body,date,page,text,path
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,1,"ALAMEDA GOLF COMMISSION
MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
1
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Jane Sullwold called the regular meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. at the Chuck
Corica Golf Complex, Ladies Lounge, 1 Clubhouse Memorial Road, Alameda, CA
94502
1-A
ROLL CALL
Present:
Chair Jane Sullwold, Commissioner Ray Gaul, Commissioner
Betsy Gammell, and Secretary Jeff Wood
Absent:
Vice Chair Bill Schmitz
Staff:
Matt Wisely, Superintendent, and Mike Winkenbach, Marketing
Director
Also Present:
Lisa Goldman, Acting City Manager, and Dale Lillard,
Director of Park and Recreation
1-B
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The Minutes of January 19, 2011 were approved unanimously
1-C
ADOPTION OF AGENDA
The Commission unanimously adopted the agenda.
2
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
None.
3
COMMISSION COMMUNICATIONS
None.
4
WRITTEN/ORAL REPORTS
4-A
Golf Shop, Driving Range and Maintenance activities written report by
John Vest
Written report was submitted by John Vest (attached) and summarized by Mike
Winkenbach and Matt Wisely.
1
Golf Commission Minutes - Wednesday, February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,2,"Mike Winkenbach: ""In January, we had a great tournament month exceeding prior
year by over 100 rounds and $2,000 in revenue. We created a 10 play pass which
generated $13,800 in revenue in the month of January. The 10 ride cart pass
generated $1,360 in revenue. We booked $16,132 in future tournament revenue in
January. We sold 52 monthly passes, and we sold 9 annual passes for a total of
$13,500. Our 12:00 twilight special generated $9,575 from 383 rounds and our 2:00
twilight special generated $3,080 from 154 rounds. Our Chuck Corica/Men's Club
challenge event generated $980 from 28 rounds. We did have a President's Day
Special which was $35 including cart after 11:00 and that generated $2,450 in
revenue.""
Chair Sullwold: ""We need to congratulate you because John has given you all the
credit all these months for tournaments, so thank you very much for increasing
tournament play and booking future tournaments.""
Commissioner Gammell: ""Mike, I know John was really happy with the play cart
passes that they were using them up quickly. Is that still happening?' Mike
Winkenbach: ""Yes, and the theory is when we run a promotion like that is that you
gain revenue at that time.'
Chair Sullwold: ""I imagine that you're not having such great rounds and revenue this
month with the weather. Did you have any play at all during the week of rain?"" Mike
Winkenbach: ""On Monday, President's Day, we had the promotion, it wasn't
extremely busy for a holiday, but it was busy compared to a regular Monday. I do
have some figures from last year's February up to this time if you would like that.""
Chair Sullwold: ""That's all right, we'll get that next month. Since the rain did hit,
have you had the same kind of problem we had in December, or is it draining a little
better?"" Matt Wisely: ""It's pretty even.""
Chair Sullwold: ""How about security concerns, have there been any problems where
we're stopping the people trying to sneak on?"" Mike Winkenbach: ""No, not that I'm
aware of. A lot of times things happen later in the day.""
Norma Arnerich: ""While Mike is here I wanted to compliment him on the pamphlet
he put out. I know he put a lot of work into it for free lessons for juniors and also he
put down lessons for the advanced after the free lessons and he did a really good
job on that. And also, he put the junior golf information on the website and I
wanted to compliment him.'
Bob Sullwold: ""In the month of January, were there any extraordinary expenses
incurred by Kemper, expenses that were not concentrated in the budget?' Mike
Winkenbach: ""I'm probably not the right person to ask.' Chair Sullwold: ""It does
appear that the service charges in the financials is higher.'
Commissioner Gammell: ""Jane, you asked about the security and the report here
does say here that the cart barn alarm system has been upgraded this month with
additional sirens and motion detectors.""
2
Golf Commission Minutes-Wednesday, February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,3,"Matt Wisely: ""We've had some rain. Year to date, or for the season to date, we're at
14 inches. I put together a little report last week, and were at 21.5 inches of rain and
we're at 2.18 inches of rain for February. The weekend was little hectic, we're
expecting some more rain starting tomorrow afternoon including snow. l'll believe it
when I see it, but everyone keeps saying it's going to happen. They're saying the
storm is moving in faster than they anticipated.""
Chair Sullwold asked: ""Is there, in your opinion, anything that can be done with the
sloughs and the drainage system without major capital improvements that would
improve the drainage off the course?"" Matt Wisely: ""In my opinion, no. We've done
some work in the sloughs ourselves, taking the back hoe out and clearing the drain
openings, which has helped actually quite a bit this year compared to last year. I
think what we're experiencing this year compared to last year, last year we got eight
inches in five days and we had six inches in December and basically we had all of
January to dry out. Now we've gotten three more inches in February and the
drainage is actually working, it's just working very slowly, and the month of January
really helped us out by not having much rain and two weeks of temperatures in the
80's and lots of wind so we dried out pretty quickly. The drainage sloughs are doing
what they're supposed to do to a certain extent. We're also experiencing some
areas where the course is settling. In fact, number three fairway on the South
Course, right around 200 yards, is a giant cavern that just appeared.""
