# Council General Government Committee - January 10, 2012 > Auto-transcribed civic record · January 10, 2012 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/2329 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/2329?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2012-01-10 - **Last revised**: July 17, 2026 - **Length**: 8,097 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed with OpenAI's open-source Whisper large-v3-turbo model, run locally by The Lexington Times. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude. Verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The General Government Committee met on January 10, 2012, at 11:15 a.m., with Ed Lane presiding. The committee addressed three agenda items during the meeting, all of which were informational in nature. The meeting included continued discussions on the Golf Management Plan and the Aquatics Management Plan, as well as a review of items in committee. No votes were taken and no public comments were heard during this meeting. ## Attendance The following individuals were present at the meeting on January 10, 2012: * Ed Lane * Jay McChord * Linda Gorton * Steve Kay * Chris Ford * Tom Blues * Julian Beard * K. C. Crosbie * George Myers * Doug Martin No members were recorded as absent or late. ## Golf Management Plan – Continuation of Discussion The General Government Committee continued its discussion of the Golf Management Plan, presented by Mike Fields, Golf Services Manager, along with staff from Parks and Recreation [timestamp: 0:04:32]. **Plan Overview** The presentation outlined comprehensive financial, operational, and marketing strategies designed to increase rounds played, reduce costs, and improve revenue generation at the city's golf facilities. **Key Operational Decisions** The committee addressed several operational matters: - **Year-round operations**: The golf courses will remain open year-round despite the challenges and costs associated with winter operations. - **Staffing adjustments**: Maintenance staff will be reassigned to reduce labor costs while maintaining course quality. **Revenue and Marketing Strategies** The plan incorporates multiple approaches to boost revenue and player engagement: - Rate flexibility to optimize pricing across different times and seasons - Loyalty card programs to encourage repeat play - Social media marketing initiatives - Promotional partnerships with discount platforms including Groupon and Living Social **Cost Management** The plan also addresses operational expenses through utility savings measures. **Participants** Key speakers in the discussion included Mike Fields, Sally Hamilton, Justin Mullinex, and Al Krauser. **Outcome** The agenda item was classified as informational, indicating the committee received and discussed the plan presentation without taking formal action at this time. ## Aquatics Management Plan – Continuation of Discussion [timestamp: 59:38] The committee transitioned to discussion of the Aquatics Management Plan during this agenda item. Brian Rogers, Deputy Director of Enterprise for Parks, was identified as the key speaker for this portion of the meeting. The discussion centered on operational and marketing considerations for aquatics facilities. Committee members addressed the need for improved marketing strategies and enhanced operational efficiency within the aquatics program, though detailed presentations or specific proposals were not documented during this segment. The outcome of this agenda item was informational in nature, with no formal decisions or action items recorded. ## Items in Committee The committee reviewed a list of items that had been referred to it for consideration. The items under review included franchise agreements, general services link recommendations, and resolutions to amend Council Rules. The committee noted the status of these various items, with several having been referred in previous months and currently awaiting action. This review served as an informational update on the pending matters before the committee. --- ## Full transcript Music Thank you. Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo I need to say eight words to you, okay? Good morning. We're going to start our general government committee meeting at 11.15, which is just a couple of minutes from now. So I would appreciate if council members would please come to the circle. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Ed Lane. I'm the chairman of the General Government Committee. And this is our first meeting in this calendar year. We're starting the meeting at 11.15 because a special meeting ran a little bit long prior to this meeting. My first request is for the Commissioner of General Services, Sally Hamilton, to come forward and speak to us for a few minutes about our presentation today. Thank you. Thank you. This is my first time speaking at a meeting. I'd like to talk about what we have done as far as the golf plan is concerned. And Mike Fields very ably followed Council Member Meyer's suggestion that he get with his superintendents and he hear what their concerns are and their ideas. And we have done that. You will see that in your plan. You will see the summary of their remarks in your plan. And you also will see their ideas in the plan. And they're all here today, and Mike will introduce them. We also met several times, Mike and Jerry Hancock and I and other people, to develop this plan for golf. And we included a lot of people that we thought would be very important to making this plan work. And one of our invaluable resources was Ryan Barrow. From a financial side, he really helped us with the numbers, and he gave us some really good advice. So we appreciate that. We also talked with Susan Straub to help us with our social media and marketing campaign. Again, we met with Human Resources, with Leslie Jarvis, to talk about our personnel. We wanted to make some personnel shifts, which do not involve any layoffs, but just some better use of some of our personnel positions. And we wanted to make sure that we