Sullard critiqued by old council

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, June 10, 2003 | 9:19 a.m.

Boulder City Manager John Sullard will meet with a new City Council for a goal-setting session in three months, and then again three months after that for a formal job review, the council unanimously decided Monday.

During the time leading up to the goal-setting meeting Sullard is to work on ironing out the situation at the new city-owned Boulder Creek Golf Club, which in a way prompted Monday's 75-minute closed-door meeting between Sullard and the council.

Council members and Sullard refused to say what else was discussed during the meeting, acting on the advice of City Attorney Dave Olsen, who told the council not to discuss publicly what transpired during the closed meeting.

The meeting was prompted by Mayor Bob Ferraro's call for Sullard's resignation during a council meeting a week before the June 3 general election.

During that May 27 meeting, the council was presented with financial information on the golf course showing the course ran an operating shortfall of about $480,000 during the four months between opening day on Jan. 4 and the end of April.

The information contradicted pre-construction projections that showed the $22 million course would make about $60,000 after its first six months open, which city officials consider all but impossible at this point.

After the Monday meeting, Councilman Bryan Nix said Sullard should "get a handle on what's going on at the golf course and turn it around."

Nix, a strong supporter of the golf course, said there weren't any specific financial targets for Sullard to meet. Nix lost his bid for a third council term in the June 3 election.

The early golf course financial projections were included in a city newsletter sent to all residents in early May, which Ferraro said left him and others with the impression that the course was still on pace to meet projections.

Ferraro, who still supports the golf course, used the rosier projections in his re-election campaign against Bill Smith, a former councilman and critic of the golf course. Ferraro beat Smith by 18 votes in the election.

But during the last council meeting before the election, Ferraro said he blamed Sullard for allowing the misleading information on the financial health of the golf course to go to the public. Ferraro then called for Sullard's resignation.

Ferraro said he didn't think there was enough time before the election to fire Sullard, whose contract prohibits the council from firing him until six months after an election. The contract also states that firing Sullard would require at least four council members' votes. The mayor is a voting member of the five-member council.

Sullard, city manager since July 1997, said he has no plans to resign. He is paid $123,110 a year.

When Sullard meets with the council in three months to discuss his goals, he'll be meeting with a new board.

Nix, who wasn't re-elected, and Doug Scheppmann, who was appointed to fill a council vacancy and did not run for election, will be gone, and newly elected council members Karla Burton and Roger Tobler will be in office.

Burton, Tobler and Ferraro will be sworn in for four-year terms on June 24.

Ferraro said holding the closed-door session with Sullard before the new council members take office was a good idea because it gave the outgoing members a chance to give Sullard a job review.

Sullard said job reviews are good whenever they are done. He said he planned to work on "basic things ... that are general in nature," during the next three months. He refused to be more specific.