City Council
259 N. Wilma Avenue
Ripon, CA 95366
MEMO
To: Honorable City Council
From: Kevin Werner, City Administrator
Date: 04/08/2025
Subject: Jack Tone Golf Lease- Amendment No. 1
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Approve and authorize the Mayor to sign Amendment No. 1 to the Agreement for the Lease and Operation of the Jack Tone Road Golf Course between the City of Ripon and SGM, Inc.
BACKGROUND
Sierra Golf Management, Inc was awarded the Agreement for the Lease and Operation of the Jack Tone Road Golf Course (Lease Agreement) on October 8, 2024. On January 1, 2025, SGM, Inc. assumed operations of the golf course.
DISCUSSION
Since SGM, Inc. has taken over the operations of the golf course, two issues have come up that were not considered in the original Lease Agreement, as described below:
Memberships & Range Cards
The previous operator has provided a list of individuals who have pre-purchased memberships/range cards and the associated amounts purchased prior to January 1, 2025, but has not provided the funds.
The First Amendment to the lease allows SGM, Inc to honor the memberships/range cards purchased prior to January 1, 2025 until June 1, 2026 and submit an invoice to the City on a quarterly basis for reimbursement. After June 1, 2026, the memberships and range cards would no longer be accepted.
Word and Logo Trademark
After being notified the previous operator was not awarded the next lease to operate Jack Tone Golf, the previous operator registered word and logo trademarks, including the name, “Jack Tone Golf.”
SGM, Inc. has elected to go through a rebranding of the golf course, which includes replacing the name, “Jack Tone Golf” with “Ripon Golf Club”.
The First Amendment to the lease includes language that prohibits SGM, Inc. from registering the new name of the golf course as a trademark.
Additional changes to the Lease Agreement includes fixing a typographical error. In the Lease Agreement, Section 1.2 was mistakenly merged with Section 1.1. The First Amendment includes the language to separate these sections as they were intended.
FISCAL IMPACT
The projected fiscal impact of reimbursing for the memberships/range cards purchased prior to January 1, 2025 is $10,000 and is recommended to be reimbursed from the Jack Tone Golf Reserve Fund (balance: $715,000).
Attachments:
1. First Amendment to Golf Course Lease_20250401