Chair Sullwold: ""Do you fill that in with dirt, what do you do?"" Matt Wisely
responded: ""Yes, essentially, it's still not to the point that it's like the Grand Canyon,
but it's sloped off enough to where it's very noticeable now. It almost looks like it's
supposed to be there. It is even all the way through the fairway, and then you get to
the bunker and it's gone. I don't know if number three is part of the landfill, I don't
know what's underneath that part of the fairway that would cause it to liquify, but I
know that the tee project we worked on 13, some of the fill we bought it has already
liquified just by the amount of rain we've had. Fortunately, it's not in the middle of
the tee or anywhere where it's going to affect it.""
Chair Sullwold: ""When we played the North Course the last time, I was walking
along the path along the slough on the left side of the 8th hole and it's not working
real good."" Matt Wisely: ""No, it's been like that since I got here two years ago
where the birds are walking across the water. They need to be dredged in order for
us to efficiently move water the way we're supposed to.""
Matt Wisely: ""We've been working on anticipating some weather, we had Public
Works out before the last big storm to suck out some of the water from the pond on
five north, so we had a little bit more of an area to fill up before it starts pumping
again. We aerified the north greens with a solid tine, we aerified the south greens
on Monday with a solid tine to help wash some of the salt and impurities out of the
greens. We're trying to be proactive, including clearing greens.'
3
Golf Commission Minutes -Wednesday, February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,4,"Chair Sullwold asked: ""Do you know if Public Works is supposed to do this for us, or
do we get charged if they come out and do this? I've never quite understood what
the Public Works Slough Runoff project budget item is all about."" Dale Lillard:
""They maintain and they control the perimeter and the water that goes out of five.'
Matt Wisely: ""They maintain the pumping system on the pond on five. Everything
else is us."" Chair Sullwold: ""And that's the main collection pond for the drainage?'
Matt Wisely: ""And they have full control over that, so when I call them, they come
out and drain it.'
Matt Wisely: ""We're continuing our in-house tree trimming and skirting. We finished
the tee project on 13; it should be ready and open by the end of the first week in
March. Right now we're training the grass down to get it to tee height. We took
some of that sod that we took off the tee and filled the bunker on five fairway south,
so now it's a grass bunker in the fairway. We also repaired some portions of two
fairway on the north with some excess sod where grass was not growing. No major
trees have come down except the one left of 18 north. Future maintenance activies
will include semi-annual aerification of greens on the north on March 15th and 16th
As far as staff, we lost our mechanic. He had a friend that was also a mechanic, so
we hired him for less than we were paying him. We had them both on property for
two weeks, so Jason could train Matt on reels and things like that. Matt stepped
right in and is continuing to keep us going on equipment.""
Chair Sullwold: ""Tell me about the decision the build the new tee on 13, because it
came as a real surprise to everybody that all of a sudden you were building a new
tee. Why was that picked and what was the reason for it?"" Matt Wisely: ""We chose
13 tee because initially it's an area that's always been settling. There was a bare
area right in the middle of it where we tried to grow grass, but couldn't. We had a
couple of weeks in January when the weather was nice and we had an opportunity
to go out there and level it off. That's all we were planning on doing. It evolved into
making it bigger so we could get more tee space out of it and made the tee longer.
It was something John and I had discussed. We were actually going to sod some
portions of four tee on the north in the back that does not like to grow. We've been
fertilizing it and it's started to come back. So, we decided to move to do something
else that was a highly visible area and it was something that really needed to get
done.
Chair Sullwold: ""Do you know how much it cost?"" Matt Wisely: ""It cost the price of
the sod which was $2,300 and it was all done in house.""
Matt Wisely: ""We had a 120 new batteries delivered to start putting in the carts. I'm
not sure if EZ-Go is going to install them or if we are going to do them""
4-B Beautification Program and Junior Golf Club by Mrs. Norma Arnerich
Norma Arnerich: ""I noticed two new benches out on the course and I understand
they were pretty inexpensive and we had decided that all new benches would be
uniform for people to donate. Do those last very long?"" Matt Wisely: ""I wasn't
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off Commission Minutes - -Wednesday, February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,5,"involved in the ordering of the benches, but the material they are made out of is
pretty durable.'
4-C
Golf Complex Restaurant Report, Jim's on the Course
None
5
AGENDA ITEMS
5-A Status Report on Long Term Lease and Mif Albright Negotiations
including Golf Commission recommendations
Acting City Manager Lisa Goldman stated: ""A couple of weeks ago, I was on a
conference call with Kemper and one of the Council members, and was surprised
that the financing option that Ann Marie had discussed with Kemper was not
something that I was going to pursue. She told them one thing that I just can't do,
you all know that. I'm not going to tie the general fund up; I can't do it. It's just not a
good idea. The Kemper folks are going back and reviewing options on their end, to
perfect financing of some kind. They promised to get back to me sooner rather than
later. I expect to get something either the end of this week or early next week. If I
don't hear back from them by early next week, I will give them a call and see how it's
coming along. I did check, just to make sure I really understood it all. I relied upon
counsel and checked with underwriters to see if there was any way we could pull off
what Ann Marie had talked about, and it just doesn't work. So, I do believe Kemper
will come up with some good options, and as soon as we know what that is, we'll be
sharing that information. I am not scheduling the special Council meeting until I
have something back, and we've had a chance to understand it. So that's where we
are right now, in the middle of a holding pattern.""
