Lets learn from the experience of others

NOTE: This post was created by Joe Moore during his 2023 MCA Board member campaign.

I received this letter from a friend and I thought it was worth sharing:

Greetings:

We have sold our home and we are moving back home to be closer to our kids. We’ll miss the weather and our Friends but the joy of being with our family is more important to us.

We enjoyed our time here, but, for us, the time was right to move. One reason that stepped up our plans to move was the proposed Enhancements project that was presented to the membership earlier this year. We bought our home because it was in a nice community with a golf course that was affordable for middle class people to live. We were concerned that our dues would continue going up due to inflation and building projects like these planned were not something we wanted and we would not be able to afford to live here as our pensions have not gone up since we retired. We felt insulted when we were told by an Enhancement committee member, “surely you can afford $39 a month.”

It seems that about every 5-8 years a group of folks think that the Club needs a major update or the property values will drop like a rock. The last renovation project was not voted on by the membership. The Board voted and said it would cost us just under $70 a month and took out a multi-million dollar loan that we still owe more than $4,000,000. The Clubhouse food service areas were enlarged and we built a new freestanding Pro Shop but it doesn’t seem that the restaurant is any busier than before the construction. The current Food Service offering is weak. Of the seven days in the week the dining room is only open for Dinner four of them. Management states that it has been hard to find and retain food service staff. The truth might be they can work at other restaurants and make more money because they are busy and get their tips at the end of their shift. Another question to ask might be why members don’t come to dine as their first choice instead of going to other restaurants. We did not eat at the Club often due to the hit and miss food quality/taste, the price and automatic gratuity, and inconsistent service. In most years more than $75K+ of unspent food minimum. That’s a lot of money to leave on the table and get nothing in return. Most nights that we were at the Club for dinner there were small crowds in the Grill Room and the dining room was closed off. On a positive note, the Sunday Brunch was generally good but the menu items rarely change. We spent our minimum on the Brunch and that was about it.

The mission statement states that the Club’s mission is “to provide members with recreational and social opportunities through quality private country club and golf facilities with a well maintained community, in an atmosphere of friendliness, transparency and mutual respect, and in a fiscally responsible manner.”

We’ve had close to twenty fun years and hope that it will continue to be a nice place to live. Best wishes for a safe and Happy New Year.

You might think this couple lived in the Meadows but they didn’t, although this community is within 25 miles of the Meadows. The point is there are several golf communities struggling with many of the same issues facing the Meadows and good board members are important to our success. That is why you need to learn all you can about the candidates, tell your friends and neighbors, and VOTE