Commissioners Present: Anne O'Connell (Chair), Jeff Odell (Vice-Chair), Ed Pavlu, Cindy Bingham, Marc Fontaine, Carl Blanchard, and Judy McCarthy.
Others Present: Mark O'Brien (Director of Golf Operations), Pete Ervin (Superintendent), Jim O’Leary (Finance Committee), Jerri Carlin (Women’s 9-Hole Assn. & Friends of the Captains) and Pat O’Keefe (Women’s 18-Hole Assn.).
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=604
Call to Order: Anne O’Connell called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
Public Announcements:
- Jerri Carlin reported that the Women’s 9-Hole Assn. is in the last week of their championship and the Rally for Women tournament will be held at the end of the month with all monies raised going to the Cuda Center.
- Jerri Carlin reported that the Friends donated $5,600 toward new water cooler enclosures for the course which should be in a couple of weeks. Also they are hosting a cocktail party on October 10th.
Correspondence & Suggestion Box:
- From Ron Mgrdichian – He is requesting that the Friends donate a practice net at the course for players to warm up in prior to playing. Mark O’Brien stated that he would like to investigate this further in the off-season. Jerri Carlin said that the Friends do not have funds for this at this point.
- Anonymous – No premade sandwiches available at the turn on July 27th.
- Cindy Bingham reported that the Women’s 18-Hole Association held their Cuda tournament today and raised over $1,600 for the benefit.
Superintendent’s Report (Pete Ervin):
- Course is being prepped for the upcoming Club Championship, Women’s Member-Member, and the Captains Invitational.
- Aeration of the Starboard Course will take place on September 8 & 9, greens, tees, and fairways. This work will be done with the aid of the towns of Harwich and Dennis.
- Aeration of the Port Course greens will take place on September 15 & 16. This will be done in-house as there is a conflict with the other towns on these dates. The Port Course fairways and tees will be done on September 29 & 30 with the help of Dennis and Harwich.
- We’ve used approximately 25M gallons of water so far this year so we are in good shape for water usage. Our permit will allow for another 25M gallons of water usage for the year.
- Cindy Bingham said she saw an area of rough on the left side of 18 Starboard that looked like it was dying. Pete said he would look into that.
- Cindy Bingham asked is if the bunkers are raked everyday first thing, because she noticed that today there were some that were not. Pete said they are supposed to be raked everyday and he will check into that.
- Marc Fontaine asked whether the low water usage was due to purposely reducing usage or a function of the weather. Pete said it was a little of both.
Director of Operations Report (Mark O’Brien):
· The month of July was about equal to last year’s July. Last year’s July included June 30th due to the fact that it fell on a Sunday, so the July 2013 numbers were inflated by one day or about $20,000 total revenue. Also this year, we had a storm come through over the July 4th weekend that hurt play. That is traditionally our biggest weekend of the year.
· Anne O’Connell asked why the operating expenses were so much lower this July in comparison to other years. Mark O’Brien stated that the timing of our spending for these expenses is not necessarily consistent from year to year. We do expect this line item to catch up to prior years as the year goes on.
· Judy McCarthy asked which week would be considered Fourth of July week next year since it falls on a Saturday. Mark O’Brien stated that he would have to go back into his records to determine this.
· Mark O’Brien stated that we will soon be going out to bid for the sink hole repair and tee renovation project. This was bid out last winter and came in higher than our available funds. He distributed a spread sheet showing the sink holes and tees that were included in last year’s bid and a spread sheet showing the sink holes and tees that will be included in this year’s bid. The scope of work is significantly reduced for the new bid. It includes three tees and 12 sink holes as compared to last year’s bid which included 13 tee boxes and 16 sink holes. The hope is to get the bid out as soon as possible and have bids in by the end of September and start work in October.
· Carl Blanchard asked how the estimated per s.f. cost was arrived at and Mark O’Brien stated that it was based on the bid from the lowest qualified bidder last winter.
· Anne O’Connell asked what we would do about tee boxes during the renovation. Mark O’Brien stated we would have to use temporary tees until May.
· Ed Pavlu asked about doing some of this work in house. Mark O’Brien stated that we do not have the man power or equipment to get this work done in a timely manner.
· Jim O’Leary asked about what the plan would be for doing the work that was cut out of this bid in the future. Mark O’Brien stated that in his mind it would depend on how the course performed financially going forward. There is no plan to do the work in the immediate future.
