Lessee given notice to vacate; arrangement made to staff events

City of Denison staff and members of the Boulders Conference Center Commission are working on the operation of the conference center going forward now that the lessee has been given a notice to vacate.

City Manager Jessica Garcia informed the city council on Tuesday that the city had given Chris Polley and his company, WCP LLC, a notice to vacate for non-payment of rent, and at the same time representatives from the Majestic Hills Golf Course Board had given Polley a notice to vacate the downstairs bar and grill for the same reason.

The notice was given last week Thursday.

At a Boulders Conference Center Commission meeting last week Thursday, Garcia said Polley is required to pay the monthly lease, which she added was six months outstanding.

Polley was allowed to take what property he owned off the property.

Commission member Kurt Miller called the meeting with Polley amicable.

Polley’s company had leased the conference center since October 1, 2022, and he had operated Bogey's Grille At Majestic Hills in the lower level of the conference center, under a lease agreement with the Majestic Hills Golf Course Board, since early 2022.

The rent Polley was to pay the city for leasing the conference center was $2,500 a month.

At the conference center commission meeting last week Thursday, Majestic Hills Golf Course had asked that their rent and utilities be forgiven for January and February and resume in March when business at the golf course picks up. The reason was that without the operation of the bar and grill, no income would be coming in.

The city council approved this forgiveness at its meeting on Tuesday night. To make it official, the lease agreement with the golf course will have to be amended.

The council also approved as part of its consent agenda on Tuesday the liquor license for Denison Country Club Inc., doing business as Majestic Hills Golf Course, to allow the country club to serve liquor going forward for the downstairs businesses, when that opens up again, and for any events at the conference center at which liquor service is requested.

In return, a golf course employee would staff the conference center events that have already been booked.

At its meeting last week Thursday, members of the boulders commission made a recommendation to the council to continue to explore options for the future operation of the conference center.

Some city council members in the past had expressed a desire to sell the conference center. Boulders commission members said they wanted to explore options short of this and did not want to rush to a decision. They also pointed out they needed to get past the next few months of bookings at the conference center first.

Councilman Dustin Logan asked if the city was continuing to take bookings for the conference center. Garcia responded that it has been.

The phone number and email address for the conference center have been rolled over to city hall.

Logan asked if this was a smart choice.

Councilman Corey Curnyn said May would be the biggest month for bookings, with graduation parties, and right now a lot of events aren’t booked for January through March.

“That's why we're willing to take on additional bookings because that's additional income for the city, and the golf course is gracious enough to take care of those events for us,” said Curnyn.

He added that the city has now gone through three options of operating the conference center.

The first was to manage the facility using a conference center manager employed by the city. That was the most costly for the city.

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The second version was to contract with a manager. That was with Laura Matthews with Stables at Copper Ridge, and that saved the city $35,000 to $40,000 in benefit payments to employees.

The most recent option was with Polley’s company. Curnyn said if the rent had been paid, the city would have been bringing in income.

Curnyn said the fourth option would be to sell the conference center.

“But the (Boulders) commission has not made a decision. They’re just wanting to get by, for sure, these next two months because there are events coming up, day by day,” he added.

Garcia said she has booked three new events on Tuesday, one in January, one in February and the third one in March. They are business meetings that take place during the day, which are easier to staff than other types of events.

Curnyn said he was in favor of forgiving the rent if the golf course staff takes care of the events, otherwise the city will have to pay someone staff the events.

The Boulders Commission is planning to have another meeting very soon and wants to come up with a recommendation on operating the conference center after January and February, Curnyn added.

Logan asked if the city is booking the conference center for events this summer.

Garcia said she was at Boulders Friday night showing the facility for someone who wants to do an event in November. They did not book but took information. She added that on Saturday she showed the conference center to two different people wanting to have a wedding. They did not sign a contract but took information.

She added that there are people inquiring about booking but she had not booked any events other than the business meetings she mentioned earlier.

Logan wanted to have a direction for the council if the conference center should be booking events months into the future. He said that last month the council gave a direction that it wanted to look at alternatives and said both can’t be done.

However, Curnyn said the city has the volunteers on the Boulders commission for a reason.

“It’s a very, very good board. They are not just taking this lightly. They want to exhaust every avenue before they make a recommendation,” he said.

He said another meeting of the Boulders commission needs to take place sooner than later.

Garcia said her information from the Boulders commission meeting last week Thursday was to look at putting out a type of request for proposals on management options.

“That’s where the commission would like to go first, rather than just jumping right away to selling it,” she said.

She added that the commission members said a lot of work and effort and local dollars went into building the facility.

“If you have ever tried to hold an event in this community, the options are very limited,” Garcia added.

Curnyn said even in the event that the city would sell the conference center, something should be put in the agreement that the upstairs has to remain a conference center and that the golf course lease needs to be protected.

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