Sierra Golf Management recently took over the operations of the Jack Tone Golf Course.

Under the terms of the lease, SGM, which took over operations of local golf course at the beginning of the year, is responsible for operating along with making capital improvements to the property.

According to the staff report for Tuesday’s 6 p.m. Ripon City Council meeting, a Golf Course Capital Improvement Account was established. Included is a portion of the golf course lease payments being deposited in this fund in order to financially assist the operator in making upgrades to the golf course “so it does not fall into disrepair.”

SGM – per the lease agreement – could use the funds in this account to help fund 50 percent of the cost for “Long-term Capital Improvements” of the golf course that are permanent in nature, such as installing new holes, replacing or improving greens, fairways, tee boxes, water features, or other capital improvement expenditures, as approved by the Golf Course Capital Improvement Committee.

That committee met this week with the SGM golf course manager, who provided a tour of the golf course and a description of the proposed improvements.

The total cost for such improvements – paving the practice area ($90,000), improving the irrigation system ($116,980), replacing irrigation heads ($27,630), and adding a privacy fence ($35,995) – is estimated at $270,605. The City of Ripon, under the agreement, would be responsible for half of that.

At the monthly session, elected leaders will look to approve the SGM reimbursement request for Jack Tone Golf Course capital improvement for about $135,302, paid via the Jack Tone Capital Fund, which was established in 2008.

“The previous lessee did not take advantage of this fund; therefore, the current balance is $645,000,” the staff report said.