County Commissioners appointed members to the Board of Directors of the Fallon Golf Course at their last meeting, staggering terms and filling empty seats to prevent significant vacancies or recruitment delays during transition periods. Alan Kalt and Gary Fowkes will serve, with terms expiring on December 31, 2023, and Chris Spross will serve with a term expiring on December 31, 2024. Sean Richardson was appointed to the term ending January 18, 2024.
“It is an important segment of the community that we have a lot of support for,” said Jim Barbee, County Manager, about the golf course. “There are lots of folks who have been at the table who are diligently working to benefit the golf course.”
Fallon Golf Course, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that leases and operates the Fallon Golf Course. This organization has its Board of Directors appointed by the commissioners to ensure strong ties with its mission of providing a high-quality course to the citizens of Churchill County.
The corporation was initially formed in 2017, by the county to take over management operations of the golf course after the departure of the previous management company. The course had an initial set of directors with ties to the golf course and significant experience with golf operations with Marty Davis selected as the superintendent of the course which has operated in the black for several years.
The bylaws of the corporation call for director appointments to be made by the county commissioners for two-year terms, with a potential extension of two years by vote of the other directors.
Although the normal process to make appointments to county boards, such as the Board of Wildlife, are normally advertised in a public process and applications are accepted by members of the public, the appointments to the golf course board were made in-house.
“General Applications were not solicited in this case as serving members were being re-appointed or county representatives were being added to the board,” said Commissioner Myles Getto in answer to an email request by The Post.
Current in-house appointments include Tomas Kutansky, who was appointed on January 6, 2020, and Brian Byrd as the city representative on January 19, 2022. However, the formal reappointment of directors that served on the board initially was never completed.
In addition, the county’s representation on the board has diminished due to the retirement of Alan Kalt from the county comptroller position, and the city designated Sean Richardson to complete the term Brian Byrd is serving.
Barbee said the golf course is focusing on construction and capital improvements. “I thought it makes sense to recommend Chris Spross who is our Public Works director, and Gary Fowkes at the road department who both have over twenty years in construction, and both utilize the golf course and are actively engaged in the golf course,” he said.
Barbee addressed confusion surrounding the operation of the golf course that he became aware of by email. There has been some interest by the golf course board to access the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act grant funding that the county is eligible for under the Fallon Range Training Complex mitigation with the Navy. That grant funding is managed by the Bureau of Land Management national office, not Churchill County. After some discussion, it has been determined at the national level, that the golf course would not be eligible for SNPLMA funds, even though the golf course was on the county’s priority list for projects under that funding.
The golf course, under the new leadership, will continue working to revise the bylaws and develop the capital improvement plan. The commissioners will approve their recommended changes as they are presented.
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