The Salina Municipal Golf Course is temporarily closing.

According to the city, they are temporarily closing the Salina Municipal Golf Course in conjunction with the statewide Stay at Home Order now in place until amended or rescinded. “This is a regrettable, but necessary decision,” commented City Manager Mike Schrage. “Many important factors went in to this decision.”

The decision to temporarily close the golf course included the following reasons:

The City of Salina has placed a high priority on two areas when making management decisions: 1) the safety and security of its employees, and, 2) delivering the highest level of service to citizens in its core services that include police, fire/ems, water, sewage, and waste collection along with basic care and maintenance of facilities and grounds open to the general public.

Many surfaces at the golf course are plastic, vinyl, or metal including golf cart surfaces, benches and ball washers, which are believed to harbor the virus longer than some other surfaces.

Lower staffing levels in response to the stay-at-home order required prioritization of services and facilities to be supported, and the golf course provides service to a limited segment of our community in comparison to functions that have been given higher priority.

Jason Tiller, Director of the Saline County Health Department has previously noted that “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should,” and Salina Mayor Mike Hoppock noted, “The City of Salina should lead by example and take the Stay in Place Order seriously,” and suggested that our motto should be “Sacrifice 30 days of your life to save the life of another.”

“This was a difficult decision to make,” said City Manager Mike Schrage, “but under these unprecedented times we are choosing to keep our community and employees as safe as possible and be responsible with the limited financial resources in which we are entrusted.” He said his limited parks staff will be focused on publicly accessible parks and trails that do not require a fee to participate. Virtually all recreational programs for the City have been suspended during the Stay in Place order.

The City of Salina will continually monitor the local and state guidelines for gatherings and will reopen the course when health safety concerns are relaxed and there are adequate staff to fully provide the highest level of service golfers expect.