By NICO SALVATORI

For The Express

WILLIAMSPORT – After months of uncertainty about the future of the White Deer Golf Course, Lycoming County commissioners on Thursday decided they would hire Billy Casper Golf, one of the nation’s largest private golf course management companies, to oversee operations at the county-owned course in the hope of improving it.

Commissioners are confident the company has the expertise to steer the course in a profitable direction and overcome a national trend of declining rounds and revenue, as well as financial and structural problems unique to White Deer.

While commissioners voted 3-0 at their weekly Thursday meeting in favor of Billy Casper Golf, the vote came after a failed motion to hire Spirit Golf Management, of Yardley, the other company that was under consideration, and which had the sole support of Commissioner Rick Mirabito, even as Commissioners Jack McKernan and Tony Mussare said the companies were more or less comparable with one another in terms of pricing and service.

Mirabito said he preferred Spirit Golf Management, the smaller company, because of a special emphasis its personnel placed during negotiations on attracting new golfers to White Deer.

The decision for McKernan and Mussare came down to which company was more experienced. Billy Casper Golf, of Reston, Virginia, manages some 140 courses in the country, and Spirit Golf manages about 20, according to Mirabito. McKernan said Billy Casper Golf had the resources to set up operations as early as next week.

In addition, Mussare said Billy Casper Golf had the advantage of already being familiar with White Deer. An independent assessment of the course the company was hired last summer to conduct revealed more than just a dysfunctional management system. It also included specific recommendations about how to improve the course. One proposal was to hire a private management firm.

Mirabito ultimately threw in his support for Billy Casper Golf after the initial failed motion. However impressed he was with Spirit Golf Management, he did not appear to have any reservations about Billy Casper Golf, likening the two companies, several times on Thursday, to the former rivalry between the retailers Macy’s and Gimbels.

The contract with Billy Casper Golf was approved pending a final legal review, but commissioners anticipate a three-year agreement, which Mirabito said would cost the county about $6,250 per month. The company also would take a share of the profits at White Deer, but those details were not immediately available on Thursday.

With the hiring of a private management company, the role of the county recreation authority, which traditionally had managed the course, still remains unclear. Commissioners said they hope to “tidy up” authority matters in the coming weeks, with the possible appointment of new members.

After a string of resignations recently, and some expired terms, only two members remained on the authority on Thursday, with another upcoming resignation, McKernan said. At least five members are required for the authority to conduct business. Mussare has said that even though the county took back control of White Deer from the authority in recent weeks, it still is needed at this point for some administrative tasks, like paying bills.

The authority, which is a government agency independent of the county, was faulted in the Casper report for contributing to dysfunction at the course. It also has relied on county funds to make payments on a large bond debt for capital projects that date back to the late 1980s. Mirabito characterized that debt, in addition to an outstanding line of credit balance and money the authority owes the county, as “substantial financial liabilities,” which prompted commissioners to step in.

At the start of the month, commissioners terminated a lease from 2006 between the county and the recreation authority that gave the authority control of White Deer. The lease was terminated on the grounds that the authority had defaulted on loans guaranteed by the county.

Last October, commissioners had pledged $1 million of county bond money to the authority to fund capital improvement projects at White Deer. Mirabito said on Thursday commissioners still intend to use that money, which had originally been allocated in 2012 for recreational activities, to improve the course.