Royal City approves golf course funding

ROYAL CITY — The Royal City Golf Course could be getting a boost this year.

The Royal City City Council voted Tuesday to approve an amendment to the usual annual agreement between the city and the Royal Golf Association regarding funding for the Royal City Golf Course. The amendment would allow the Royal Golf Association to request up to $30,000 in additional city funding for equipment replacements.

“They have equipment there that's been aging for years,” Finance Director Shilo Christensen told the Herald Thursday. “And they just don't have a way to fund capital expenditures for equipment purchases. The last few years, they've been saying they're having a hard time with their current equipment. So this year, they're saying, well, maybe the city as part of the management team can help fund that. Because if they can't maintain the golf course, then we have no golf course.”

The city owns the land the golf course is on, an 82.8-acre tract about four miles east of town, and pays the Royal Golf Association an annual fee, generally about $5,000, to maintain the course, Christensen said. County records indicate that the land was given to the city in 1985. It has to be used as a municipal golf course, Christensen explained, or the land reverts to its original owners. The course also has a building that serves as the Royal Community Center, which the city rents out, he added, but otherwise, the golf course isn’t a revenue source for the city.

The $30,000 isn’t a settled sum like the standard $5,000 maintenance fee, Council Member Tiffany Workinger clarified in the meeting.

“We're not saying we're giving them the $30,000,” she said. “We're saying if you guys have an issue, and you're stuck somewhere and you can't make the money, we budgeted some money, they could come and ask around. I don’t think anybody here wants to just give this golf course $30,000. And I don't think anybody plans on doing it again next year. It's like a stop gap to try to fill this hole.”

Royal City Police Chief Rey Rodriguez told the council that crime numbers are encouraging.

“We finished with 492 calls for the year,” he said. “It's a little bit higher than last year, but we've been going down, down, down, down.”

Last year was one of the lowest years he’s seen, he said.

“So 492, it's more, but it's still pretty manageable here in town.”

Rodriguez added that 17 of those calls were handled by Officer Josh Bronn in his capacity as a student resource officer at Royal Schools, a position he’s held since November.

“He’s doing great out there,” Rodriguez said.

Public Works Director John Lasen said that the biggest challenge for his department recently had been snow removal and keeping up with the slick roads.

“I will say, that truck with the plow? Awesome in the cul-de-sacs,” Rodriguez said. “It's nice actually having not just a little roundabout and snow in the middle; it was nice to have it all cleared out. I've heard it from all my neighbors too.”

“People are learning,” Lasen said. “There's a handful of them who'll go by and just throw it back out in the road. After we scooted it over there about three or four times they gave up and put it on the pile.”

“Everyone was telling me the sidewalks are cleaner,” said Council Member Mackenzee Anderson.

“We take safety seriously,” Lasen said. “We like to make sure that our people are taken care of.”

Joel Martin can be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.