Commissioner Gammell: ""What if another company is interested?"" Lisa Goldman
responded: ""I did receive letters from two other golf companies. Right now my
direction is still what Council voted on last March 16, which is go forth with Kemper.
So, I'm giving Kemper the opportunity the see what they can do. If they can't do
anything, then l'll go back to Council and ask them if they want to change their
direction or not. Until they give me different orders, this is what I have. And I will
say they are trying really hard to figure out how to make this work for the City and for
them. They are a for-profit company, so it'l have to work for them and it'll have to
work for us. But, again, Betsy, I cannot go out and start negotiating with some other
company until I get direction from Council; that's not the way it works. So, I do have
those letters -- I saved them. If Council says let's open it up, let's reissue the RFP,
then that's what I will do.'
Chair Sullwold: ""There appeared to be a little bit of a catch 22 in what you just said,
I'm not going back to Council, but I can't do anything more without their direction.""
Lisa Goldman: ""I'm not going back to Council until I hear from Kemper. They got
bad information. They got information from Ann Marie that turned out not to work for
the City. So, they're going back now and revisiting what they can and can't do. I'm
5
Golf Commission Minutes-Wednesday, February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,6,"letting that happen, I believe I should get something back relatively soon, and once
I
have that I can decide whether it's time to see if this isn't going to work and go to the
Council, or it is going to work and it's time to go to Council and give them the new
information. I can go to Council and say here's Kemper's new information, this is
what they want to do, and they can say, thanks but no thanks, we want you to do
something different, but I do need to respect that prospect that allows them to come
back and give me whatever they're going to give me. That's where we are.""
Chair Sullwold: ""I just want to point out that the RFP that Ann Marie drafted
specifically states that the successful proposer will provide it's own financing which
I'm sure you knew when you made your statements to Council on January 26."" Lisa
Goldman: ""You all know I wasn't involved in the discussions that she had, and Dale
wasn't involved in a lot of those discussions that she had, so he didn't hear anything
and I didn't hear any of it, so I don't know what they said way back when, and then
she said ""I have a better idea"". I have no idea. It's kind of water under the bridge at
this point. The reality is they were chosen by Council, right or wrong, they were
chosen, that's the direction I have. I'm letting them come back and give me
something solid. If it's not solid, or even if it is solid, either way I'm going to have to
go back to the Council and say, this is what I have, what do you want to do? It's
their decision ultimately.'
Chair Sullwold: ""The concern, of course, is that by having language in the RFP set
up exactly what the bidding company was supposed to do, you only got two
responses, and you pick one of them, and then it turns out that one of them makes a
secret deal with Ann Marie for something that wasn't in the RFP at all to begin with.
And many companies, I have learned, were turned off by the RFP, including the
various statements, such as put all your own money to do the improvements. And
had it been something different, we would have had more bidders, and perhaps,
some better competition.""
Lisa Goldman: ""I'm not going to go back and revisit history, because you all know I
didn't do it. If Kemper can do it, more power to them, and it they can't do it, we'll go
out and see what our other options are. At this point, that's where I am, that's the
bottom line. And, I don't think it's productive for us to do the 'would of, should of,
could of' at this point -- we have to wait and see. Then, l'll present all the information
to the City Council, they're my policy makers, they're the deciders and whatever they
decide, it's my job to carry it out. I'm going to do the best job I can in carrying it out.
That's all I can tell you. When I get information that I can share with you, I will.""
Commissioner Gaul: ""If Kemper decides it's feasible financially for them to do 27
holes, then we have two other people who are laying in the wings that would do 36
holes, would that be enough to reconsider Kemper?' Lisa Goldman: ""What I would
have to do is present all the options to the Council and let them decide, when I go
with whatever Staff Report I go with, and I don't know what it will look like right now, I
will say, here's the proposal we have, by the way, I've received two other letters,
they'll be in the Staff Report so they can see them, and they can decide if these are
valid realistic offers. If not, if the offer from Kemper makes sense, it's totally up to
6
Golf Commission Minutes -Wednesday, February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,7,"them. I will present them with the information I have at that time and let them decide
what they want to do.""
Bob Sullwold: ""Is it true that there is no exclusive negotiating agreement with
Kemper?"" Lisa Goldman: ""There's no signed document in the sense that we had a
signed document with Sun Cal, known as an exclusive negotiation agreement. We
are exclusively negotiating with Kemper because that is the direction that the City
Manager received on March 16, 2010. There's no signed document.'
