CMC BOARD MEETING – AUGUST 6, 2024 Minutes Draft
Charbonneau Clubhouse – Card Room 3 pm
Attending: Benesh, Bonino, Fieweger, Groshong, Harp, Johnson, McLeod
Missing: Brown, Stout, Tyler and Williams
Guests: Perry Esterson, Tom Taylor
President Benesh called the meeting to Order at 3:00 pm
GBenesh – Community Night at the Clubhouse for Charbonneau residents
is next week August 14. The CMC has a table and will provide information for
both 18 hole memberships and 9 hole memberships. Manning the table will be
Bonino, Fieweger and McLeod. Should our current CMC Directory be handed
out? Mixed response. We should have some on hand, as well as, applications.
We will also have a candy bowl at the table. Set up is 3:15 pm.
PEsterson – Course Maintenance. 2 of the ‘new’ tee boxes on Green
Course not opened yet. (#’s 8, 9). Expect those be opened next week in time for
the Club Championship weekend.
SGroshong – Recap of the Invitational (8/1 & 2). SG thought that Chris
Bensel (PGA Pro & GM) did a great job with the organizing and running of the
tournament, EXCEPT for the Friday dinner. Many guest commented that the food
and service were not up to par (for the price). (May have been too ambitious of a
project for the current Café staff).
Plan is to send out a CMC membership survey to gauge why the sign-up for
the Invitational was ‘weak’; 46 members played with their non-member guests.
The current CMC membership is 242. What would it take to get 72 members
next year?
GB suggested when the ‘survey’ questions are created that we include not
just a focus on the Invitational, but also on what we (CMC) could do more for both
18 hole and 9 hole members. Not clear yet as to when the ‘survey’ will be created
and sent out. SG, LJohnson & R McLeod will develop questions for the survey.
More discussion of the Invitational turnout …. GH said weekly we have 50-
60 regular CMC players – where were some of them for the Invitational? TB said
he spoke with Chris Bensel who indicated maybe September is a better month for
it: cooler weather, fewer vacations, kids in school, etc. GB asked whether we
should consider allowing a CMC member to invite another member (as a guest).
Yet the purpose of the Invitational is to have our CMC members invite a guest to
proudly show off the CMC, the course and the amenities.
RMcLeod – Membership 242 members this season. That is up 9 from last
year, and back to the Pre-Covid membership levels. This season saw 35 new
members sign up for the 1st time: 18 wish to be alerted of both 18 hole and 9
hole play dates.
9-hole group previously had 3-4 tee time slots for midmorning both
Wednesday and Friday. That has changed with Joe Sharpsteen and Tom Vaughn
managing the GG for the group. This season, there are 6-8 dedicated tee times on
both Wednesday and Friday for the 9-hole game.
GB (said for discussion) should we consider a membership price increase for
next season? (Now – $80 if paid before 12/31, $100 after Jan 1) This will be
brought up during the next meeting.
GHarp – Tournaments Club Championship Aug 17 & 18 . C Bensel agreed
to have the 2nd day (18th) a shotgun start at 7 am. Great! In past years there were
more CMC players involved. Also, in past years the patio had scores posted on a
white board with many players ‘sticking around’ for the last groups to finish play.
Yet, the Club Championship in 2023 had just 40 + participating and was played
over two different weeks. So far, Posters created by Tom Taylor have gone out to
the complete membership twice this month. This year it will be played on
consecutive days using 3 Flights based upon handicaps. The 9-hole group will
have their Championship over 3 weeks (Wednesdays) and 27 holes in September.
The Charbonneau Cup Event could become our premier CMC outing each
year. The “Cup” is a season finale and a reward for those players who have
gained the most points by participating regularly in CMC events throughout the
current season. The changes in budgeting should increase the prize $ and the
increase in participation from 20 to 32 players. Everyone entered “The Cup” will
win something.
RMcLeod – Social For the July 4th CMC sponsored Couples event we had 95
diners with 92 players. Big success! For the July “Men’s Night Out” we had 82
players. All Holiday Couples events are CMC events and will remain so. The
upcoming Labor Day Couples event will charge the same ($40 for the meal + $5
for the game/ person). That’s $90 per Couple. The meal provides an elaborate
buffett with servers.
LJohnson – Website Thus far the website and the tie-in with GG have run
smoothly. Very few issues with using credit cards to pay for event participation,
and event results seem to be posted very promptly. Lloyd may meet with CMC
member Paul Lewis (also a top IT guy) to act as a support back- up for handing the
CMC website.
TBonino – Scholarship Applications for the Charbonneau employee
scholarship program will be ready in November. Tim has brought his experience
to this program and has helped the other Charbonneau golf associations manage
their contributions to it. Plus, as usual, Tim has done a great job with the Villager
monthly CMC column. Tim also submitted an updated list of answers to common
golfer questions for a new CMC brochure design
Discussion Issues: All Board members had input into the summer issue of
‘young people’ exhibiting bad behavior while on the courses after 4 pm. What
can we do about it? Calling the pro shop after witnessing bad behavior does little
good. GB said Bill Shevlin heard Chris Bensel say “we need the public players”
must live with the problem.
R McLeod suggested that each public player renting a pro shop cart be
forced to sign a name and number for liability purposes. It has been determined
that these may NOT stand up legally. G Benesh suggested that we report these
issues to our HOA Board members who in turn will present it (in writing) to the
CGC and CCC. No resolution from the CMC today. More discussion and ideas
needed.
GBenesh Shared a portion of the current balance sheet that Mike Williams has
worked on. It shows a likely year end deficit of $3800, where we had budgeted a
deficit of $2700. Expected year-end balance after all commitments is expected to
be over $7800. Are we, as a Board, comfortable with this? Discuss next month.
GBenesh Adjourned the meeting at 4:45 pm
Joe Fieweger, Secretary
Next Board Meeting: Tuesday September 3rd