Council subcommittee probing golf course irrigation after pump failure; pond repairs tied to wastewater dispersal

A city council subcommittee formed to review the golf course irrigation system reported new findings and next steps after an in-person tour of the course’s pump house and ponds.

The tour revealed that “pump 2 went down,” creating a single-pump condition that has limited irrigation capacity, Paul Prince, a council member on the subcommittee, said. Greg Zadley, the city’s golf course manager, told the committee that maintenance staff have been manually watering greens early each morning since the failure to keep playing surfaces viable.

The subcommittee — council members Adam Benefield, Shane Som and Paul Prince — and public-works staff inspected the pump house and discovered an unopened box containing a pump and motor with a purchase order number; the device is much smaller than the failed pump and is not a direct one-for-one replacement, Prince said. Prince said research is underway to determine who purchased the boxed pump and whether it can be repurposed.

Prince said the group learned there may be a jockey pump available and that staff were “out there again today looking at getting it started to replace it.” He added, “the quicker that happens, the quicker we can apply what we need to apply to the greens during this transition period.” Zadley said the greens cannot safely receive required fertilizer and fungicide applications until irrigation is reliably available.

The subcommittee also inspected several on-site ponds and described their condition as poor, singling out “Pond 17” as “horrible” and in need of repair. Prince said Pond 17 receives effluent from the wastewater treatment plant and that a reconfiguration of “Pond 2” is needed to dewater Pond 17 for repairs. The complexity is logistical: Pond 2 must be made ready so Pond 17 can be drained and fixed, and the city must have a method to route effluent during work on Pond 2.

Prince told the committee the irrigation project had previously been packaged as part of a larger capital program, and officials confirmed bond funds and a loan were intended to cover parts of the work. “That money is not going away,” Prince said when asked whether delaying the irrigation contract would forfeit funding; he added, however, that funds could be reallocated to other priority projects.

Council members on the subcommittee said opinions vary about whether to move forward immediately with the previously approved irrigation contract or pause to explore lower-cost alternatives. Prince said the subcommittee’s aim is to “take a fresh look” and produce data skeptics can rely on while trying to avoid months of delay.

The subcommittee has added four external citizens or experts (named in the meeting as Tom Monahan and Jim Cason among others) to advise on irrigation and wastewater questions and scheduled a kickoff meeting to define objectives and timelines. Prince said he wants the subcommittee to move quickly so repairs do not lose the momentum that restored rounds and revenue at the course in recent months.

No formal council action was taken during the advisory committee meeting on irrigation; the subcommittee will return with findings and recommendations for council consideration.