WLCC Capital Issues

To:        Wolf Laurel Country Club membership                                      

 

February, 2013

From:    Warren Johnson, President, via the Board of Directors

Re:        Capital issues 

The Board of Directors recently completed our annual winter meeting.  I have brought you up to date on what transpired regarding operation issues.  This e-mail is intended to bring you up to date on capital issues.  We re-instituted the $200.00 capital fee for 2013.  That will come to you as four $50.00 assessments beginning this year in June.  Using 2012 as the measure, those assessments will generate around $60,000.00 that will be spent on projects requiring immediate attention. The biggest of these is the Clubhouse sprinkler system.  That failed after twenty plus years, and because of North Carolina fire codes, it must be made whole.  That will require around $75,000.00 over three years beginning with a potential $37,000.00 this year. We will have an exact number for you at our June informational meeting once various tests have been concluded.  A hole in the roof of the golf maintenance building will need to be fixed.  We will finish the arbor projects on the golf course with tree cutting on numbers 6 and 8, install the second sand trap on #5, and shore up various tee boxes. We are going to have to attend to a potentially serious wash out on the cart path between the men’s and women’s tee boxes on #14, and at least partially dredge the pond of #16 so we have a water supply in the event of another draught this year. Other items also may require attention and those will be conveyed to you as the season progresses.  The total requests for this year are $122,207.00+ and we bring in around $60,000.00.  So we are going to have to learn how to spell prioritize. 

Over the years there has been talk of reconstructing the 18^th green. Probably everyone in the Club has their own views on what should be done, including doing nothing at all.  To find out, finally, what the cost would be to lower that green, we asked an expert to come and give us a number.  We did that (our only cost was his mileage) and his report was looked at and discussed at our winter meeting. It’s safe to say it’s a $50,000.00 plus issue. It’s an exciting concept and involves the re-building of that hole, tee box to green. ABSOLUTELY NO ACTION WAS TAKEN. In fact, we only discussed the project from the standpoint of donations from the membership in return for naming rights.  We have some serious capital needs involving our aging physical plant that must be attended to before any of our member’s capital assessment money should even be discussed for that project.  We all agreed, without dissent (and none of you realize how hard that is), that member input, probably in the form of a special meeting, would be required before anything of that magnitude would be undertaken.  So you can rest assured, so long as this Board is in place, no earth moving equipment is going to arrive in the middle of the night, under a full moon, and start digging.    

Lots of Clubs in our area and around the state and nation are really under pressure these days.  We get reports of rather dramatic actions taken by leadership involving large assessments both on the operation and capital sides.  This Board is very responsible in the management of our money.  Nothing was taken lightly when we reviewed our needs.  We are all in this together, policy makers and members. The rough seas have not yet calmed, but our hope is that the waves are not as large and menacing as they have been since 2008.