Gannon operation plans in limbo

LYNN – Gannon Municipal Golf Course is losing one of its principal operators, and with two city plans for future operations in limbo, the question of who will run the course remains unanswered.Golf professional Michael Foster oversaw pro shop operations but his exit from Gannon means a private company could be picked by the city to run the course or – if Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy has her way – the city?s lead development agency will take on the job.The Board of Park Commissioners, the city agency responsible for Gannon, voted during the summer to give city officials approval to seek out companies interested in running Gannon. A 73-page city-drafted request for proposal laying out standards for the 18-hole course?s operation calls for a team selected by the city purchasing agent to pick an operator using a 24-category selection process.The final decision on the selection will be the mayor?s and the park commissioners?.The proposal document lays out a timeline initially calling for potential operators to respond to the city by Oct. 14 with a management firm selected by December when the current operating lease held by the Gannon Building Association expires.That looming deadline stands in contrast to Kennedy?s proposal submitted last week to the Economic Development and Industrial Corporation. She wants EDIC – an agency mostly focused on aiding local businesses and bringing new ones to Lynn – to become a partner in Gannon?s operation to help sustain the course?s long-term maintenance.Kennedy stressed in a Sept. 24 letter to EDIC members that the state Inspector General must sign off on her proposal. IG officials for more than a year have urged Lynn officials to use the request for proposal process to pick Gannon?s operator.The state officials underscored that stance even as Association members complained in 2012 about $400,000 in rent payments they were required to pay the city under a lease agreement. They unsuccessfully sought to reduce the course rent, citing membership declines and received city permission to run the course for another year after their lease expired last November.Kennedy, in her letter to EDIC, said “members of Gannon and me fear that if the primary motivation of operating Gannon is to make a profit, rates will be raised significantly.”