Minutes 03-15-02Minutes of the Golf Course Advisory Board Held Thursday, March 15, 2002 in The
Links' Restaurant
Present:
Absent:
George Barrett, Chairman, City Member
Bill McCarty, City Member
James Smith, Vice Chairman, County Member
Corrado Giangreco, City Alternate
Dan Hager, PGA, Head Professional
Scott Wahlin, CGCS, Golf Course Superintendent
Joe Sciortino, MP, Golf Director
Dan Winters, County Alternate
Art Mathews, City Member
Diana Johnson, City Member
Robert Lee, City Alternate
Chairman Barrett called the meeting to order at 3:04pm. He asked Mr. Sciortino if he
should delay the meeting further to wait for City Manager Bressner who was scheduled
to attend. Mr. Sciortino suggested that the meeting go forward since he was not sure of
Mr. Bressner's schedule or if he would be able to make the meeting. He also informed
the Board that Dan Winters and Art Mathews had both called his office to inform them
that they would not be able to make the meeting. Mr. Sciortino introduced Mr. Wahlin
and Mr. Hager and told the Board that Mr. Smith had requested that they attend today's
meeting. Chairman Barrett asked Mr. Giangreco to sit in for the absent Art Mathews as a
voting member for this meeting.
Mr. McCarty moved to accept the agenda as presented, seconded by Mr. Giangreco,
and passed 4-0.
Under announcements Mr. Sciortino told of upcoming events at The Links. He also told
the Board that the restaurant deck would be ready for a C/O inspection by next Tuesday.
Mr. Giangreco mentioned that he could get some exposure for The Concert on the
Green on his community's close circuit TV channel. George Barrett suggested that the
same might be available on Lesureville's Channel 19 station. Mr. Sciortino said he would
let the appropriate teams know this. Mr. McCarty asked what the fee for the concert
would be, and Mr. Sciortino said that that was under discussion. Mr. McCarty said in
view of the tough economic times he was in favor of the free alternative. There was
some discussion about this amongst the Board.
The Golf Director recognized the presence of Mr. Hager and Mr. Wahlin whom he had
asked to attend the meeting at the request of Vice Chairman Smith. Mr. Smith told the
Board he thought it would be nice to meet Mr. Wahlin, and to hear from Dan how the
Pace of Play program was progressing. Mr. Sciortino asked Mr. Whalin to introduce
himself to the Board and tell them a bit about his work history, which he did.
Mr. McCarty moved to accept the minutes of the November 8, 2001 GCAB meeting as
presented, seconded by Mr. Giangreco and passed 4-0.
Under the Golf Director's report, Mr. Sciortino distributed several new fact sheets. He
gave out a listing of all Links' employees by division and hire dates for general
information purposes. He discussed the daily fee customer loyalty survey that his staff
had recently conducted and its results. And he distributed a one-page summary of rates
since the course opened.
He asked if the Board had any questions about the materials he had mailed in advance
to the Board. Mr. McCarty had some concerns about the titling on the bottom of the
monthly report page as confusing. Mr. Sciortino said he would change the title to make
that column clearer. There were no other questions about the reports.
Under New Business Mr. Sciortino asked Mr. Hager to tell the Board how the Pace of
Play program was going as requested by Vice Chair Smith. Mr. Hager said that since the
authorization by the Board two years ago to write letters to repeat offenders the permit
holders had "gotten the message" as well as the daily fee players that The Links was
serious about its pace of play guidelines. He had not had to write any more letters to
permit holders, and usually the troublesome daily fee players either began cooperating
or played elsewhere in the future.
Mr. Sciortino thanked Dan and told the Board that The Links staff had been challenged
to start measuring different facets of the operation so that we could benchmark where
we were, and track the effectiveness of changes. As an example, they were now
checking daily to see if the Links met its pace of play guidelines and documenting "yes"
or "no" each day. Mr. Smith questioned if the guidelines were valid to begin with. There
was some discussion about this as well. Ultimately, all guidelines need to be reviewed
annually (or more frequently if deemed necessary) to make sure they continue to
support the course's mission of "Growing the Game and Our People". But measuring our
guidelines is a big step forward in being able to evaluate them.
Mr. McOarty asked about future plans for the restaurant. He noted that many of the
public courses in the area had upgraded their food service to "very nice restaurants",
including Delray Beach Golf Course and Westchester CC. Mr. Sciortino responded that it
is a philosophical question as to whether or not having a beautiful new restaurant is
unfairly creating competition with area businesses that pay taxes and employ people. He
felt strongly that what Delray Beach was doing, catering weddings, birthdays, and other
occasions, was not what a public entity should be engaged in. Since opening The Links'
focus has been on golf, and that is where it continued to focus. Mr. McCarty suggested
that all businesses need to change with the times to stay successful and viable. Once
again, Mr. Sciortino reiterated that this is philosophical question, not a business one. Mr.
Barrett reminded the Board that its charter limited its ability to talk about financial
concerns, and thought that the restaurant issue was over that limit.
Mr. McCarty moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Mr. Smith. The meeting was
adjourned at 4:28pm.
Respectfully su~bmitte~,,,
Joe,..,S~iort~no, MP, Golf Director