The following are the minutes of the Brewster Golf Commission held on 3/13/2012 at the Captains Golf Course. The meeting was called to order at 4:00 PM by Cindy Bingham.
Commissioners present: Rob Harris, Chairman
Cindy Bingham, Vice-Chair
Lori Arnold
Jeff Odell
Marc Fontaine
Jim Ehrhart
Staff present: Mark O’Brien, Director of Operations
Steve Mann, Superintendent
Others Present: Jim Foley, Selectmen liaison
Judy McCarthy, Women’s 18-Hole Association
Orin Segall
R. Harris requested that C. Bingham chair the meeting as he has been away for a couple of weeks and is not up to speed on the agenda.
Report from Back Nine Café:
Antonella Fernandes, co-owner of The Back Nine Café’, reported that they plan on opening on March 17th. They do not have there liquor license as yet as there was a delay caused by the State’s confusion about the availability of a liquor license due to the license still being in the name of Casual Gourmet. That has been rectified and the liquor license should be in place by the end of the month. Antonella said that she has booked about 60 events for the pavilion so far this year. C. Bingham asked Mark O’Brien about the status of lights in the parking lot and he said that he has received three bids and that he was close to executing a contract with a vendor.
Association Reports: None
Friends of the Captains:
J. Odell reported the organization has over $2,000 in their account after paying the IRS $400 in organizational set up fees. He is working with Snow’s regarding the purchase of chairs for the patio.
Director of Operations Report (Mark O’Brien):
M. O’Brien presented the financials for February. Good weather and good play, but not as much outside play as last year due to the fact that all the off-Cape courses have been open all winter.
M. O’Brien reported that the web cam is now live; the carpeting project is complete; we bought some new grid wall for the pro shop but not much will be needed as far as pro shop fixtures; he is scheduled to meet with the Fin Com tomorrow to review the FY13 budget; newsletter articles are due by March 25th; and he will be on vacation from March 16th through March 25th.
M. O’Brien presented a proposal to allow “Morning” AFPs to walk-on into open tee times during restricted times and pay a $20 fee, as long as there is no “Early” AFP or non-member on the wait list.
R. Harris made a motion, seconded by J. Ehrhart, to approve the above proposal. Motion approved unanimously.
M. O’Brien presented a proposal to allow “Twilight” AFPs to play in all Captains’ sponsored tournaments, i.e. member-guest; member-member; couples championship; club championship; parent-child; and women’s one-day. This would not apply to Association tournaments.
J. Odell made a motion, seconded by R. Harris to approve the above motion. J. Odell amended the motion not to include the club championship, seconded by R. Harris. The vote was none in favor.
A vote was then taken on the main motion. The vote was none in favor.
A suggestion from Ed Mahan was discussed to allow the “Early” AFPs to call in for prior to 9:00 a.m. tee times one hour earlier than the other AFPs. M. O’Brien reported that he checked with Chelsea and they said that the system could allow the “Early” AFPs to call in earlier, but they would have to have access to all the tee times, not just the ones prior to 9:00 a.m. Therefore the suggestion could not be implemented.
A suggestion from Marty Lucenti to give a discount on the AFP fee to disabled veterans was discussed. Questions arose as to what documentation would show the disability. Therefore the item was tabled until the next meeting and M. O’Brien will contact Mr. Lucenti to see if some clarification can be provided.
A suggestion from Dave Peterson regarding AFP fees was discussed. It was decided that this will be considered when AFP fees for 2013 are considered. M. O’Brien will respond to Mr. Peterson.
A question from a potential non-resident AFP was received by M. O’Brien via email regarding the fee for a full time student under age twenty-five who is the dependent of a non-resident AFP. Currently the application form states that the junior rate is available to those 18 & under. It was decided that no action will be taken on this item until fees are reviewed for next year. M. O’Brien will respond.
A request for a benefit tournament for ‘The Friends of the Captains’ on June 4, 2012 was discussed.
J. Ehrhart made a motion, seconded by L. Arnold, to approve the tournament with an $8 cart fee charged per member and a $50 fee charge for non-members (includes green fee and cart). Five voted in favor and C. Bingham and J. Odell abstained.
Capital Improvements:
M. O’Brien explained that the capital plan currently contains only equipment replacement. However, based on discussions spurred by the consultant’s report and during the budget process, the possibility of the Town funding some course improvements has been addressed. Therefore, some course improvement projects will be incorporated into the capital plan when it is reviewed in November 2012.
Superintendent’s report (Steve Mann):
Three 40-week employees will start next week and two 32-week employees along with five 25-week employees will start in the last week of April just before aerifying begins.
Crane flies are still a problem.
We are starting to mow, which is earlier than normal.
The irrigation system will be started up in 2 – 3 weeks.
The County bid prices indicate large increases in the cost of fertilizer. About $13,000 more than our current total costs.
Canadian geese are becoming a problem on Port #14. We are looking into the possibility of stringing fishing line across the pond to keep them away.
The new FCC regulations regarding radio frequencies are going to be very costly for us mainly due to the radio transmitters for the irrigation system. S. Mann is looking into the possibility of running electrical lines from the irrigation satellites instead of the radio transmissions to see if it will be cheaper to do that.
With the new development going in adjacent to Starboard #7, S. Mann is going to look into the cost of fencing along there.
M. O’Brien reported that the Town owns land adjacent to this development that is in negotiations to be sold to the developer. The Captains will receive credit for this revenue as this property was purchased from the golf expansion bond. The revenue is expected to be between $20,000 to $30,000.
Winter Projects:
Future winter projects will include sink hole repair, cart path prep work, clubhouse interior painting, tree removal, along with the other normal maintenance procedures of top-dressing, bunker edging, equipment repair, course clean up, tee marker painting, etc. These will be determined each year by the Director of Operations and the Superintendent based on priorities at that time.
Consultant’s Report:
L. Arnold suggested that the calls to action items included in the report be identified and listed and a determination made as to the proper actions to be taken. M. O’Brien will compile a list and distribute to the Commission.
Marketing:
M. O’Brien reported that he and Lori Arnold met with Marci Tyldesley from Regan Communications about the possibility of using their services to assist with marketing and promotion. They have presented a proposal that he and Lori are currently reviewing. M. O’Brien feels that with the added monies to the advertising line item in the FY 2013 budget, an outside agency may prove to be very valuable and affordable.
Signage:
M. O’Brien along with J. Odell are going to investigate the regulations as it applies to directional signage.
Tee It Forward:
M. Fontaine reported that there is a big push regarding having players play from tees that are more suited to their abilities, and also creating new more forward tees for beginners and juniors. C. Bingham is going to check with Cape Tech about providing tee markers for placement in the fairways.
Over age 90 AFPs:
It was decided that the AFPs over 90 years of age who pay no fee will be granted “Early” AFP status. M. O’Brien is aware of only about 4 such AFPs.
Weekend Block Time:
The amount of AFP block time allotted on weekends was discussed. This will be reviewed further toward the end of April when more is known about how many AFPs there are in each category. C. Bingham asked if an hour by hour analysis of tee time utilization could be provided after the 2012 season is over. M. O’Brien responded that he could provide that information.
J. Ehrhart made a motion to adjourn, seconded by R. Harris. Motion approved unanimously.
Meeting adjourned at 6:07 p.m.
Mark O’Brien, Director of Operations