Trustees Approve Village Links Furniture, Golf Cart Purchases in Excess of $250,000

In an action that required Village President Mark Pfefferman to cast the deciding vote, the village approved more than $250,000 in purchases for the Village Links of Glen Ellyn Golf Course.

In a 4-to-2 vote, the board approved the purchase of furniture for the future Village Links restaurant and it also approved the purchase of 87 golf carts.  The cost of the furniture and golf carts came to a total of $259,795.

During its workshop, the board was given an update on the status of the construction project at the golf course, which is mostly on track and on budget. And, during its business meeting the trustees took action on the purchases.

Recreation Director Matt Pekarek told the trustees that changes to the restaurant seating plan and the decision to purchase higher quality furniture increased costs higher than anticipate.

Furniture is being purchased from two different suppliers for a total of $64,225.

Board President Mark Pfefferman asked whether the furniture would get its full use and whether rather than just golfers or those attending banquets, if the general public would also be allowed to enjoy the restaurant and bar.

Pekarek assured the board the venue would be open to the public and not just golfers.

In addition to purchasing the furniture, the golf carts at the golf course are due for replacement and Pekarek said that 87 new carts from Yamaha needed to be purchased.

The cost to replace the golf carts will be $195,970.

After receiving several proposals, Pekarek said the Yamaha dealer had the best price, adding that Yamaha offered a superior performing gasoline golf cart.

The carts are replaced every four years, he said.

Board member Peter Ladesic questioned why the purchase wasn’t put out to bid and he also wondered whether the carts could be used for a longer period of time before being replaced.

Pekarek said that there were only three golf carts dealers in the Chicago area.

“And, we were confident we could get proposals from each of those dealers. We kept our options open for not only an outright purchase with trade in, but also for any other proposal they might want to structure,” Pekarek said. “If it had gone out to bid it would have been almost the same process.”

He said they wanted to determine the golf cart specifications rather than have the possibility that they would get a bid for a cart without the specifications they wanted.

“We wanted to do it this way so we could determine what technology we wanted and not be tied in to certain specifications,” he said.

Based on analysis, Pekarek said the golf cart replacement timeline of every four years was the best option.

Trustee Carl Henninger asked whether there was a regional buying cooperative that could help leverage purchasing power and bring costs down.

Pekarek said Village Links does participate in a buying consortium through the city of Tucson, Ariz.

“I will support it but I think we need to be using an RFP (request for proposal) process moving forward,” Trustee Peter Cooper said prior to the vote. “... It seems we are not taking steps to solicit RFPs.”

After discussion the board voted on the measure. Trustee Diane McGinley was not in attendance Monday night. Prior to casting the deciding vote, the board voted in favor of the purchases 3-to-2. Pfefferman cast his vote bringing the vote to 4-to-2 in favor of the purchases.