BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MONARCH AT ROYAL HIGHLANDS, INC. August 26, 2016

Transcription

1 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MONARCH AT ROYAL HIGHLANDS, INC. August 26, 2016 A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Monarch at Royal Highlands, Inc. was held at 8:00am in the Great Hall Meeting Room. Those present: Harry Taylor, Marshall Leich, Dick Therrien, Gene Sass, Diane Christie and Ann Carter. Also in attendance was Sam Floyd from Par for the Course Management, Linda Eaton, Monarch Food & Be4verage Director, Craig Misch, Monarch Head Golf Professional and Terry Stephenson, Monarch Superintendent. Terry Neikirk, Linda Gietz and Ray Smith were absent. Minutes of the August 12, 2016 meeting were approved. Treasurer s Report Linda Gietz The Monarch at Royal Highlands, Inc. Treasurer's Report 08/26/16 Account Account Type Bank APY Balance Cash - Operating - Available Checking Sun Trust 0.01% 35, Petty Cash Currency Office Safe 0.00% 1, Capital Reserve 17, * Ford Interest Advantage Note/Checking Ford Interest Advantage 1.05% 95, Non Operating Investment Account Bonds Raymond James 3.11% 41, Non Operating Investment Account CD Raymond James 0.95% 12, Non Operating Investment Account Cash Raymond James 0.02% 2, ,305,36 Change from 08/12/16 Report (20,125.31) * The Capital Reserve account has been deducted from the checking account to reflect the correct total. Sun Trust Loan 5.15% 1,111, Restaurant Expansion Loan 0.15% 3,129.09

2 Terry Stephenson Superintendent Terry was asked to attend the Board meeting to give us an update on the progress of the course: DryJett - Five (5) greens will be completed. Terry is waiting from the company to schedule a date to have this accomplished. The cost will be approx $5,000. Transition Terry plans on moving everything forward from previous years. What has happened is the winter grass is hanging on too long which does not enable the Bermuda to grow in. By moving the dates up a couple of weeks, he is hoping this will make the transition be smoother. All aerifications will be moved up a week or two as well. This change will not impact the tournaments. They will verdicut and top dress more often. The grass on the greens will be thinner as a result of this change which will cause the ball to roll faster. Over-seeding We will be over-seeding. There was an article in the Villages paper that indicates the 680 holes there will not be over-seeded and made the decision because of their water restrictions. #6-brown spots The reason there are brown spots or dead grass is because there is no irrigation in that area. The area has been sprayed for the weeds and fertilized. #16 Ravine plants are coming along nicely, but it will take time for them to fully develop and fill in. It will continue to be a free drop until the plants are fully grown. #7 black tee box has been re-sodded. It is a difficult area to maintain because of all the trees. New Sod New sod was put down last week on holes 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 17, 18 and the putting green. These areas will be hand mowed for the next 21 days until it reaches the green s height. The grass will be cut a little higher than the rest of the greens until the roots have been established. This will help their progress as the grass was stressed when it was originally cut. Vice President Dick Therrien Capital planning Dick passed out a copy of proposed capital vs expense expenditure decision criteria to be used by the Board. These criteria will be discussed at our next meeting. Grounds Committee Dick Therrien Dick made a motion to have Bob Keating, Coreen Corbin, Craig Misch, Terry Stephenson & Sam Floyd to be members of the Grounds Committee. Ann Carter seconded the motion Motion passed. The committee met briefly and got a little input. Nothing specific has been accomplished at this time. Dick will have a meeting when a specific topic comes to surface. Membership Gene Sass Additions: None Resignations: None Change of Status: None Remaining on Leave: Bob Breen until TBD

3 Membership Gary Cormany until TBD Joann Lorson until TBD Rick Nelson until 10/1/2016 Tony Penski until 2/1/2017 Chuck Shenot until TBD Casey Case until 12/1/2016 Larry Demaline until 9/1/2016 Harry Taylor until 12/16/2016 Ron Ambrosio until 10/1/2016 Carol Smith until 1/1/2017 Denny Keller until 9/1/2016 Rick Lahrs until 11/1/2016 Terry Eckensberger until 9/1/2016 Phyllis Wagoner until 9/1/2016 Betty Danish until 11/15/16 Golf Ray Smith Ray reported there is no further progress with the survey. To date, the Labor Day event has 46 players signed up to play. The Golf Committee will begin work on the Golf Calendar at their next Golf meeting. Communication Ann Carter The numbers for the dinners from the last Board meeting through August 9th are: 8/11 Thursday Dinner Special (Lasagna-24) 46 - $828, Bar $344 = $1,172 8/12 Friday Dinner Special (Seared Tuna Steak-17) 48 - $867, Bar $245 = $1,112 8/16 Tuesday Dinner Special (Chicken Pot Pie-9) 13-$262, Bar $61 = $323 8/18 Thursday Dinner Special (Meatloaf-20) 56-$752, Bar $273 = $1,025 8/19 Friday Dinner Special (Oven Roasted Cod-27) 68-$1,031, Bar $202 = $1,233 8/20 Private Party 65 - $1,780, Bar $856 = $2,639 8/23 Tuesday Dinner Special (Thai Chicken-5) -9- $138, Bar $131 = $269 Note these numbers include the pizza sales & miscellaneous food sales from the Pro Shop For the period of 8/11 thru 8/23 (11 business days) 65- pizzas were sold Average of 6/day The specials and events for the first half of September are: Tuesday s Dinners September 6-Liver & Onions with bacon, Mashed Potato & Vegetable $11.99 September 13-BBQ Baby Back Ribs with Baked Beans & Coleslaw $15.99 Thursday s Dinners

