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Members Present: Matthew Havens, Paul Casey and William Friend
Others Attending: Laura Burns, John Riley, Bruce Rabuffo, Betty Foley, Mary Ford, Keefer Welch, Jay McGrail and Jack Manning.
With a quorum present, the meeting was called to order at 6:40 pm.
Matt Havens, chairman of the committee, opened the meeting, pointed out that it would be a joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen (“BOS”) and asked the committee members for their questions or comments with regard to the minutes of the November 10, 2008 meeting. After discussion, on motion duly made and seconded, the minutes of the November 10, 2008 meeting were unanimously approved, subject to any minor corrections subsequently reported or deemed necessary by the secretary of the meeting.
The Chairman then referred the committee members to the second matter on the meeting agenda and asked William Friend to update the committee on the results of the mediation session that was held on December 10, 2008 at the law offices of Urbelis & Fieldsteel to resolve the legal dispute between Weed and Feed, Inc. and the Town of Hingham/SSCC. Mr. Friend reviewed the mediation discussions and advised the committee that a settlement had been reached, subject to the approval of the committee and the Town Selectmen. He then noted that the legal dispute would not be concluded until the Settlement Agreement was signed by all of the parties and suggested that the committee’s discussion and vote on the Settlement Agreement should be deferred to an Executive Session. There were no objections to Mr. Friend’s suggestion, so the committee’s final review and vote on the Settlement Agreement was deferred.
The next item on the meeting agenda was consideration of the committee’s business strategy with regard to its lease with Lantana, LLC. for the food service facilities at the SSCC. The chairman commenced this discussion by reminding the committee that the lease with Lantana expires in March of 2010 and that any decisions concerning the future use of these facilities should not be put off. He then advised the committee that he had invited Keefer Welch, the former chairman of the CCMC, to provide his insight on the situation, noting that Mr. Welch had experience in food service management and had spent considerable time investigating the food service alternatives for the SSCC facilities, prior to the Lantana lease. Mr. Welch reviewed the work he had done in 2007 and advised the committee of his conclusions. Jay McGrail, Interim Director of Operations supplemented Mr. Welch’s analysis with an assessment of the current restaurant situation. This was followed by a general discussion of what was needed to improve the food services provided at the SSCC, what could be done to increase the revenue from the food service facilities and how best to proceed with the food service facility lease.
At the conclusion of this discussion, the delinquent restaurant tax bill was also discussed and Jay McGrail and William Friend agreed to meet with Paul Hart, CEO of Lantana, and explain the Town’s position regarding payment of the bill. At this time, Keefer Welch was thanked for his input and left the meeting.
Following the review of the restaurant situation, the chairman referred everyone to the SSCC business plan that had been previously provided to them, summarized the steps taken by the committee to develop the plan and asked Jay McGrail to review the plan with the BOS.
Mr. McGrail’s review of the business plan included an examination of each of the SSCC’s business segments, explaining how they had performed historically and then setting forth the committee’s short - term and long - term considerations and conclusions with regard to each segment. He also outlined the new business opportunities being considered by the committee while noting that the committee understood that all of its considerations were tempered by the SSCC’s current financial constraints.
Mr. McGrail’s presentation initiated an exchange of ideas between the committee and the BOS and a lengthy and productive discussion of business and marketing approaches for the SSCC and its pool, golf and restaurant operations. The need for more data on the businesses competing with the SSCC, the necessity for the building of the SSCC’s reserve fund and approaches for revenue sharing were also deliberated during the course of these discussions.
Jay McGrail then reported on the current Budget, discussed the December revenue outlook and commented on the early positive response to keeping the golf course open for winter golf. He concluded with a report concerning the Senior Old Colony League.
At 8:50pm, on motion duly made and seconded and approved by all three committee members present, the committee moved to Executive Session to discuss its strategy with respect to the pending litigation with Weed and Feed, Inc., with the further understanding that it would reconvene in Open Session immediately thereafter. At this time all non-committee members departed the meeting.
At 9:10pm the Executive Session of the CCMC concluded and the Open Session of the committee meeting was reconvened.
Thereafter, the next meeting of the CCMC was scheduled for Wednesday January 7, 2009 and, on motion duly made and seconded, and unanimously agreed to, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
William Friend