payment based on the revenues. president buell: thank you. commissioner lee. commissioner lee: thank you, tom, for that presentation you did last week. i thought it was very well done. a couple questions came up during that meeting and i think you handled the question well. one was on the repayment of the open space fund. i think you had -- if you can recount quickly for the commission what your answer is, i thought it was -- >> i think a lot of people might be looking at the -- this management agreement as being the panacea of the golf fund and don't think that's realistic. i think the most that we can really work for and strive for is get management agreement that will generate the most revenue for the golf fund. because it's the money that we need, it's the money -- harding is supposed to be the engine that drives the golf fund which will help us own up to our responsibilities financially

for the golf fund and also help for the other golf courses. what we try to do here is provide a management agreement that this entity will be able to run this as a business and derive the income that we need for the golf fund. commissioner lee: in one clause on -- here it is. here. it's on item six -g, the management plan, -- 6-g, the management plan, so we have the annual budget process coming to the commission in draft form and then going back, staff having it for another i guess 180 days and then it comes back to us as part of an overall budget. but it doesn't say for a final approval and i was wondering if

we could add language in that claar fice that the -- clarifies that the final management plan will come back to the commission for final approval. >> we can certainly nest that in. i mean, just that simple line. commissioner lee: the final management plan comes back to the commission for final approval. >> i'm sure katie has mentioned this before on the whole process but we start, that's why i started the request for their initial budget to us so early in the fiscal year, of the previous fiscal year. because we have to decide what that budget's going to be. that's the first component. that will be the biggest component on looking at the golf fund bang -- budget which is nevted into our department budget. that's the first step we have to come to. the other agreement was probably not drafted in such a way that the three components of the marketing plan and the

management plan and the budget were all together. they're interdependent. they're extremely important so we all have to have all three before we can decide whether it's the -- build the -- whether the budget's realistic. there are some choices that we make between the draft budget and the final budget from them. you know, it takes money to make money. so we have to waive the two to see that we are spending the money the best -- the most prudently as we can in order to achieve our goal. but we will definitely -- the final management plan will be part of the budget that comes to you and we can send that to you. commissioner lee: it's not clear on the language that we get to vote on the final, final budget plan. i'd like that put in to the clause g. >> absolutely. we will do that. >> i have a question for you. perhaps a free-standing restaurant could be part of the operation out there as opposed to just the food service that p.g.a. would be obligated to

provide under this. is there anything in this agreement that precludes us at a future date from negotiating with them if we thought it was a viable entity to put a separate operate noort restaurant? >> there's nothing that would prevent us from requesting that. there's subcontractor language in here. >> i understand they wouldn't be obligated to do it but there's nothing that would preclude us from pursuing it? >> no. there's subcontracting language in here for a number of reasons . what you just mentioned is the possibility and i also put it in here in case they want to bring in a full fledge program. president buell: let's open it up to public comment. >> we do have public comment. sandy, bo and richard. if you could come forward, please.

>> former president of the united states golf association. i've been playing golf for 85 years. i am acutely conscious of what golf can do for people who get involved in it. acutely conscious of what harding can do for this city. i'm acutely conscious of what the pga tour's involvement now has done for sure, but now will do in commission with taking on the management responsibilities for operations and indeed for marketing. and i want to say that i think it's the best of all possible worlds. and i can't imagine that there could possibly be any organization that could take on the problems and there are very serious problems with the management of this golf course, to take on the problems that

this golf course poses and solve them in a way that would maximize the asset values that are there. it's worth some emphasis very briefly that the asset values are two-fold. one that is a priceless recreational resource. 85 years of exposure of playing the game, i happen to know how much it matters to have a recreational resource where you can play golf and you can play golf virtually all your life. it's a life extender and a life enhancer. the other facet involved is that there is a huge, almost priceless, i think it's priceless, as et value involved in this golf course in terms of its economic potential. and that potential has two basic elements. one is that the tour that's put

on there is televised. the president's cup, for example, was televised in 231 countries for 28 hours with a viewing audience of 500 billion, with a democrat frave 500 million that with a demographic that this city couldn't buy at any price. so those values are very, very, very real and it's very comforting for me to be able to anticipate that the asset of those values are going to realize their final potential because they haven't come anywhere near realizing that potential as it now stands. but they will. with the tour properties people taking over effectively the management of this golf course. i also want to emphasize that the fact that we now have the right to withdraw is i think a crucial right because i think it puts the tour in the

position to make sure that the obligations that are being imposed on it it can perform and most especially the obligations involved in the maintenance of the golf course. everything, everything depends upon that golf course being maintained at a level that will attract the kind of play that is kneel -- that it needs. particularly attract the kind of play that the nonresident rates are going to be charged. my judgment for whatever it's worth is that the tour should be given absolute unfettered right to set the rates for the nonresident play because it knows that it has to raise every dime it can possibly raise and that's where the money's going to come from and it knows what the market is and it's the basic fundamental resource for making this whole operation work.

