The last Town of St. Paul council meeting brought to light more challenges for the municipality in regards to its decision to take over the St. Paul Golf Course, with former members who loaned money to the club looking to be reimbursed for $55,000.
The last Town of St. Paul council meeting brought to light more challenges for the municipality in regards to its decision to take over the St. Paul Golf Course, with former members who loaned money to the club looking to be reimbursed for $55,000.
A group of locals who lent money to the course in 2013 presented the original contract from their deal with the golf course to town council and believe the town should now pay them back for the money left outstanding.
Five of the eight lenders, Ron Rivard, George Parrott, Jean Langevin, Bob Porozni and Fred Skawronski, attended the May 9 town council meeting. They expressed their frustrations with the council, stemming from the town's recreation director Gary Ward telling the group that the town was planning to do a gradual takeover of the golf course, prior to the takeover.
“We were told that the town's takeover would be gradual, it was not gradual, and we were told our promissory notes would be passed on to someone from the town,&” said Parrott.
Mayor Glenn Andersen and the rest of the council said that what the group was told was not accurate. “It was not our responsibility to handle this manner at that time, but we were not informed of any owed money during the transition,&” said Andersen.
In an interview following the meeting, Ward said that he had initially talked about a gradual takeover of the club by the town, with golf club members.
“Once the town found out how much they were in debt, that's when town council decided to move a lot faster, and then to take over the golf course,&” he said. As for the promissory notes, he said he was aware of them, as he had been attending golf course club meetings and the promissory notes had “been part of (the club's) financials for the last two years.&” However, he said he had not discussed promissory notes prior to the town's takeover of the golf club, and he had never given any indication that the town would pay back those loans.
At the Monday council meeting, group members said they were searching for some closure on the issue, and were fine with giving council more time to discuss the matter, as they were also not properly informed on the topic.
One of the clauses in the members' contract with the golf club states that if the golf course ever changes hands, the debt and promissory notes would be passed on to the next owners or managers. Andersen says he takes issue with this clause because the town had no say or involvement in the golf course at that time.
“I don't think it's fair that the previous managers assumed that they could just pass this onto the next managers/owners without any consultation,&” Andersen said.
Coun. Dwight Wiebe said he believed that the lenders had taken a large risk by lending money to a struggling not-for-profit organization, and that they should not have assumed they would get their money back.
Each of the eight lenders holds at least one promissory note worth $5,000. While some of the money was paid back by the golf club, $55,000 remains outstanding.
Parrott says that it should not matter what members think the risk was because, “the point is the people on the board were told that they would be given their money back, due to their legal contract, and all members lent the money in good faith.&”
Council will review the request once it is provided with more information, and will make an official statement on the matter at a later date.