were doing this correctly, so we met with personnel. So those were basically the three agencies that we touched. And after numerous meetings, we also did what you directed us to do. We went over our plan with Richard Maloney to get his feel of this, see if he was comfortable, and get his ideas and suggestions. Now, Mike Fields is going to review this plan with you, and I don't want to steal his thunder, because he and the other professionals have really worked very hard on this and they have thought about it. And I think you will see that in the explanation of this plan. We aren't presenting this plan as a magic bullet, which gets us in the black. It doesn't. This is a plan for flexibility, which lets us to respond, respond, which let us respond to an ever-changing recreational environment within the confines of government. It's a start. It's thought out. It's feasible. And I really think, and I hate to make these big statements, but I think this will work. I think we will generate some more revenue, and I know we will decrease some costs. And we'd like to tell you how we're going to do that. So with your permission, I would suggest that Mike give you the details. Chairman Lang. Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone. I'm Mike Fields, Golf Services Manager with Parks and Recreation. I'd like to take a moment to introduce our staff that's here today. Aaron McDowell, head golf professional at Tates Creek Golf Course. Justin Mullinex, golf professional, Kearney Hill Golf Links. Jeff Shelton, golf professional at Gabe Brewer Junior Course at Piccadome. Al Krauser, golf professional with Lakeside Golf Course. And I believe Brian Bennett, our golf course superintendent at Tates Creek Golf Course, is also here today. And Renee Bullock, my staff assistant. I'm glad they could all be here today and they've all had a big part of putting this plan together. What I'm going to do today is briefly go over the golf plan that you all have had since the 5th. It's very detailed. The entire plan is. I think it's like 50 pages. There's lots of information in there. But I'm going to briefly go through that today and hopefully answer any questions that you may have. First thing we'd like to do is summarize the issues. There we go. The first is the financial part. The 2011 P&L showed a $1.2 million loss for golf operations, which was a $13 subsidy per round. Golf did recover 77% of its cost, but because the trend continued downward, concerns and questions were raised. Another part is the economy. The slacking economy, untimely rate increases. poor weather, lack of expendable income for our customers, the decline continued to occur. Operational constraints, as discussed, prohibited our ability to react to market conditions. Rate setting and lack of discounting is attributed to the decline. Aged policies inhibited our ability to react to market conditions and prohibited our ability to stop the slide, making it even more difficult to react to conditions through marketing and promotion. Operation issues with PeopleSolve, budgeting, staffing costs, support, and utility oversight has all played a role in overall issues of the cost of the service. because of these issues, an action incurred. These issues were reported to the Parks Advisory Board, which resulted in motions asking the Council for support. This committee added two concerns and offered input and requested a plan with golf professional input. Our PGA professionals put this plan together and are the basis for moving forward. Additional input from CAO Maloney, Commissioner Hamilton, Division Directors Ryan Barrow, Leslie Jarvis, and Jerry Hancock. Customer surveys, market research, and information was gathered from other similar operations which resulted in this proposed business plan. The first step was to develop operation objectives. The number one goal was to increase the rounds played. So the foundation of the plan is based on increasing the number of users at our facilities. By increasing play, we will increase revenue. Steps will be taken to decrease the cost of the service, and all of this will result in decreasing the cost of the subsidy. We will correct the confusion that is created by PeopleSoft and golf budgets to create clarity and transparency. And lastly, establish a dominant presence growing the game of golf in Lexington. The first step of the plan is rate adjustments. to adjust pricing and give flexibility to react to market conditions. This plan allows for 20% flexibility in rates, either up or down, due to market conditions. This will be done by constant review by the Parks Advisory Board, the Commissioner, and final approval by the CAO. Using the same 20% rule, the ability to discount for promotional purposes in order to drive play will allow the ability to market ourselves out to other sources. We will implement special discount rates to entice groups to play our facilities. These groups include UK students, Transylvania students, LFUCG employees, persons with disability, and military discounts. We will create a loyalty card that we will introduce. We will sell the card for $100 that gives you $5 off each time you play any of our rates. This creates front-end revenue and loyalty, buy-in, and commitment. We will offer range memberships for customers who frequent our facilities yet do not have the time to play. This again creates upfront revenue, loyalty, and will help drive play. Our current specialty rates restrictions will be broadened in order to drive more play Monday through Friday. Ladies discounts, which currently is on Tuesdays, will now be good Monday through Friday, and our senior age will move from age 60 to 50. Marketing is vital to all of this. There are 4.2 billion mobile devices worldwide. Mobile web growth is moving four times faster than the Internet did. It's essential to be involved in this growth, so in working with administration and public information, access to and creation of social media sites will allow for real-time marketing and promotion through our professionals and golf office. Facebook and