and i just couldn't be more grateful for the fact that i can see it happening. president buell: thank you very much. >> bo. and then richard. >> if i was really smart, what i would say following somebody like sandy is, i second that. and i do second that. i have been a san francisco golfer for almost 50 years. i've been a card-carrying public golfer ever since i was 13 years old. and i serve now as a volunteer historian for the city, trying to make sure that we capture the essence of these properties and record it so that people in the future know what these things are and what took place there and harding park is not just probably the greatest course here in the city, it's probably one of the top two or three public golf courses in america and one of the top 10 in the world. it's an unbelievable property,

not only has it been home to some great golfer events and great civic events here, not only is it a great vehicle for advertising the city, but what we've seen in the last five or six years with the creation of the first tee program is this now is a public facility that is proving what awful us golfers know and that's that golf changes life for the better -- all of us golfers know and that's that golf changes life for the better and it helps our young people learn how to live productive, lasting and meaningful lives and not only is this taking place at harding park but because of what's been done there we now have a first tee facility at visitation valley middle school, the first one of those in the country. i think the name of the game in terms of maximizing the full potential of this asset, part of it comes with maintenance which is going to be the city's responsibility. the other is with marketing and what i want to make sure

everybody knows is, your staff has located and brought into the krall the greatest marketer in the world, the t.p.c. and the pga tour golf course properties' entities have the finest network of public golf courses in the world that are available to people. they know how to run them, they know how to market them. i think we're going to be very, very well served by this contract. i have one request at the risk of maybe disagreeing with some people on something that's in there. i don't think we should change the name of harding park. i don't think it should be it the t.p.c. at san francisco or the t.p.c. at san francisco at harding park. it should be hard park. if they want to say harding park, part of the t.p.c. network of great golf coursers, fantastic, but it should be harding park, that's what it was, that's what it is, it's not pebble beach, the dell

month -- it's pebble beach, it's betting page, it's tory page. i think it's a wonderful day for the city and a great day for golf in san francisco. thank you. president buell: thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i'm richard harris. i'm a co-founder with olex who just spoke to you and we've been involved in public golf issues for the last couple of years. i have a couple of -- the public golf alliance supports this contract. we have a couple of small points, one of which bo raised, is the name. we like the name harding park. it's an 85-plus-year-old

franchise. we'd prefer that name. a second point bo touched on, we spoke about marketing. marketing is something that you have had two studies on from the national golf foundation and from younger end pros who gave you studies in 2007, 2008. a big item in both of those studies was that harding has not been adequately marketed and they went into great detail, particularly the national golf foundation study. this contract and with the t.p.c. you have an entity that has a worldwide name of the they surely have ability to market -- name. they surely have ability to

market things. this market says, -- does not make specific that marketing is a duty of the manager. it's ambiguous. and it is am big -- ambiguous, marketing is mentioned two or three praises in this contract, each time it is ambiguous. i spoke to tom hart about this and i believe it's tom's intent, based on that conversation, that marketing be the obligation, the duty, of the management of t.p.c. that should just be made explicit so there's no question about it. and it can be made explicit by adding a new letter, subparagraph to section six of the contract at approximately page 15 and it would be my recommendation that you spell that out so there's no question about it. i will show you, if you wish,

if you -- to see where i believe the contract as written is ambiguous on that point. president buell: i think we'll wait and hear the testimony. it seems to me that the one entity that's incentivized to market is the pga. s lime coking -- it's like combing your hair for your date. if you want the next date your hair better look good. we beg to differ on that point. >> i agree with you. the issue is with contracts. there are a lot of lawyers in this room and i'm one of them. president buell: i knew it. >> when you have something that's ambiguous in an agreement it's better to get it specific. president buell: thank you. >> is there any other public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. president buell: commissioner

harrison. vice president harrison: i have three things. i too am concerned about the naming. so if something can be worked out with that, so that the harding park name can remain. >> that's never been divulged. and this agreement doesn't give it away either. we say and hear that we will work with them to develop any possible naming logo, branding like that. so we won't allow that to happen without input. president buell: we might not either. we might suggest that it comes back to the commission before it changes. >> right. we would normally do that anyway. the city reserves the right for that. i have my personal preferences of this which i won't give now, because that's not the position i'm in right now. but i can certainly under bo's sentiment. and i think we all can and i think it's very important to consider. we're going to balance this i don't think that calling it harding park is necessarily going to diminish its market

ability. so i think there's ways that we can approach this by developing a logo or anything that we need and you will also know about this and get approval. vice president harrison: i go back to this issue that we all win when it gets maximum use and if the pga's have the mind that certain audiences need to know it's a t.p.c. course, there's way to do that without diminishing harding park as the name of the course. >> that's said so much more eloquently than i would try to do. we believe that. vice president harrison: i have two more things to say. one, i want to co+ vice president harrison: i have two more things to say. one, i want to comment on the praise being hoisted onto harding park. that's the right work. placed on harding park. because i worked out there during -- for years and years and i was personally hurt by the terrible report, terrible comments and things that were said about harding over the years and to hear the praise being put upon it now is just

