Minutes 01-22-04Minutes of the Golf Course Advisory Board Meeting Held Thursday, January 22,
the deck of The Links' clubhouse. ~--..~ -~
Board Members Present:
Art Matthews, Chairman, City Member
Jim Smith, Vice Chairman, County Member
Herb Suss, City Member ~..
Corrado Giangreco, City Alternate
Bill McCarty, City Member ~' ~'~
Diana Johnson, City Member
Kurt Bressner, Ex-officio Member
Board Members Absent:
Dan Winters, County Member
Robert Lee, City Alternate
Others Present:
Joe Sciortino, Golf Director
Dan Hager, Head Golf Professional
Dale Sugerman, Assistant City Manager
Mike Pawelczyk, Assistant City Attorney
Freda DeFosse, Assistant to the Golf Director
- ... Scott Wahlin, Greens Superintendent
Tom Egnaczyk, Assistant Greens Superintendent
Mr. & Mrs. Edward Ferraro
Chairman Matthews called the meeting to order at 3:02 pm. Chairman Matthews called
the roll and noted that Dan Winters, Robert Lee, and Diana Johnson were not in
attendance. (Diana Johnson arrived about 10 minutes later). Chairman Matthews made
sure that everyone had a copy of the agenda.
Mr. Suss moved to approve the agenda as presented, seconded by Mr. McCarty and
passed 4-0 (Ms. Johnson had not arrived yet).
Chairman Matthews announced that the board was about to receive a presentation by the
Assistant City Attorney, Mike Pawelczyk.
Mr. Pawelczyk, gave a brief background of his history with the City of Boynton Beach
and the golf course. He explained that his task was to speak to each Advisory Board in
the City and give a brief overview of the Sunshine Law, public records, and code of
ethics.
Mr. Pawelczyk said that the main reason for the Sunshine Law is that government wants
to have open government. The legislature wants everyone to know what the counties and
municipalities are doing.
Mr. Pawelczyk passed out a copy of the statute to board members and anyone else in
attendance that wanted a copy. There was an attachment included that contained
information regarding public information and code of ethics.
Mr. Pawelczyk stated that the Sunshine Law applied to the gathering of two or more
members of the same board who discuss a matter that may potentially come before the
board. Board members are not supposed to discuss issues that could potentially come
before the board. As an individual board member, one can have discussions with staff,
officials, or the public regarding issues that could come before the board. Staff, officials,
public, etc. are not to pass this conversation to other board members or to act as a
conduit in any way. The Sunshine Law also states that meetings must be open to the
public. Reasonable notice should be posted for each meeting. The rule of thumb on
posting of the notice is 72 hours in advance of the meeting with the exception of
emergency matters. Minutes must be taken, though not necessarily verbatim. If a sub-
committee meets they are subject to the same requirements.
Concerning public records, Mr. Pawelczyk stated that public records included tapes, any
notes taken, agendas, documents, audio visual, photographs, e-mails or anything done
in conjunction with the board is considered public records. There are some exceptions,
but few.
Chairman Matthews asked if there was a time limit as to how long public records had to
been retained for public access.
Mr. Pawelczyk said that if the records were there, they had to be surrendered.
Mr. Ferra.ro asked if there was access to public records pertaining to this golf course and
if he could get them, and if they were all there?
Mr. Pawelczyk stated that he was allowed to get them, but he was not aware of all the
records.
Mr. Suss asked as a point of order if Mr. Ferraro was allowed to interrupt Mr. Pawelczyk's
presentation to the board?
Chairman Matthews ruled that people in the audience must wait until after the meeting to
get information about the presentation.
Mr. Pawelczyk agreed that it was up to the board to allow non board members the right to
interject questions or comments into the meeting.
Mr. Pawelczyk also stated that there were civil and criminal penalties for violation of the
Sunshine Law.
Concerning the code of ethics, Mr. Pawelczyk reminded all board members that they are
public officials who hold public office. Public officials or their families are not to do
business with their government with a few exceptions. If in doubt, Mr. Pawelczyk
recommended that his office be contacted before proceeding to avoid a potential
violation. Board members should not accept gifts as public officials to avoid an
appearance of impropriety. Board members were warned about misuse of public
position. Dual office holding is not permitted.
Mr. Pawelczyk stated that any questions should go through Joe Sciortino to Mr.
Pawelczyk's office. Mr. Pawelczyk then discussed voting conflicts and break of the
public's trust such as misuse of public funds.
Mr. Sugerman asked Mr. Pawelczyk to go over the right of the public to speak at a public
meeting. Mr. Pawelczyk responded by saying that the public had the right to attend but
not the right to speak at a public meeting. Officials were allowed to grant the public the
right to speak but are not required to do so unless it is a public hearing.
Mr. Suss expressed his displeasure at someone from the public directly sending mail to
his home. Mr. Pawelczyk responded that he had a right to be displeased but his address
is a matter of public record.
The board thanked Mr. Pawelczyk for his presentation.
Chairman Matthews then moved to public audience and suggested that the board listen
to Mr. Ferraro who had a complaint concerning the golf course. He noted (as did other
board members) that he had received a letter from Mr. Ferraro mailed to his home. He
stated that Mr. Ferraro should have the opportunity to add something to his letter and by
listening to his grievance the board could fulfill it's role.
Mr. McCarty questioned if this issue was the one that Mr. Sciortino had already
addressed.