Bob Sullwold: ""Secondly, if you were to explore other options, is it a requirement of
City law, that you have to go through the formal RFQ-RFP process, or could you, for
example, write a one page letter to one of those 65 companies, to whom the original
RFP was sent, saying here's what we want, we want a 36-hole golf course, we want
to know if you want to do a long term lease or a management contract and want to
know if you'll put any dough into the deal. Would that be lawful?"" Lisa Goldman:
""I
don't know the answer to that question, but let me answer it this way, that I believe
that this current Council is interested in having open and competitive processes, so I
would imagine they would direct Staff to open it up via the RFQ-RFP process rather
than sending a letter. But, I don't know the exact answer to your question about
whether we could do a one page or not.'
Bob Sullwold: ""Third question, you probably won't want to answer, if you are aware,
we know you not only have to speak truthfully, but that you have to disclose all
material facts necessary to make the statements that you do make not misleading.
In your view did Kemper's presentation to the City Council comply with that?"" Lisa
Goldman: ""I believe that they believe that the way the deal was going to be
structured, and Ann Marie did discuss with them, that the City floated the bond but
they were responsible for paying the bond via their money or whatever revenue they
made at the golf course. They thought we were all on board and knew what the deal
was that Ann Marie discussed with them."" Bob Sullwold: ""They heard what you
said, they heard what the Council members said, which obviously indicated that
none of you was fixing to do anything about a bond issue. Why did this guy from
Chicago get up there, make this presentation and fail to say anything about, well, we
understand the deal is, you issue the bond, we're responsible for the debt terms?
Lisa Goldman: ""I can't really answer your question, Bob, because I'm not Mr. Blake
from Kemper. All I can say is I do believe that it came as a big surprise to them that
I didn't know what they had discussed with Ann Marie. So they thought I got it,
which meant they probably thought everybody else got it, and I didn't get it
obviously. And so I don't know the answer, [but] I believe he thinks he was making
truthful statements, that's all I know.""
Bob Sullwold: ""And all of the negotiations with Kemper were conducted by Ms.
Gallant?"" Lisa Goldman: ""That's correct."" Bob Sullwold: ""Mr. Lillard had no
involvement with that?"" Lisa Goldman: ""He was in some of the negotations, but not
every single call she had with them."" Bob Sullwold: ""Other than Ms. Gallant, no one
knew about the funding?' Lisa Goldman: ""I don't know if anybody else knew; I sure
didn't know. It seemed to be a surprise to Council when I talked to them. I talked to
our financial advisor about it, and he didn't know about it.'
7
Golf Commission Minutes-Wednesday, February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,8,"Bob Sullwold: ""Can I ask Mr. Lillard whether he knew?"" Dale Lillard: ""The only
discussion I had with Kemper was about who was guaranteeing the payment, not
who was issuing the bond."" Bob Sullwold: ""And who was guaranteeing the
payment?"" Dale Lillard: ""Kemper was guaranteeing the payment from revenue
generated at the course. There wasn't any signed deal, there wasn't any offer, we
didn't get that far.'
Chair Sullwold: ""Did you understand, Dale, that they would be guaranteeing the
payments whether or not the revenue was sufficient?"" Dale Lillard: ""Yes, they said
that in the meeting. If revenues were not enough, Kemper would have to write a
check to cover the debt service. They were obligated to cover the debt service
whether revenues fell or number of rounds continued to fall. He did say that at the
meeting.'
Chair Sullwold: ""On the other hand, their projection was that the debt service could
be entirely met with the revenues from the 27-hole complex that they envisioned, so
that their projection was that they weren't going to have to reach into their pockets
for one dime.'
Bob Sullwold: ""My point is this, I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone, I'm not
intending to refer this to the Securities and Exchange Commission for possible
violation of the Securities and Exchange Act, but to the extent that you have said
you understand your direction to be to exclusively negotiate, despite the lack of an
ENA, with one company, if that company's prior performance has demonstrated
reason to doubt its credibility, I think that's a relevant factor to be considered.'
Chair Sullwold: ""I have to say I agree with that. I'm very disturbed at how Kemper
handled that."" Lisa Goldman: ""I understand. I get it. I'm still going by the direction
that I have, and if the City Council wants to take that direction, by all means. I don't
have a dog in it. I'm trying to fix the golf course and save the golf course. I don't
care. I'm going to do my darndest to get it done. That's all I can offer you.' Chair
Sullwold: ""I'm going to throw this out. I think it's fairly convenient to make Ann Marie
Gallant the scapegoat for everything bad that's happened, and to say that Kemper is
not equally responsible or partially responsible. I do believe that Kemper's
presentation was deliberately deceptive. It's a big concern to me that a company
with whom we want to do business for the next 25-30 years would say those things.""
Lisa Goldman: ""I know you sent that off to the Council. I would just encourage you,
whenever I get it back to Council, get up, which I know you will, and tell them. Let
them know. That's all I can do.'
Chair Sullwold: ""On a positive note, I just want to say, I really appreciate that you
are so responsive to our questions and getting back to us. I know some information
that you weren't able to provide that we wanted, but you also got back immediately.'
