3 minute read
President's Message from Scott
from March 2023 Tom Tom
by Sahalee
Anyone else pining for warmer weather? Hopefully a real spring is right around the corner Nonetheless, while the golf course has been closed, our food and beverage outlets continue to serve Leslie tells me the club has experienced growing member dining especially for social events and special dining options (can you say ‘wine club’ or ‘prime rib night’) Surely, this is partly influenced by the F&B minimum as intended, and the great “culinary culture” the restaurant team is delivering
February Past Business
We reviewed the 2022 full-year financial results which showed a net loss of $116.7k, or -1.3% of Revenues – outside of our target range of +/- 1.0%. With all of the closures December was a rougher month than we expected with no time to make adjustments. Because of this operating loss and the club owning 30 Proprietary Memberships, the BOD feels it is essential to focus on addressing the opportunities to improve our membership base.
The Board approved the 2023 Capital Budget of $1.9M, as recommended by the Finance Committee.As a reminder, Capital dollars come from initiation fees and capital dues They pay for the replacement and purchase of our physical assets (e g , mowers, furniture, HVAC systems) as well as our debt service As we project over the next seven years, we expect an average of $1 5M each year to replace the assets that reach their end of expected use The approved 2023 Capital Budget also includes some new projects to improve member and guest experiences I would like to thank our Controller Siemon Slagter and the Finance Committee for helping to put us in this position where we have such a clear view of our long-term financial future
The Board discussed how to best communicate the membership and bylaws changes being considered now by the Golf, Membership and Finance Committees Before making any final determinations, we need to hear from all of the Committees as well as the membership It was agreed a Membership Information Session would be scheduled for this Thursday, March 9th at 5pm to share the current ideas being considered to gain additional feedback After the session and all of the Committee recommendations have been received, the Board will determine the best path forward for the long-term future of Sahalee The Board is truly excited about the changes being considered and believe collectively they will help Sahalee build a stronger Membership We encourage everyone to attend in person, but if you can’t we have decided to make the meeting virtually available
Sahalee was approached to host a “good of the game” event in 2028 (five years from now).These events are part of Sahalee’s Mission and Vision and help build our reputation within the Pacific Northwest.It’s a way of giving back to the game of golf. Rather than weighing good of the game selection decisions, the Board voted to authorize our Director of Golf to plan for a single good-ofthe game outside event each year (in addition to the Sahalee Player’s Championship). This also provides our Director of Golf with a firm policy that he can point to as the reason he must decline support in a given year with all of the requests he receives. This year, we approved support for the Seattle US Kids Golf Tour event on Sunday afternoon, June 11. The top players from each age division will play our course for their series finale.Additionally, we will be working with the AJGA on a special Washington Junior Cup Golf event for 24 junior golfers in early October. This event will help to support the First Tee of Seattle.
Lastly, the Board approved two new Members: Chase Wietecha a Junior Executive and Anton and Susan Wootliff – new Social Members Welcome to Sahalee!
Future Business
The Board’s primary focus is to review Committee recommendations of our future Membership strategy, and to share this with the Membership (March 9th at 5pm) Accordingly, we will publish the corresponding bylaw changes to membership and prepare for a formal vote and Special Meeting (TBD) As indicated before, these changes are all interlinked My best analogy is that of a jigsaw puzzle: each piece is important Missing one piece leaves an incomplete and less effective puzzle We do look forward to sharing our thoughts and findings with the membership later this week
Sincerely,
Scott Heydon Club President
The Sahalee family warmly welcomes our new members!