Mr. Sciortino answered by first explaining the boards long standing history of permitting
the public to voice their opinions or concerns about the golf course or it's operation. He
said that he spoke to Mr. Ferraro on the telephone at length. Since Mr. Ferraro was not
satisfied with his reply, Mr. Sciortino informed Mr. Ferraro that he could take his
complaint to the Golf Course Advisory Board. Previously Mr. Ferraro was not aware of
the public's many opportunities to share their concerns and opinions about the golf
course.
Mr. Ferraro proceeded to explain that he felt that their foursome had been harassed and
discriminated against on January 10th, 2004 during a round of golf on the Championship
Course. He stated that they got angry, and rightfully so, but he denied that they cursed at
any employees. He voiced his displeasure with the policies at the Links Golf Course.
When he started to tell of incidents he had heard of second hand, Mr. Smith objected to
hearsay and said he didn't want to hear it.
Shortly after Mr. Ferraro's time to speak had expired, Chairman Matthews pointed out
that the board had hoped to hear something new that wasn't already mentioned in his
letter but that in essence all he had done was repeat it.
Mr. Suss then expressed how much he enjoyed the facility and related that the amount of
time allotted to play the Family Course was more than ample. He pointed out that the
length of the entire nine holes of the Family Course from the forward (blue) tees was
shorter than the total length of #'s 10, 11, and 12 of the Championship Course so
therefore anyone should be able to complete the maximum time requirements of the
Family Course.
Mr. Sciortino announced his retirement that will take place on September 30th, 2004. He
stated that he wanted to pursue other avenues and that he was leaving the course in the
best of hands. He then spoke about his operating philosophies, team based
management, the history and success of the past 20 years, and he praised his staff for
their teamwork and dedication.
The board expressed its sadness concerning his retirement.
Mr. Sciortino talked about the courses constant efforts to listen to it's customers through
taking surveys and he gave the results of "The World's Easiest Survey". The surveys
simply asked "Would you recommend this course to another golfer?" He reported that
four surveys were done with the following results:
Championship Course
1/26/03 51 yes 2 no
1/28/03 73 yes 1 no
Family Course
1/8/04 49 yes 16 no
1/9/04 20 yes 2 no
Mr. Sciortino gave the first quarter results and noted that play was down compared to
last year mainly because last years first quarter was so good. He also noted that the first
quarter was approximately $9,000 dollars below projected revenue.
Mr. Sciortino also announced that Greg Richburg had accepted the responsibility of
being lea. der of the restaurant team.
There was some brief discussion concerning the rules and regulations packet brought
up by Mr. Sciortino. Mr. Sciortino pointed out Rules #23 and #24 and stated that there
should be an established guideline for any customer who might have a grievance. He
also stated that our operating philosophy should not allow a customer to abuse an
employee because they disagree with our rules and non-cooperative customers should
never be allowed to infringe upon the rights of other customers to enjoy their experience
at the Links.
Chairman Matthews suggested that the board table this issue until the next meeting so
that they might have some time to examine them more carefully.
Mr. McCarty stated that the rules and regulations were fine with him as they have been
written.
Mr. Smith made a motion that discussion of the rules and regulations be tabled until the
next meeting. Mrs. Johnson seconded the motion. Motion carried 5-0.
Chairman Matthews questioned how the project of revamping the Championship Course
tees was progressing.
Greens Superintendent Scott Wahlin replied that it was budgeted for this current fiscal
year and scheduled to be done this summer. Mr. Wahlin added that the renovation of the
Championship Course tees was one of three projects slated on this years Capital
Improvement Program list.
Mr. Sciortino added that the reason the tees were not renovated last year was that the
project was not on the City's Master CIP list but he made sure it was this year.
Mr. Wahlin continued by stating that the tee renovation project also included the practice
range tees located on both ends of the practice range, and the relocation of the practice
bunker for long bunker shots to be hit into the practice range to increase the safety
factor around our current practice area. He also stated that it is planned to resurface the
greens on the Family Course and build a new pump house.
Mr. Sciortino brought up the fact that Marry Perry has been hired to represent the
developer of the 8 acres located on the northeast corner of our property. Mr. Sciortino
said that in his conversations with Marty Perry that his position on the eight acres is non-
negotiable. Mr. Sciortino restated to Mr. Perry that he wanted $250,000 for #'s 3, 4, and 5
on the Family Course to take the storm water run off from that piece of property. They
would be responsible for all the engineering and permitting. This would be done with the
understanding that the lakes would not be changed to point of affecting the playability of
the golf course.
Mr. Suss questioned the wet spots on the golf course.
Mr. Wahlin said that the poor drainage in those areas needed to be treated with gypsum,
sodium chloride and urea. He said they were currently addressing the problem.
Ms. Johnson suggested that when the next meeting was held to discuss playing
privileges and the appeals process that someone from legal and someone from the City
Manager's office be present at the meeting. All agreed.
Mr. McCarty made a motion that the meeting be adjourned, seconded by Mr. Suss and
passed 5-0.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:25 pm.
Re~spectfully submitted,
Dan Hager, He'~d Golf Professional
Orig: Central File
Cc: Kurt Bressner, City Manager
Golf Course Advisory Board Members
P.B.C. Commissioners
Dennis Eschelman, P.B.C. Parks & Rec. Director
Dept. File