My Voice: Give local golf company a chance

I’ll do my best within the confines of this space to address the most relevant issues surrounding the current golf management dilemma.

First, Dakota Golf is neither a sore loser nor trying to take advantage of the City of Sioux Falls. To insinuate either is not accurate. Neither Dakota Golf or GreatLife was selected, both accepted this result with class, and Dakota Golf set out immediately to make for a smooth transition.

Far from trying to take advantage of the city, Dakota Golf's original offer and current offer for assets is more than fair. It takes just a few calls to anyone in this industry to verify this. Tom Walsh said GreatLife would have accepted our offer had they been selected. The city’s new contractor indicated they accepted the validity of our offer. Something isn’t right. The city has chosen to refuse an offer that everybody in the golf industry says is more than fair and instead picking a more expensive, painful route. The city’s offer is so low that knowledgeable people, even non-golfers, cannot accept it on its face. If I was negotiating with a private golf entity, this deal could have been done in two days.

Sneve: Closed-door selections spark outcry in golf contract debate

As for the Request For Proposal, the selection committee members, Councilor Marshall Selberg, Sioux Falls Park & Recreation board member Lorrea Lindquist and citizens Jim Lowe and R.J. Thompson, deserve praise for their service. We knew when the city chose to put this RFP process in 2017, we would face headwinds. We had less than one season of normal operations after Elmwood’s renovations. The city’s own study from the National Golf Foundation recommended doing an RFP in 2020. This would be better for the city and proposers, because everyone will have three years of relevant information on which to base their proposal.

Here’s a suggestion that will help every RFP process, add a second level of oversight before contract negotiations begin. This would allow council members and citizens a chance to understand exactly what was decided and an opportunity to give input. In this case, the Park Board should have met within two weeks of the announcement. Public sentiment would have been measured and all elected or appointed city officials would have had the information they need to make a reasoned decision to proceed to contract negotiations. Or, in the case of nearly universal public opposition, vote not to proceed. This would avoid what we are faced with now. The selection committee made a valid decision, but public sentiment is 99-1 against it. This contract also changes public policy significantly regarding how to run the courses, and that caught everyone by surprise.

What does not work is when Park Board and Council action are both scheduled at the end, with the only viable choice to approve the contract. This removes the Council’s ability to vote in a rational matter, especially when they are told that we are at the 11th hour and we have no time to change. When your choices are to vote “yes,” because you want to, or “yes” because you have to, are you really voting?

Unfortunately, poor decisions by the city have resulted in everything coming down to the wire. This was unnecessary. Now city officials are asking everyone else to pay the price and just rubber stamp this because they claim there are no other options. Councilors need some space to try to figure this out. Councilors were presented a 100-page contract at the last minute and should not be forced into voting “yes” for something that nobody wants because there are no other options. There are always options when doing the right thing is at stake.

Twenty-three years ago, Sioux Falls was smart enough to run their selection for a new golf contractor by the Park Board to insure the committee hadn’t missed something. The citizens rose up and made their universal feelings known and the Park Board rejected the Dallas company and gave Dakota Golf a chance. The wisdom of that decision ushered in 23 years of success for the city and its golfers. It’s time to repeat history. Vote “no,” allow one of our solid local companies to rise to the occasion and be on the job when golf season arrives, hopefully early.

MY VOICE

Tom Jansa was born and raised in Sioux Falls. He is a PGA professional and president and director of Dakota Golf Management. My Voice columns should be 500 to 700 words. Submissions should include a portrait-type photograph of the author. Authors also should include their full name, age, occupation and relevant organizational memberships.

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