CAYMAN ISLANDS TENNIS CLUB

Transcription

1 MINUTES OF THE EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 14 TH OCTOBER 2015 AT 7:00 PM AT THE CLUBHOUSE, SOUTH SOUND, GRAND CAYMAN BOARD MEMBER STATUS BOARD MEMBER STATUS Steve Surrey, President Present Susan Kerr, Director Present Bill McFarland, Vice President Present Mike Bonikowski, Director Apologies Bruce John, Secretary Present Mike Fullerton, Director Present Kevin Fawcett, Treasurer Resigned Simon Gunn, Director Present Peter Anderson, Director Apologies Eva Jacques-Aiken, Director (Pirates Apologies Cove representative) GUEST STATUS Rob Steward, Club Manager Present There were 28 Members in attendance at 7:00 pm: Refer attached Appendix A - Attendance List 1. Call to order, roll call and inspection of proxies. Steve Surry (President) took the Chair and called the meeting to order at 7:08 pm. A total of 6 Proxies were collected by the Club Manager who confirmed they were in order and handed them over to the Secretary for inspection and confirmation. 2. Approval of the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of 16 th June 2015 Minutes of the AGM prepared by the former Board having been previously circulated and circulated again today have been taken as read by the Membership. As action items noted in the minutes would be discussed at the EGM, it was proposed by Jody McFarland and seconded by Lesley Jennings that the minutes be accepted as a true record of the meeting, and carried unanimously.

2 3. President s Report CAYMAN ISLANDS TENNIS CLUB The President s Report was read by Steve Surrey covering the period of June 17, 2015, the appointment of the new Board, to the current date. Major points discussed by the President included the following: The primary reason for the EGM was to revisit the financial statements presented at the AGM as there were issues raised that needed investigation. The resignation of the Treasurer (Kevin Fawcett). The accomplishments of the elected board over the last four months, namely hosting two very successful socials (Wimbledon and US Open) and restart of Sunday morning social tennis. Our priority and focus this year is for the Club to become more profitable by increasing membership, collecting outstanding receivables and controlling expenses. There are no major expansion plans as the Club has spent monies on upgrading the facilities during the past couple of years. Announcement of the Christmas Party which will be held at the Club, Friday 18 th December. Refer attached Appendix B President s Report 4. Treasurer s Report Copies of the Club s balance sheet and profit & loss for the year ended March 31, 2015 had been previously sent to Members with the EGM Notice. With the resignation of the Treasurer, VP (Bill McFarland) had stepped in and prepared a Statement of Cash Flows for the year ended March 31, 2015, a Budget for Fiscal 2016 and an aged listing of Accounts Receivable. Interim financial statements for the first quarter ended June 30, 2015 were not prepared as the VP did not have time to prepare. Of note, the statements being represented have been restated to correct previous noted deficiencies, and remain unaudited. Over the past two years the Board invested the Club s financial resources in the Club s infrastructure, namely court resurfacing, landscaping and fill against a backdrop of declining revenues and increasing expenses. Looking at the Balance Sheet, the Club s cash balance dropped by CI$81k from CI$116k at March 31, 2014 to CI$35k at March 31, The increase in receivables is due by the CI Government which was paid subsequent to the year end. Of concern, aged accounts receivables > 90 days at March 31, 2015 totaled CI$67k or 52% of the total balance and suggests that the CI$25k provision is understated. As at Sept. 30, 2015 of the total CI$130k in accounts receivables, CI$86k is over 90 days and represents 66% of the total. As no inventory count was undertaken, the profit on the Bar is suspect. The Statement of Cash Flow provided reflects the cash position at the beginning of the year and end of the year, where cash was collected and where it was spent, and reflects the use of some CI$81k in cash spent on court resurfacing, landscaping and fill. Looking at the Income Statement, revenues from membership fees was down 9% year over year with court fees down 5%. The Club loss of CI$6k from the Cayman Open and wrote off CI$11k in bad debt expense. Excluding the loss from the Cayman Open and bad debt expense, expenses were up CI$28k or 17%. Profit from the bar is down CI$2.5k or 12% and income from the Pros was down CI$7k or 20%.

