Presidio County officials have approved a short-term plan to keep the Marfa Golf Course and nearby Vizcaino Park operational, after county commissioners voted to defund the county-owned facilities in August.
Commissioners on Wednesday approved a temporary deal for a group of locals organized under the banner of High Desert Golf to run the facilities for at least the next six months.
“It’s just a short-term management contract while the county figures out if and how we’d like to do a long-term lease,” Presidio County Attorney Blair Park said.
The local group is a new offshoot of an existing golf course boosters committee. Park said Wednesday the short-term contract is for now an agreement between the county and an LLC owned by one of the group’s members, Joey Benton. But the county plans to convey the contract to High Desert Golf once the group gets established as a non-profit entity, which could take a few weeks.
Under the plan, the golf boosters will use fees collected at the course to pay for operations and maintenance. Park said the county will continue to operate a water well at the park, but will not pay the golf group for any services.
“They will assess park fees and driving fees and green fees out there and be able to keep those monies to continue running it,” she said.
Park said the golf group will also have to pay for insurance coverage, utilities and maintenance.
County Commissioner Deirdre Hisler, whose district includes the park facilities, said the initial six-month period would allow High Desert Golf to “help the county understand what we need in a longer-term lease.”
“They have a wonderful business plan,” she said.
County officials voted to end decades of direct funding for the golf course and Vizcaino Park in August over the strong objections of Hisler and former commissioner David Beebe. County Judge Joe Portillo led the defunding effort, arguing the county could not continue pumping money into the facilities given its poor financial situation.
Since then, the county has settled on a plan to launch the process to find an outside entity to run the facilities long-term. (Presidio County still owns both the park and golf course.)
The six-month window gives officials time to prepare for that process. High Desert Golf could submit a proposal, but the proposal would be open to the public.
“Hopefully these folks here are in a good position and they’ll say whether or not they still want to do this,” Hisler said. “But this does not ensure that this entity will get the lease.”
Buddy Knight, who recently replaced commissioner David Beebe after Beebe launched a campaign for county judge, said he was “ecstatic” that the local golf group was stepping in to keep the course running.
“I’d hate to lose it, so I appreciate you guys,” he said.
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