""
8
Golf Commission Minutes February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,9,"Lisa Goldman: ""We had several meetings with the representatives for the Mif, Joe
VanWinkle, Tony Corica, Bill Wehr and Jane was at one, we were discussing
various items on their term sheet, we had little monkey wrench thrown into it all,
because some of what they would like to happen are subject to who the ultimate
operator is. So, we haven't met since the meeting that Jane you were at. l'd like to
see what's going to happen with Kemper, because that really does inform how
things progress with the Mif. You all heard it on December 7, the Council said yes,
go forth, we want the Mif to be successful with a non profit operator, we'll give you
$100,000, they have not changed direction on that, they want it to work. There's
going to be some issues to be ironed out, some things they want that we're not able
to provide and visa versa. That's going to be subject to negotiations, but it's still
moving forward to the extent it can not knowing who's going to occupy the rest of the
property.""
Bob Sullwold: ""The Mayor was quoted in the Island today telling the Chamber of
Commerce that the Mif lease to the non profit was a done deal. Is that wrong?"" Lisa
Goldman: ""I think she meant it was a done deal that we're moving forward with the
Mif, we haven't actually signed anything, but the Council's opinion is that this is
going to happen, so in that sense I think that's what she meant. It's going to
happen.'
Bob Sullwold: ""Joe VanWinkle will tell you that he believes that, in June of last year,
the term sheet had been presented and all outstanding issues had been addressed.
What issues have come up since then?"" Lisa Goldman: ""Well, nothing was ever
signed, so until you actually have a signed document, I don't think you can say that
everything was agreed to. I imagine Ann Marie looked at the term sheet and said
OK, but not I'm signing this. Again, I did not sit in on those meetings, so I can't say
exactly what happened. But, until we have a signed document, and we've
negotiated an actual contract, there are issues. I know that the folks are interested
in getting the cell tower lease, I'm not sure we're going to be able to provide that.
They are interested in getting use or ownership of the equipment, I'm not sure we're
going to be able to do that. I'm not remembering everything that's on the term sheet.
There are things that we need to work out. I will tell you that I'm sure the Council is
still going to give the $100,000, I'm sure they're going to still make junior golf
affordable. There would still be opportunities for the high school teams out here.
We are committed to making sure that the Mif property is still the Mif property for all
the junior and senior golfers out here. But, there are still going to be issues that we
have to discuss with them and figure out.""
Bob Sullwold: ""Have you identified for Joe the issues that you discussed?"" Lisa
Goldman: ""Yes, we discussed it at the last meeting.'
Commissioner Gammell: ""We're keeping the Mif open?' Lisa Goldman: ""We're not
planning on closing anything. We're going to do our best to keep it open, to keep
operating and to keep it successful.
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Golf Commission Minutes -ll'ednesday, February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,10,"Bob Sullwold: ""Who is negotiating in favor of the City, you or Mr. Lillard?"" Lisa
Goldman: ""Probably our golf consultant."" Bob Sullwold: ""That's Mr. Sams."" Lisa
Goldman: ""That's correct.""
Chair Sullwold: ""Is Mr. Sams also participating in the Kemper negotiations?"" Lisa
Goldman: ""He will, we haven't really gotten to the negotiations, because we have to
figure out if we have a plan to move forward.'
Bob Sullwold: ""Do you know to date how much the Golf Enterprise Fund has been
charged for his services?"" Mr. Lillard: ""I don't want to quote numbers, I want to
remember it was locked into the entire length of the contract, including the reports he
did on the non profit; it was $10,000.""
Chair Sullwold: ""In investigating some of the financial reports, as Bob will point out,
Kemper is far over their budget for this year, at this point, the budget that they set,
somewhat over it. In any event, Joe got some indication from papers, and I'm not
sure where, Kemper has hired consultants to do various things in the last few
months."" Mr. Lillard: ""They did an environmental report of the property which was
approved by the previous City Manager, because they needed to know if there were
any environmental concerns before they moved forward through the negotiations.""
Bob Sullwold: ""Who paid for that?"" Mr. Lillard: ""We did, we agreed to."" Chair
Sullwold: ""From the Golf Enterprise Fund?"" Mr. Lillard: ""Correct."" Bob Sullwold:
""Kemper needed to know this information because it affected the City?"" Mr. Lillard:
""Anybody we went to would want to have this information available before they came
in and did renovations to make sure the foundation is sound."" Lisa Goldman: ""Is
that a report that we own or Kemper owns."" Mr. Lillard: ""We do."" Chair Sullwold:
""Do you know how much it cost?"" Mr. Lillard: ""It went on for two or three months,
I'm guessing right around that $10,000 figure, anytime you do an environmental
thing like that, because it covered wildlife, it covered the sloughs, and it covered
ground contamination. I know some of the information that came out of it are there
are certain months of the year that you can't do construction because there are rare
birds nesting in the trees on the South course between February and June, so
construction would then have to go into the summer. That would effect any
construction whether it's the City or Kemper or another private vendor.' Chair
Sullwold: ""Dale, are you aware of any other consultants who have been hired and
paid for by the golf course?"" Mr. Lillard: ""No."" Lisa Goldman: ""But, it's now a report
that the City owns and will be made available to Kemper or anybody else that bids.
