said Kendra Pruitt, a local attorney and a member of the First Tee of Central Arkansas board. “I don’t think taking money from a program that’s trying to do good work for the youth is the solution to that.”