After the City of Polson lost its restaurant manager for Bunker's Bar & Grill earlier this month, City Commissioner Jake Holley questioned during last week’s meeting if the city should still be managing the grill.  

“I just want to throw it out there, even if it's controversial or not, but it might be time for the city to withdraw from managing Bunker's, possibly and allocating (that money) towards something else, just to reduce impact on the administration from having to manage it from afar,” Holley said at the Nov. 17 meeting. “It'd be cool if it could go into the roads or something like that.”  

City manager Ed Meece had told the commission during the Nov. 3 meeting that he, along with city clerk Cora Pritt and finance officer Jodi O'Sullivan, will be operating the grill in a “stay-stable mode” until a manager is hired.  

During last week’s meeting, Meece explained he has taken this opportunity to not immediately hire another manager and explore other possible options for the restaurant. He said currently he goes down to the grill two to four times a week to watch people work and believes the staff is doing a great job.  

“I don't feel like we're in an urgent position where we can't take some time and do some of this research,” Meece said.  

Meece said leasing the restaurant is certainly a possibility, or other options could be considered where the city divides responsibilities with another party. He isn’t sure if a centralized manager is the best operation setup, and Meece said leasing the restaurant in the past has had mixed results.  

The idea was floated for the Polson Gold Association Pro-Shop to take over management because they are already onsite.  

“We provide services, we fix streets, we fund safety. We are not restaurant people. Nobody's a restaurant person. And we're trying to run something we don't know a thing about,” Commissioner Brodie Moll said. “We don't retain (managers). … I think they're doing a good job. We've done a lot of good things. But I like the Golf Association proposal that they take that over.”  

Meece explained in an email to the Lake County Leader that during his tenure they had a full-time manager for eight months during 2023 and 2024. The next manager was hired in July of 2024 and was in that position until leaving this month.  

Meece said that prior to 2023 the parks and golf director managed parks, the golf course grounds and the restaurant with a head cook and assistant manager. This position was later split up into a parks and recreation director, golf course superintendent and restaurant manager.  

Commissioner Lisa Rehard said the city code states that the grill runs adjunct to the golf course. She believes they have drifted away from what the code says and suggested maybe they need to adhere more closely to that language.  

According to the code, the city manager shall appoint “a golf professional for the management of the pro-shop, restaurant and golf play.” It also says that person may be under independent contract with the city under discretion of the city manager.  

Commissioner Carolyn Pardini asked Meece to prepare a report for next week’s meeting on Dec. 1, so the commission can better understand what’s going on at the grill.  

“I know how slim the margin is to not be going in the hole. And if you don't have an executive chef running your kitchen, you're just gonna lose money,” Pardini said. “You can't do it by going out a couple times a week and watching what's going on. That just takes our administration away from pressing duties at City Hall.”  

Restaurant in the red

According to the city’s Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget, the actual revenue from Bunker’s during the previous fiscal year (2024-2025) was just above $650,000. The expenses are split up into supplies and operations and maintenance and total almost $800,000. That income also reflects revenue from the Boettcher Park concession stand, the wine and beer cart and the simulator, which is housed in Bunker's.

The total golf course enterprise rakes in just over $2.4 million but only shows a profit of $438,028 after expenses, according to the previous fiscal year numbers. And the grill itself lost almost $140,000.  

Meece said this ending fund balance or profit must stay in the “enterprise fund” for the golf course but then can be utilized for capital improvements.  

“An enterprise fund has control over its revenue. It can set its own rates,” Meece said. “So, at the golf course that’s golf fees and restaurant menus.”  

Meece said the lack of a restaurant manager has given him a good opportunity to take a deep breath and look at the numbers and decide to either follow the ordinance or hire another full-time manager.  

While he said running a restaurant is a weird thing for a city to do, he does not believe the manager is overworked. He said that while managing the restaurant is a difficult position, it’s the same type of workload that a person would have running a small business or operating a restaurant in the private sector.  

He said the last manager was paid around $55,000.  

Asked if he thinks it is in the best interest for the city to continue management of the restaurant, Meece replied that it’s an important piece of what goes on at the golf course. He added that there are several options the city can explore.   

“I’m committed to doing that and finding the best answer for the restaurant and for the city,” Meece said.  

He also believes the city has done a good job of managing the restaurant and historically meet their “fiscal constraints.”