It's information that we need to have.' Chair Sullwold: ""It might be something to
consider if you continue negotiations with Kemper to get it paid back."" Lisa
Goldman: ""It's something that we could discuss.""
5-B Update on Golf Complex Finances
Chair Sullwold: ""Bob was not able to do a report for us last month, but, I think you
guys all have copies of his report for this month.' Bob Sullwold: ""The numbers are
there, I would like to highlight them. January was a good month because it wasn't
raining. Month to month this period against last period are good. The year to date
10
Golf Commission Minutes -Wednesday, February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,11,"numbers still show a decline over last period. City financial reports show good
numbers but because of the way the City makes its cash and accrual accounting, in
a way that I don't understand, I didn't pay much attention to that. Looking at the year
to date numbers, operating income is at $264,000, cash flow from operations at
$390,000, transfer to City $447,000, and the draw from the Enterprise Fund, the
cash balance is shown at $674,000, and this time, for the first time, there's another
line item called available cash balance which is $524,000. When Jane inquired
about this, Ms. Goldman explained that the available cash balance deducted from
the cash balance funds that have been committed for payments to vendors and
future redemption of previously issued gift certificates. While I'm sure that's right, it's
a little unusual that this is a balance sheet item.
But, one issue that I did want to talk about, and Joe is focused on this, is the
budgetary comparisons, and especially the infamous services category. As I have
previously discussed at these meetings, the City divides expenses into five
categories, one of which is called services, and for months, if not years, I have been
trying to find out exactly what expenses are in that category. When Ms. Gallant was
here, six months or so ago, she said that was the payment to Kemper. If that's right,
we have an issue, because if you look at the seven month financials, comparing
actual to budget, you see that the services category exceeds budget by $220,000,
14% over seven months. How come, if Ms. Gallant could be believed, that would
suggest Kemper is over-running the budgeted expenses by $220,000. And if that's
so, I think we are entitled to ask Kemper, how come you're spending more money
than you said you were going to spend? But, I'm not sure that is so. I'm not sure
I
can credit what Ms. Gallant said, because if you look, for example, at Kemper
reports that you're now getting every month, and they do it on a calendar year, not a
fiscal year basis, they say that their operating expenses were lower than their budget
for the last calendar year. It shows they're doing better than budget. So, how come
the services number is $220,000 higher than budget? If it's not Kemper spending
more money, who else could be spending that money? It would have to be the City.
And, what's the City spending that money on, and for what? I would recommend
that you seek an explanation from both Kemper and the Recreation and Park
Director as to why that line item is $220,000 greater than the budget. If it's Kemper,
have them tell us what other expenses they've incurred, if the City, have Mr. Lillard
tell us what other expenses the City has incurred. If you look at the bottom line
numbers, you talk about a net income through seven months of $264,000. If you're
over budget by $220,000, and you add that back in, your net income is almost
double what it is. I think this demands an explanation. Now, fortunately, I'm
informed that Mr. VanWinkle has noted the same discrepancy, and has asked for
and been granted a meeting with Ms. Goldman and her Chief Accountant to go over
these issues. Maybe it will all be resolved there, hopefully it will be. In any event it
should be, because in order for the Golf Commission to continue to exist, it's still
responsible for oversight of these matters. If you're over running your budget by this
amount, and decreasing your income by half as a result of this over run, I think it
would be the Golf Commission's job to find out why to suggest things that could be
done to correct the situation. ""
11
Golf Commission Minutes - Wednesday, February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,12,"Chair Sullwold: ""Off the top of your head, Dale, do you have an idea why services
are exceeded by over $220,000?"" Mr. Lillard: ""Part of it is expenses that we
incurred to repair the retaining wall that runs along Island Drive between Bay
Fairway and down the second fairway. That was directed from the Risk Manager as
a hazard, and the City Manager approved repairing that. The new cart batteries
were in there as an expenditure that wasn't accounted for so the carts could be run
twice a day instead of once a day. There was some work on one of the big pumps
on the south side that was about $20,000. There was some repairs on the driving
range fence that the City Manager asked to be done. There was the cart barn
upgrade and the alarm system also. The cart barn alone was about $25,000 to
$30,000, which included the alarm system, upgrading the chargers and bought
batteries. I know the pump was a huge item, but if you don't have irrigation, you're
not going to have a golf course. All of them were approved by the City.""
Commissioner Gaul: ""Dale, the damage to the wall, wasn't that a vehicle that hit that
wall?"" Mr. Lillard: ""There had been two different instances that cars did it and we
did collect insurance money from them. That wasn't this portion. The longest
portion was about halfway down the second fairway, all the way to Bay Fairway,
where it was actually leaning onto the sidewalk.
Chair Sullwold: ""One more question. As you know, Dale, three years ago the City
booked the entire four year lease expense for the golf carts and pulled it out, that
was an extraordinary expense, the year that we entered into a new lease on July 1,
2007. Do you know if payments, monthly payments to EZ-Go have been made from
whatever fund that was created by pulling that money out of the Enterprise Fund?""
