Board Book 2023

Grounds Committee Minutes

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Date:

Jim Kiker, Dave Caro, Jerry Lowe, Gary Volino, Peter Fausel, Gary Heusel, Mike Sullivan, Seth Crawford, TJ Mangold, Kay Taylor, Jessica Shaw

Present:

Chair Andy Dunn, Vice Chair Laurie Ann Garrett

Absent:

David Sheppard, Lukus Harvey, Shaune Achurch, Bud Taylor, Margaret Almand

SLT:

Call to order/Introductions: The meeting was called to order at 5:32 p.m. in the Hoylake Room. Lukus Harvey noted that Andy Dunn was on a business trip and asked for approval of the March 14, 2023 meeting minutes. On a motion by Mangold, second by Fausel, the minutes from the March 14, 2023 Grounds meeting were approved. Board Report – David Sheppard: Mr. Sheppard gave the board report as follows. We had a busy weekend with Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday and the Northside Hospital Monday outing with 288 players. It is their biggest fund raiser and they have been with us for 30 years. The East Lake Soiree on May 6 was a great event with 170 members attending. Chad Parker and his team at East Lake did a wonderful job. Chef Eric is using the Kamodo Joe Grill for preparing brisket on the Troon Lawn on Thursday and Friday nights to take pressure off the Troon kitchen. We will roll out a new Troon Grill menu on May 23. Merion business has picked up with 40 to 50 covers on Friday and Saturday nights. The pool will open this weekend with buffet service only. We tried stationary bev carts and our sales decreased so we will have two roaming carts on 14 holes on both courses and there will be a stationary beverage station at the restroom on the back nine of both courses. The halfway house will serve as another stationary venue. We continue to have staffing challenges especially with culinary. We hired two managers: Devlin Wilkie Page as our Restaurant Manager and Collin Krull-McAteer as an Assistant Aquatic Director. Jonathan Lee has been able to hire a good team of lifeguards this summer. Stefanie and the Timbers had record numbers for summer camps last summer and camps are full again this year. We were able to hire, with the assistance of Goodwin and Associates search firm, a new CFO and CHRO. Matt Simmons will be our new CFO. He worked for Touch Point which provides food service for hospitals. Joel Meyers will be our new CHRO. He worked for HEI Hotels and Resorts who operates the Avalon and hotels in Savannah, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Tampa. Both will start in early June. Director of Golf Update – Bud Taylor: Bud Taylor reported that we have a new Senior Champion, Neal Hendee. He beat Craig Kitchin in a 4-hole playoff. Bud hopes to hire a part time Golf Professional to help with outside services. Bud then reviewed the KPI data for April. Riverside had 88% utilization and Highlands had 70%. We were under budget by 37% for total rounds with 3000 due to the wet weather in April; guest rounds were 293 below budget spread between Highlands and Riverside. Our merchandise per round was higher with $45.58/round vs. $32/round. Payroll was $26/round vs. budget of $18.90/round. Our Cost of Sales was on budget at 65%. Our monthly P&L was 14% better than