ORDER-2015-155 : FY16 Mt Hood Enterprise Fund Budget in the amount of $1,470,846.84 (One Million, Four Hundred Seventy Thousand, Eight Hundred Forty Six and Eighty Four Cents)

Transcript (~17 min @ 1:19:55)

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▶ 1:19:41 Peter D. Mortimer: No, not yet. Yeah, we can do that now, sure. We have a motion to place the budget on hold for this evening by Alderman Mac, Alderman Medeiros. Simply seconded by Alderman Boycelle, all in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, the umbrella order for the budget is on hold at this point. And the next order we have before us is order 2015-155. It is the FY fiscal year 16 Mount Hood Enterprise Fund Budget in the amount of $1,470,846.84. Would you like to make an opening statement?

▶ 1:20:18 Speaker 10: Just briefly, Mr. Chairman, the budget we've submitted on behalf of the Mount Hood Enterprise Fund doesn't contain any significant increases over last year. We were here last year when we were discussing the budget for this past year, Mrs. Bell and I were here. And we had concerns because of the fact that, as everybody knows under the special legislation, one of the biggest financial burdens that the fund has currently is the payment of the bonds associated with the athletic fields. We were concerned last year on how that was going to be because last year was, last fiscal year, 2015, was the biggest payments that we had to make. And the concern of the commission and of Ms. Bell was rightfully directed to making sure that we could meet those obligations. As it turns out, the revenues for calendar year 2014 in golf were down significantly, about 90 to 100,000. revenue primarily to weather issues. The management company tells us it was weather issues. There was nothing else attributable to the decrease in revenue. I'm glad to report we were able to weather that storm, the decrease in revenue. We were able to make the bond payments, meet the obligations, the pilot payment that we make every year to the city of about 70,000. Indirect costs that we absorb, all were able to be paid without having to come back before board to access any of the reserve account funds that we have our reserve account is about four hundred and seventy two thousand I'd like to say that I think the fund is healthy every year we get a good report from the from the State Department of Revenue on the free cash certifications and against that backdrop we've been able to maintain I think we've been able to maintain the quality of the Mount Hood golf course in the in the facilities the The management company does a good job, but it clearly couldn't be done without the leadership and direction of Joan Bell, who has a unique ability to prioritize what needs to be done to direct the management company and ride herd on the management company, for lack of a better term, to make sure that the quality of the Mount Hood golf course and facility is maintained. We're getting nothing but good feedback this year. I'm happy to report that the golf course itself weathered that horrible winter that we had, and everybody was vigilant as to trying to preserve what had to be done. I think it's in as good a shape this year as it's ever been. There's a laundry list of things that we've been able to still accomplish despite this challenging fiscal year that we had. Our bond payments go down by about $90,000 this upcoming year. I'm also happy to report that the golf revenues already this year are up by about $50,000. The management company reported at our monthly meeting tonight that they had the best May that they've ever had in the operating of the Mount Hood Golf Course, revenue-wise. I went back and checked, and they're telling us the truth. In the last 10 or 15 years, we haven't made that much in the month of May from golf revenues. So I think there's nothing that will prevent us from going forward and meeting our obligations. The budget as submitted, I think, is fair and I think it will help us do that.

▶ 1:23:39 Peter D. Mortimer: Thank you very much Chairman Gardiner. Director Bell, would you like to make any statements or if Mr. Gardiner has summed it up? Alderman McAteer-Margolis, please. I'm sorry, Alderman Medeiros, please. Right, and then I'll go next. Are you in queue as well? Okay, Alderman Medeiros.

▶ 1:23:54 Monica C. Medeiros: Thank you. Thank you very much. for all your hard work i'm sure that uh mr chairman would like to thank you too for the great day saturday at the common unrelated to mount hood but thank you well i would also like

▶ 1:24:07 Speaker 10: to add alderman Medeiros so miss bell wasn't there and she was the one i got the credit she did all

▶ 1:24:14 Monica C. Medeiros: the work and he did say that on saturday so i can attest no name um i just have one quick question uh i'm glad you addressed the weather i'm glad that we're we're looking good uh i had a question somebody had come asked me actually yesterday about water and sewer and how that flows through mount hood so mount hood we have a water and sewer line in this budget um you know the golf course is not using the same city water that you're you're you are using the same city water but it's not

▶ 1:24:49 Speaker 10: being paid out of the water and sewer fund primarily we we try to avoid using water in city city water uh it is a it could be a costly and with the new rates that i think uh are in place currently it going forward it's a concern that the commission has and we've discussed uh several times uh in the last few last year or so the way it works is we try to use the water from the ponds to irrigate the course as best we can a few years we do yeah most years we're successful at that a few years back we made a capital investment in the irrigation system that is now currently in place at the course so that it was one of the better investments i think we were able to do so that we're able to monitor and efficiently utilize the water that's in in the ponds there are times though when there's not enough water in the ponds we have to go to city water and sewer and issues along those lines come up uh it's not a decision that we we take lightly but it's one that uh on an ongoing basis has a has been a focus of the commission and and miss bell because of the fact of the cost associated with it and i think to understand it

