All the Fuss About the Golf Course

In recent months I have repeatedly been asked: “What do you have against the Golf Course?” The answer is simple. Absolutely nothing. But it’s not out of character for me to ask questions when it appears the Taxpayers of Gilmer County may be getting taken advantage of.
Early this summer I became aware that a professional “golf course management” firm had done a secret shopper visit to Whitepath Golf Course. The County owns the course, but it is leased out to and managed by Reece Golf Inc. I submitted an Open Records Act Request (out of curiosity) and was able to read the report. It wasn’t very flattering towards Reece Golf, but you have to keep in mind that this firm also wanted to take over and manage the course for the County for a very hefty fee. At the next Commissioner’s workshop I asked about it and the County’s future plans for the Golf Course. This sparked a pretty intense conversation about the course, with supporters of Reece Golf expressing their outrage at the situation.

Jim Smith, County Liaison for the golf course, stated that since he has been in charge of the situation, Reece Golf is filing an annual report by November 1 each year as required by the lease. He also went on to explain that there exists a “Memorandum of Understanding” (as part of the lease) that states the County may approve up to $25,000 each year for “capital improvements”. The process is that Reece Golf submits a list of capital improvements it desires to the Board of Commissioners with an estimated budget. If the Board approves it, he can proceed with the improvements and is reimbursed when he submits an invoice with receipts and the County verifies the work has been done.

I asked Jim if I could read the 2010 report and he complied. As I was looking through the receipts one thing that struck me as odd were receipts written on a “generic” receipt book in what appeared to be Mark Reece’s own handwriting. They simply said: Labor -$1300, Labor- $1250 and so on with no supporting documentation. Next was one for: Equipment Rental- $250. Even generic receipts have unique numbers and this one did in the upper right hand corner: 115519. I turned the page and there was another one for: Equipment Rental -$200. In the upper right hand corner was the number 115519 and it was apparent that the middle “0” had been changed from something else. I held them up to a light layered over each other and all handwriting lined up, as if the receipt had been altered and turned in twice. I pointed this out privately to all three Commissioners and they asked Jim Smith to investigate. I went to see Jim a couple of weeks later to see what he found out, and he said basically that there was no explanation but that Reece Golf had submitted a new receipt for the $200, also with no backup documentation.

I requested all invoices submitted by Reece Golf for 2010 and while the “Memorandum of Understanding states that the County MAY approve up to $25,000 each year, the Commission Chairman Mark Chastain approved and paid $42,592.34 while leaving the County $1.5 million in the hole for the year. When I pointed this out to Commissioners Sanford and Beattie, they both said they had no prior knowledge of this.

I became aware that Reece Golf submitted an invoice for $9825.12 on December 26, 2010 and was paid for it. I requested a copy of it and the supporting receipts and again : Labor- $2300. I asked the Board if we paid $2300 for 1 hour of labor, $230 for each of 10 hours labor, or $10 for each of 230 hours labor. They didn’t know. I’ve never heard of anyone approving invoices like this in my life or I would certainly be trying to work for them. The next invoice appeared to be a receipt for sprinkler parts from an online store. The amount we paid on this was $4844.75. As I looked at the bottom it said “proceed to checkout”. It was a “shopping cart” not a receipt at all. I went online and easily recreated it in less than 10 minutes, the only difference being the date and all it cost me was the paper and the ink to print it. I presented this to the Board in a meeting and they promised to investigate. Reece Golf was never able to provide an actual receipt for this reimbursement, nor an explanation as to why he submitted a “shopping cart”. He did cobble together receipts for sprinkler parts dated August 2010 totaling about $5500. I asked why if he had legitimate receipts for $5500 in August did he create and print a “shopping cart” in December? No explanation has been given. These are just a few of the incomplete records for the money we have paid out. There are many more.

The lease plainly states that maintenance and repair are the responsibility of the person leasing the golf course. The Memorandum of Understanding plainly states that the County will reimburse for capital improvements only. If I counted right, starting in 2008 we have purchased 84 new timers for a 18 hole golf course. We have paid at least $16982 to repair the cart paths. I gave the Board of Commissioners a standing bid to build stone steps out there for $150/ step because we have been paying almost $500/step. The County has dumped over $70,000 there in the last 3 years and no one can really tell me what we got for our money. We have no idea what we rented or for how long. We have no idea what the labor costs are. We have no idea if we received the materials we paid for or not. That is my problem with the golf course.

I am not alleging any criminal activity by anyone, but I am charging sloppy accounting and no accountability that I can see no matter how hard I look for it. I don’t hold the current Board of Commissioners responsible for this. Most of it occurred under Mark Chastain and I know he acted unilaterally as he did in so many other instances. But it is in the current Board’s hands now to get to the bottom of it and account for public funds as they are required by law to do. I have been told that they have ordered an independent audit and also that the Grand Jury is now looking into it. That is a start. I don’t play golf, and I don’t have a “dog in the fight”, but I am a taxpayer and resent my money being spent irresponsibly. It is too hard to come by, I don’t get paid for invoices such as those I have described.

Randy Bell