Twitter accounts for each course and an account for Playgolf Lexington. Access to and management will allow for immediate building of our band. We are currently working through these details with the administration. Email accounts will be created in order to do email blasts to select golf-specific groups for each course as well as Playgolf Lexington. It will also allow for a more immediate way to get feedback from our customers. Easier access to our websites for each course that will be easier to locate and navigate. We will also be working on ways to use these sites as sales sites for gift certificates, loyalty cards, range cards, and possibly merchandise. By having the ability to discount rates, we can now engage in marketing and sales companies in order to help promote and sell our product to a broader range of customers. By doing so, you get immediate response in a very short amount of time. Such companies as Dolph Now, Living Social, and Groupon gives us a quick and reliable way to reach a broad range of clients. GTV3. Golf once had a dominant presence on GTV3. Since its removal, we have constantly been asked why. We will bring back a golf presence to GTV3 with commercial information, instructional tips, and other items of interest. This is a screenshot of Kentucky State Parks, one of the Pine Mountain golf course. The reason I put this up here, if you'll look, I don't know if you can see that, but right in the center there's a Facebook and a Twitter link. This is Louisville Parks and Recreation Golf. Again, Facebook, Twitter. One of the things Louisville does is at the very top center you can actually sign up for text messaging alerts, which I thought was pretty neat. Something that I think we should look into. Next is operations management. Fixed cost in golf operations has had a large impact in the result of the subsidy. By reassigning maintenance staff to vacant parks maintenance positions, it will assist in lowering the fixed cost issues with labor. Attrition has led to the vacancy of 10 full-time positions in golf, and we recently lost another due to retirement and project another in the near future. There are essential positions that will be filled. These positions are vital to the success of the operation and the implementation of this plan. The use of seasonal labor will become greater and replace the primary duties. All of this will produce a $220,000 labor cost savings. utility issues that was covered at lakeside golf course has been resolved with some new plumbing that's going to be required but will be completed prior to this season saving $120,000 a year utilities will now be reviewed monthly with the help of general services by providing that information to each on-site staff utility audits will continue and look to becoming more efficient Just as a point of note, I did some research. Fayette County Public Schools had an individual do utility audits, and in the first year they saved $900,000, and this year they're projecting a $700,000 savings. Winter operations. Several comments and suggestions have been made with regard to winter operations. We have looked at this for several times over the years, and because of the fixed cost of labor and the low overhead in being open, there is no savings in closing a course or courses during the winter months. Remaining open provides for the best opportunity to offset any cost. Using the state parks policy for winter hours is not feasible. It's based on a 30-hour work week that's based on a 10-day forecast. Because of our civil service rules, we have to stay at 40 hours. and their golf operation is supported by resort personnel when demand exceeds the 30 hours. PeopleSoft created budgeting and accounting issues upon its implementation. We have strived to break out each cost for each course and have it changed to that cost unit or course. We have just recently allocated the civil service employee cost to each course and will have fleet costs beginning in FY13 and working toward allocating utilities in the future. Other line items for costs, such as sales tax, we hope to have resolved as well, and I believe there is a budget amendment on your docket for those civil service breakouts this afternoon. Additional steps. As I said, we are going to change our ladies' fees Monday through Friday. We're going to change our senior rate to age 50. We will be more flexible with twilight and dusk rates. We'll introduce true winter rates, recruit and contract league play. Using our kitchens at Kearney Hill and Picadone, we will cater to all outings at the other courses. We're going to have more special events. And our PGA professionals who are on site will focus on driving play in the needed recognized areas. through programming, marketing, growing game, and engaging customers. Summary of projected results. $340,000 in operational cuts and savings. Increased rounds by 10%, and I believe this is conservative if given the opportunity to adjust our rates. increase revenue by $120,000, provide better available information through PeopleSoft and monthly reporting to the Parks Advisory Board, by increasing our marketing efforts with use of email, social media, GTV3, and outside online resources, create the Playgolf Lexington brand, decrease the subsidy, and monthly reporting to the Parks Advisory Board, the CAO, and Commissioner. Lastly, where we are today is a result of the inability to react. We don't know what the weather will do, we don't know what the market will do, and we don't know what the economy will do. But what we do know is we cannot continue to go down the same path and expect a different result. We have to create an action in order to get a different reaction. The action should be to give us the tools to make them even better and how we use them, promote them, and market them. They should be used to provide the service of golf and health to the community and be a showcase for Lexington. With your support of this plan, it is the best course of action, And if at any point there is something that needs to change, this plan allows for