▶ 1:25:53 Speaker 11: so we use the three ponds for irrigate all the water from the three ponds for irrigation the management company pays for all the water and water usage in the clubhouse buildings all that stuff if we have to go on to city water then it comes that bill comes back onto the park

▶ 1:26:11 Monica C. Medeiros: commission good and then i see uh and i don't know i'm i i suspect something is kind of off on these numbers that are in uh the budget that we have here because it says actual usage or actual number from fy 2014 was ten thousand seven hundred and seventy five dollars and ninety two cents uh we budgeted for fy 15 20 000 but fy 15 actual was zero and the projection is 29 000. so that

▶ 1:26:43 Speaker 10: seems i think the zero was because we haven't paid the bill yet not yet okay probably where we're going by june 30th that number will probably change okay and do you think that this estimate of

▶ 1:26:52 Monica C. Medeiros: uh 29 000 is accurate compared to the 10 000 that was spent last year uh i think it's probably going

▶ 1:27:05 Speaker 10: to be higher to be perfect you think it's going to be higher than 29 000 yeah and the new the new water and sewer rates uh are applicable to the mount hood golf course um i think it's probably going to be at the end of the rainbow probably going to be higher the city's been working hard with us on those john shenna has is coming back with us several times we've had several discussions on how to resolve uh the water bill issue but um so we think the water bill is going to be like

▶ 1:27:32 Speaker 10: three times what it was if we went straight on the rates i think it could be easily easily but again part of it's going to depend on whether or not we have to go to city water in july august to september of this year if we do it's it's going to be a last resort in years past when we were paying 10 000 a year it wasn't as much of a focus we said okay flip over go to city water now you you You mentioned the issue when everybody cringes on the commission, and Joan in particular, says we have a round of ten phone calls before we say, do we really have to do this? And it's going to probably continue that way for some time.

▶ 1:28:07 Monica C. Medeiros: So obviously you're using the ponds as much as possible. Are you doing any kind of efforts to catch the rain water? I mean, which the rain water probably goes into the ponds anyway.

▶ 1:28:16 Speaker 11: We are trying, we have contacted a well company to come out and see. We have a well down on the second fairway, which we probably get 72 gallons of-

▶ 1:28:29 Speaker 10: 72 gallons a minute, I think he said, is what the pump does, so I don't know, yeah.

▶ 1:28:33 Speaker 11: And we're looking for other, if there's other areas on the golf course that might be acceptable to do that, if there's enough water. So we are looking into it.

▶ 1:28:43 Speaker 10: Some years ago, a well company came out and did a survey of the area, made some suggestions. Joan has contacted them again to come back and say, can you update it for us? our options but it it is definitely something we we are interested interested in priscilla

▶ 1:28:56 Monica C. Medeiros: all right thank you that was more than i thought i was going to get out that answer thank you thank

▶ 1:29:01 Peter D. Mortimer: you alderman Medeiros alderman mcintyre margolis please thank you um i actually also wanted to ask

▶ 1:29:04 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: about the water and whether you have any kind of um or you're aware of any systems that reclaim the water that you're putting into the ground i know um just the pond itself i guess just the

▶ 1:29:19 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: ponds i i think there are some systems in other parts of the country that are typically very dry or have issues where they actually are able to reclaim the sprinkled water from whatever underneath as opposed to actually drilling wells but i think the beauty of it when it rains we

▶ 1:29:35 Speaker 10: don't have to go collecting the rain water it goes right into the golf course right right yeah i i'm

▶ 1:29:41 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: thinking of a course in florida i'm familiar with it has some kind of reclamation and they use it for all their watering as well so um but i did also um want to ask you on your um salary and wages they are not all paid out of this line correct fifty percent of uh miss bell's salary

▶ 1:30:00 Speaker 10: is paid out of this budget fifty percent is paid by uh the parks department budget roughly if i have those correct yep fifty fifty and miss sprigley uh is paid uh one third out of our budget two-thirds out of dpw she splits her time between um both places right thank you and then

▶ 1:30:18 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: your um capital improvement line do you have any particular it's um it was kind of all over the place last up down do you have any particular um improvements that you're looking to do we have

▶ 1:30:34 Speaker 10: every month we have a capital improvement list that we go through we try to prioritize that

▶ 1:30:41 Speaker 11: we've done several over the years some of the things that we've done this year which i don't know if all of them have hit the budget yet um we got a tent for the 19th hole we got a new awning for the front of the building we replaced all the everybody's around the 19th patio we redid the the the bushes in front of the front patio the floors were re-sanded and pollied we did a ton of tree work during the winter around the course we completed two areas that were badly damaged cart path damage so we had asphalt paths you know redone in certain places so we're still we're

▶ 1:31:24 Speaker 10: always working there's always something to be done by contract we're required to spend fifty