· More discussion followed regarding doing some of this work in-house as opposed to outsourcing. Pete stated that some of the smaller tees could be possibly being done in house of a period of time. Doing a large volume of this work would take away from his ability to perform the necessary cultural practices that required in the off-season to maintain the turf that we have. Mark O’Brien stated that although some of the projects are being put off, they are not to the level in their current state that they significantly take away from the golf experience.
· Mark O’Brien reported on his meeting with Joe Jamiel and Joan O’Donnell from the restaurant regarding the issues raised at the last meeting. Joe acknowledged the issues and said they have been addressed. He stated that he hoped that anytime anyone had an issue with the food or service to let he or Joan or whoever is on duty at the time and they will address it right there on the spot.
Discount for Active Military and National Guard members:
· Jeff Odell made a motion seconded by Cindy Bingham to offer to active military and National Guard members the same discount that is offered to guests of members. The motion passed unanimously.
· Cindy Bingham originally asked to have this on the agenda because we did not have enough handicap flags. She also has a concern that people are not being asked to read and sign the handicap flag policy when they get a handicap flag. Mark O’Brien stated that they have been lax in regard to this policy. He is now going to have the starters have the golfers sign the form at the first tee when they request a flag. Members will be given a card after they sign the form once.
Follow-up:
· Memorial Bench Policy – it was decided that a composite bench is more preferential than the granite benches. It was also decided that we should decide on one bench from one vendor and that will be the bench that will be required for donated benches. Mark and Pete will come up with a bench that will be used.
· Boxes for broken tees – Pete stated that they are all out on the course now. He suggested purchasing the cone shaped receptacles and they would be much more efficient and consistent. That was felt to be a good idea.
· Forward tees – Cindy Bingham clarified that the forward tees are not rated for men. She stated that the reason she suggested changing the color to change the perception that the red tees are just for women. Carl Blanchard stated that the additional cost of changing the tee color is not worth the change. Especially when you consider that all of the tee signs would need to be changed to reflect the change in color. Cindy admitted that she did not think of having to change the tee signs and agreed that it is not worth that effort at this time.
Discuss Possible Future Agenda Items:
- Carl Blanchard suggested having a customer survey done in season as opposed to the survey conducted in the consultant’s report. Mark O’Brien suggested we should do something within the next week and keep it to one side of an index card. Mark, Anne, and Carl will put the survey together and do it next week.
- Cindy Bingham suggested we start thinking about rates. Mark O’Brien stated that he would like to have the green fee rates established by the end of November and the AFP rates by the end of December so that there will then be sufficient time to have them reviewed and approved by the Selectmen. It was decided that this would be on the agenda for the October meeting.
- Ed Pavlu asked about having a membership drive on a future agenda.
Approval of past meeting minutes:
- Judy McCarthy made a motion to approve the minutes of the July 15, 2014 meeting, seconded by Carl Blanchard. Motion approved 6-0-1 (Cindy Bingham abstained).
Topics the Chair did not anticipate:
- Mark O’Brien brought up having the off-season membership again. He recommends that we do. Last year the rates were $349 for resident full, $599 for a non-resident full, and $149 for a resident twilight.
- Cindy Bingham asked about figures for renewal rates for those that did the off-season membership. Mark O’Brien stated he did not have that figure, but he guessed it was about 90%.
- Carl Blanchard asked about having the same rate for residents and non-residents. It was felt for a number of reasons that we should still have a separation between the resident and non-resident rates.
- Cindy Bingham made a motion to have the following rate schedule for the off-season memberships: $299 – resident full; $149 – resident twilight; $399 – non-resident full; $249 – non-resident twilight. Jeff Odell seconded the motion. Motion approved unanimously.
- Cindy Bingham asked Mark if he could track the renewal rate of these new members. He said he could and will get the Commission the renewal rates from last year’s off-season members.
- Jeff Odell made a motion to have the off-season full memberships mirror the restrictions of the current “Morning” membership. Cindy Bingham seconded the motion. The vote on the motion was 1-6-0. Motion failed to carry.
- Cindy Bingham asked about the Coke machine and if it was going to be filled. Mark O’Brien reported that it is filled.
- Cindy Bingham asked about moving the ball washer on 18 Starboard to the other side of the tee. Pete will look into it.
- Cindy Bingham asked about extra paper receipts from the register. Mark O’Brien will look into reducing that paper usage.
Ed Pavlu made a motion, seconded by Judy McCarthy to adjourn the meeting. The motion was approved unanimously.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mark O’Brien, Director of Operations