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COVID-19 Golf Course Concerns from Greg Romney2From:Greg Romney To:Hillary Hanson; Hillary.Hanson Cc:Aimee Brunckhorst Subject:[EXTERNAL] RE: Buffalo Hills - Kalispell City Golf Course - no social distancing - why is golf course open again? Date:Friday, April 10, 2020 8:36:31 AM Hillary, Thanks for replying and for following up with Buffalo Hills, and for everything you and your staff are doing. Our concern is for keeping everyone in the Flathead safe and for minimizing the risks to our front line healthcare workers. All the best, Greg Sent from Mail for Windows 10 From: Hillary Hanson Sent: Thursday, April 9, 2020 4:41 PM To: Greg Romney; Hillary.Hanson Cc: Aimee Brunckhorst Subject: RE: Buffalo Hills - Kalispell City Golf Course - no social distancing - why is golf course open again? Greg, We will contact Buffalo Hill to ensure they are following the Governor’s Directive. Per the Directive we have been provided the following guidance from the Governor’s Office: The Governor's Directive allows for the maintenance activities on golf courses in Montana. As far as the use of the facilities, General Managers (of golf courses) should adhere to the intent of the Directive and eliminate all personal interaction between the golfing public and course employees. For example, if a General Manager can overcome the direct personal interaction of the pro shop engagements of scheduling tee times and fee exchanges through online or phone transaction then it may be possible to keep the course open. Golf cart rental, locker rooms, restaurant service, and pro shop merchandise sales should be suspended. Additionally, golfers and course employees should always follow the social distancing guidelines highlighted in the Directive. Thanks, Hillary From: Greg Romney <greg.romney@live.com> Sent: Thursday, April 9, 2020 8:57 AM To: Hillary.Hanson <Hillary.Hanson@flathead.mt.gov> Cc: Aimee Brunckhorst <abrunckhorst@kalispell.com> Subject: Buffalo Hills - Kalispell City Golf Course - no social distancing - why is golf course open again? Hi Hillary, First let me say thanks for the great job and efforts you folks are putting in to keep the Flathead safe. I live on N Main St in Kalispell (right across from Buffalo Hills Golf Course) and we’re self isolating per all the state and local directives. My wife is extremely high risk and we have front line heathcare workers in the family, so, we take this seriously as everyone should. We applaud your decisions to shut restaurants, bars, playgrounds, etc and realize the toll this takes on owners as well as all of us. On March 30th, just before the golf course was closed, it was frustrating to look out our front window and see threesomes or more of golfers using 2 person golf carts and more or less huddling in small groups as if life was as usual. I didn’t see much sign of social distancing that weekend when I went up to the main parking lot and saw packs of golfers teeing off. I contacted the city on March 30th as you can see from the attached email – and was very pleased to learn the next day that the golf course was closing. Coincidentally, this was the same day that the hospital started asking the local sewing community to make masks for them. So it was a shock yesterday to see a very busy golf course yesterday afternoon – same day that the morning news was reporting on confirmed community spread in the flathead. There were clearly people in golf carts (two people) who I would bet don’t live in the same household (didn’t see one male/female couple in a golf cart). Some golfers were clearly staying 6 feet apart and walking rather than using carts, some playing alone. But, my opinion is half were playing just like usual and 30% hopping back into carts together. Golfers mostly were pulling the flags out of the holes like usual, not leaving them untouched per the Buffalo Hills website guideline. I understand the patio tables are open for use – are these being constantly sanitized? I doubt it. If we can tell lower wage hourly workers to go home from their hospitality jobs, tell children the playgrounds are closed (right decision) – then we should be telling golfers they have to do their part and forgo their game to stop the spread of coronavirus and keep our healthcare workers as safe as possible. Clearly, should you decide to keep the golf course open, the only responsible way is to ban the use of golf carts completely, since they facilitate breaking social distancing and have surfaces that cannot be reasonably sanitized after every use. And, maintaining and cleaning golf carts is an unnecessary risk for workers. Greg Romney Sent from Mail for Windows 10 From: Aimee Brunckhorst Sent: Monday, March 30, 2020 9:06 AM Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] City Golf Course - no social distancing - why is golf course open? Good morning Greg, Thank you for your concern. The Flathead City-County Health Department actually has jurisdiction during this pandemic. You can send an email to Health Officer Hillary Hanson at Hillary.hanson@flathead.mt.gov. Take Care - Aimee Brunckhorst City Clerk & Communications Manager City of Kalispell, Montana Office: (406) 758-7756 Cell: (406) 223-1187 From: Greg Romney <greg.romney@live.com> Sent: Friday, March 27, 2020 3:27 PM To: Kalispell City Council <citycouncil@kalispell.com> Subject: [EXTERNAL] City Golf Course - no social distancing - why is golf course open? I live on N Main and we’re self isolating per all the state and local directives. My wife is extremely high risk and we have front line heathcare workers in the family, so, we take this seriously as everyone should. We applaud your decisions to shut restaurants, bars etc and realize the toll this takes on owners as well as all of us. So its been frustrating today to look out our front window and see threesomes or more of golfers using 2 person golf carts and more or less huddling in small groups as if life was as usual. I didn’t see much sign of social distancing on the weekend when I went up to the main parking lot and saw packs of golfers teeing off. If we can tell lower wage hourly workers to go home from their hospitality jobs, tell children the playgrounds are closed (right decision) – then we should be telling golfers they have to do their part and forgo their ‘game’ to stop the spread of coronavirus. Clearly, should you decide to keep the golf course open, the only responsible way is to ban the use of golf carts since the are enclosed this time of year, and, have surfaces that cannot be reasonably sanitized after every use. Perhaps opening the golf course to walkers might be a nicer idea, since its easier to stay separated in open fields than on pathways. Greg Romney Sent from Mail for Windows 10 Messages and attachments sent to or from this e-mail account pertaining to City of Kalispell business may be considered public or private records depending on the message content. The City is required by law to protect private, confidential information. Emails that contain confidential information such as information related to individual privacy may therefore be protected from disclosure under law. However, these communications are also subject to the Right to Know provisions of Montana’s Constitution (Art. II, Sect. 9) and may be considered a “public record” pursuant to Title 2, Chpt. 6, Montana Code Annotated. As such, this email, its sender and receiver, and the contents may be available for public disclosure and will be retained pursuant to the City’s record retention policies. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution of this e-mail or its attachment(s) is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, immediately contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.