▶ 1:31:27 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: thousand right but you don't have any like plans for the tower or anything major that you're

▶ 1:31:33 Speaker 10: planning on attacking this year the towers on the list but we we've had that looked at we've had estimates and uh plans done uh delulo architects have uh determined a couple of years ago now what it would take to fix it it's a big ticket item it's uh six figures anyway at least according to the numbers two years ago to fix to do what has to be done uh to bring that tower back but

▶ 1:32:02 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: it's the area it's in it's the it's on the list yeah as many things are and um finally your professional services line took a a decrease is that what um you are paying the management company

▶ 1:32:12 Speaker 10: what happens is once you get a million dollars in revenue there's a percentage that goes to the management company and then the next benchmark is a million two so if the revenues were down as they were last year they didn't hit those benchmarks we didn't have to pay them the extra money i think the original when we proposed the budget last year we were uh cautiously optimistic we were going to hit every benchmark based upon uh the track record that the course had revenue-wise and only in the previous couple of years but uh that's probably the why the

▶ 1:32:42 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: decreases you're probably on track for it this year it sounds like good um in terms of the 19th hole and the um facility um we keep hearing rumors that there might eventually be a roof deck

▶ 1:32:55 Speaker 10: It's a good rumor, but it hasn't made it to us yet. It hasn't happened yet. It hasn't made it to us yet.

▶ 1:32:59 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: Capital improvement list. There's all air conditioning units up there now, so I think it would be kind of difficult. It would be tough unless you use them as tables.

▶ 1:33:06 Speaker 10: We have wrestled with trying to make the patio area a three season porch type area, or a three season part of the facility. Costs were fairly extensive, so at least for this year and foreseeable future we've gone with the the tent area we're gonna tent it in and Joan did a lot of work on this and it really is I think it's gonna be something that the public will enjoy it's nice okay good well it's always up

▶ 1:33:32 Speaker 11: and passive recreation any new plans for any passive recreation up there still working on on trails we have a lot more we're working in conjunction with the mountain park association so we're running more events up there through them recreation we have a line item that the mount hood budget has ten thousand dollars allotted to recreation to run programming up there so when we do winter fest and those type of things that money

▶ 1:34:03 Peter D. Mortimer: pays for that okay great thank you very much thank you alderman mcateer margolis alderman boycelle

▶ 1:34:06 Robert A. Boisselle: please a few years back there's plans for turbine small turbine and the last thing i heard it was a There's a 300 foot turbine standing up on that hill. Right. Is there any concept of putting a solar farm up there of any sort? You have the area for it, and you can sell that power back to the utilities.

▶ 1:34:32 Speaker 10: I think Alderman Boisselle, the way we would have to address that by contract now, I don't think we could in midstream probably implement something like that. The contract's coming up in the next few years. When we get to put it out the next time, if anybody has such a proposal, we'd be more than interested in listening to it. I think we're kind of constrained by the contract we have with those folks right now. The turbine kind of went by the wayside because there was some issues with the federal government and the FAA, and also unfortunately the moving force in my mind behind it, Shakespeare uh got ill and um he was uh he was the one who was who was doing a lot of the leg work on that but I remember we we had some issues with the FAA and uh air flight routes and all this other stuff as to where we could go and then it kind of diminished what could be put there and I don't it hasn't come up in several several months putting a 300 foot yeah would have an

▶ 1:35:28 Robert A. Boisselle: FAA problem at this place so back to that line item concerning the pathways and trails and so forth was that's ten thousand dollars for the trails or you just no no the passive record that

▶ 1:35:43 Speaker 11: was for community events at mount okay let's go back like the massive recreation you know what

▶ 1:35:51 Robert A. Boisselle: we do besides golf okay we've talked a number of years concerning trail networks in the in the system and so forth yeah and how's that gone we we have done the three trails we have one

▶ 1:35:58 Speaker 11: more trail that we would like to continue behind the tower um it's called the fireplace trail it used to be in existence i guess many many years ago the problem is it crosses over a little bit into saugus so we have to work with them to get permission to do it but i have a trail stewardship group with alan as uh the lead um so yeah we're we're hoping to get that that final trail what

▶ 1:36:25 Robert A. Boisselle: we feel is now do you have that trail network on the website at this point so if you go to

▶ 1:36:32 Speaker 11: where would they go to see this if you go on to the mountain hood website there is a um a picture of the map and we have them at the office they're online you can print them they're not unless you

▶ 1:36:43 Robert A. Boisselle: print and color but okay thank you very much thank you very much chairman thank you alderman

▶ 1:36:50 Peter D. Mortimer: voysell is there a motion on this order please we have a motion to recommend second this budget for passage by alderman mcintyre margolis duly seconded by alderman byrd seeing no further discussion all in favor please say aye aye any opposed hearing none this budget will be recommended to the full board for passage thank you very much for coming thank you sorry you were Thank you, Mr. Garner, thank you, thank you, Mrs. Bell. Is there a motion to adjourn, please?