My Soap Box (feel free to ignore)

I know that a lot of people were very disappointed that the club closed two days after a positive meeting.  I don’t know how to explain why except to say there was no money in the bank to make payroll if we stayed open one more day.  You may want to know what is going to keep that from happening again and my answer would be membership.  Judge Guinta had a great idea about the membership banning together to get what they want.  We are totally in favor of that idea and will even offer to take it one step further with the capital improvement fund administered by a group of members chosen by the members.  I certainly am not placing blame on the membership for the club being closed, I will be the first to admit that the current owners made lots of mistakes and that is why the club is closed.  What I am trying to say is that without membership and feedback no one will be successful here.  We are not a resort or an amusement park that can depend on outside revenue in order to stay open.  We are a community with a club and we have to embrace it and make it ours by financially supporting it or take the chance that it will always look as it does now or worse.  Dan, Walter and I are currently working on a business plan and will be ready to present it in the near future.  We are using the feedback from emails and comments on this blog and it is a work in progress.  What we don’t want to do is stand up and say the same old same old.  We want people to know we have heard and addressed their concerns but at the same time we don’t want to make promises than cannot be kept without a minimum amount of support.  We know what that minimum is and each pledge gets us closer to that goal.

I have certainly gone back and forth thinking that the HOA needs to do something.  At this time I don’t feel like anyone should be assessed anymore than they currently are for dues and especially those who, no matter if you gave it to them would not utilize any of the clubs amenities.  Please don’t have the attitude that since your neighbor doesn’t want to do it you won’t.  The fact that they can’t or won’t be a part of the club shouldn’t matter.  If we took a long hard look at those people who have no interest we would probably find people who can’t afford it, people who for religious reasons don’t want to take part in any of the activities, those who aren’t healthy enough to enjoy the amenities and many many other reasons that for them are very valid.  If we wait to support the club until everyone in the community does, nothing will ever happen.  Let’s don’t use that as an excuse.  It won’t take the entire community, just a majority of it.  Let’s just hope we can build the club back to the fun place it was a few years ago.  Let’s not make them come, let’s make them want to come.  That will take more than just new management.  It will take new customers, customers with new ideas, customers making management accountable, management being loyal to its customers, and customers being loyal to its club. 

I want everyone to know that this is my blog and although I don’t want to do any more damage than has already been done, I need an outlet.  Several people have stated that they would like to see, in a former member’s words, “a cleaning of the house”.   When I say we I am including Walter and I and Dan Rhine in alot of cases.  If this is a deal breaker for potential members, please just go ahead and say it.  Walter has the desire to be the golf pro here.  Walter did not ask for the GM position, he was left with it.  He didn’t want to be in charge of the golf course maintenance he was forced into it because of the lack of money to hire a Superintendant.  We have lived here for over 15 years and do not want to move on but we are willing to do that if that is what it takes to get this club open.  Believe me or not, the fight in me comes as much as a home owner that lives in a community that has a closed club as it does from my husband not being employed here.  Sure I want him to be the Pro here because that is what he wants but I do know that he is going to support his family where ever he is.  I don’t agree that there needs to be an entire house cleaning, there are several employees that I would love to see back here once the club is opened but people need to be working where their expertise is and not just where they can fill a spot. 

As a business owner myself and the fact that my business is looking at other business’ accounting, I know that times are tough.  When I started my business my main clientele was from the construction and construction related business.  A lot of those clients have gone out of business and a lot of them who needed me once a week, now get by with once a month or once a quarter.  I have had to think outside the box and market myself to other types of business.  The golf course does not have that luxury.  It still has to be a golf course.  That doesn’t mean that it can’t concentrate on other activities but without the golf course income, it doesn’t make sense to stay in business. 

The rumor board has it that exorbitant paychecks were being handed to people and that is also not true.  Walter was the highest paid employee and if you consider $60K a year with no other benefits for the number of hours and the amount of responsibility he was given too much then so be it.  He was the only investor that took a paycheck from the business. 

Another thing I would like to clear up is the “value” of the club.  An email was sent by a former member to several people stating that the assessed value by the property appraiser is $1,562,300.00 and $39,286.00.  I am not sure where he got the $39K.  Plantation Oaks GC, Inc. owns 3 parcels the 2 of them are assessed at $35K each and the $1.5 million dollar property has a mistake on the property appraiser’s website.  If you care enough to look, notice the Building column and you will see they left a zero off of the building value.  I assure you they did not leave it off of the tax bill.  So the true assessed value is $1.7 million for a total of $1,819,500.00.  As most people know the property appraiser does not assess property at true market value and even if they did, there are many other variables involved in calculating the value of a business property.  The property appraiser only values the land and improvements such as buildings, sidewalks and such.  I add this tidbit just in case any of you were interested in buying the property for what he says it’s worth.  He is correct in many things in his email; one being we all need to pull together.  Let’s do it in a way that is supportive of the community which incidentally has a golf course sitting right in the middle of it.  Our community is not the only one that has found itself in this situation.  All you have to do is Google failing golf courses and you will have more reading than you can do in a week. 

None of us like to pay for insurance but it’s just one of the necessary evils of protecting our valuables and our family’s financial wellbeing upon our death.  Is it too much of a stretch to have you consider a membership in the club a form of property and community insurance? 

I am sorry if this rant has offended anyone.  My intention was not to do so.

Theenie