Mr. Lillard: ""I'm not sure that will show up on the report, it should have because it
was a GASB calculation for government accounting. To my knowledge it has, but I
can't report that it did happen that way.""
Bob Sullwold: ""The issue is that it appears they accrued the expense three years
ago and they're still expensing it. But, maybe they're not."" Chair Sullwold: ""That's
the concern. It's not clear from the records it's being paid out of that fund or it's
being currently charged again."" Lisa Goldman: ""I don't have the answer and I'm not
sure our Controller will have that answer at the meeting. Whatever we don't have at
our fingertips, we will make up and follow up with what we've been doing.""
Chair Sullwold: ""Did the budget make any provisions for these kinds of expenses
that you've just listed?"" Mr. Lillard: ""The budget was just rolled over from the year
before."" Chair Sullwold: ""So, it didn't have any category for these kinds -- it sounds
like it's not anything really extraordinary."" Mr. Lillard: ""Those particular expenses
were not included in this budget."" Chair Sullwold: ""I'm not saying that they were not
needed or something that we did not need to pay, but it also seems that they're not
truly extraordinary. They're truly the kinds of things that a going enterprise has
these occasional needs to repair things, and that wasn't ever budgeted.' Mr. Lillard:
""That's correct, that was never budgeted for, it was just a rollover from the year
before, so you have the same level of maintenance and then you have these extra
things. So, if you add one year to the next, and you're mowing so many times and
12
Golf Commission Minutes-Wednesday, February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,13,"you're fertilizing so many times, you would be able to do that from one year to the
next, but when a $25,000 pump breaks down and you add $20,000 to the cart barn,
so you have over $100,000 with no money budgeted to do that, it's just more
deferred maintenance is what it is."" Lisa Goldman: ""The cart barn allows you to
make more in revenue, right?"" Mr. Lillard: ""Right, because you can send the carts
out twice.""
Bob Sullwold: ""In evaluating getting into a 30-year lease with Kemper, there are
responsiblities here. Number one, why is there this over budget number? The other
possibility is they are not operating as efficiently as they promised they would. The
expenses are higher because they're doing a bad job managing the enterprise. You
need to know the answer to that before you decide to do business with that
enterprise.""
6.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS, NON-AGENDA (Public Comment)
None
7.
OLD BUSINESS
None
8.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
Included in the Commission packet was a memorandum to the Finance Department
showing a surcharge payment for January 2011 of $5,749. The year-to-date total to
the General Fund is $58,562 for FY 2010/2011.
9.
ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING'S AGENDA
Status Report on Long Term Lease and Mif Albright Negotiations including Golf
Commission recommendations, if any
Update on Golf Complex Finances
10.
ANNOUNCEMENTSIADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 7:46 p.m.
The agenda for the meeting was posted 72 hours in advance in accordance with the Brown
Act.
13
Golf Commission Minutes-Wednesday, February 23, 2011",GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
GolfCommission,2011-02-23,14,,GolfCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
TransportationCommission,2011-02-23,1,"Transportation Commission Minutes
February 23, 2011
Kathy Moehring called the Transportation Commission to order at 7:31 p.m.
1.
Roll Call
The roll was called and the following was recorded:
Members Present:
Philip Tribuzio
Thomas G. Bertken
Jesus Vargas
Kathy Moehring
Kirsten Zazo- absent
Staff Present:
Obaid Khan, Supervising Civil Engineer
Gail Payne, Transportation Coordinator
Daraja Wagner, Administrative Assistant
2.
Minutes
Commissioner Moehring moved approval of the minutes for the January 26, 2011
meeting. Commissioner Bertken seconded the motion. The motion passed 4-0.
3.
Oral Communications - Non-Agenda
None.
4.
New Business
4A.
Alameda Employee Survey Results
Staff Payne summarized the staff report.
Open public hearing.
Commissioner Moehring asked Staff Payne out of the surveys that were sent out, how
many responses were received and also if she was satisfied with the results of the survey.
Moehring also expressed her concern about if the respondents really represented enough
commuter employees.
Page 1 of 5",TransportationCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
TransportationCommission,2011-02-23,2,"Staff Payne responded that she was satisfied with the results of the survey. Payne stated
that according to Dowling Associates, who are the experts in surveying, the results were
good and just about met their target of 1,000 responses.
Staff Khan responded that it was not a scientific survey, but it did capture the different
work locations of main employment areas around the city like Towne Centre and Harbor
Bay.
Staff Payne stated that she did have that information and invited people to come to the
stakeholder meeting on March 10, 2011 for more information.
Commissioner Vargas asked if there would be any benefit to finding out what the youth
thought. He stated that if youth were walking or taking the bus then they would have less
of a dependency on their parents.
Staff Payne responded that they did capture some youth responses yet the focus was on
employees, which tend to have an age cluster corresponding with the baby boomers.
Commissioner Bertken asked what the total employment in Alameda is. Bertken stated
that he wanted to make sure that the survey got answers from the appropriate employees
according to geographic area.
Staff Payne responded that the next step will be to look at the answers from the specific
areas to see how the people responded and see what will best meet their needs. Payne
stated that she would follow up with this topic at the next meeting.
