Who knew there was so much overlap between golf and local politics?
As a former superintendent and the owner of Innovative Drain Technologies, a company that specializes in fixing drainage issues on golf courses, Jim Hill works to maintain the integrity of putting greens and bunkers by keeping perforated pipe free of muck and debris that impedes the flow of water through the soil.As a longtime member of the city council of Sebastian, Florida, Hill works equally hard to maintain the integrity of local politics and the laid-back lifestyle that residents of this laid-back waterfront town have come to cherish.
Sure, the population of 23,000 people who call the town home is far greater than the 2,800 who lived there in 1980, but the sleepy lifestyle that helped keep this municipality largely invisible compared with its neighbors up and down Florida's east-central coast.
And that's a good thing, says Hill, who cannot mask his love for hometown.
"Sebastian today is a great town. If you were there in the 1990s, it was a great town. It's even better now than it was then, and not a lot of places can say that," said Hill, 48.
"If you go north and south on the coast, the growth has really taken off. We don't want that."
Hill's first foray into local politics came in 2000 when he won a city council seat in Sebastian. After four years on the council, including serving as vice mayor in 2002 and 2003, Hill stepped out of the public eye from 2004 to 2008, and has been on the council since, including two years as mayor (2010-11).
Before he was a public servant, Hill was a superintendent, including stops at Sun Tree Country Club in Melbourne and the Majors Club in Palm Bay. It was during his tenure at Pointe West in Vero Beach from 2003 to 2007 that the idea of being an entrepreneur first entered his mind.
"I established it out of necessity," he said. "At Pointe West, about 15 greens had severe drainage problems. I looked in the industry for a solution, and the only answers I received were to dig up the outfall pipe, put a 1-inch hose in to find out where the outfall is and that tells me if it is draining or not. That wasn't suitable for me at the time, so I started looking outside the industry."
What he eventually found was a high-pressure water jet system used by the landfill industry to keep leachate pipes free of debris and contamination so water seeping downward through the system could travel unimpeded to leachate ponds.
"Landfill construction is almost identical to a USGA spec green," Hill said. "There are pipes and gravel layers on the bottom. All the water travels down through goes into pipes into leachate ponds. For them to work, they conduct high-pressure water jetting. That keeps the landfills up and running. They're jumbo-sized greens that stink."
Landfill construction is almost identical to a USGA spec green."
He left his job as a superintendent behind a decade ago to pursue running his own company.
Today, he uses ground-penetrating radar to locate drainage and outflows, and his high-pressure water jet powers through clogs at 3,000 psi, breaking up nearly everything in its path, creating a system that is virtually 100 percent clog-free. By comparison, the alligators that dot the Florida courses on which he works, have a bite force of about 2,200 psi.
"That's going to eliminate just about anything that is in that pipe," he said.
Although many of his customers are around Florida, he has expanded his service throughout the Southeast.
The business of golf and the business of running a city overlap on occasion.
The Indian River is one of the area's great economic engines. It is a world-class fishing destination, attracting people from around the globe. The town's small riverfront shopping and dining district also attracts tourists who come to town, spend their money and go home.
Hill's background comes in especially handy in matters involving management of city parks and athletic fields, as well as more in-depth issues like agriculture runoff and other issues affecting the river and operating a city-owned golf course.
"My expertise in those areas goes a long way to helping others understand what needs to take place on those facilities," he said. "I am able to provide people the information they need to make an informed decision."
Biologists have done little to shed light on the problems facing the river, that have included algae blooms, fish kills and native seagrasses that provide habitat disappearing at an alarming rate. Scientists have pointed to a variety of contributors, including climate extremes, runoff, pollution, drought and freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee, which is connected to the river through a series of canals.
Such issues provide an opportunity for discourse between Hill and other local officials with their colleagues at the county and state levels to effect change for their constituents.
But he points to issues that directly affect the people of Sebastian as a source of pride, including an extension of the public sewer system through the town last year and an economic grant program that helped individual homeowners and businesses transition to the system from septic.
It's because he knows, as a former superintendent, what it feels like to have greens and bunkers that don't drain, that he shows the same compassion for greenkeepers who need his help.
"The result is a healthier plant that can fend off disease much better," he said. "The plant is better equipped to deal with a host of stresses, like disease, wear and traffic, compaction, heat and cold. If we can remove one stress, which is excessive moisture, it makes it easier for superintendents to deal with those other stresses."