“ I think we should be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Commissioner Bob Fenwick ”
With a majority of Cedar Grove Business Park lots unsold and declining revenues at Superior National at Lutsen golf course, the Cook County- Grand Marais Economic Development Authority (EDA) has taken shots on its effectiveness, since the business park and the golf course comprise two of its three current endeavors (the third being a housing assistance program running on grant dollars). After turning down the offer to take over ownership of the golf course earlier this year, the county board discussed its thoughts on the mission of the EDA.
Commissioner Fritz Sobanja started the discussion by asking who is controlling the money that the county has been loaning to Superior National for the past several years to help it through each winter. Mike Davies is the golf course’s head superintendent, but the course is owned by the EDA, which is governed by a board that employs Director Matt Geretschlaeger and that recently formed a special committee to provide closer oversight.
“I think it’s time for the county board to talk to the city about making it a city board,” Commissioner Jan Hall said of the EDA. She said she doesn’t like levying to help projects that don’t benefit certain people at all. TheEDA has asked the county to allow the EDA levy to be raised in 2011.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson, who is on the EDA board, said he thinks selling business park lots should be a priority.
Promoting the sale of Cedar Grove Business Park lots within the county is unnecessary, Sobanja said, because local people know the lots are there. He said they need to recruit buyers from outside the county but wondered who those buyers would be.
The board spent some time discussing the EDA director’s position, which has been downsized to a part-time job. Commissioner Hall asked why they would need a full-time person when things weren’t getting done with the director working full-time.
Commissioner Jim Johnson pointed out that some decisions
” about the direction of the EDA have been put into the hands of various people associated with the EDA. Thecounty board’s task right now is mostly to decide on how much of a levy to approve, he said.
In recent months, the commissioners debated whether to take a group of citizens and businesspeople up on an offer to run the golf course for the EDA. Some people have distrusted putting the course into the hands of business people who could have a lot to gain from added golf course business. Do we just want these people to go away, Commissioner Bob Fenwick asked, or do we want them to be successful? We need to think about what’s best for the county, he said. “I think we should be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” he said. The county has spent much more money subsidizing the municipal pool than it has spent on the golf course, which has repaid its loans each year. “I think it’s important that we keep these people accountable,” he said, adding that he would like to see the county committed to the golf course’s success.
“I don’t have anything personal against any of the people involved,” Commissioner Sobanja said. He wondered which group that has been involved or that has people with an interest in the golf course is really responsible for it: Friends of Superior National, the Lutsen-Tofte Tourism Association (which has used a significant portion of its lodging tax to pay golf course bonds), the EDA, the new EDA golf course committee, the county?
The county board has decided to seek a consulting firm with expertise in golf courses to assess the financial condition of the course and how it could be improved. Commissioner Hall advocated that they get going on hiring that consultant, who would give them an independent assessment of how to lead the course to financial success. If the county has decided to get an outside consultant, Commissioner Fenwick said, they should commit themselves to following through on its recommendations. The county’s challenges are similar to many other places, he said. What will be needed is “vision, marketing, [and] energy.”
The board decided not to increase the EDA levy as requested. “This board is making a very strong statement to the EDA board by not approving a levy increase,” Commissioner Martinson said.
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