CITY OF NORWALK OAK HILLS PARK AUTHORITY REGULAR MEETING AUGUST 18, 2016 ATTENDANCE: Jerry Crowley, Vice Chairman; Joseph Kendy Jr.; Clyde Mount; Elsa Peterson Obuchowski; Jane Walters; William Waters; Patricia Williams STAFF: Shelly Guyer, Executive Director; Jim Schell, Golf Course Superintendent; Edward Ruiz, Head Golf Professional; Walter Englert, Accountant CALL TO ORDER Vice Chairman Crowley called the meeting to order at 7:30 p. m. A quorum was present. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES ** MR. MOUNT MOVED TO ACCEPT THE JULY, 21, 2016 MINUTES. ** MS. WILLIAMS SECONDED THE MOTION. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY WITH ONE ABSTENTION (MR. KENDY.) PUBLIC COMMENT Mr. Charlie Brennan, President of Oak Hills Men s Golf Association, came forward report on the two man tournament that happened last week. He stated that everything went great. He thanked Mr. Guyer for getting the tee times. He thanked Mr. Ruiz and his staff for the course set up. Everybody that played had a great time. People not familiar with the course that said they are looking forward to playing it next year. EXECUTIVE SESSION The authority went into executive session at 7:32 p. m. and returned at 8:15 p. m. LEGAL COMMITTEE Atty. Kendy spoke to the question of charitable contributions. His understanding is that we do not own the land so we cannot form a 501(c) 3. The objective was for people to be able to make contributions to Oak Hills and have it be tax deductible. One important question is - are we a city agency, commission, or a hybrid between the state and the city. He stated that in the next couple of weeks we will address this question. If we are a government agency, contributions will not be tax deductible. Page 1 of 5
He took up an older issue, is whether the and its members are indemnified by the city for personal claims that are made against them. In the city charter, there are a number of city agencies and commissions that are listed that were indemnified but is not one of them. He wants to clarify that so Oak Hill members know where they stand. Walter Englert stated that he called the Parks & Recreation Department and found out that they don t accept cash. He provided print outs from the IRS.gov website. He stated that if you follow chain from the IRS to the ordinance that created the and Connecticut statutes, then Oak Hills Park Authority is part and parcel of the city of Norwalk. Discussion followed on the necessity to provide advanced notice of the Oak Hills lease expiring. The current lease is five years and will be expiring in 2017. CHAIRMAN S REPORT Chairman DesRochers was not present. No Chairman s report was given. PRO S REPORT Mr. Ruiz reported that we have had a good season except for the weather. The Men s Club Championship and the Women s Club championship were both successful events. Food and beverage was an important part of each event. Vendors are doing on site golf cart demonstrations. The current carts do not last five years even though the lease is for a five year period. One of the vendors has smart technology in carts that gives a large amount of information on how much the cart has been used, where the cart has gone, and suggests increasing or decreasing usage in order to minimize overall maintenance. Two more payments need to be made for the current carts. It is possible that the remaining payments could be bought out in the process of signing a new lease. Mr. Ruiz left the meeting at 8:42 p. m. Atty. Kendy left the meeting at 8:44 p. m. SUPERINTENDENT S REPORT Mr. Schell stated that everything is going well. The recent rain has been very good. The hot weather has required the use of some new chemicals to maintain the grass. They are working. A company has been contracted to fix the gates. Work will start in 4-6 weeks. Page 2 of 5
Mr. Schell stated that he put together a list of capital projects that need to be done in the next five to ten years. A new welcome sign is needed at the front entrance. An underground propane tank is needed on thirteen. Crack repair and curbing needs to be done in the parking lot. Restaurant improvements need to be made. The roof eventually needs to be replaced. The bathrooms have plumbing issues. The sewer line to the sewer pit has been backed up. At the rental house, the driveway, fence, garage, and walls need to be repaired. The kitchen is outdated. The fence at hole number four has to be fixed as well as the steps to hole number four. New wash pads have to be installed. The maintenance facility needs a new roof. Discussion followed about the urgency of each project and Mr. Schell stated he would put together the list with each item in order of importance. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR S REPORT Mr. Guyer stated that rounds are up 2%. Revenue is up 6.7% Calendar YTD numbers are looking good. There have been increases in senior play as well as non-resident rounds. Golf Now s numbers are better than Tee Off numbers. Tee Off rounds are part of non-resident numbers. Tennis/Restaurant Liaison Committee No report was given. Operations Committee Grant Progress Report COMMITTEE REPORTS AND DISCUSSIONS The grant has been awarded, but the contract still needs to be signed by the mayor and the vendor. Work will begin in mid-october. The Fountain Garden and the Great Lawn could be started first. The bids for the buildings were no good. They did not meet requirements. Finance Committee Ms. Williams stated that cash is up $71,000 over the prior year. Accounts Payable is up $21,000. Golf Revenue is up $13,000 over the previous year. Personnel benefits are up $8,500. Administrative expenses are up $8,000. Park Maintenance is up $12,000 with $9,000 of that needing to be reclassified to June. Overall for the month, operating income is down $9,000 from the previous year. The bill for utilities is $3,800. That amount is high for utilities and there may be an error. Marketing Committee Page 3 of 5
Ms. Walters stated that an advertisement has been put in the Hour newspaper. Rediscover Oak Hills is a theme that has been used for a few years. She stated that Play Oak Hills might be a good slogan to use for now and save Rediscover Oak Hills next year when improvements are completed. She stated that sending out construction updates in emails with before and after photos would be a way to maintain member interest in the improvements that are being made to the course. Discussion followed on the construction schedule. Mr. Schell stated that it may be possible to find out what order each area will be worked on, but it will be difficult to find out exact dates that work will be completed. Mr. Mount stated that taking the before pictures soon, preparing the emails in advance, and dropping in the after photos later will allow for the emails to be sent out quicker. Human Resources/Policy Committee No report was given. Master Plan Committee/Nature Advisory Committee Ms. Obuchowski stated that the budget for the nature area is $200,000, and one of the bids came in at $320,000. The other bid was non-conforming, so we did not go with it. It is going out to bid again, and will be opened on August 24, 2016. The top priorities for the plan are 1) site work and hardscape including the south end of the nature trail 2) infrastructure electric and water getting the fountain renovated and the stone wall fixed 3) trees, shrubs, and plants. We continue to work on getting Identification Tags for the plants. Our needs would come out to costing about $1,000 to $1,500. She stated that she looked at the plaques inside the building at Earth Place in Westport. They were done by a professional artist. They are not what we are looking for but are something to think about in the future. Ms. Williams asked Mr. Mount if the brick walkway is on hold while we figure out the 501(c) 3 situation. He stated that he has all the paperwork, and we would have to see how it would fit with Ms. Obuchowski s design. Ms. Williams stated that the walkway up to the pro shop would be a good location. Mr. Schell stated that there were a number of options on where to put it. Ms. Williams suggested that it could be used to support the bathrooms. It was discussed that the money to replace the bathrooms could be included in the grant or it could be outside of the grant. It would cost $50,000 outside of the grant, and it would have to be decided where the money would come from. The expense of other capital improvements would have to be considered, as well what they would cost. That money may have to be set aside instead of using it for the bathrooms. Page 4 of 5
OLD BUSINESS No old business was brought forward. NEW BUSINESS No new business was brought forward. ** MR. MOUNT MOVED TO ADJOURN. ** MS. WALTERS SECONDED THE MOTION. ** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. The meeting was adjourned at 9:33 p. m. Respectfully submitted, Tom Blaney Telesco Secretarial Services ADJOURNMENT Page 5 of 5