4 September 1-Homemade Meatloaf with Mashed Potato & Green Beans $12.99 September 8-Country Fried Steak with Mashed Potato & Vegetable $12.99 September 15-Beef Tips served over egg noodles $12.99 Friday s Dinners September 2-Seared Salmon with dill buerre blanc sauce, Roasted potato & vegetable $15.99 September 9-Crab Cakes with remoulade sauce, Rice & Vegetable $18.99 Liaison Ann Carter Question: Why can't the Board reduce the mortgage payment to Sun Trust (meaning pay the mortgage off more slowly) and build a fund for contingencies. We don't need to pay it off "sooner" while needed repairs to the Club are put off. Response: We are paying the minimum required mortgage payment now. There have been no extra payments since we renewed the mortgage in September Any new amortization schedule would need to be negotiated with the lender at the next renewal/refinance. Extending the amortization of any loan will increase the interest paid and delay payoff. Doing so will increase the payments required in the refinance in We are in the process of developing the budget for FY2017. Our cash flow this year will add to our ability to increase funding for the maintenance budget and possibly create some course improvement. However, we need to keep in mind that required maintenance, other operational costs, and capital expenditures must be paid first. Clearly, we will address course projects and will have the highest priority, because the course is the heart of our business. At the same time, we need to remember that dues, outside play rates and F&B prices must remain competitive while we are faced with rising outside costs that we cannot control. Question: Something you might want to have the board consider. I think it would be helpful if each month the members were advised of the income being generated by outside play/groups. Example Nifty Niners - # of paying players total revenue income per round Caine Group # of paying players total revenue income per round Total number of outside players total revenue income per round Total number of rounds with coupons If any other consistent large groups like Caine break them out of the general population Since we all recognize the necessity for outside play, I think the members might appreciate knowing the benefits we receive and where it comes from. This would be sort of like your monthly report on the restaurant revenues by specials at night and the bar.

5 If the time would come where the data could be compared to the same time frame the previous year that would be even better. It would show if specific aspects of revenue were up or down or the same from one year to the next. Answer: The report they are suggesting that be done monthly is an extremely time consuming report. I get and monitor that report now from our POS, but it is very hard to read and understand. The translation of that report to someone that is not familiar with our POS system is extremely difficult to explain. What I did on the July income statement that is posted on the website shows the member rounds and the total rounds, if they subtract the member rounds from the total rounds and divide that number into the green and cart fee revenue for that month, they will come up with the actual revenue per paid round. The previous months total rounds had comp and trade rounds in it which skewed the proper calculation. July going forward is correct. There is only so much information and reports that I can provide and making changes to our current Income Spreadsheet has too many formulas tied to it from other reports within my computer. What is currently being provided, along with the rounds report that was given to the Board last month is all that can be done. Questions & Answers from Informational Meeting on August 15, 2016 At the Information Meeting on 8/15/2016, several questions were asked that I will address below: 1. Q. There has been research indicating that we may not need to spend large amounts of money to replace our greens as outlined in our expected capital requirements. Can we get outside expert advice on the matter, and should we form a committee to address the issue? A. Dick Therrien has been appointed to head a committee that will address this issue as well as other issues with the condition of the course. Outside expert advice will be sought. Bob Keating has volunteered to assist in this effort. 2. Q. Why are the greens in poor condition, and what can be done about improving their condition? A. A. We experienced a bad transition this year as we do in many years. One of the major problems we have with the spring transition is that we wait so long to start the process. In order to have grass on the greens to accommodate heavy outside play and our own major tournaments, we begin the transition in early May. By then, the winter grass suppresses the summer grass that would properly emerge earlier. Then we got hit with very hot and dry weather that lasted through July. Finally, we got some rain in August. We will try to improve the schedule in next year's calendar. As we have reported in a Liaison letter to one member and in the last board minutes, we will put sod in the bare spots now that we have completed the aerification. I expect to see some new sod beginning next week. 3. Q. Why are we not spending more on course maintenance and improvements such as smoothing the cart paths? A. In the annual budgeting process, we plan on spending what is reasonable and anticipated. We are constrained by what we think the members will accept for their dues, what outsiders will pay, and what we can sell in the Pro Shop and Crown and Shield. We must subtract the cash we will need to cover our capital needs such as new equipment and capital payments on some leases and principal payments on our loans. The rest goes to each department to pay for operational expenses and purchased goods and

