BROOKINGS — The Brookings City Council formally put the kibosh on all bids for the Edgebrook Golf Course water-sourcing project at its Dec. 16 meeting, with all seven councilors voting to reject the five bids received for the work.
While the development isn’t good news for folks looking to improve the water supply at the golf course, it doesn’t mean the project won’t happen.
“I just wanted to make clear that this is still a priority project, and it’s still on our list of projects that we want to complete,” Councilor Wayne Avery said. “It’s a delay, but we’re not going away from it — we’re still moving forward.”
The base bid engineer’s estimate for the work was $1,243,000, but when the bids were opened on Nov. 6, the lowest came in at $1,982,540 — $736,000 more than the engineer’s estimate. The highest bid totaled $2,179,708.44. City councilors weren’t the first to hear about the prices, either; members of the Brookings Park & Recreation Advisory Board got the news at their Dec. 1 meeting.
Parks, Recreation & Forestry Director Kristin Zimmerman gave councilors insights into how Edgebrook operates and, thus, how the project would affect it if it was more expensive than planned.
“Because the golf course is operated as an enterprise fund, it’s treated like a business,” she explained. “If the bid amounts exceed the previous allocated $1.2 million, additional funding would need to come from within the golf course itself. That would require reductions and deferrals on other planned investments, including clubhouse improvements, tree plantings, cart path construction and maintenance equipment replacement.”
Banner and Associates representative Paul Kraft was also on hand as well.
“There’s some significant increases from what we anticipated for construction costs,” he said, noting that mobilization and dewatering costs were key factors in the higher-than-expected bids.
He described mobilization as the effort a contractor undertakes to get its equipment to a job site, along with overhead costs.
“This project, we are trying to minimize as much as possible the amount of disruption on the golf course itself, which dictates we can’t do it in spring, summer or fall because it’s being used, so that basically leaves the winter months,” Kraft said. “With that too, there’s also a lot of milestones with this project that gave the contractors a very small window to work in. With all of that, that’s why mobilization ended up kind of going up pretty high for that area is because of all the winter work that’s necessary to get it done in that short amount of time.”
Regarding dewatering, the project plan included draining the three ponds at Edgebrook, along with dewatering efforts along the project’s trench route.
“Talking with contractors, they were estimating there was going to be a lot of dewatering — water levels have been a little bit higher this year,” Kraft said.
All that said, he noted that the project’s scope could be reduced “significantly” by relining only one of the ponds, rather than two as first planned. Another cost-cutting measure could include undertaking the project during the summer months — something that would take a month or two and would disrupt two holes at Edgebrook during the construction period.
“(We’d have to) figure out some ways to manage golfers (and) move them around to different holes,” Kraft said.
Per a Dec. 5 story in the Brookings Register, the pricing woes mean the project’s start date will be pushed back, likely by four to six months. In other words, it won’t start in the winter months as anticipated, but rather more toward spring.
“It’s a balancing act. If it means we have to close two holes for the majority of the season, we will to make sure that we secure that water source,” Zimmerman told Park & Recreation Advisory Board members at their Dec. 1 meeting.
In other action at their Dec. 16 meeting, councilors:
• On a 7-0 vote, approved a management agreement with Moen Management for 2026-27 at the Edgebrook clubhouse, pro shop and driving range.
“The manager is responsible for daily operations, seasonal staffing, customer service, inventory purchasing, tournament coordination, and adherence to all city policies and related regulations,” according to information from the city. “The city will retain all revenues associated with green fees, memberships, packages, cart rentals, and sponsorships, while the manager retains revenues from daily driving range operations, pro shop sales, and food and beverage service.”
• Heard from Brookings Fire Department Chief Troy Hughes about the promotion of Jared Runge to the position of fire marshal.
“I’m honored to serve in this role,” Runge said, noting that he has 14 years of fire experience, 12 with the BFD. “Brookings means a great deal to me, as I lived most of my life here, met my wife here, and now we’re raising our kids.”
In his new role, Runge and an assisting inspector will play key roles in code enforcement, but from an angle that Hughes described as “How do we keep businesses open? How do we keep them safe? … Hey, here’s how we can keep your business from burning down and keep you safe. We’re going to take kind of a softer approach to it.”
• As part of its consent agenda, agreed on a 7-0 vote to approve a resolution renewing an agreement between the city and the Brookings Regional Humane Society for the care and disposition of impounded animals.
The agreement will cost $46,000 in 2026, and the city has an additional $4,000 set aside to offset costs from any unforeseen events that would entail the rescue of excessive animals.
• Approved a resolution on a 7-0 vote that extends an agreement to transfer 13.09 acres of land to the Brookings Economic Development Corp. It centers on a project involving Berry Properties LLC, also known as Millborn Seeds, to construct a “logistics and ag innovation ecosystem” which supports innovation and strengthens the broader Brookings agricultural ecosystem.
Long story short, the approved forbearance agreement extends the project’s timeline, with the original agreement dating back to April 2023.
— Contact Mondell Keck at mkeck@cmpapers.com.
