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Leawood resident urges audit of Troon golf contract, cites missing liquor and revenue detail
Summary
A resident told the council the city’s 15-year contract with Troon (Iron Horse/municipal golf management) lacks updated incentive language, liquor revenue reporting and independent audits and urged a top-down review.
A resident, Ron Vine, used the citizens’ comment portion of the March 17 meeting to urge the Leawood governing body to conduct a top-down review of the city’s contract with Troon Golf at Iron Horse Golf Course, saying the city has been poorly served by oversight in recent years.
Vine said his four-month review found the city overpaid Troon roughly $60,000 per year in the past two years because the incentive management bonus has not been updated in 15 years, that Troon’s point-of-sale system does not track rounds by resident demographics, and that contract and business-plan documents contain “nothing” addressing the $2,000,000 city investment in a facility called Vista. “The current contract is a bad contract,” Vine said. “It might have been a good contract 15 years ago. It's a bad contract now for our residents, and the current oversight is bad.”
He cited specific provisions, saying Article 805 requires Troon to maintain and deliver books and records related to alcohol-beverage sales but that the city lacks liquor-sales revenue detail. He also urged an independent annual audit of the facility and a refreshed business plan; Vine said he was told the city has not performed an independent audit in 15 years.
Vine recommended a top-down contractual review covering liquor sales, bonuses, management fees, complimentary golf use and tournament scheduling. He said tournament scheduling has, in his count, limited resident access: “Currently, 55 tournaments are scheduled at the golf course this year. That equals about 2, maybe 3 tournaments every week during prime golf season. The people who really suffer from this are residents of the city who can't get on the golf course.”
No Troon representative spoke at the meeting and no staff response or council direction to initiate an audit was recorded on the council floor that night. Councilmembers did not vote on the matter; Stoddard acknowledged staff was aware of the topic and noted the city is working on updating a business plan for the facility.