it. So I welcome any questions or comments at this time. Okay. Any Council members have questions at this time? Mr. Kaye, Council Member Kaye. Down here. Okay. Yes, sir. Thank you, Chair. and thank you, Mr. Fields, for bringing this to us. This is the kind of comprehensive plan and report that I've been hoping we would get. I think it provides the information we need in order to move forward when we get to budgeting, so I thank you and your staff for preparing it. I have one question, and it's just an area that when people look at it, It's hard to understand, but can you give me more detail about why winter operations, why curtailing them does not save money? I heard your summary of that, but it would help me and perhaps people watching to understand more about why that doesn't make sense when on the face of it it looks like the right thing to do. Yes, sir. Our full-time staff, our civil service employees, is a fixed cost. So regardless if the course is open or closed, that cost is still going out the door. We're still paying them their salaries, whether they're all working at one course or all the courses. Maintenance staff and golf shop staff all alike. By closing a course, the utilities have to remain on for security alarms, heating for plumbing, and so forth, things like that. So the cost of the savings in closing a golf course is relatively nil. As far as maintaining the course, there's no chemical applications or things that occurred during the winter. So by closing a course, there's no savings there either. So by having the courses open, any dollar or penny that comes through that door on any given day is actually offsetting those costs. December, for example, we doubled our revenue versus last December. Okay, and the people who are employed full-time, are there other things? Obviously, they have less to be in on their time in managing the course. Are there other things that they will be doing that will be? Yeah, winter is an important time for us. It allows us to catch up on everything that gets neglected during the summer. We do a lot of winter projects. We do a lot of repainting. We do a lot of modernizing and updating our facilities, and all of that is done by our staff. I've got some great painters and drywall guys on my staff. Great. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Kay. Councilman Blues. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Fields, thank you for this presentation, and thanks to all those who prepared this report. and I think it follows along the lines of our previous committee meeting when I think we gave some good input and results are very positive. I'm assuming that in your summary of results, these seven items, that these would provide the benchmarks, the criteria for judging how well the changes in strategy and operations are working. so that, let's say, by this time next year the Council would have a good handle on whether all this has worked and we can make then some realistic judgments about the success or the limitations of the program. And I think that's what we've needed to this point, a detailed plan that sets out some markers and some goals that does seem to predict well. We'll see what the results are. So I'm very encouraged by this because I'm convinced that providing these Gulf services is something that the government should be doing for the public. and at the same time we have to do it in a responsible way that makes our operation a true public service at the least cost for both the public and for the government. So thank you very much. Thank you. Council Member Myers. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Fields, for coming in with the presentation. Today, one of the things that I asked for in the last meeting was that the management and parks would go back to the golf pros at each course and ask them for a plan for running their own golf course and increasing revenues and all the things that they need to do, finding efficiencies and all those things. So that's not really what we have here today. So is that the plan that you guys are going to operate on moving forward, or how do you guys address that? Have you got each one of the? Each of the courses in the packet, each of the courses have provided their own plans. I believe it starts on page 11. and it's all compiled as one packet. Okay, so each one of them is going to be allowed to run their course according to the plan that they put in here? Yeah. Okay. On page 11, when you say summary of results, the $340,000 in operational costs, do you know where that's going to come from? Is that by course or is that in other overhead? The $340,000 is the labor reassignments, which is across the board at all courses, and then the $120,000 from utilities. So we know that's $340,000 guaranteed. Okay. And you're going to measure that by each course's previous costs and then next year's cost for each course? Correct. Yes. so when you say monthly reporting what all is going to be reported back the plan is to go back to the parks advisory board at their monthly meeting and just give them a brief summary of you know where we are how rounds stand as comparison to the year before how revenue stands as comparison to the year before what the market is doing what other golf courses are doing. Are we staying in line? Are we where we need to be? If we have recommendations of adjustments that need to be made, we would do that to them. So for each course, do you have, we have on page 11, the increase in rounds and increase in revenue. Do you have each course figured on what they need to do, what their piece of the pie is in terms of increase in revenue and increase in rounds so that they have like, they can seasonally map that out over the 12 months and say our strong months are these months, our weak months are these months, so that they can keep... I don't know that it's not specifically spelled out in this plan, but, I mean, the overall result of what we're trying to do is right off the bat is increased rounds. Right. And we're hoping that this will produce at least 10%. So the