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Members Present: Kathy Curley, Paul Casey, Terry Clarke, Kerry Ryan, and William Friend
Others Attending: Jay McGrail, Director of Operations of the SSCC; Jack Manning, from the Town Advisory Committee; Albert Englehart, Julie Rosso, Karl Thompson and Mark Tedeschi.
With a quorum present, Kathy Curley, Chairman of the committee, called the meeting to order at 6:35 PM.
Kathy Curley then commenced the meeting by introducing Albert Englehart to the committee members. Mr. Engelhart first explained that he is a member of Hingham Wind, a community action group, which is exploring ways to employ wind as an alternative source of energy for the town. He then addressed the committee on the benefits of wind energy and requested that the committee consider locating a wind turbine on the SSCC’s property. He further advised the committee that the SSCC property had previously been examined for potential locations and described the locations selected and discussed the pros and cons of these locations. He finished with information on the approval process and other issues to be dealt with (an e-mail from John Tzimorangas, General Manager, Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant was provided to the committee) before a wind turbine could be installed and noted that there probably would be grants and funding available to cover much of the process costs. A discussion followed, during which Mr. Englehart responded to the questions and comments of the committee members. The committee then agreed to consider the wind turbine information provided by Mr Englehart. Following this discussion, Mr. Englehart was thanked for his presentation and left the meeting.
At this time, Julie Rosso and Karl Thompson, of Gray Matter Agency, Inc. and Mark Tedeschi, of True North Public Relations joined the meeting and were introduced to the committee members by Terry Clarke. Jay McGrail reminded the committee of the suggestions made by town selectmen that the SSCC consider expanding its marketing efforts and explained that Terry Clarke had been working with him to do this. He then noted that Terry Clarke had introduced him to Julie Rosso, Karl Thompson and Mark Tedeschi and, thereafter, he and Terry have had several meetings with Julie, Karl and Mark to discuss “branding” and such things as the best way to get more media coverage, prioritizing of messages that need to be communicated to the public and economical and effective approaches to advertizing the recreational activities, memberships, services and programs offered by the SSCC. Julie, Karl and Mark then followed with a review of the ideas and projects, such as earned media coverage, internet marketing, radio spots, and SSCC logo refinements that they were pursuing. When the marketing and public relations discussions were concluded, the committee members expressed their gratitude to Julie Rosso, Karl Thompson, Mark Tedeschi for the work that they have already done and the work they were pursuing and, thereafter, Julie, Karl and Mark departed from the meeting.
Following the marketing discussion, Jay McGrail provided the committee with a budget update, explaining that he and Paul Casey had prepared a summary report to show the actual income and expenses through March 31, 2009 and estimated income and expenses for the remainder of the fiscal year. The report also documents the budgeted income and expenses for the (08-09) fiscal year and compares the budgeted income and expenses to the actual and estimated income and expense amounts for the current fiscal year (08-09) as well as the actual results for the prior fiscal year (07-08). After reviewing this report, the differences between budgeted amounts and the actual/estimated results were noted and discussed by Mr. McGrail, Mr. Casey and the committee. The criteria used to determine the estimates were also discussed and deemed to be reasonable. When this was completed, Mr. McGrail advised the committee that he and Paul Casey would be reviewing the Budget report with selectmen, advisory committee members and the Town Administrator at 10:00 am on Wednesday, May 6th and invited the committee members to join them for this meeting.
Upon completion of the budget discussion, Jay McGrail discussed SSCC’s Pool Management Contract with the YMCA, explaining that he had worked with William Friend and Kerry Ryan on revisions to the Contract and that it had also been forwarded to Jim Toomey, theTown Counsel, and Betty Foley, Asst. Town Administrator, for review and comments. He then requested that the committee approve the revised and updated Contract and authorize its execution and delivery to the YMCA. The one –year term, the insurance coverage limits and other provisions were then discussed by the committee and thereafter, on motion duly made and seconded, the committee voted unanimously to approve the YMCA Pool Management Contract and authorized Kathy Curley, as committee chairman, to sign the approved contract.
The committee then turned its attention to the Request for Proposals (RFP) pertaining to the SSCC food and beverage operations and facilities that was being prepared by the committee. At the request of the Chairman, Kerry Ryan provided the committee with his thoughts with regard to the RFP. Mr. Ryan referenced his conversations on the RFP with Kevin Paicos, Town Administrator, William Friend and Jay McGrail and then described the general form and content of the RFP he was drafting to reflect these conversations. He noted that a prior RFP was being used as a template for his draft, because it had a similar purpose and appeared to be well written. He further noted Kevin Paicos’ considerable experience in preparing RFP’s and advised the committee that Mr. Paicos had offered to assist in the development of the RFP, once the criteria that should be included in the RFP is determined by the committee. Mr. Ryan concluded with a review of the criteria he felt should be included in the RFP and asked the committee members for their ideas. A lengthy discussion followed.
Thereafter, on motion duly made and seconded, the minutes of the March 31, 2009 meeting were approved, subject to such minor corrections, subsequently reported to or deemed necessary by the clerk and then reported to the committee.
Following the approval of the minutes, the next meeting date was scheduled. It was agreed that the next meeting would be on May 12, 2009, if the information to be reviewed at the meeting is be available at that time; if not, the meeting will be delayed until May 26, 2009.
Thereafter, on motion duly made and seconded, the committee voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
William K. Friend