At Thursday’s Economic and Community Development committee meeting, the mayor detailed the progress being made at Chippanee Country Club now that the city is going forward with its purchase.

“I just came from a special board finance meeting upstairs where we got permission to do a bid waiver to hire a transitional consultant that will guide us through the short term as well as planning for the long term,” said Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu. “We decided to go with National Golf Foundation, which is a well-respected golf organization across the country, and they do not manage, build, or operate any of the golf courses. They’re really there in an advisory capacity.”

With the transitional consultant hired, Zoppo-Sassu said, “We have some tasks ahead of us. We have put together a task force of residents; some of whom are members of Chippanee, some of whom are avid golfers, some of whom are neighbors, businesspeople, just people interested in being involved in what this could possibly be. Following the closing (on the Marsh Road property), which is scheduled for early November, we’re going to be working on a management plan for the long term for when the golf course opens on April 1. We’re also going to be looking at a short-term plan for what happens from Nov. 3 to March 30. Our goal is to continue to operate and work with the vendors that are already there, the pro shop, the restaurateur, and then have access and amenities for members of the public so that they can get climatized to what this is going to be in terms of a city asset.”

The mayor added, “I think we’ll be asking the Board of Finance for a temporary budget to get us through to March 30 at the October Board of Finance meeting.”

ECDC vice chair Howard Schmelder asked, “Are there any weddings or events that are planned that we as a city have to kind of oversee or take over?”

Zoppo-Sassu said, “We are going to enter into a short-term contract with the existing vendor who is running the restaurant and the banquet facility and he does have a lot of events booked so we’re going to continue to do that as well as build out a marketing plan in order to attract additional revenue during that time period. Then we are also working with him to probably rebrand a little bit. He’s also not sure that he wants to keep it what it’s currently named (Joseph’s Steakhouse) and what the menu is. So, we’re going to work with him in order to create a new approach to what that restaurant could be.”

ECD executive director Justin Malley added, “The mayor and I have talked, I think that marketing is a big piece of this (transaction) that maybe we haven’t, or at least I haven’t thought about too much until recently; but listen, the purpose of this purchase, we want to keep all of the existing members, right? We want them to feel comfortable going back up there and continuing to utilize Chippanee; but we want to invite a lot of different types of folks up there, folks who have been intimidated by golf, the culture of a country club and that sort of thing. So, I think it’s really important that we create… a really welcoming environment where people feel not intimidated, prices are reasonable, even the food options are appropriate. I think that’s where this board can get involved is unique, different ways of marketing.”

ECDC member Mickey Goldwasser added, “(Chippanee is) more than a golf course. We had a beautiful wedding there. It was just gorgeous. So, we have a lot of folks that aren’t golfers; but they can take advantage of that new asset to the city as well.”

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