6 services. Beyond that, we must set aside money for contingencies and future capital needs. This year, we are better than budget at this point. However some of the "extra" money will disappear, because we are in our slow season, and we have some unexpected maintenance problems such as on the mower we use for the rough areas. Since the meeting, we received a quote for the cart path smoothing. The quote is for a total of $15,123. We got a breakdown, by hole, of the total. We will review this and decide what can be put in the budget. 4. Q We have been told that we cannot talk to anyone on the staff except through the Member Liaison, Ann Carter. Why? A. A Member Liaison was set up to facilitate communication with the club and to be sure action is taken by the proper person in a timely manner. There was no restriction about talking to others. Ann will release a new e-blast restating this position in the same language as before except to update Ann's. address (akcarter554@gmail.com). 5. Q. In response to Ray Smith's discussion regarding the Golf Committee's survey that seeks to improve member participation in the weekend events, it was asked if we could find a way to better recognize individual play rather than just team play. A. The original intent of the weekend couples outings was to just have fun, not just normal, competitive play. However, the Golf Committee will see if there is a way to introduce gross/net or other form of recognizing excellent performance. 6. Q. Why are the roughs so long, especially on #'s 5 and 12, and can they be cut shorter? A. Most of the rough areas on the course are cut to 1.5 inches. That will continue. The longer areas are cut to about 4 inches. The mower that we have been using to cut the longer grass is now down for maintenance. We have located a replacement for rent that will be available on this Friday, 8/19/206. We will start catching up then. 7. Q. Why can't we have marshals on the course to help speed up play and keep golfers from driving near the greens? Why not use volunteers? Why not have the outside players pay $1 per round? A. Volunteers would need to be well trained, would be unreliable, and the club would be liable in the case of injury or improper acts.. I would always recommend we do not use them. Well trained employees would be expensive. A single employee would cost about $7,000 for 6 months--about a one percent dues increase. Raising the price on outside rounds of play would impact our ability to remain competitive. So far, we have had very few complaints about unreasonable slowness on the course. I do not think it is economical to hire a marshal at this time. Entertainment Diane Christie The next Italian playing card bingo will be Wednesday, September 14. Name that Tune event with Barry & Nancy will be in October or November. Diane will announce when the date has been confirmed. Diane is also checking into getting a new group in the fall. Marketing Marshall Leich We will make budget this month for outside play. Marshall talked to Sam and Linda regarding marketing for the upcoming year and is in agreement with the budget for outside play, money for advertising, golf, F & B and help wanted. Marshall went over the rates for the next budget year. A new coupon is now in the Villages Sun newspaper for golf that includes lunch (choice of about 7 items) for $7.00 per person plus tax.

7 At the next meeting the Marketing Outline will be discussed in detail. Director of Operations Sam Floyd Staffing We are short one employee in Maintenance and are actively looking for a replacement. Nursery Green - The nursery green that we currently have is not usable on the greens. That was why sod needed to be purchased. Outside Play vs. free rounds Details will be provided monthly to the Board. For those that are interested, one can figure out the revenue cost per round by looking at the income statement that is furnished on the website. Take the total rounds, less member rounds = outside paid rounds. Divide that number by the green & cart fees and that will give the revenue cost per round. Ann donated $80 from notary/ebay money toward the purchase of an immersion blender for the kitchen. The previous blender broke and it is used almost every day so it was very necessary to replace. The quote to repair all the cart paths is $15, The quote is broken down hole by hole so a decision has to be made where and when this will take place if at all. This quote will also include cutting the roots around the problem areas. Dick has been asked to get with his committee and make a recommendation for the proper direction of this expense and see if the cost will fit in the new budget. Some of the high costs are the path by #9 for $4,700; the area around #8 is $1,042, #10 green & tee, $2,300. Right now this is not in the projected budget. Slab jacking was checked out and it was determined it would be cheaper to dig up the concrete than to have this process done. President Harry Taylor Course Improvements Projects for the next fiscal year are: Sand for four bunkers (at this point it has not been determined which bunkers will be done), DryJect, tree trimming, renting a leaf blower & saw for roots and two pallets of sod. The meeting adjourned at 10:06 am. The next meeting will be September 9, 2016 at 8:00AM in the Great Hall meeting room. Respectfully Submitted Ann Carter, acting for Terry Neikirk, Secretary