The following are the minutes of the Brewster Golf Commission regular meeting held on August 4, 2009. The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m.
Commissioners present: Bob Weiss Cindy Bingham Jo O'Connell Stote Ellsworth Jeff Odell Rob Harris Joe Shaw, Commissioner Emeritus
Staff present: Mark O'Brien, Director of Operations Steve Mann, Superintendent
Others present: Jim Foley, Selectmen liaison, Ray Gomez, Nancy Segall, Orin Segall, Jeff Cassidy, and Steve Litwinowich
B. Weiss called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. and officially welcomed the two new commissioners, Jeff Odell and Rob Harris. He also congratulated Joe Shaw on being named Commissioner Emeritus. B. Weiss then read a resolution recognizing the contributions over the years of George Flemming, a copy of which is attached to these minutes. S. Ellsworth made a motion, seconded by R. Harris, to accept the resolution as read. Motion passed unanimously.
B. Weiss then outlined some goals and procedures for the Golf Commission in the days ahead.
J. Odell expressed some concern over not acting quickly in regard to establishing a non-resident fee for the "Pay Now Play Now" program. It was agreed that the Commission will meet weekly and try to have a program for the Selectmen's approval by the end of August.
S. Ellsworth made a motion, seconded by J. O'Connell to approve the minutes of the July 7, 2009 Golf Commission meeting. Minutes were approved, 4 in favor, none opposed. R. Harris and J. Odell abstained as they were not on the commission at that time.
J. O'Connell made a motion, seconded by C. Bingham, to approve the minutes of the August 3, 2009 meeting. Motion approved unanimously.
CORRESPONDENCE:
M. O'Brien read thank you letters from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape Cod and Independence House for donations given. He also read a letter from the Women's 9-Holer's Assn. saying what a great job Sean Cahalane did on their Member/Member event in July.
M. O'Brien read a request from the Nauset Girls Golf Team for an event on Sunday, June 6, 2010. M. O'Brien suggested that we have quite a demand for tee times at that time of year, and offered the last Sunday in April as an alternative. J. O'Connell made a motion, seconded by J. Odell to approve this request based on the April date. Motion approved unanimously.
M. O'Brien read a request from the WGAM for their Fall Players Cup Team Matches to be held on October 14, 2009. This request was discussed at a previous meeting and M. O'Brien was directed to get more information. He has spoken with the WGAM and feels confident that it can occur with little impact on play. J. O'Connell made a motion, seconded by J. Odell to approve the request. Motion approved unanimously.
M. O'Brien read a request from the Women's 9-Hole Assn to allow them to sell raffle tickets on several days leading up to their Rally For a Cure event in order to raise money. R. Harris made a motion, seconded by C. Bingham to approve this request. Motion approved unanimously. M. O'Brien read a request from the Women's 18-Hole Assn to allow them to place a "Donation Bucket" on the day of their Rally For a Cure event. This request was denied as the bucket would be unattended. The Commission indicated that they would approve if they sold raffle tickets as is the case with Women's 9-Hole Assn.
M. O'Brien presented requests from the following organizations requesting donation of a gift certificate for a foursome:
– American Red Cross, Cape Cod and the Islands Chapter, CapeAbilities, YMCA Cape Cod
J. O'Connell made a motion, seconded by R. Harris, to approve the above requests. Motion approved unanimously.
The following requests for donations were denied as they did not meet the Golf Commission's guidelines:
– Marley Jaye Cherella Memorial Fund, St. Luke's Hospital, Children's Hospital Trust
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS REPORT:
M. O'Brien distributed the financials for the FY2009 year end and the July reports. The FY2009 report shows only and $18,000 net return to the Town. Before June, M O'Brien had projected a $68,000 net return to the Town, but June was a disaster as far as weather was concerned, significantly reducing this number. July was off about 5%.
SUGGESTIONS:
Anne LeMaitre – Open rest rooms at Port 10th tee by 6:30 a.m. M. O'Brien said he will remind the cart men to do this. Orin Segall – Sell tee sponsorships to raise revenues for the course. B. Weiss said that this will be looked into. Orin Segall – Sell a junior membership to non-Brewster residents. B. Weiss said this will be discussed during the AFP fee deliberations.
Jim Foley said that several people have expressed that the Golf Commission meeting should be held later in the day in order to accommodate those that work. Discussion followed. It was decided to try 4:30 p.m. as a meeting time for the next meeting. In order to meet the goal of having something ready for the Selectmen by the end of August, it was decided to hold meetings on August 11th, August 18th, August 25th, and August 31st.
SUPERINTENDENT REPORT:
S. Mann reported that the wet weather has caused some disease on the golf courses that is being dealt with. He has watered only twice since May. We are beginning to loose some summer help. There is a new chemical that is much safer to use by Dpont for grub control that we may be trying. We will be removing some trees that shade some of teeing areas in the off-season. A possible plan to move the blue tees forward to the white tee area making it a par 4 and moving the white tees back to the blue tee area making it a better par 5.
COMMITTEES:
R. Harris asked about the publicity for the half membership fee deal. M. O'Brien stated that it has been emailed to all of our lists and that we would do some newspaper announcements.
S. Ellsworth reported that the meeting with the Realtors scheduled for last Friday did not take place because there were too few properties on their tour.
S. Ellsworth reported that the Town of Brewster is further ahead than most Cape Towns regarding wind turbines and that we are looking into participating in a collaborative effort with other Towns. There are several public hearings that will be coming up on the subject in the near future.
Ray Gomez, on behalf of the CCMGA, requested a reduced cart fee for the last round of their two week tournament in August since it is a shotgun and players are required to take carts. Discussion followed and it was felt that this would set a dangerous precedent for the other.associations. Request was denied.
R. Harris made a motion, seconded by C. Bingham, to adjourn the meeting. Motion was passed unanimously.
Meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark T. O'Brien