By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Jan. 11, 2018) The Winter Quarters Golf Course, a fixture in Pocomoke City for more than 70 years, is closing because of financial losses and declining membership, following 3-1 City Council vote Monday.

The course was built during the early 1940s and deeded to the town in 1949.

Councilwoman Esther Troast, filling in for ailing Mayor Bruce Morrison, could not vote, but favored the closure.

Councilmen George Tasker, Dale Trotter and Brian Hirshman voted to close the course, while Councilwoman Diane Downing wanted it to remain open.

The council members did not appear to take the decision lightly, but the numbers just weren’t positive. The course lost more than $186,000 during fiscal year 2013, $211,000 in 2014, $149,000 in 2015, $155,000 in 2016 and $166,000 in 2017.

In six months of this fiscal year, the course lost $55,000 and was expected to lose roughly twice that amount by year’s end.

City Manager Bobby Cowger said course membership had declined from 40 members in 2013, to just 17 this year.

“It is in my district and I know my reelection in two years will be hanging in the balance, but I’ve had so many comments about do you guys run the city as a business or do you run it personally?” Tasker said. “My personal opinion is I don’t want to close the golf course … but then again on the other hand, you gotta look at the business.”

Tasker said more than $500,000 in losses over the five years he has been in office is inexcusable.

“Any business that’s losing money can’t stay in business,” he said. “When you’re thinking $500,000, we could take $500,000 and have done the Heights water [improvements] five years ago and not had people that’s complaining all the time of dirty water.

“I don’t see the future for 17 golfers,” he added. “If there was 200 golfers, then that would be a different story … you can sugarcoat it, you can do whatever you want, we’re losing money.”

“If people don’t want to vote me in next time, I don’t care,” Tasker said. “You can get mad and don’t talk to me and you can throw eggs at my house.”

Tasker later added, “we may be down, but we’re not out … maybe we can address it again down the road.”

Troast said the decision heavily weighed on her.

“When I ran for this office, I made a promise to myself and to the people of Pocomoke … that I would make sound, educated decisions, some that I might not like to make, but I had to make,” she said. “I’m looking at this as a business venture. I’ve been told that, if I make a decision to close this golf course that I’ll no longer be so and so’s friend. To me, that was a slap in the face and I have to say you weren’t my friend to start with.”

She said the decision was not just based on representing District 5, but the good of the entire city.

“We have pressing issues. We have water that part of our town cannot drink, that we’re working on to rectify,” she said. “We have streets that we can’t drive down without feeling like we’re on a roller coaster.

“We have inherited some problems that have been going on for too many years … and we’re committed into getting these things straightened out,” Troast added. “It breaks my heart to have to make the decision that I’m about to make. I hope that I don’t lose friendships over it, but if I do, so be it. I’m doing it because I think it’s the right decision. I’ve already lost enough sleep over it and I’m not going to lose any more.”

Several residents, during the meeting, spoke in favor of keeping the course open.

Jim Covington said the course was an amenity that had value far beyond the bottom line. He said community groups and high school athletics used the course to leverage money and create “aid … for many of our kids in the form of scholarships and other assistance.”

“If we close the golf course, is this a trend that we close everything in the town that doesn’t make a profit,” he said. “Cypress Park – does that produce a profit? The tennis courts – do we close them?”

He also mentioned city docks, nature trails and community gardens.

“Think about all those amenities … that place a value far beyond what they make,” he said.

Carol Stroh said an application to designate the course as a historic site was still in the works and near completion. She said placement on National Register of Historic Places could make the town eligible for grant money.

“We can save this … I still believe it,” she said. “This stuff will not happen quickly, because the research needed to be done.”

She said a team of researchers, led by UMES historian Eric Jodlbauer, was close to finishing the application.

“I believe that once the documents are delivered to us for all of you to see, for the entire community to see, that the golf course and the clubhouse will really come into what we know it is and what it can be,” she said. “I implore, please have vision.”

Will Stevenson went as far as offering to cover $25,000 in loses at the course, if the town followed his plan for revitalization.

When the City Council agreed to reevaluate the course after the first six months of fiscal 2018, he said, “there was nothing said about expecting that six months could turn consistent losses into a profit – it was expected to make progress.”

“We have made substantial progress,” he said. “In the last six months, the performance of the golf course improved 71 percent over the 2016-2017 fiscal year – that’s substantial improvement.”

He said income was 80 percent higher than budget and expenses were about 3 percent below budget.

“If we had another six months to work on, and if we could get the annual passes up to a level of 40 passes, we would have $20,000 more in income,” he said. “If you will agree to give us the extra six months to make as much improvements as I’ve suggested … I will personally guarantee you that I will cover the first $25,000 of loses in excess of what my proposal will result.

“I believe that the golf course and the community deserve the opportunity to finish the application for the historical designation and to see whether they can get grants, or not get grants,” he added. “If we fail to do any of these things successfully within the next six months, I’ll join the parade to tear the place down.”

Cowger, on Tuesday, said the course was closed immediately. Three full-time employee were notified and given compensation for back wages and unused vacation days, he said.

Exactly what will become of the course is still to be determined.

“There’s no decision being made for the future of it, they just had to decide … to stop those losses,” he said. “The $150,000 a year that golf course was losing had to stop.

“We need that $150,000 for equipment in public works, or street work, or revitalization – something other than just losing it in losses for the golf course,” he added. “It was a tough decision.”