After three years of inflated costs and languishing usership, municipal golf went under the microscope of the city council Monday afternoon.

The council’s weekly study session focused on a presentation from Paul Widman, director of parks and rec, detailing the challenges the city’s four municipal courses dealt with through the better part of the 2010s.

Widman said part of the recent increase in tax investment was borne out of a necessity to upgrade course facilities, including a new clubhouse at Northern Hills Golf Course in northwest Rochester that finished in 2019.

“We were dealing with a lot of complaints about the condition of the courses,” Widman said, referring to the 2015 findings of a golf sub-committee. “We knew that if we were going to address those complaints, we couldn’t just cut expenses. We had to invest. We had to replace equipment. The costs showed that, but the rounds played increased dramatically.”

However, since peaking in popularity in 2015, persistent wet weather has led to a steep drop in the number of rounds played annually. All the while, the city has continued to make investments into the courses — causing the tax investment per round to more than double over a five-year period.

“The past three years have been the worst as far as having a late spring, wet weather every time you’re trying to have a tournament or event,” said Widman. “The timing just seemed to match up perfectly — tragically, I guess is a better way to put it.”

Council Member Michael Wojcik said he was less concerned about the rising tax burden (“$300,000, it’s not nothing, but relative to the size of the city’s budget, it’s a drop in the bucket”) and more concerned about the opportunity cost related to Soldiers Field Golf Course.

Wojcik said community input hasn’t matched the current state of the downtown course.

“We thought [input] was going one direction, then a group of almost entirely older white male threw that community input out and did their own thing with Soldiers Field,” said Wojcik. “This is the premier green space downtown. It should be parkland forever, but I don’t feel, and I don’t think the community feels, that we’re getting the most out of Soldiers Field relative to what we could have under some of the other plans.”

Council Member Patrick Keane also referenced the Soldiers Field master plan, which, among other things, included a recommendation of shorten the golf course from 18 holes to nine.

“My concern is, is there any way to make the other golf courses pick up these options and use Soldiers Field in a better way?” questioned Keane.

Widman’s presentation also gave an update on the Rochester Recreation Center and 125 Live, which has found its wings in recent months since opening in late 2016. The facility’s membership revenue crossed the $50,000 monthly threshold for the first time in September and set a new record for revenue in November.

Transit changes

The council also heard a presentation from the consulting firm Kimley-Horn about changes to Rochester Public Transit’s bus routes in 2020.

Key recommendations included adding service to residential neighborhoods in all four Rochester quadrants, renumbering bus routes, and shortening Route 191, RPT’s main loop-route of Rochester, to avoid East Circle Drive on the northeast side of town.

According to the presentation, the saved resources from shortening Route 191 would go into increasing the total amount of service hours across town.

“I would think the more consistent hours would work to get more ridership, especially if you’re talking about students at the college riding to get to class,” said Council Member Mark Bilderback. “This could make it much easier for them.”

The proposed route changes are slated to go into effect this July.

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.