3 Looking at Fixed Assets, the Club made an investment of CI$76k in 2015, spending CI$32k on landscaping, CI$28k on the conversion of clay courts and CI$16k on fill. As the assets purchased in the last two years are being depreciated over five years, the Club will experience higher than normal depreciation expense for the next four years. In conclusion, the continued investment/spending at historic rates is unsustainable in the near-term. The current Board sees its priorities as collecting accounts receivable, growing membership and controlling expenses. The investment in the Club will allow the Club to grow its membership in the coming years. Questions arose from the Membership regarding accounts receivables. Graham Morse, Sandra Daily and Rankin McMillan expressed concern over the aging of accounts and wanted to know if the receivables were collectable, the provision was sufficient and if membership fee revenue was overstated. The VP was of the opinion the receivables and membership fee revenues were likely overstated which has been the case in the past. He feels that we could possibly write off an additional CI$25k. The problem is annual dues are automatically billed at the beginning of each fiscal year assuming everyone will pay. They are treated as a receivable until paid and the Club will end up writing off those accounts deemed uncollectible. As a result revenues are overstated and the Club is faced with writing off bad debts. The President advised that a review of the aged listing of receivables will be conducted and accounts deemed uncollectable written off so that we have more reliable financial statements. The President feels the financial statements were not presented transparently in the past and we have done our best to work with what we have, and will work to present more reliable financial statements going forward. The Board and the Membership will have a better understanding of where we stand. He suggested that we move on and requested a motion from the floor to accept the financial statements presented. Jody McFarland made a motion to accept which was seconded by Blair Kerr, and accepted by the Membership. 5. Accounts Receivables The Board is taking the following actions to collect accounts receivables: o o o The Board has approached a Member of the Club who is experienced in collecting accounts receivables to collect overdue accounts in exchange for a commission based on the amount collected. It was felt that the fee was reasonable and much less than the fee charged by Collection Agencies. Now that we had a current aged listing the person could commence immediately but before doing so, he asked if there were any Members interested in collecting accounts to let him know. An account is being opened at Butterfield Bank to allow Butterfield account holders to pay on-line. Increase collection activity and enforce late fees, cancel privileges and terminate membership for non-payment in accordance with the By-Laws. It was suggested by Geraldine Duckworth that the Wall of Shame was not effective and should be taken down as Members seem to ignore the list. There was a suggestion that the list be put up on the website or mailed to all Members. The Club Manager advised that the list was ed in the past and some members got upset that this was done. Graham Morse suggested that a follow-up be sent to each delinquent member.

4 6. Budget for Fiscal 2016 The President advised that it was the first time that a budget was prepared by the Board and put forward to the Membership for approval. The Treasurer advised that the budget was based on the March 31, 2015 year-end financial statements and that no interim financials had been prepared by the outgoing Treasurer that could have been used to support. A break-even position has been budgeted from a cash perspective, although given the high depreciation, a net loss of CI$79k was expected. We have assumed a continued decline in revenue in the near term, the ITF tournament in November is a break-even and expenses are in line with the prior year. Once we are able to prepare an interim financial statement we will have a better idea of where we stand in relation to the budget. Graham Morse questioned if the Board had carte blanche to spend, and the VP advised that this Board would be governed by the Budget being proposed. He would like to see a cap placed on expenses and proposed that a cap of 10% be approved requiring the Board not to exceed 10% of budgeted expenses without first seeking the approval of the Membership. The motion was seconded by Geraldine Duckworth and approved by the Membership. Mark Drummond questioned why revenues from Lessons is shown as a net figure rather than a gross figure? The VP did not know why the Treasurer had changed the way revenues were reported but would speak with Director Peter Anderson to determine the reason for the change. (ACTION ITEM) The President asked for a motion to approve the 2016 Budget, which Graham Morse did which was seconded by Rankin McMillan, and approved by the Membership. 7. Membership Director Susan Kerr advised that since the new Board took over the Membership Committee created a New Membership package that includes a welcome letter from the president, a copy of the by-laws and memorandum and articles, information on the Club, the website, court bookings, socials and lessons. A flyer promoting the Club and membership was distributed along the 7 Mile Beach corridor and an blast was sent to corporations to promote corporate memberships. Since April 1 st, 28 new members signed up bringing the total membership to approx. 420 of which approx. 20% are juniors. As stated earlier, our focus is on increasing membership, and if members have any suggestions please contact Director Susan. 8. ITF Tournament The Club Manager advised that the ITF Tournament is to be held November 2 nd thru the 8 th and will consist of an 18 and under JUNIOR tournament and a seniors tournament. As at the October 5 th deadline, 75 boys and 50 girls, totaling 125 juniors. As the deadline for registration for the seniors tournament is October 14 th we don t know at this point how many will register. The invitation was sent to a data base of 20k in North America. Jamaica had seniors register the first year Jamaica hosted the tournament, and had 120 in the second year.

