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Members Present: Paul Casey, Terry Clarke, Kerry Ryan, and William Friend.
Others Attending: Jay McGrail, the SSCC’s Director of Operations.
With a quorum present, the meeting was called to order at 6:40PM.
William Friend opened the meeting by asking the committee members if there were any questions or corrections to the minutes of the committee’s September 2, 2009 and September 21, 2009 meetings. The minutes had been previously forwarded to each the committee members for review. After a short discussion, on motion duly made and seconded the minutes of these two meetings were unanimously approved.
Following approval of the minutes, Jay McGrail updated the committee on the SSCC’s administrative matters and developments since the last committee meeting. As part of this update, Jay McGrail provided the members with a letter sent to Bill Friend by Michael Prendergast, the organizer of this year’s Southeastern Amateur Championship, the final round of which was held at the SSCC. The letter was very complimentary and thanked Jay McGrail and the SSCC staff and the committee for their assistance in making the 50th Anniversary Championship a memorable one.
Also, as part of the administrative report, Jay McGrail advised the committee that the supervisor of the Hingham rowing team, the team has been allowed to use a SSCC storage room for their cold-weather rowing exercise programs, has been asked by a parent of a team member about the air quality in the storage room. Jay McGrail further advised the committee that, at his request, the town maintenance supervisor examined the room and that the maintenance supervisor did not find anything to be concerned about. In response to Jay McGrail’s request for guidance on how to proceed, the committee considered the expected disruption of the use of the rowing team’s use of the room that will be caused by the pending construction work in the room and at the SSCC . The committee then agreed to talk to the team supervisor and to authorities in the town before determining what should be done and when.
Jay McGrail, with the assistance of Kerry Ryan and William Friend then reported to the committee on the status of CCMC’s lease negotiations with Elio Ricci/ Vista Verde LLC for the restaurant and catering operations at the SSCC. He explained that the draft lease had been revised to reflect the comments received from the committee members at the September 21st meeting and forwarded to Mr. Ricci and his attorney. The revised lease was then discussed, in a lengthy session with Mr. Ricci, his son and their attorney, Walter Sullivan, on October 9, 2009. William Friend then explained that he thought they were close to concluding the lease negotiations and reviewed the items remaining to be resolved. The committee was further advised that an updated lease draft, reflecting the resolutions achieved at October 9 negotiation session, was being prepared by Bob Orsi, the committee’s attorney, and would be circulated to the committee.
Upon conclusion of this discussion, Kerry Ryan advised the committee that he had made a minor correction to the Settlement Agreement, approved by the committee at its September 21st meeting and explained the correction noting that it reflected input from the town’s assessor’s office. He also noted that the revised Settlement Agreement and the Commercial Catering Agreement had both been reviewed and approved by James Toomey, Town Counsel. He then asked the committee to approve both agreements and to specifically authorize William Friend, as the duly elected secretary of the committee, to sign the agreements on behalf of the committee.
Thereafter, on motion duly made and seconded, the committee voted unanimously to approve both the Settlement Agreement and Commercial Catering Agreement, as presented to the committee, and to authorize William Friend to sign both agreements, on behalf of the committee, in his capacity as a secretary and a representative of the committee.
Following this review and vote, Jay McGrail reminded the committee of his previous discussions with them concerning interest that has been expressed by others in the possible installation of a cell phone tower on SSCC property. He then noted that, pursuant to the instructions of the committee, he had obtained more information with regard to the process that would be required if the committee was willing to consider the installation of a tower. After reviewing this information with the committee, he asked for direction from the committee on how to proceed. The committee discussed the requirements, potential revenue and possible design and locations for the tower and the impact of the tower on the golf course. Following this discussion, the committee asked Jay McGrail to consult with the Town Administrator to determine whether the town counsel should review SSCC’s charter and enabling legislation and the town by-laws to determine if there are any limitations or other matters that would prevent the SSCC from contracting for a cell phone tower on its property.
Jay McGrail then provided the committee with materials and documentation he and William Friend had prepared in connection with a proposed application to the CPC for funds to preserve and restore the historic house located on SSCC property, explaining that the deadline for submitting applications to the CPC, to obtain funds in the next year, is October 15, 2009. Jay McGrail further advised that an engineer had been retained to look at the house and had determined that it was structurally sound but would require considerable restoration work and that he and William Friend had divided the work in to two phases for purposes of the CPC application.
The committee members examined the materials that had been prepared, discussed in very general terms the restoration work to be done, the funds needed for this work and then offered ideas for how best to proceed with the application. Thereafter, it was agreed that the committee should file the application and that Paul Casey and Kerry Ryan would assist with the preparation of the CPC application materials.
Jay McGrail then advised the committee that he had been approached by the Hingham Journal to provide interviews on developments at the SSCC and that one of the interviews was scheduled to take place later in the week. He added that this would be another opportunity to sell the SSCC and asked for guidance on what should be emphasized. Following a discussion of the matters that should be presented, Terry Clarke agreed to work with Jay McGrail on preparation for the interview.
This marketing opportunity led to a discussion of Kite Day, which is scheduled to take place at the SSCC in March 2010. It was agreed that Kite Day is another very good opportunity to market the SSCC to the families of Hingham. Kerry Ryan offered several ideas for increasing the activities and expanding the impact of Kite Day. It was agreed that these ideas should be pursued and Terry Clarke agreed to focus on this event later in the year.
Following the marketing discussions, Jay McGrail and Paul Casey provided the committee with the SSCC preliminary revenue and expense budget information as of September 30, 2009. This financial information was presented in a format that compared it to last year’s actual revenues and expenditures for the same period as well as the budget/appropriation amount established in the budget process at the beginning of the year. The variations were then considered and discussed.
Upon conclusion of the discussions of the financial report, on motion duly made and seconded the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
William K. Friend