Commissioner Bertken asked how the plan ultimately would be used. What will it
address?
Staff Khan responded that the plan will be used to reduce single driver vehicles and also
will create a list of strategies to help reduce traffic.
Commissioner Bertken stated that people who have cars available to drive are not going
to want to stop using their cars especially since 95 percent of the people who work in
Alameda receive free parking.
Staff Khan responded that a better alternative must be provided and that people must be
able to see the advantages of it.
Commissioner Tribuzio asked if there was anything that asked people who commuted on
bikes how often they commuted that way. Tribuzio stated that eventually people would
return to their cars.
Page 2 of 5",TransportationCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
TransportationCommission,2011-02-23,3,"Staff Payne answered yes, that there was a question asking if they biked more than once a
week.
Commissioner Vargas asked if Staff Payne could elaborate on why there were 29
comments under bike related to the Posey Tube.
Staff Payne responded that these comments were from bicyclists traveling between
Oakland and Alameda on the west end of the city. The Posey Tube has a narrow path
and buses only have two slots for bikes on the racks. The City will begin a shuttle
between the College of Alameda and Laney College to address this issue starting this
summer.
Close public hearing.
No action was taken.
4B.
""Going Forward"" Community Planning Strategy for Alameda Point
Staff Khan explained the ""Going Forward"" effort and assisted the Commission members
in completing the transportation and access section of the workbook.
Open public hearing.
Commissioner Tribuzio stated that bicyclists want a bridge across the estuary and it
would be very important for future planning. Due to the future building on Alameda
Point, there will be more traffic. However, the bridge is a conflict with the relocation of
the Coast Guard.
Jon Spangler - as a charter Transportation Member - stated that he has a problem with
the zero sum ranking order. It is clear that if all ten elements with high density housing
units are implemented then it will have a significant impact on traffic; however, if one is
missing then the whole thing will go up in smoke. However, all ten elements can reduce
Alameda's carbon emissions. All the elements are critical. He also stated that he hoped
that it would not exclude development to Alameda Point.
Jim Straelo stated that he valued the ""additional comments"" section the most. He liked
that he could add additional comments. He found fault that it was not possible to rank
others additional comments. He wants everyone to come up with comments that are
outside the box like:
Circulator Systems that would allow buses to go around Alameda Point and bring
them to the buses on Webster Street
More pedestrian walkways through the tubes
Instead of one central hub, he liked the idea of having several neighborhood hubs
spread throughout the city to match the housing that will be there
Page 3 of 5",TransportationCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
TransportationCommission,2011-02-23,4,"He also thought that it was not smart to not have parking for townhomes. Even if
residents did not need it, their guests might. Jim restated to not just limit ideas to the
workbook.
Commissioner Tribuzio responded that the design is to get people out of their cars.
Building townhomes where people cannot park does not make sense due to the high
prices for the homes and the fact that people have cars and will drive them. Tribuzio also
stated that the ranking order did not make sense.
Staff Khan responded that he just wanted to encourage the community participation to see
where priorities lie. Khan reassured them that all written comments will be taken in
consideration and will not be ignored.
Commissioner Bertken agreed with Spangler that it is not consistent, and it is not good to
have trade offs.
Commissioner Vargas asked that the youth be considered and wanted to make sure to
accommodate skateboarders. Since the average age is growing higher, it is important to
have ADA standards.
Commissioner Moehring stated that the intention is not to pick one and solve the
problem, but to create alternatives.
Commissioner Bertken asked how will the trade offs be done.
Staff Khan gave an example that the BRT forum thought it was a good idea for the BRT
to
go
to 12th Street BART but BRT to Fruitvale BART did not come up as a higher
priority.
Commissioner Moehring stated that the City cannot develop it all at once. It is a matter
of gauging the impact and figuring out where to start. Moehring stated that it all had to
be done at some point.
Close public hearing.
5.
Staff Communications
Request to Start Transportation Commission Meetings at 7:00 PM
Commissioner Vargas moved to recommend that the meetings begin at 7:00 p.m.
Commissioner Tribuzio seconded the motion. The motion passed 4-0.
511 SchoolPool RideMatch (https://www.schoolpool.511.org
Staff Payne explained the new program.
Page 4 of 5",TransportationCommission/2011-02-23.pdf
TransportationCommission,2011-02-23,5,"Future Meeting Agenda Items
Staff Payne stated that future meeting agenda items for the March meeting look to be as
follows:
Countywide Transportation Plan/Transportation Expenditure Plan
Quarterly Report
TSM/TDM Plan - Preliminary Alternative Strategies
6.
Announcements
Jon Spangler stated that $5,000 was in the budget for new bicycle parking. It would be
an excellent use to install new bike racks. Spangler suggested that the staff and
community take it into consideration.
Commissioner Moehring stated that Webster Street has more bike racks. With more
awareness, more will come.
Jim Straehlo stated that some bike racks are preferred over other types depending on how
many can be parked at a time.
7.
Adjournment
8:45 PM
Page 5 of 5",TransportationCommission/2011-02-23.pdf