during a tense meeting on Wednesday, Davie council members voted to delay signing a contract with a management company to run long-closed Arrowhead Golf Course.
Council members expressed concern the management company didn’t have enough money to take care of the town-owned course over the long term.
“it doesn’t seem like they have a sufficient amount of funds, if the business plan is going to work,” said Councilman Bryan Caletka.
Frustrated, officials from Arrowhead Golf Group left before the meeting was over.
“Put your concerns in writing and we’ll do our best to address them,” said Jayson Ray, managing member of the company. “We’ve already jumped through all of the hoops.”
Last week, officials from Arrowhead Golf Group said they were about $175,000 shy of the $1 million it needed to update the course and get it open after a key investor dropped out.
Council members agreed to give Arrowhead until Tuesday to come up with any additional money it needed for the project — otherwise it would consider other options, including having the town run the course itself.
At first, the management company asked Davie officials to contribute the money it was short. the town rejected the idea.
Instead, Arrowhead Golf Group made a deal with Greenway Golf, the maintenance company hired to bring the course back to playable condition. it bought out Greenway’s 30 percent of the ownership.
“the ownership change will allow AGG to obtain the start up cost,” Town Administrator Richard Lemack said Wednesday.
Under the terms of the new proposal, Greenway will still be in charge of maintaining the course for Arrowhead Golf Group.
It also agreed to help pay for and build a new $3.2 million clubhouse and manage the course for 10 years. Arrowhead Golf Group officials say they expect the golf course to make $1.7 million in revenue after three years, but won’t say how much they expect to make in profit.
The town will receive more than $35,000 the first year and 20 percent of profits, but that will increase to 25 percent of profits and 5 percent of gross revenue as the contract continues.
Mitch Osceola, managing member of Arrowhead Golf Group, said if the contract is approved, the course will be open for play by Oct. 15.
Closed for several years, Davie has been paying $52,000 a month on upkeep of Arrowhead Golf Course.
The town purchased the course from the state in 2010, eventually paying $3.8 million for the land. it beat out Arrowhead Golf Group, which had also made an offer to the state.
At the time, the purchase was controversial, but leaders decided it was worth the money to keep the open space.
Councilman Marlon Luis said the deal is a strong contract for Davie.
“the town is better off going with this contract than doing it ourselves,” Luis said. “We will actually make money.”
But Davie resident Ramona Myres said she doesn’t mind who manages the course and is ready to see golfers teeing off in her backyard.
“I live on the third fairway,” she said. “We wanted a golf course, not open space.”
The town will reconsider the contract at its next meeting, slated for Sept. 21.