guys at each of their courses who follow their daily play, their monthly reporting, will see that. they will recognize where the gaps are and what can be done to fill those. So if I'm a pro at one of the golf courses, what latitude do I have now in terms of my plan that I've created to make adjustments and make changes and make recommendations? Is it my course now to run throughout the year, and I just need to provide my updates? It's always their course to run. However, the rate structure has to be given oversight. We can't have Lakeside charging a completely different rate than Piccadome and so forth. So it's always their course to run on a day-to-day basis. If they see a need to possibly adjust rates in a certain time frame, then through our staff meetings that we have, it will be discussed and see what the impact is for all courses combined. they will know where the gaps are. They will have, you know, if they need to fill five tee times on a Saturday afternoon, they'll have the ability themselves to go to golfnow.com, produce those tee times online, offer a rate for those tee times, and sell them. Okay. So will they get their full budget at the beginning of the year, and they'll be able to manage that budget monthly, and they'll get all? Last time we talked about even you not having access to utility bills and different things like that. Are they going to have all that information at their hand where they can continue to completely monitor their course? Yes, the budget information, we have provided seasonal dollar information to them on a biweekly or monthly basis. This information, we'll get it to them sooner and let them follow it as it proceeds. General Services is going to provide us with the utility information, which will be distributed out to each golf course so they can actually see what they're spending. Okay. And they get to manage their employees and everything, so when they see the need for changes to be made. Yes. Okay. Absolutely. I don't know if any of them would be interested in coming up to the microphone and talking about how this change is going to affect their ability to manage their course and produce better numbers. and it's got to be exciting for you guys to be able to have this opportunity. I see some heads and some smiles back there. If anybody wants to come up and talk about the excitement involved in this change, it would be great to hear. How are you doing? My name is Justin Mullenix. I'm the head golf professional at Kearney Hill Golf Links. To touch on a couple things, Mr. K., your winter operations question. One thing for me especially is in the month of December and still to come, I've written already $50,000 worth of outing contracts. If we're not there in the winter, that's money that we don't get now. That's going other places. And then, Mr. Ford, I remember when we used to do your reach outing. That was a contract that we always did in the wintertime. And if they keep waiting further on into the spring and summer, those days get few and far between, and it's harder for them to select a day that fits them for their company or for their charity. to speak about the changes in the golf course. I know one thing for us at Kearney is we have become the highest public golf facility in the city of Lexington. And the one complaint I get every day is about how high our rates are. Just being able to be flexible and to change our rates and knowing that there are three other golf courses around us that are out of the county that have cheaper rates and that people from Lexington are going to play those other golf courses, if we can have flexibility in those rates and bring in this loyalty card, it's going to help. They don't want to go to those places, but because our rates are so high, they see it as saving money, even if they have to drive out of county. So keeping them in the city of Lexington and keeping them playing our golf courses is a huge thrill. The other thing I'm really excited about is the range memberships at Kearney. I've always had questions about this. We have a lot of manufacturing companies around Kearney like Webasto, Coca-Cola is out there. I believe Eagle Beer has just opened a facility out there. Those guys during their lunch breaks are coming out to Kearney on a daily basis and hitting range balls. And right now those guys come there, they're there for 15 or 20 minutes, and they're gone. Allowing them to or having us offer a range membership is keeping them there. And the other thing that it's doing is it's making it feel like home to them. And so when they get off work at night and they're five minutes from our golf course and they want to play golf, guess where they're coming? They're coming to us. And that's what we want to drive. That's what we want to create is loyalty. Awesome. Does anybody else want to come up and speak about the ability to run your course? I still see smiles back there, but kind of bashful. Here we go. They work better with a golf club in their hand. First, I'm Al Krauser, the pro at Lakeside Golf Course. I've been here with the city for 30 years. And all these issues have come up in the past, and they're all very interesting. It's very tough for you all because you all don't have the time to come to the golf courses and don't get to deal with those public people there the way we do. the number one question i'm asked now is what our rates are it's not how the condition of the golf course if we mow the greens move the pens it's how how much we're charging the big issue right now is winter rates why don't you know until just a couple weeks ago we didn't have a winter rate so that's already generated more activity just by saying yes we're on our winter rates, which is our twilight rate. And they feel like that's a good deal for them. The issue of going in other counties, we enjoy golfers to enjoy golf. That's our job. We don't care where they play as long as they play. We want them to play our facilities, so we want to have our best product, our shiny product, and present that to them. And we feel like we do a good