On February 8th, the TRCC Board voted to approve the $13 million Master Plan concept for the clubhouse renovation. They will work with a building and design team to finalize the plans for the project and they expect to break ground early next year. In short, the Board has decided to move forward with the Master Plan without seeking approval from the membership.
If this comes as news to you – or if you think the membership should be allowed to vote on the project before $13 million dollars of our money is committed, you need to read further – and plan to attend one of the Open Forums on February 21st.
The Board’s evidence of membership support for this plan is summarized in the email sent to us on February 8th: “One option was a buildout and renovation of the Clubhouse to take place in two phases, the first in 2024 and the second at some unspecified later date. The second option was a one-phase renovation and buildout of the Clubhouse. Our member survey showed that most members responding, from all membership categories, were either satisfied, or very satisfied, with either of the two plan approaches under consideration — in other words, most respondents favored a comprehensive renovation, whether in one phase or two.”
Let’s take a closer look at the results of the Clubhouse Master Plan & Improvement Plan Opinion Survey sent to members in November of last year. The results are clearly and thoroughly summarized by the McMahon Group and posted on the TRCC/GLF website. The survey was returned by 46% of members overall. The McMahon report provides the number of members from Golf and Social categories who responded, but does not calculate the percentage of members from each category who responded, so I did. Within each category, I divided the number of survey respondents by number of members in the category (using number of eligible voters in each category, as reported in the December voting results).
I calculated that 70% (152/217) of Golf members responded to the survey, a figure that was twice the 35% (193/553) of Social members who did so. Now let’s look at members’ level of satisfaction with the $13 million Master Plan by category.
According to the McMahon report, a total of 56% of respondents overall were Very Satisfied or Satisfied with the plan. The breakdown by category, however, revealed that while 68% of Golfers reported being Very Satisfied or Satisfied with it, only 48% of Social Members felt the same way. Further, when Social Members were asked to choose between three options, the Master Plan gained only marginally more support (36% of respondents) than the Initial Improvement Plan (31%) and Neither/Undecided (33%).
Putting the survey figures together paints a persuasive picture that Golfers support the $13 million dollar renovation (though some have told me they're withholding final judgment until they get more details on the financing plans). The support of Social Members, however, is much less certain. Just 35% of them returned the survey, and of those who did, a minority (48%) was Very Satisfied or Satisfied with the $13 million Master Plan. Given a choice between the three plans offered, they were fairly evenly divided. Considering that Social Members make up almost 75% of the TRCC membership, it’s not at all clear that the Master Plan could garner majority support in a vote by the membership. Perhaps that’s why the Board has decided not to conduct one.
Because of the manner in which this project is being financed, the Board believes that they are not required by our bylaws to obtain the consent of the membership. Indeed, according to this reasoning, they could choose to spend even more than $13 million for the renovation without our permission. The Board’s February 8th vote to approve the Master Plan concept means that this project can - and will - proceed without any further affirmation by the membership. Simply stated, if the membership does nothing, the clubhouse renovation will happen.
So here’s the question we need to ask ourselves: Are we willing to write a blank check to the Board for $13 million – or however much the renovation finally costs – for whatever clubhouse design the Board ultimately chooses to implement? If not, we need to speak up and object now. We need to tell the Board that we, the owners of TRCC, believe we should be given the opportunity to vote on a project that has such far-reaching consequences for our costs of membership, the usability of our clubhouse over the next few years, and the eventual salability of our homes.
Come to the February 21st Open Forums, at noon and 6 PM, either in person or via Zoom - and bring your friends and neighbors. This is one event you can't afford to miss!
Note: If you want to attend via Zoom, be sure to register before noon on Monday the 20th. Further, I highly recommend that you review the Facilities Presentation – 11.03.22, and the Own Your Facilities Master and Improvement Plan Opinion Survey – 12.16.22, found on the Own Your Future tab of the TRCC/GLF website.
