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City outlines staffing and accounting choices for Ocean Shores Golf Course after Troon contract ends
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Summary
Committee heard that the Troon management agreement ended Jan. 31 and staff used temporary Express agency workers to reopen the course; the committee asked for burden-rate comparisons, job descriptions with sunset dates, and a revenue/expense breakdown to present options to council in April.
The finance committee devoted a large portion of its March 10 meeting to operational and accounting decisions for the Ocean Shores Golf Course after the city's management contract with Troon was terminated Jan. 31. Chair said staff stood up an interim team to reopen operations on Feb. 1 because memberships and other revenue activity typically begin in February.
Chair described an emergency staffing plan that ran five workers through a temp agency called Express (two full-time and three part-time). "We opted to put everybody...and when I say everybody, I believe it's 5," the chair said. She said the city paid about $6,000–$7,000 per week in February for those five express employees and estimated off-season monthly costs around $20,000 and busier months closer to $30,000. (The transcript did not specify whether the $7–8 figure referenced an hourly premium, a flat fee, or another unit.)
Staff presented two primary staffing options for the committee to consider: 1) continue to use Express and present temporary employment requests to council for approval, keeping operations on the agency payroll; or 2) create temporary city job descriptions with sunset dates, run the positions through the city's payroll system and accept a lower internal burden rate as a cost-saving measure. Chair said staff will calculate burden rates and return comparisons at a follow-up meeting.
Committee members also raised accounting and transparency concerns. The chair said the golf course currently posts revenue in two lines and limits expense categories to a few broad accounts; she recommended the course either be run like an individual department — with line-item tracking and a budget amendment — or be included in an RFP/lease process where detailed financials would be required. "We couldn't trust the numbers" under the prior management arrangement, one member said.
The committee requested a breakdown of Express placements and costs across city departments, burden-rate comparisons, and job descriptions for temporary staff (with proposed sunset dates). Chair said those materials should be ready so a recommendation or budget amendment can be presented to the council at its first April meeting.
