City to investigate complaints about golf course management

Two weeks ago, in response to a “letter of concern” signed by approximately 80 members of the city-owned Northwood Golf Club, the Rhinelander Common Council directed city administration to begin the process of forming a golf course advisory committee to consist of members and players.

On Monday evening, after additional allegations were raised by two club members during public comment, the alderpersons discussed meeting with Oliphant Golf Management, the firm hired to run the course, to address the discord.

In public comment, Northwood member Kathy Lundberg alleged that Oliphant regional manager Justin Fox had “made some deceptive comments” as part of his Aug. 14 presentation to the council.

Among other things, Lundberg alleged the statistics offered by Fox during the Aug. 14 meeting with respect to the number of rounds played were inaccurate. She also disputed the revenue numbers offered related to the food and beverage service.

Lundberg also alleged that the club did not have a handicap system in place until after July 4, frustrating members. Other issues of concern, she said, include a lack of carts for players, an issue of particular concern for those who have had knee and hip replacements, and problems with slow pace of play.

“I don’t think Oliphant is the right fit. I don’t think they listen to us. I know we’re going to lose more players next year,” she added.

Lundberg concluded her remarks by suggesting that the city reconsider the idea of leasing or selling the course to Kyle Christian, the former manager of the course who was fired by Oliphant in early 2023. (Christian was an employee of Oliphant not the city).

“I think we have the answer. I think you know,” she said. “If you can reach out to him (Christian), If people don’t have too much pride. If you could just consider somehow bringing Kyle back.”

The second speaker was Erik Matson, a member of Northwood for 27 years.

Like Lundberg, he spoke glowingly of Christian and alleged that Fox was “not forthcoming” in his Aug. 14 report to the council.

He noted that he and another member of the club spoke with Christian’s successor, Kelly Chilsen, shortly after he was hired.

“We told him that we wanted him to succeed and we do want Oliphant to succeed. We told him that, but we also told him that he has exceptionally big shoes to fill as Kyle Christian was immensely popular in this community,” he explained.

Matson continued his remarks by outlining a list of questions he has for the city and Oliphant including a request for an explanation as to why Christian was terminated. 

He also alleged that it’s not normal practice for golf outings to move from course to course and some of the outings that have moved away from Northwood did so despite a very long history there.

“They tend to go elsewhere only when they think there’s an advantage,” he alleged.

As for Christian’s termination, Matson wondered aloud whether the former manager’s reported desire to buy the course led to his separation from Oliphant.

(Christian and Mayor Kris Hanus have confirmed that Christian approached city officials last fall regarding potentially buying or leasing the course.)

“Why was he fired? Is it because he talked about renting or purchasing the golf course? Did Oliphant feel that he was stabbing them in the back or something? I don’t know, but I would think it’s a question the city and the city council members would want to know,” Matson said.

As the council and administration are prohibited by council rules from responding to remarks made during public comment, there were no immediate answers to the questions posed by Matson. However, the panel briefly addressed the concerns at the end of the meeting.

In response to a request from Hanus for future agenda items, alderman Steven Jopek said the council needs to further investigate the management of the golf course.

“This might just be me but I think we do need to do something, hold a special session or whatever, to investigate what’s going on with the golf course...,” he said.

“Where there’s smoke there’s fire,” he continued. “Whether or not the accusations are true, making sure we have our ducks in a row and are properly governing something that’s our responsibility...”

Hanus asked whether council would like to include the topic on the next meeting agenda (the council is scheduled to meet again on Sept. 11) or hold a separate listening session. 

Alderman Tom Barnett stated he thought a listening session would result in the rehashing of comments that have already been made. 

“I think a meeting where actions can be made is absolutely necessary because there’s definitely something going on out there that’s not right,” he said.

“What we need to do is have a discussion amongst us, possibly with representatives from Oliphant, to get a clearer picture of what’s going on,” alderman David Holt suggested. “They gave a report (on Aug. 14) but they did not in any respond to any of these allegations and some from today are new, so I think that they probably need to be part of that as well.”

As the discussion continued, city attorney Steve Sorenson reminded the council that the city and Oliphant have a contractual relationship.

“The fear that I have is that you’re going to forget that there is a legal agreement that we have with this (entity),”  the attorney explained. “We’ve established what they have to do and because of that, if they’re living up to the terms of the contract you would be breaching the contract which would make the city liable, so be very, very careful (in how you proceed).”

He went on to suggest that the council authorize city administration to investigate the allegations.

“I have not heard anything that, if substantiated, from a legal point of view that could be a violation of the terms of the contract,” he added. “I do strongly, strongly recommend that it doesn’t turn into ‘he said, she said,’ that you have an independent investigation with someone that can go in with their eyes open and get the data and the information and then look at it from the terms of the contract. (Determine) if Oliphant is doing what they said would do, what they committed to do, as far as increasing revenue, increasing play, the things they said they would do because that’s what our contract is...”

At that point, Hanus began to say something related to the bookkeeping for the course. He noted that the bank account associated with the course is controlled by the city and city administration receives monthly reports. However, he did not complete his statement as Holt interrupted to note that the conversation had veered away from what had been agendized for discussion.

The conversation ended with a final remark from Jopek.

“I think (we need) an exploration of the terms of the contract and just to get to the bottom of what’s going on...” he said. 

The River News previously offered Fox and Chilsen an opportunity to respond to a statement issued by Christian following the Aug. 14 council meeting, as well as the council’s decision to form a golf course advisory committee.

“We are not going to comment on any HR (human resources) questions about Kyle,” Fox told the River News in an Aug. 22 email. “As far as the proposed special golf committee, we are committed to aligning with the goals of the City Administrator and the Mayor about the future of Northwood Golf Club. That has been a high priority for us since we started in 2022 and we will continue to focus on that. We would welcome anyone who aligns with the goals of the City of Rhinelander and the future of Northwood Golf Club.”

Following the Aug. 28 council meeting, the River News reached out to Fox and Chilsen again to offer them an opportunity to respond to the allegations made by Lundberg and Matson as well as the comments made by city administration and council members.

In an email response, they declined further comment but did confirm that company president Craig Altom and vice president Brian Jensen are aware of the allegations raised during the council meeting.

To watch the ful council meeting, visit www.hodagtv.com. 

Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].