job of that, a very good job. We do work within our budgets. I I can assure you that. That's our number one goal. But first, we're trying to give service to the customer, the facility to play. We're open every day of the year except December 25th. Everybody knows that. When people call from up north that are going south and they want to stop and play, and they call Lakeside January the 3rd, somebody answers the phone and they're courteous. They can talk to them. It's not a recording saying, I'm sorry, we're not open until February 1st. So it's a warm greeting. they get information. They can also at that time get information they can't get from other courses that are closed. The outing situation is a big situation for us. We've already been getting calls for outings this coming year. If nobody's there, we're going to lose that outing because they need to get that on their books. These people are planning six, seven, eight, nine months ahead. I've already got stuff for September on my book. So we have to be there. As far as what revenue we take in, as Mike alluded, we're already up this year. I think that you won't find any more people that are positive than golf pros. We have a positive outlook. We are used to being beat on by golf. We have a lot of bogeys and double bogeys in our closets. We're used to that. So rebounding is what we're after. We're not afraid of asking what is being asked of us by lowering our budgets or losing personnel. We'll pick up that slack. We're interested in making sure that these golf courses stay open for the public. By bringing our rates back down to what we want to do, I think you'll see that play not only go to 10%, but maybe even go 16%, 17%. closing that gap of our cost to the revenue that we produce that will close making money from the golf courses i think that's a pipe dream personally i've been here 30 years and and i've heard the term golf courses are cash cows they've never been that way they've always been about service they've always been subsidized by the government always there have been very very few years that the golf courses can make any money. Very few. Even when we were doing the 60,000 rounds that you all have seen maybe on paper, we weren't making money. We were breaking even. So I think our goal is to provide service to the golfers, grow the game of golf, make sure that not only the taxpayers of Fayette County get treated right, but any of their guests. I get a lot of calls from taxpayers of the county that say, I don't play golf, but I've got a friend that's coming in town. how's your golf course? And we can say, it's great. Send them out, we'll take care of them. Because that's our job. Any other questions? It's exciting to think that we're going to have the ability to... We're controlled a lot by weathermen, and weathermen are rarely correct. So when they predict a day of rain, our tea time book goes blank. And it doesn't rain. We have no way of feeling those times. But if we can do a media blast and say, we've got open times. It's beautiful here. We might touch on some of those people that could take that time to go take off and enjoy that day. So that's exciting for us. That's what we're missing. And I think there might be some misunderstanding about us raising and lowering rates 20%. This is not going to be on a day-to-day basis. This is going to be something that we talk about at meetings. Then it goes to the Parks Board, and then it's going to be approached to Mr. Maloney, the CAO. So it's not going to be like we're going to be up, down, up, down, up, down, and it's not that we're going to be trying to drive somebody else out of the market. We just want to give the service that we can. It's terrible to think that we've got these beautiful golf courses and we're missing out by somebody driving out of county, having to drive out of county because of a $2 break. So I want to bring those people and let them stay here and enjoy us. Any other questions? Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you very much. Vice Mayor Gordon. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a few questions, a couple of which are for the CAO. And I want to thank the commissioner and director and Mike, you and your head professionals at the golf courses, this is a really good report, and I think it's what we've been needing. On the rate corrections, the 20% rate corrections, and I don't know, Richard, if you want to answer this or if Mike does, is the hope to bring them to the Parks Advisory Board with a recommendation already from the CAO so that at that meeting and that recommendation, a decision could be passed on. Yeah, I think the whole idea is to analyze the market, determine what changes need to be made, and then take that to the Parks Advisory Board and then to the commissioner, and then once the commissioner says okay, it would go to the CAO for approval. So I guess my concern was turnaround time. You know, we don't want that kind of a decision to get bogged down in any kind of bureaucracy. Well, I think being able to, like Al said, being able to adjust our rates on a monthly basis if need be is fine. The discounting, to discount our rates to do promotions would go directly from the director of parks to the commissioner to the CAO. Okay. If we wanted to do a Groupon special or a Living Social special or Blast, then that would immediately go. because now you're just looking at specified groups or times, not something that's going to be advertised as a day-to-day rate. Okay, that would be a quicker decision. On page 16 where you talk about your loyalty card, would that be for a year? Would it be for a calendar year? A calendar year, okay. And then I'll ask the CAO on page 21 under operational constraints one of the issues, The issue of who can authorize rates for golf has not been clarified. Have you resolved this issue? Because we've talked about it for years. I mean, I feel like through your report you've resolved it to say that the Council doesn't need to be involved. Is that what you're saying? That I'm going to authorize