Goat Hill board prez optimistic despite money woes

“There was a little bit of contention at the meeting,” said Shelter Island Country Club (SICC) Board President Ron Lucas. He was speaking about Sunday’s membership meeting where close to 60 people were in attendance.

“Everyone got their point across,” Mr. Lucas said.

Much of the disagreement over the board’s policies, Mr. Lucas said, came from Larry Lechmanski and his son, Brian. The two have worked for the SICC in the past and have strongly criticized how it is currently managed.

Mr. Lucas remains in firm control of the board. There are no new board members, and won’t be until the closing meeting in October. Mr. Lucas’ term runs until October 2017.

As the club prepares to open for the season, finances are basically the same now as they were last October when the SICC wrapped up its 2015 season, Mr. Lucas said.

He wouldn’t divulge specific numbers, but said the club is in the red and is negotiating with vendors whose bills are past due.

Bills for grass seed, natural gas, gasoline, a new alarm system and money owed to an accountant are all outstanding, according to a club report.

A treasurer’s report submitted to the board by Mr. Lucas last October, showed the club had a cash balance of $16,015 at the end of September 2015, down from $32,519 the previous year.

Mr. Lucas said he hopes the club will break even this year and be in a stronger financial situation than it was at the end of last year.

Toward that end, there was a discussion about fundraising ideas and other efforts to bring in new funds.

The Lechmanskis estimate club debt at more than $50,000, with Larry Lechmanski saying the board is using money being paid for memberships this year to pay last year’s bills.

Mr. Lucas disputed that debt number.

The Lechmanskis also cited memberships at fewer than 100, but Mr. Lucas said there are 273, since he counts people, not memberships, explaining that some are family memberships that cover two or more members. The 273 figure is down from 275 last year.

As for the subject that first brought focus to the club’s operation — the condition of its greens — Mr. Lucas blamed dry weather and an inability to water because of restrictions. But those restrictions don’t apply to greens, Brian Lechmanski said.

Watering during the day results in burning the grass; failing to provide water at night to reach the roots kills the greens, he said.

He said he was ordered to do work that would harm the greens rather than keep them healthy, but he refused, and was dismissed by the club two years ago.

Since he departed, 50 percent of the greens became dirt and were infiltrated with crab grass, Brian Lechmanski said, and only two pieces of equipment he maintained for years were still running by the end of the 2015 season.

Mr. Lucas chose not to comment on the allegations.

There are two greens being worked on to revitalize them and a temporary solution is in place creating two areas nearby that can be used until the original greens are restored, Mr. Lucas said.

The club had a professional company assess the situation, but the company’s suggestions to restore and maintain the greens was beyond the SICC’s budget, Mr. Lucas said.

Besides functioning as board president, Mr. Lucas will oversee work on the grounds, he said.

To a suggestion from some members Sunday that he shouldn’t be functioning as the liaison between the board and the club’s accountant, he agreed. He would prefer to have a treasurer, but so far, he’s been unable to find anyone with the ability and willingness to tackle the job, he said.

Mr. Lucas, a retired engineer who managed a group of more than 100 workers in Compton, California, before relocating to the East Coast, also managed a California-based ski club.

The Lechmanskis have charged that Mr. Lucas is failing to properly manage the SICC and the Town Board isn’t providing the oversight needed to protect an asset purchased with taxpayer’s money.

Supervisor Jim Dougherty said the Town Board functions only as a landlord, eschewing more involvement.

Both Lechmanskis previously worked for the club — Larry for 32 years, maintaining the fleet of golf carts that came to be known as “Larry’s babies” — and Brian for 13 years, first under former greens manager George Blados and then for the current management.

Neither work for the club now, Larry by resignation and Brian because he was dismissed for what he said he was told was “insubordination.”

Mr. Lucas praised the work of the elder Mr. Lechmanski maintaining the carts, while Larry said he quit after his son was fired because “blood is thicker than water” and his heart was no longer in the work.

“It was a family operation,” Brian said. “What’s lost is caring.”

The one area of agreement the men have with Mr. Lucas is that it will take money and effort to bring the golf course back to where it needs to be to attract new members and keep those signed up. Where they disagree is in how the money should be spent, with the two men arguing over whether strategies in place now would restore the greens.

“We’re optimistic and we hope things will work out,” Mr. Lucas said.