Council approves hiring six full-time employees

Heather Wright/The Independent

St. Clair Township council has given the okay to make six positions at the townships golf course full-time as the club becomes a year-round facility.

Over the last year-and-a-half, the golf course has undergone a $3.5 million renovations which includes new accessible washrooms and a new kitchen on the northside of the building.

Kendall Lindsay, director of community services, expects operations at the newly renovated clubhouse to begin in May.

As the physical work progressed, township council approved a new business plan for the course. “The renovation has transformed the clubhouse into a modern, vibrant space that now offers expanded dining, event, and meeting areas. These upgrades will not only enhance the overall guest experience but will also allow us to host larger and more diverse events, contributing to increased revenue and enhanced community engagement,” Lindsay wrote in the plan.

Part of that, he said would include hosting special events, meetings and extra activities after the golf course itself is closed for the winter.

Key to that is newly expanded restaurant which will be called The Parkway Bar and Grill. Lindsay said it will offer local foods “to appeal to both regular patrons and new visitors” improving foot traffic and boosting revenue.

March 6, during budget deliberations, Lindsay’s report outlined creating six full-time positions – some of which were part time in the past – to run the club as it becomes a community hub.

“Expanding our team is essential to further advancing the department and ensuring continued success,” Lindsay wrote in his report to council.

Council didn’t discuss the new positions during the public session of the budget meeting March 6.
Instead, it went into private session to approve the creation of the new positions of coordinator of facilities, assistant to special events, assistant to golf and to make the chef and food services lead hand new permanent full time positions.

The assistant golf course superintendent position is now also a full-time permanent position at the golf course.

According to the draft minutes provided after the meeting, Councillors Pat Brown and Brad Langstaff voted against the new positions.

Under the Ontario Municipal Act, there are rules governing what types of conversation can be held in private, in camera meetings including when an “identified individual” employee is being discussed or for “labour relations.”

The Independent asked Clerk Jeff Baraneck why this discussion about the expansion of services and the creation of new positions was held privately. “We discussed individuals, in part, as to why to justify new positions – mainly to help council identify which positions they were.

“As you’re aware, the MA (Municipal Act) allows a generic ‘labour relations’ item so this is what we used,” he said in an email.

The hiring of the staff will boost the cost to operate the facility by 13.81 per cent according to the 2025 operating budget. The operations costs rise to $ 2,332,249 up from $ 2,049250 in 2024
That’s up nearly 69 per cent from 2021 when the budget was $1,384,000.

The operation’s increased costs will be covered by membership and green fees. Lindsay says the membership list has been full since 2021 will people waiting to sign up.

He is also expecting the new restaurant and improved clubhouse will help generate enough new revenue that it will be able to generate $250,000 in profit which will be used to pay the cost of the $3.5 million renovation.