Commissioners Present: Anne O'Connell, Ed Pavlu, Jeff Odell, Marc Fontaine, Carl Blanchard, and Judy McCarthy.
Others Present: Mark O'Brien (Director of Golf Operations), Pete Ervin (Superintendent), Peter Norton (Selectmen’s liaison), Herb Montgomery (FinCom liaison), Jo O’Connell and Pat O’Keefe.
This meeting was held at the Town Hall and was televised. The video of the meeting may be viewed at: http://view.earthchannel.com/PlayerFlex.aspx?PGD=brewsterma&eID=583
Call to Order: In the absence of a chairperson or vice-chairperson, Mark O’Brien called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
Vote of Officers:
As this is the first meeting of the new fiscal year, a new Chair and Vice-Chair needed to be elected. Mark O’Brien asked for nominations for Chairperson. Jeff Odell nominated Anne O’Connell for Chairperson, seconded by Marc Fontaine. There were no other nominations. The vote was five in favor and one abstention. (Anne O’Connell abstained). Mark O’Brien then asked for nominations for Vice-Chairperson. Marc Fontaine nominated Jeff Odell, seconded by Ed Pavlu. There were no other nominations. The vote was five in favor and one abstention. (Jeff Odell abstained). Anne O’Connell chaired the meeting from this point.
Public Comment:
- Pat O’Keefe reported that the Women’s 18-Hole Association had a very successful Member-Guest tournament in June. They spent over $600 in chits in the pro shop and raised $874 to donate to the Lower Cape Outreach Council. It was a very fun day.
Correspondence & Suggestion Box:
- From Judy Rose – No boxes on the tees for broken tees. Pete will take care of this.
- From Rick Messervey – divot mix bottles for walkers. Mark O’Brien described the steps that have been taken to improve on providing divot mix for the carts. We do have divot mix at the 1st tee and if a walker wants to take one of those bottles they can.
Superintendent’s Report (Pete Ervin):
- Welcomed new Commission members.
- The staff cleaned up well from tropical storm Arthur.
- Course is in good shape. Cart drive on drive off areas need attention.
- We are doing a second round of solid tine aerification.
- We are monitoring our bunkers, adding sand where needed and doing some edging.
- Work is being done to keep up the gardens.
- We have 12 – 13 granite benches on the golf course. Pete should some example of alternative to granite benches.
- The other benches on the course will be power washed.
- Pete made a suggestion to have memorial bricks in the sidewalk as opposed to having memorial benches.
- Pete does not have an answer for the Port 17 tee situation.
- Pete thanked the entire golf staff including pro shop and restaurant staff for doing a great job.
- Marc Fontaine said the course is in great shape and the word is getting around.
- Judy McCarthy said the crew has been very polite on the course.
Director of Operations Report (Mark O’Brien):
· Mark O’Brien reviewed the draft report for FY2014. The numbers have not been reviewed by the accounting dept. The bottom line came in pretty much on projection.
· In regard to a question from the last meeting about singles, Mark stated that singles cannot book into an open time. If a single is on the tee sheet in an open slot, it is because the group they were paired with cancelled out.
· The lightning detection system is on the capital plan for this year. An article for this will be requested to be on the November Town Meeting warrant.
· At the last meeting dress code enforcement was addressed. Mark reported that if someone shows up in a manner that does not meet the dress code, they are informed about the dress code and asked to make sure they abide by the dress code in the future. It has not been a major issue.
Memorial bench policy discussion:
· Cindy Bingham had submitted a revised memorial bench policy. The main difference is in the size which called for a bigger bench.
· Mark O’Brien’s concern is making sure that the benches are placed in areas that are out of the way of maintained areas.
· The idea of using composite benches as opposed to granite so they can be moved and are more in keeping with a golf course and are more comfortable.
· Ed Pavlu withdrew his idea of memorial trees because of maintenance issues that they would cause.
· The policy will be revisited at the next meeting.
Port #17 tee situation discussion:
· The general consensus was that there really is nothing that could be done to completely safeguard the 13th green. It was felt that the back (blue) tee is the main cause of the problem. Therefore it was decided to move the blue tees up to the white tee box and the white tee a little more forward.
Changing color of current red tee discussion:
· This was an issue brought up by Cindy Bingham at the last meeting. It was thought that the reason she brought it up was to differentiate the forward red tees from the family tees. Discussion followed and it was determined that no change to the color of the tees should be undertaken at this time.
Approval of past meeting minutes:
- Jeff Odell made a motion to approve the minutes of the June 10, 2014 meeting, seconded by Ed Pavlu. Motion approved unanimously.
Topics the Chair did not anticipate:
- Anne O’Connell brought up an issue when a cart flipped and the people could not get through to the pro shop on the phone because the line was busy. It happened on July 3rd which was a very busy day. It was recommended that we inform people to call 911 in a situation like this when they can’t get through to the pro shop.
- Marc Fontaine asked about pace of play and how the rangers were doing. Mark O’Brien responded that the rangers have been doing a good job, but we have had a handful of days where pace of play has reached five hours. The slow play problems usually occur when we have large groups of 16 – 30 players and they cause some issues. However they are important for our revenues.
- Judy McCarthy asked about handicap flag issues. Anne O’Connell said that this issue will be discussed at the next meeting.
- Ed Pavlu brought up the fact that the snack shack was not open on 4th of July weekend at 10:00 a.m. Mark O’Brien stated that they are supposed to be open at 9:00 a.m. and to his knowledge they have been. Judy McCarthy asked to have the restaurant on the agenda for August to discuss various issues. Mark O’Brien suggested that he meet with the restaurant and then report to the Commission on that at the next meeting.
- Carl Blanchard asked about the Commission establishing goals. He suggested that the Commission go through that exercise.
Ed Pavlu made a motion, seconded by Judy McCarthy to adjourn the meeting. The motion was approved unanimously. The next meeting will be on August 12, 2014.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mark O’Brien, Director of Operations