5 Conor Jennings enquired if it was the goal of the Club to break-even or make a profit. The Club Manager advised that we expect only to break even this year and expect to make a profit in the future as the tournament becomes more popular and successful in the future. Rob Jones enquired if all of the courts were going to be used to support the tournament while underway. After discussion, it was agreed that the tournament committee would work with members who wished to play their own matches while the tournament was being held by reserving courts for them on an as needs basis. Secretary Bruce John mentioned that the new Board decided not to commit to any large tournaments which would place the Club at risk given the Club s current financial situation and to focus on smaller tournaments which require less financial resources, work and risk. Tournaments take a lot of planning and we need to do a better job at planning and making them better. Sandra Daily asked if the Club had lined up sponsors for the tournament, and the Club Manager advised that this was not possible as we were not prepared and had little time to plan. 9. CITC Expansion The President advised that there were no plans to expand given the Club s financial situation, which was favourably received by the members in attendance 10. Merger of CITC with SSSC Before any consideration be given and/or discussions take place, the President thought we would just test the waters and reach out to the Board of the Squash Club to see if the was any interest in offering Squash Club Members a 20% discount on annual membership dues in exchange for the Squash Club to offer the same to Tennis Club Members Year Plan Although the Club does not have the funds to consider any expansion plans, the Secretary approached Pirates Cove to enquire what they would like to see in the future given the CEC s future plans to move Enterprise City to property behind the Club. For now tennis and squash, and any additional services would need to be in keeping with promoting tennis and squash. A swimming pool could be added provided it is used by the Club members but not used for a swimming program. Rankin McMillan enquired how much additional leased land was available behind the Club. Sandra Daily and Geraldine Duckworth had understood that there was enough land to build another set of courts. 12. Any Other Business Graham Morse felt that communication by the Board/Club in the past was not good, and suggested that the Club start a newsletter similar to the Sailing Club which is done on a weekly basis. The Board felt that this was a good idea, and that we would look at doing something monthly rather than weekly given little activity takes place on a weekly basis and there is much work involved. (ACTION ITEM) Sandra Daily enquired if non-members were still being charged the same fee as members for cardio tennis. The Club Manager confirmed that this is no longer the case and that non-members where being charged more.

6 The President advised that the Board received a complaint about the price of sodas which is higher than that charged by retailers and that the children were the ones drinking the soda. As a result, the Board rolled back the price of sodas by 25 cents. The President advised that the ITF approached the Board to consider the move of the Paul Howard Name and junior program from West Bay to the Club. It was felt that such a move would be good for the Club as Paul Howard grew up playing at the Club and doing so would honour him and promote junior tennis and the Club. They would use Court 7 which would be split into 4 courts, and there would be a net put up separating Court 6 & 7. The court would be used only during the day up to 5:30 pm after which equipment used would be put away and the court would be available for Member use. Geraldine Duckworth, a board member of the ITF advised that there would be no cost to the Club. 13. Termination There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 8:48 pm. President Steve Surrey