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Home My Public Portal AboutGAC Committee Minutes 9-14-11 McCall Golf Course Advisory Committee September 14th, 2011 Minutes Attendees: Eric McCormick, James Johnson, Bob Gile, Ron Noble, Robyn Grove and Ben Reeder. Superintendant’s Report – Eric McCormick Staffing – The staff was reduced at the end of August. 4 full time, 6 full time seasonal and 3 part time seasonal make up the current crew. Hours per week were also reduced on all employees. Equipment – Eric has been working on purchasing a used JD1545 to replace the JD1145 mower/blower. The new machine is a demo machine with a flex deck, cab & heater and would be a significant upgrade. There was discussion of auctioning the old piece of equipment. We as a council had discussion on the benefits of trying to lease equipment versus an outright purchase. With city provisions and budgeting we determined this was really not an option. The equipment has been working fine throughout the year, really a tribute to the work the mechanic has put in. Greens – Greens were verticut since our last meeting and they have been in great shape all month. Crew has done their normal fertilization and growth regulator applications. The fungicide applications have been reduced this month. We did lose a tree on Aspen # 5 on Monday night and that has been cleaned up and removed. Cart Paths – Seal coating was going on at the time of our meeting. Cedar had been completed and Aspen/Birch were to be completed, weather dependent, on Friday. They look great and were needed. LOT funds contributed $20K and the men’s club an additional $10K. Mosquitoes – Eric fogged once in August and the machine has been put to bed for the winter. Irrigation – We have been using less water and power this month. Actually had to use all three wells this month but the water use was still down. The compost application last fall is helping with this. Also, the irrigation system is paid off in this year’s budget. Fairways – The fairways are back in good shape. Between tournaments the crew was able to spray for broadleaf weeds. It is looking like we will be able to use the PCNB again this fall. This is the snow mold chemical that the EPA put a stop sale on last year. Drainage – We were able to get a large amount of chip rock from the cleanup of the highway through town for no cost. This will allow us to do a number of drainage projects this fall. Professional’s Report / New Business – Allan Morrison Allan has been ill for days and was not able to attend our meeting. However, the committee did have several discussions. The last tournament was full as were the others throughout the summer. Golf rounds were slightly down again this month although we were still busy. Two of the other local courses were offering deep discounts. We as a committee had discussion on the topic. We tossed around the idea of offering a season pass sale similar to what Brundage Mountain Resort does. If someone were to purchase a season pass now at a somewhat discounted rate, that pass would also be good for the 2012 golf season in McCall. For example if I were to purchase a season pass in September of 2011, I would be good through October of 2012. There were budget concerns brought up by Eric since the fiscal year ends in October. We felt this needed more discussion and thought. We had discussion on our after 5 PM rates. There was talk of raising the price from $10 to $15 and also starting the afterhour’s rate at 6PM. Perhaps we would be able to take advantage of those people getting off of work and who are still willing to pay the full rate. If a golfer started at 6 PM from June to August they would still have plenty of time to get in 9 holes and we would save an hour on our peak times. The women’s association has agreed to move their night to Thursday. This was originally scheduled for Tuesdays. Thanks to their willingness to move we are able to take advantage of Jug Mountain being closed on Tuesdays by offering a full day of available tee times. The women have also donated $1700 to clean out the ponds on Birch 6 and Aspen 7. Two new ball washers will be purchased from this money as well. Discussion from the women’s association also included mowing the fairways a bit closer to the tee box on Aspen 9 and Birch 9. Finally we as a committee discussed perhaps the need for the Pro Shop staff to require a credit card with every tee time reservation. This would prevent a person from making tee times and then no-showing which hurts the golf course revenue wise. Guests would be responsible for tee times that are made regardless if they show or not. The meeting was adjourned at 6 PM.