Redmond city staff have recommended that a California-based company be hired to run the city’s financially troubled municipal Juniper Golf Course.

If the recommendation is approved by Redmond City Council during its Tuesday meeting, CourseCo, based in Petaluma, Calif., could take over Juniper’s operations by mid-January. CourseCo already runs 17 courses, of which 15 are public. Most of the company’s work is in Northern California, according to a city staff report. The 18-hole Juniper would be CourseCo’s first Oregon course.

The move is happening because the city has committed about $900,000 to the course over two years, to help it pay debt service.

The city wants the course to be self-sustaining — as originally planned — rather than a drain on Redmond’s general fund.

All of the recent moves follow recommendations made by a Florida-based consulting firm the city hired to review Juniper’s operations.

The proposed deal calls for Redmond to pay CourseCo $95,000 in the first year and annually increase the fee to $122,000 over five years.

That means CourseCo will not only have to overcome the course’s budget hole but raise revenues enough to cover the fee.

City Manager David Brandt said that turnaround will not happen immediately.

“I think we’re all optimistic that people are going to like this change and that within a few years (the course) will be able to drive up revenue to pay its debt service,” Brandt said.

The details of CourseCo’s turnaround plan are not finalized, according to Brandt, but several aspects of the deal inspire that optimism. CourseCo could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Brandt pointed to the company’s purchasing power as it buys supplies, not just for a single course but for more than a dozen. He also believes that the company will improve both the marketing of the course and its customer service, gradually drawing in more players.

The company has run courses for more than two decades, Brandt said.

“They’ve never, ever lost a contract,” Brandt said. “The reference checks were outstanding. I don’t think I’ve ever had such uniformly outstanding references like I got for them.”

More oversight

As part of the turnaround efforts, the city will also take tighter reins on the course. Currently, the city-owned Public Building Corp. runs the course through the Juniper Golf Club.

The council is also scheduled to decide on creating a golf commission to report directly to the city and oversee Juniper operations.

That shift could also take effect early in 2011, and the city will soon begin searching for anyone interested in serving on the volunteer commission.

“It’ll be a very involved commission,” Public Works Director Chris Doty said. “We’re hoping to see a lot of community interest.”

Draw more locals

City leaders have long expressed a desire to draw more locals to Juniper. Doty hopes that will be a result of these moves. The course is a good place to play, he said, but CourseCo could take Juniper’s operations to the “next step.”

“That’s what this operation is intended to do: change it from what was perhaps perceived to be a semi-private facility into a first-class community asset,” Doty said.

Regulars at the course will only notice gradual changes, according to Brandt. The timing of CourseCo’s proposed takeover is designed to give the company an opportunity to implement changes while course traffic is low in the winter.

One thing that will stay the same, Brandt said, is the quality of the course.

“There are not changes in maintenance and conditions of the course itself,” Brandt said.

“One of the things all the proposers noticed is that the course is exquisitely maintained.”