Golf Equipment Rental 'Will Be A Revenue Generator'

After a less than contentious public hearing that included no public comments, members of the Berlin Town Council voted to approve a motion allowing for a five-year, $112,000 lease for brand new golf equipment at the town-owned Timberlin Golf Course.

The agreement is designed to help provide new, more efficient equipment that will ultimately reduce costs and enhance potential to generate revenue at the course, Timberlin Superintendent Jonathan Zuk told the council Tuesday.


"We are saving labor, we are saving time that will allow for more golfers to get out on the course and more work done within the Pro Shop and ultimately, that translates into savings and more opportunity for revenue for the town," said Deputy Mayor Rachel Rochette.

The package, according to details provided by the council and available on the town's website, includes use of a Toro Groundsmaster 4500-D, Toro ProCore 648 and a Toro Workman HDX at the Timberlin Golf Course. The equipment would be provided by Turf Products Corporation of Enfield.

In exchange, the town would be agreeing to a five-year contract at $22,440.39 per year. The contract includes a potential buyout for $1 if the town decided to end the lease early, Zuk said.

The agreement comes within the budget approved for the 2013-14 fiscal year, which allotted $23,600 for equipment rentals, Berlin Town Manager Denise McNair said.

Zuk said the Toro ProCore in particular would prove beneficial, replacing two 25-year-old machines that currently take an hour to address needs on course greens. The two machines, which cost $3,500 to maintain with no guarantee they would work all season without repair costs and other needs, take an hour to complete one green.

In the same time, the one machine will be able to complete the same work as two in half the time, he said.

"When you look at the time saved, that is the revenue generator for the community," Zuk said.

Evans, however, felt there was less benefit to leasing all three and instead pushed for the purchase of just the Toro ProCore, hoping the other equipment - grounds equipment which is just eight years old - would suffice.

Evans was outvoted 3-1. Mayor Adam Salina, Margaret Morelli and Eric Buhrendorf were absent from Tuesday's council meeting.

"If we were to buy the ProCore this year and make decisions on the other equipment later, it would save about $9,000," Evans said.

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