The Goose Pond Blog

GOOSE POND BOARD MEETING               

The Goose Pond Colony Board of Directors met on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 15, for their regularly scheduled monthly meeting.  The bait/tackle/boat launch facility is currently being advertised for lease.  Final negotiations are underway with a prospective lessee for the snack bar at the Colony golf course pro shop.

The annual audit is being conducted.  Mike Baggett, the Board chairman, noted that this is the same type of audit that is performed annually for the City of Scottsboro and most entities and municipalities.  He pointed out that last year’s audit report gave Goose Pond Colony a clean bill of health and was accompanied by the auditor’s report stating “In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Public Park and Recreation Board of the City of Scottsboro as of September 30, 2010…”.

A proposed 5 year master plan for special projects was presented by Lyle Sosebee, the General Manager of Goose Pond Colony.  The special projects program was created several years ago to utilize revenues from rate increases for designated projects.  The special projects summary for the fiscal year ending September 20, 2011 was presented to the board and the report reflected that $157,000 was spent on special projects.  During the past 6 years a total of $1.16 million has been spent on special projects improvements at Goose Pond Colony/Plantation.

The Board approved $62,000 for the renovation of two more cabins and for the purchase of new bedding for the remainder of the cabins.  An employee holiday one-time pay increase that mirrors the City of Scottsboro one-time holiday pay increase plan was approved by the Board.

The Board’s Attorney, Ken Looney, addressed the board regarding the use of volunteers on a regular basis.  He also cited a letter received from the auditors about the use of volunteers.  Ken told the board that Goose Pond Colony is a public corporation and does not qualify for any 501(c) (i.e. non-profit) tax exemptions.  He also noted that volunteers performing tasks on a regular basis, such as operating parts of the facilities, would be classified either as an independent contractor or an employee and therefore be subject to the same requirements as any other independent contractor or employee.

Lyle Sosebee gave a summary of the combined revenues and expenses for the month of October for the Colony and Plantation golf courses.  Compared with October of 2010, combined revenues were up almost $5,000 and combined expenses were down a little over $6,000 for an overall financial improvement of approximately $11,000 for the month of October, 2011.  Mike Baggett thanked the golfers for their support of the golfing facilities.  For the entire complex there was a $15,000 improvement in positive cash flow in October, 2011 compared with October, 2010.

The next regular board meeting is scheduled for December 20 at 4:30.

PLANTATION POINT

At the September 20 Board meeting, the Board modified the golf membership rate structure to increase monthly memberships by $20/month and eliminate the weekend cart fees at Goose Pond Colony.  As previously approved and starting on October 3, 2011, Plantation Point will be  open 3 days a week: Friday, Saturday and Sunday and will be closed approximately 3 months during the winter months.

MARINA

Wi-Fi is now available at the Marina.  After many years of planning the marina now has Wi-Fi.  This has been our number one request from out of town visitors to the marina for the last few years.  Scottsboro Electric Power Board was instrumental in making this happen and will help attract out of town visitors to our great city. 

CAMPGROUND

We are now making plans to add Wi-Fi to the campground that will increase our revenues through higher occupancy.

PUBLICITY BROCHURES

Final reviews are being done on publicity brochures. This is done through a Matching grant from The Alabama Department of Tourism. We will print 20,000 copies.  The state gets 5,000 copies to put at state rest areas and to promote GPC at National Travel Shows.

OFFICERS

The Board of Directors elected officers for the coming year.

Chairman: Mike Baggett

Vice Chairman:  Jim Olyniec

Secretary: Bill Guthier

FINANCIALS

Overall this fiscal year thru August, total expenditures and payments (including bond principal and interest) have exceeded revenues by $47,000.  The spending on special projects/improvements was suspended several months ago as revenues lagged. Before suspending our special projects we completed three major projects that are now in operation and are producing revenue for GPC.  Marina Bathhouse- completed January 2011, two remodeled cabins- completed February 2011, and Sewer expansion in the campground – completed March 2011.  The fiscal year ends at the end of September. 

For more information visit our web site

Goosepond.org

At the November 2011 Goose Pond Colony board meeting the Board of Directors voted to begin the second phase of our cottage renovation program. On November 28, 2011 we started the renovation on cottage #11.  Cottage #11 and #12 are now complete and cottage #10 is nearing completion.  The cottages have new flooring, cabinets, bedding, furniture and paint.  We have also added big screen tv's in the living room and both bedrooms.  The outside of each cottage has been cleaned and restained.  We will be planning an open house in the month of February.  Goose Pond Colony is excited about these upgrades and we hope everyone will get a chance to come out and look at our progress.