Great Falls Blogosphere in a Buzz about Golf

And the scandal continues.

The $200 grand that is bleeding from the cities coffers due to its (mis)management of the municipal golf courses is resulting in a lot of angry bloggers (including yours truly). In a series of posts on three blogs, a number of facts have been revealed that the Tribune must of thought were not worth printing.

I will let you decide. However, to me these un-reported facts make mis-management seem like a smokescreen for an invitation to corruption. So here is the roundup:

• 12/7: Geeguy posts his first entry, critiquing Tribune coverage. In the comments, Mayor-elect Stebbins reveals that the report commissioned by the city highlighted the fact that the courses are operated like a lemonade stand using a cigar box as a till. Cash only. Am I the only one with a problem with this system? Apparently, the Trib doesn't think this worthy of reporting.
  
• 12/7: My own missive. More on the cigar box.
• 12/8: GFFirefly puts pencil to paper, and finds that Reardon's defense of her operation doesn't quite add up.
• 12/8: Geeguy also puts pencil to paper.
• 12/9: GFFirefly points out that the city should be paying attention to the bottom line.

My own 2¢ on the anonymous posts that have begun to appear, defending the cities operation: It is nice to give people part time jobs to mow lawns, but is that really the point of operating the golf courses?

The point of operating the golf courses is to operate golf courses. As such, they need to be run in an efficient manner. The private courses in and around Great Falls (MLCC, Emerald Green and Gannons) understand that, and I am sure that they are not hemorrhaging money like the municipal courses.

The attitude that the courses are nothing but make-work projects designed to give people paychecks is the kind of wrong-headed thinking that keeps our city from breaking through and achieving success.