FARGO —

Good to see the Fargo Park District is reconsidering hiking swimming pool fees.

Might’ve been a good idea to include the public in the discussion about jacking them in the first place, but eventual transparency is better than no transparency.

Now, about those changes to the golf operation at the five public courses in the city …

Is it really necessary to mess with the livelihoods of professionals Matt Cook at Rose Creek Golf Course and Chris Larson at Osgood Golf Course?

Almost seems as if the park district is trying to run them off. Why?

More on that later.

Made my first trek to the Fargo Parks Sports Center in rural Walcott this week

to attend the Fargo Park Board meeting.

First impression: This place might as well be on Mars if you’re a low-income family or senior citizen from north Fargo or midtown. Zero value to large segments of the population that need affordable recreation and entertainment options. Good to see all the youth hockey teams in there, though. Those families needed the help, as witnessed by the Escalades and Suburbans in the parking lot.

Second impression: Sure hope the park district plans on selling a ton of corporate sponsorships and filling the place 24/7/365 with paid programming because the operating costs are astronomical ($2.7 million a year, according to the district’s budget).

A $126 million building that needed $78 million bonded (in conjunction with the Island Park Pool renovation) — with the first loan payment of nearly $4 million due May 1 — and the park district’s execs and board had the gall to stick it to Madison Elementary School families on swimming passes.

But we digress …

The Fargo Park Board meeting Tuesday evening was the first since it became public Fargo Parks was making changes to its public golf course operation structure to “optimize revenues.”

There is concern among the die-hards who support Edgewood Golf Course up north that the replacement for retired PGA golf professional Greg McCullough will be a cash-register attendant instead of a pro.

There are also those concerned that Cook and Larson are not being treated properly by park district Executive Director Susan Faus and new Director of Golf Rocky Papachek.

About 30 golf types turned up in the well-appointed Alex Stern Family Foundation meeting room and two signed up to speak.

The entire room was told by park board President Aaron Hill that speakers could have the microphone for only 3 minutes — he was timing — but he and the board were under no obligation to engage or debate with the speakers or respond to anything they said.

Yes, Your Grace.

John Nelson, president of the 350-member Edgewood Men’s Club, and Larry Werlinger, a senior golfer from Rose Creek Golf Course in south Fargo, took their turns at the microphone making a case for local pros.

“I encourage you to communicate, collaborate and problem-solve with our existing pros and assistants. They add great value to our golf courses and to our community,” Nelson told the board. “We need to do everything possible to make sure we keep them.”

Hill and the board sat stone-faced and didn’t respond to Nelson before Werlinger took the microphone.

Werlinger questioned the need for a director of golf with the park district, saying the pros at each course have long run things well. He also questioned why the district is going to take away income from Cook and Larson to run the pro shops itself.

“Why does the park district want to be in the clothing business? There is no logic or reason for it,” Werlinger said. “That revenue generated by the golf course was helping keep them here in Fargo versus looking for other opportunities.”

Again, no response from the board.

The meeting was adjourned after 28 minutes with the board not addressing anything related to golf or those who spoke.

After acting surprised by the public outcry over the steep swimming hikes, the district and board responded by saying they’ll reconsider.

They should do the same over the proposed golf changes. Assure the Edgewood golfers an actual PGA professional will be hired at that course. Back off the changes that were going to affect Cook and Larson.

Maybe get out of those glitzy offices in the $126 million building and meet with stakeholders before making arbitrary decisions. Maybe ask for input from the public before handing down commandments from on high.

The park district took out a $78 million loan to build a palace that costs $2.7 million a year to operate and now it’s going to “optimize revenue” by raising pool fees on regular people and nickel-and-diming the golf courses.

It might have things a little backward, no?

Mike McFeely is a columnist for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. He began working for The Forum in the 1980s while he was a student studying journalism at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He’s been with The Forum full time since 1990, minus a six-year hiatus when he hosted a local radio talk-show.