Humboldt City Council is prepared to loan the Humboldt Golf Course $150,000 to expand its event facilities. The project is expected to cost $513,000 to reach completion, and the Golf Course will be seeking funding from other avenues to carry the cost. 

Council reviewed the proposal from the Golf Course at the previous regular meeting in March. The City is required to pass a bylaw in order to loan money to any non-profit agency. At a special meeting of Council on Monday, April 11, the bylaw received three readings and passed, allowing the loan to proceed. 

Councillor Rob Muench raised questions about the debt carried by the Golf Course given that it has a mortgage through a private lender of around $300,000. Given the understanding that the Golf Club was also seeking funding from private lenders, he raised the question about security on the City backed loan. 

“I do have a bit of concern with that,” Muench said. “I know they’ve been doing very well with membership and with the simulators they’ve put in. I wanted to get a bit more information and share a bit of my concern with them going into further debt.”
Since the Golf Course is situated on City owned land, there is a level of security, concluded City Manager Joe Day. Day noted that the loan ask is not to support the general day-to-day operations of the club, but it is specifically targeted to a project that has potential to boost revenue for the Golf Club. 

“This is for a project that’s meant to expand and diversify their operations and fulfill a need in the community for a larger event space.”

Day conceded that in the event of a loan or mortgage default to a lender, the City, as property owner, would inherently be involved.

At the end of discussion, Council concluded that the proposal was a worthwhile venture and passed the bylaw allowing the loan to proceed.

At the same meeting, Council agreed to a series of street restrictions this summer affecting 6th Avenue from Main Street to the alley or to 7th Street. The request for closures on June 8, July 14, August 18, and September 15, 2022 was made by the Humboldt and District Downtown BID to accommodate a variety of summer events.