Citizens Bank donates $25,000 for golf course

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- The theme of community support is continues for the Woodland Hills Golf Course with a local bank awarding a substantial grant to the city of Fort Scott.

A check presentation was held Friday morning at City Hall so representatives of Citizens Bank could present the city with a $25,000 check for improvements to the golf course purchased by the city in March.

"It's a fantastic deal and it shows a great deal of community involvement by Citizens (Bank)," Woodland Hills Golf Course Manager Bill Zimmerman said.

Citizens Bank was awarded the grant money though the Federal Home Loan Bank's Joint Opportunities for Building Success program, Brian Comstock, the bank's chief financial officer. Fort Scott's branch was one of 51 banks within a four-state region including Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, to receive grant funds. Each year, FHLB awards $1.25 million dollars through the program to help promote and encourage economic growth in communities being served by its branches.

Comstock said the bank's staff began investigating the grant opportunity while the city was pursuing the golf course purchase. With the community support that came with the purchase through private donations, the local bank chose to get in on the action and apply for the grant, Comstock said.

"We felt very strongly that this was something that fit the criteria and we wanted to do our part to help save the golf course and save a community asset," he said.

Comstock said the money can be used at the golf course however the city deems appropriate. According to Zimmerman, the money will allow public tax dollars to last longer.

"It makes the public money go farther," Zimmerman said.

While there are no requirements as to what the money can be used for, as long as it is for the development of the golf course, Zimmerman said the largest upcoming project is overseeding of the greens in a few weeks. He said he does not know if the grant money will be used for that project or another direction.

"Without the overseed, we would struggle with these greens for an unforeseeable future, but with the over seed we should be able to come into the spring with nice fresh greens all the way around the course," he said.