A few weeks back a letter from a Cranford resident appeared in the Sunday Star Ledger critical of the Union County Freeholders and what was than still a proposal to close the county owned Oak Ridge Golf Course in Clark. Since than the course has been "officially" closed, "officially" renamed and is now being "officially" torn up to render it impossible to ever "officially" reclaim for golf. It appears that it is being readied to meet my prediction from a couple of months ago that George Devanney's Music Fest will find a new home at what is now called Oak Ridge Park, situated smack in the middle of an otherwise quiet neighborhood. Columnist Paul Mulshine has chimed in questioning the speed and the wisdom of the course's closing or was that the wisdom of the freeholders in general?
The freeholder's, main man George Devanney, claims that the course's closing will save money as well as generate more money because they are investing a pile of the green stuff at the county's other two courses by improving amenities at Galloping Hill in Kenilworth and moving employees to Ash Brook. Reports published in the newspapers and coming out of the county's Public Information Office state that these maneuvers will actually decrease the number of playable holes on the county courses, a condition that is already being bemoaned by those who hit the links on a regular basis and in the past complained about the shortage of available tee times.
Lauren Millard, Cranford, made some good points in her letter to the Ledger and got me to thinking that maybe there were some things to explore further regarding the changes that have taken place. A review of the paid bill list for the Union County Improvement Authority revealed that some interesting checks had been written by the authority and not directly from the freeholders or out of the Open Space Trust Fund for county golf projects. I must add that this was not a place I was intent on exploring for info on the golf courses but a source that entered my life as if by divine providence.
It does look as though the Freeholders were discussing the negotiations between the UCIA and the NJPGA in Executive Session as far back as July 2006. Resolutions from sessions of the Improvement Authority reveal that they have been tinkering with golf course plans for a number of years both with and without the Professional Golf Association to include discussions and preliminary activity regarding a new club house, practice green and heated driving range at Galloping Hill. Executive session minutes for the Freeholder Board and the Authorities are so hard to come by and so heavily redacted that it is extremely difficult to ascertain just who is discussing what when. But concerned residents should know that it is clear that the firm of DeCotis Fitzpatrick was paid over $60,000 for legal services connected with the Union County Golf Course Project during 2008 though there was not any mention of the project in any of the minutes during that time, but actually taking place prior in 2007 without the benefit of the light of day. There was also another $7,659 to the same law firm for the Shackamaxon Golf Project. (Wait a minute what it that all about? Possibly something worthy of investigation, but for another day). And another $56,840 to Harbor Consultants for Engineering Services for the UC Golf Project in August of 2008.
Ms. Millard questions how the freeholders could bestow a 6% – $7,000 raise on Al Faella the Director of Parks and Community Renewal since the course suffered an operating loss of $410,000 right under his nose. And what of the $5 to 7 million Devanney said it would cost to rebuild the clubhouse and repair structural flooding on the golf course did the
Closing Oak Ridge and the privation of the clubhouse operations was revealed when Devanney unveiled his proposed budget for this year. The budget has yet to be approved so who expected him to move forward this quickly and tear up the greens; certainly not the golfers who journeyed to Elizabeth when they initially heard the news of the proposed closing and mistakenly thought that there was a chance that they could save Oak Ridge. It certainly appears that they had been playing at Oak Ridge on borrowed time already when Devanney announced his budget fixes.
Presently the course is being prepared to be the home to some hiking/biking trails and an archery facility as for some reason the County Manager seems to believe that there are more archers than golfers in the county who will be readily financially supporting such a facility. Truth be told I don't know a single one personally and was thinking that perhaps we will now have to add yet another person to the county payroll who specializes in archery; perhaps we will get lucky and be able to recruit Robin Hood.