it, yes. That's correct. Okay. I think that's very good. And then on page 30, and this is in Mr. Mullinex, your report from Kearney Hills. One of your, in your marketing plan, you talked about the website. Is someone already, and the fact that golf is buried in our website, so it's hard to find, I'm presuming. Is someone working on the website already, getting that in a better position? Or what's the status with that? Oh, we've got lots of people. We've got everybody working. Sally jumped up there like she was going to tackle us. We are working on that, and we're trying to make it friendly. And we're working with the CAO policy on media. media, so that we'll be involved with that so that we are working with some screws that are loose a little bit. Are you thinking, yes, Commissioner, thank you. I've worked with Susan Straub on this, and I think this is all going to be just fine. What we have to do is respect Susan's job, too, to make sure that that site is correct and there's nothing just sort of wild and loose that goes on it. So we are working on that with Susan, and this will work. We're fine that we're going to get this work done. So it will be in a better place. Susan is very positive and helpful with us. In a better place where the public can find it. Yes, yes. And that's Susan's goal, too. Okay, that's really terrific. I'm not a golfer, but I have family members who have been golfers, and I understand how it's a lifelong game. I think my dad played until a week before his death, And it's a good thing because it is a lifelong game that people can pursue for a long time. I have observed in some other cities the problem that Al Krauser mentioned on page 34 of the packet, which is the geese. Is someone working on that? Yes, we are. We've tried several different things. The most recent thing is creating somewhat of a barrier around the lake so the geese can't land in the water in order to get on the land to feed. I mean, it's a terrible problem. It is a terrible problem, and we have done that in small areas at the golf courses and had great success with it. So I guess that kind of, for me, highlighted, is it your feeling on these individual golf course reports, which were very good, I thank those of you who worked on them, that the weaknesses and challenges are already being worked on? Yes. Everybody's shaking their heads yes. Okay. So those are ongoing. And then my final question is page 36, where this was Lakeside Report. The next-to-last area for marketing your facility was to add signage to Richmond Road and I-75. Has that been done? How close are we to getting that? It's something that we will work on. That was something that Al brought forth in his plan, so the process of where signs can be placed and who has the authority and going through all that we'll have to work through, but it's a great idea and it's something we want to work on. Do you have to go to the state? I believe you would, definitely, on Richmond Road. I know the Arboretum Board went to the state for an Arboretum sign, and we got it. and I just would encourage you to do it quickly and stay on them because it can happen, but I think it would be really good to have it before next summer. I agree. There are signs on U.S. 25 or Georgetown Road for Kearney Hill that go through the state. Yes. Okay. Well, I have other questions which I'll come to you about, but I thank you very much. This is a really helpful report. Thank you. Council Member Beard. Thank you, Chair. Mike, I think it was you that mentioned that the rates are the same across all the courses. No, they're not the same. I mean, that's what you said, but you said you couldn't have this guy doing one thing and this guy doing another, and I know Kearney Hill is higher than everybody else. Right. Our rates, we feel, are based on the structure of the golf courses. Lakeside and Tates Creek rates are the same because they're similar facilities in age and provide to the similar clientele. Piccadome's a little bit higher, a little bit higher clientele, a little bit different style golf course, and then Kearney Hill has a higher rate being an upscale public facility. So what I said to Councilman Myers is you wouldn't want the golf professional at Lakeside reducing a rate on Monday and that same golfer go to Tate's Creek Golf Course and paying more and not understanding why. It's important that you provide consistent information, consistent rates for the product. I thought that was the case. I just heard it a little differently from you. The golf pros themselves obviously are teaching pros, I assume. Does their remuneration from their clientele flow through our books, or is that their deal and their deal alone? It depends on the situation. If it's a clinic offered by Parks and Recreation, that revenue comes into the city's revenue. if it's a lesson that they are giving, they're doing that on their own time, and it would go to them. Okay. I'm not sure what their own time is. It's like sun up to sun down, I would think. They're not on city time when they teach. Okay. And then you made some comment that people would be taking a, you're talking about a $2 break to go to another county's courses? Yeah, I think Mr. Krauser said that. Okay. People are driving outside of the county because their green fee may be $2 cheaper. And they'll spend $5 worth of gasoline to do that? Yes, sir. It makes absolutely no sense to me at all. As sensitized as we all are to gasoline prices, it's just amazing. I think it's just perception. You know, the perception is that you're saving money, but, you know, the overall cost of driving the vehicle there maybe isn't considered. If you're going to Old Salo, for instance, 35 miles. Yeah, that's more than $5. It was a 70-mile round trip. I just would wonder. That's all I had, Mike. