After some confusion and debate, the Kalispell City Council on Monday voted down a lease credit requested by the Kalispell Golf Association.

A motion to waive the association’s $16,780 annual lease payment for Buffalo Hill Golf Course failed 5-1 with Mayor Tammi Fisher and council members Wayne Saverud and Jeff Zauner not present.

Council member Randy Kenyon cast the only vote for the motion.

“We are talking about one of the crown jewels of the city of Kalispell with aging infrastructure and an organization that has gone far beyond expectations in terms of managing our asset up there,” he said.

Kalispell Golf Association asked for the lease credit in light of $563,000 it spent last year to maintain and improve the golf course, which sits on 240 acres owned by the city. Those expenditures included a new driving range, asphalt and irrigation improvements and about $80,000 for engineering and work to stabilize eroding banks on the Stillwater River.

Golf course manager Steve Dunfee said the association’s request for a lease credit was misconstrued by the media as a simple request for a waiver of its annual lease payment, “which suggests forgiveness.”

“Not at all,” Dunfee said. “It’s a credit by which the money we have spent offsets the lease payment due from last year.”

The association’s 20-year lease includes a mechanism for it to apply for lease credits.

According to the lease, if the association pays for infrastructure improvements that are identified in a capital protection program and otherwise scheduled to be paid for by the city, it can ask to have those costs credited against future lease payments.

The only problem is Kalispell and the golf association have not been able to agree on a capital protection program spelling out what each party is responsible for at the golf course.

The voter-approved golf course lease called for a capital protection program to be drafted by the city and the association by December 2009. Monday’s discussions suggested the two parties remain far apart in terms of agreeing on who should pay for what and when.

Dunfee told the council he submitted a “lengthy list” of deferred maintenance items and capital improvements needed at the golf course to previous City Manager Jane Howington.

“As far as agreeing on something, that we’ll pay for this and the city will pay for that, I’m not even sure that can be accomplished,” Dunfee said.

City Attorney Charlie Harball agreed there are “stark differences of philosophy” that remain to be worked out.

“It is staff’s opinion that anything that is operating as a golf course is the responsibility of KGA. Any other asset that exists outside of that, such as the clubhouse, is the city’s responsibility,” Harball said.

Council member Bob Hafferman questioned what the association’s lease credit request has to do with a $428,000 river bank stabilization project the city completed this spring. Information on that project was forwarded to council along with the request.

The project shored up 650 feet of eroded river bank where a breach threatened to start a new river channel through low-lying parts of the golf course.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid for 75 percent of the project. But after being credited for $33,000 of in-kind services, Kalispell was left with a larger-than-expected $46,000 local cash match pulled from facility maintenance line items in the general fund, where the golf association’s annual lease payment goes.

“We provided information on [the FEMA project] to show the city has expended some substantial sums of time and money on the golf course and that the $16,000 could be applied to that portion of the grant,” Harball told the council. “The intent is to use that lease money to make those payments, and that way apply revenue from the lease to that asset.”

Without a capital protection program in place, it’s not clear if river bank stabilization at the golf course should be done by the city or the golf association, Harball said.

“We could haveBy TOM LOTSHAWThe Daily Inter Lake

After some confusion and debate, the Kalispell City Council on Monday voted down a lease credit requested by the Kalispell Golf Association.

A motion to waive the association’s $16,780 annual lease payment for Buffalo Hill Golf Course failed 5-1 with Mayor Tammi Fisher and council members Wayne Saverud and Jeff Zauner not present.

Council member Randy Kenyon cast the only vote for the motion.

“We are talking about one of the crown jewels of the city of Kalispell with aging infrastructure and an organization that has gone far beyond expectations in terms of managing our asset up there,” he said.

Kalispell Golf Association asked for the lease credit in light of $563,000 it spent last year to maintain and improve the golf course, which sits on 240 acres owned by the city. Those expenditures included a new driving range, asphalt and irrigation improvements and about $80,000 for engineering and work to stabilize eroding banks on the Stillwater River.

Golf course manager Steve Dunfee said the association’s request for a lease credit was misconstrued by the media as a simple request for a waiver of its annual lease payment, “which suggests forgiveness.”

“Not at all,” Dunfee said. “It’s a credit by which the money we have spent offsets the lease payment due from last year.”

The association’s 20-year lease includes a mechanism for it to apply for lease credits.

According to the lease, if the association pays for infrastructure improvements that are identified in a capital protection program and otherwise scheduled to be paid for by the city, it can ask to have those costs credited against future lease payments.

The only problem is Kalispell and the golf association have not been able to agree on a capital protection program spelling out what each party is responsible for at the golf course.

The voter-approved golf course lease called for a capital protection program to be drafted by the city and the association by December 2009. Monday’s discussions suggested the two parties remain far apart in terms of agreeing on who should pay for what and when.

Dunfee told the council he submitted a “lengthy list” of deferred maintenance items and capital improvements needed at the golf course to previous City Manager Jane Howington.

“As far as agreeing on something, that we’ll pay for this and the city will pay for that, I’m not even sure that can be accomplished,” Dunfee said.

City Attorney Charlie Harball agreed there are “stark differences of philosophy” that remain to be worked out.

“It is staff’s opinion that anything that is operating as a golf course is the responsibility of KGA. Any other asset that exists outside of that, such as the clubhouse, is the city’s responsibility,” Harball said.

Council member Bob Hafferman questioned what the association’s lease credit request has to do with a $428,000 river bank stabilization project the city completed this spring. Information on that project was forwarded to council along with the request.

The project shored up 650 feet of eroded river bank where a breach threatened to start a new river channel through low-lying parts of the golf course.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid for 75 percent of the project. But after being credited for $33,000 of in-kind services, Kalispell was left with a larger-than-expected $46,000 local cash match pulled from facility maintenance line items in the general fund, where the golf association’s annual lease payment goes.

“We provided information on [the FEMA project] to show the city has expended some substantial sums of time and money on the golf course and that the $16,000 could be applied to that portion of the grant,” Harball told the council. “The intent is to use that lease money to make those payments, and that way apply revenue from the lease to that asset.”

Without a capital protection program in place, it’s not clear if river bank stabilization at the golf course should be done by the city or the golf association, Harball said.

“We could have agreed that stream bank stabilization within our financial capabilities belongs to the city. On the other hand, the city could say if there’s erosion there that changes the shape of the golf course, so be it,” Harball said. “The city could have said, ‘Well, that’d be a nice water hazard you have there.’ It is in the floodway. But we didn’t see a lot of benefit to doing that and applied for and got the grant.”

IN OTHER business, council voted 6-0 to approve a two-year preliminary plat extension for phase four of West View Estates.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com. agreed that stream bank stabilization within our financial capabilities belongs to the city. On the other hand, the city could say if there’s erosion there that changes the shape of the golf course, so be it,” Harball said. “The city could have said, ‘Well, that’d be a nice water hazard you have there.’ It is in the floodway. But we didn’t see a lot of benefit to doing that and applied for and got the grant.”