really great. it does my heart great to hear that kind of talk. my last thing is that i want to personally commend tom hart, his staff, and tom hart for the work that he did on this meeting that we had out there. i was there and commissioner lee were there. and the professionalism, the thoroughness and dealing with the public, astounding. i really want to commend you for that work. you did an outstanding job. commissioner sullivan: while we're commending. i want to also commend you for taking our suggestion which i think actually came from bo, in a prior meeting, to go out and talk to the golf community and our experts out there which you did with john. >> right. he was very, very helpful. john attended the public meeting as well. john's an avid san francisco golfer and he really cares about golf. i would like to -- since you brought up the maintenance issue, that's been brought up a

couple times, because they've been sitting here so diligently and patiently through this entire thing. as you know, on -- ana alvarez is in charge of the overall supervision and maintenance crew of the golf course. but steve castille is the superintendent of the golf course and kevin is the superintendent at the course and the real wonderful thing that we have now, it's starting in january, as you all know, the pga tour situated one of their employees to give us advice and assistance out there. and jim who is right here and commissioner harrison and commissioner lee will attest to, one of the gardeners was in attendance there and stood up in singing jim's praises and the feeling that has been brought onto the course of really caring about the course. if the course is not maintained

properly all of our revenue dreams will never be realized. that's extremely important. really appreciate it. commissioner sullivan: one more question for tom which is also on the naming. and this was in the examiner yesterday and i forgot about it until it came up in public comment today. can you really assure us that -- i just spent five minutes hunting through the lease. i didn't see naming rights in there. can you assure us there isn't anything in the lease that would allow the pga to rename harding without our consent? president buell: we can put it in the amendments. i'm satisfied that we can protect that. >> i believe the park code gives the commission soul authority. commissioner sullivan: it says in section 6.10, cities shall work with manager in establishing a brand to be marketed as t.p.c. san francisco at harding park or another name as determined by manager and approved by city.

>> approved by city. president buell: we'll consider that the commission. the city attorney. >> actually, nick and i were making notes and that was going to be my recommendation. i would clarify that to make sure it comes back to the commission. pule buhl thank you -- president buell: thank you. commissioner martin. commissioner martin: i'm just sitting here listening to all this and the young man that got up and talked. the youngest one on the end, he don't remember me, but many years ago i used to be out there with him when he was doing stuff, i had hair at that time. it's been a lot of years but i remember everything out there. i'm still near to the park and love it myself. i used to play. but now i had my grandson out there playing and all that kind of stuff. a lot of history. a lot of history. president buell: i have one question, tom, and it's my understanding that at least initially the pga is going to keep the staff that is at the

facility now? >> absolutely. may i introduce jodie brothers? president buell: please do. i was going to. please. >> jodie can speak to vast points. >> thank you, commissioners. we absolutely have met with the staff a couple of times now and interviewed all of them and we've extended an offer for them to retain their employment at the club for us. president buell: great. thank you very much. and thank you for all the work you've put into this. thanks, tom. commissioner lee. commissioner lee: on 6.5, by signage, are you talking about -- you're not talking about advertising or -- >> no, we're talking about core signage. it would be on the course or in the clubhouse. president buell: seeing no other comments by commissioners, tom, the amendments that we're

providing, one, the chair is deeming to be ministerial and to clarify the terms of the contract rather than to change the contract and -- >> we need to vote on -- president buell: we need to vote on those amendments before we vote on the agreement and i'm going to ask margaret. >> we also -- can we also add to those amendments that the name change needs to come back to the commission? and commissioner lee's request for final approval in six days. president buell: of the management -- >> yes. plan. president buell: if you could add those, too, and the amendments that tom mentioned at the beginning of his presentation, we can entertain a motion or we can restate them if you'd like. city attorney. >> i just ask that you'll also grant permission for us to -- for the attorneys to work on the final language of this. i'm looking at their notes now. it looks good but i'd like to have a few minutes -- president buell: that would be the dotting of the i's and the crosses of the t's.

>> and to make sure it's clear. it's clarifying a remedy that they have. to make sure that this actually says what everybody wants. president buell: if and if there's any changes it would have to come back to this commission. >> of course. president buell: can i entertain a motion on those amendments? it's been moved and seconded. all in favor. opposed. hearing none, the amendments are adopted and now to the contract itself or the agreement as amended. is there a motion to approve? it's been moved, seconded. all those in favor. aye. opposed. hearing none, it's unanimous. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> we are now on item 14 which is general public comment continued. at this time members of the public may address the commission on items that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the recreation and park commission and that do not appear on the agenda. this is continued from item number four. is there anyone who would like to make general public comment?

seeing none, general public comment is closed. we are on item 15 which is public comments on all matters pertaining to closed session. is there anyone who would like to make public comment in regard to closed session? seeing none, public comment is closed. on item 15, you now need to make a motion and vote on whether to go into closed session. >> move to go into closed session. president buell: it's been moved and seconded. all those in favor aye. aye. opposed. it's unanimous.

>> i had a call at 2:00 in the morning where one of my department heads was removed by the commission and no one gave me heads up and i was a little concerned about that. that was fixed appropriately. but those are the kind of things. otherwise exercise your independence, exercise your insight. that's why you're here. i don't want you here just to do what i say. you should do quite the contrary. but again i just want the opportunity to have a chance to dialogue if we're on different sides. then you use your judgment and conclude as best you could.