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member Beard. Council Member Ford. Thank you, Chair. Mike, we appreciate the presentation that you guys have provided for us and the hard work that's going in. I'm excited about, and I ask you to speak to the opportunity that social media is going to provide. It's not where we're going. It's where we are now. And as I just come up to speed with social media, I'm afraid that something else is going to come along to challenge me to keep up with. But even for those golfers who may not be able to respond immediately for a promotion, a special that you guys may blast via text or via Facebook or Twitter or whatever it is, that would offer them some incentive. It kind of lets them know that we're here. It gives them some kind of incentive and encouragement to hopefully be able to respond and visit us. Correct. It lets them know that we're moving. It's constant, immediate, real-time interaction with customers. You're constantly putting your presence in front of them at all times. And that was one of the things the Louisville site has where you can sign up for the text messaging. You know, not everyone has a smartphone, although we're getting there. Right. but the text message alerts could have tremendous capacity as far as helping us. And I'm looking forward to working toward that further. Michael, appreciate it again. Thank you, Chris. Okay. I guess I get to ask the next question. My question to you is, in coming up with your business plans, have you actually evaluated the estimated revenues, cost savings, better utility management, those types of issues, and compared that to the actual fiscal year 11 ending financial statements for each golf course so that you could see if you look at what your assumption would be, we're going to reduce the price, we're going to get more plays, we're going to get more revenue from each player that comes to the course, we're going to save the utilities, et cetera, so that we could actually see sort of an estimate based on actual year-end data. And the last year we had would be fiscal year 11. And so to compare your business plan and estimated revenue and expenses versus our actual cost for the last fiscal year. To me, that would be a very valuable analysis. I think Mr. Barrow was really an expert in that area, and I think that would be very, very helpful in assessing the points you're making here about discount this, discount that, get more plays, get more revenue per play, like golf cart rentals and food and merchandise, et cetera, so we could just see what the estimated impact would be. And then you've already said you're going to put cost savings in and you're going to reduce utilities, so you can put those estimates in there. And then when you bring that back to us, we would have an idea of what the revenues, expenses, and the costs to the government would be for the coming fiscal year. Correct. The last three pages of the plan, There is a revenue and rounds projection based on 5%, 10%, and 15%, and possibly 20% increases. And this is exactly what you're asking for. It's comparing what these changes will do based on a flat, no change, 5% increase, 10% increase, or 15% increase in rounds. and bringing the cost from FY11 forward minus our reductions. And so there's a lot of numbers on these three pages, but it brings you forward into those types of projections. The reason I was suggesting that it be on a golf course by golf course basis is that you may have greater savings at one course, lesser at another. Promotion might drive more in one area than another. So we would just have a really good way to evaluate the impact of the business plan. The other thought that I was having is that I strongly recommend the use of social media to promote the golf courses. And it seems to me that should be extremely effective because one of the things that we could do is you could maybe offer a discount to any resident of Fayette County and ask for identification and their address. And then we could then get, you know, ask for their email so that we could send them messages out. And this would allow us then to market directly to the citizens of Fayette County who are technically underwriting the cost of this and the taxes that they pay so we could incentivize them to use the courses more. That, to me, would be a very powerful marketing effort. The other thought that I have is I think that you would be wise to outsource your social media to a marketing firm that's a specialist in that area, and they could actually manage all of that for you and even send out your special marketing effort and all that. The only thing that you would have to do on a regular basis would be to provide the additional people that would need to receive the message from the social media. And you could do that by, as you get new clients coming through, you could put them into the system. And then you wouldn't have a lot of direct media costs. It would primarily be the programming and maintaining the system. That's a good idea. Yeah, and certainly I can't say that I know much about the marketing companies that do that, but it's something I would definitely want to research and look into. And one of the other thoughts I was having is that it would be helpful, I believe, as you register these people, if you could get some demographic information, like their estimated age and how frequently they play golf and do they have kids and that kind of thing. Within the realm of propriety, we don't want to get information that people don't want to release. But then you would have a better demographic profile of who these people are and what types of promotions the golf courses did would be effective, too. Correct. I think it's very important in building these databases that we get as much of the demographic information as possible. Well, I see that my time is expiring. And as a chairman, I guess I need to maintain and control myself. I believe that ends this part of the program. However, we're going to now talk about swimming pools for a minute, unless there's an additional question from any council member. Thank you so much. You did a very nice job of presenting the information. I believe that Brian Rogers, who is the deputy director of enterprise for the parks, is going to make the presentation. Do you want to say more? Thank you.