Golf at Semlin Valley Golf Course will continue for another season, much to the members’ relief.
A annual general meeting earlier this month asked club members to consider paying their memberships early so they could clear up some outstanding bills and have enough money to start up the clubhouse next Spring. Most of the board members also announced their intention to step down, but there was no one to replace them.
On Monday night 26 members met again.
“If we are to operate in 2016 we must address current deficit of $18,000,” said director Norm Jewison.
They also needed to recruit three more board members, which was accomplished at Monday’s meeting.
“The biggest roadblock is the collection of bills that total $18,000 that we have to pay if we even want to consider opening in 2016,” said Jewison.
Past club treasurer Harish Natha said there was only a $4,000 for electricity that had to be paid right away if they didn’t want the power to be cut. The rest of the bills could be paid later. Some sooner than later. They would also need another $1,000 to get the clubhouse stocked and up and running.
Still, “it would be advantageous to get as many paid up members as we can,” said Jewison.
Member Stern Frederickson asked if the memberships paid now would be guaranteed if the golf course didn’t open after all.
Jewison shook his head. “No, but we muddle through this every year and open up,” he said, adding that the only monkey wrench might be if they had a major mechanical failure that required a lot of money to fix.
He asked for members who were prepared to pay an early membership to come up to the front table and do so. Twenty-one members paid up.
“This is a more optimistic outlook we have tonight than we had a month ago,” said Jewison. “We were all set to hand the keys back to (landowner) Glen (Fehr) and no one wanted to see that. Least of all, Glen."
The club is looking for volunteers to help with the clubhouse.