Funding for golf carts debated during city council meeting

Aug. 10, 2020 | Danielle Eaton
daniellee@thereminder.com

AGAWAM –  The Agawam City Council met on the evening of Aug.  3 where the Agawam Municipal Golf Course and their request for funds to replace an entire fleet of golf carts was a significant topic of discussion.

The meeting began with statements from citizens in place of citizen speak time. The first resident, Sadie Perrata, wrote a statement on the subject of the town’s Native American mascot and the town’s nickname, the Brownies. She began by stating that she was “deeply saddened to learn [of] Mayor Bill Sapelli’s response” in a recent Western Mass. News article. She said she believed “the concerns about racism should be taken very seriously and that our town should strive to be a place where people of all races should feel safe, welcomed and heard.”

She said that while “Mayor Sapelli says that Agawam is a product of Native American roots,” there is “no such thing as the Agawam Indians.” She said, “The word Agawam is a word anglicized by the English.”

However, she said the town “does not properly honor the Native Americans who lived on this land before European settlers colonized it because we have ripped the original name of this land away and replaced it with our own incorrect idea.” The word Agawam, she said, “refers to a single Native American town in pre-day Essex County.” That territory, she said, is now called Ipswich.

She said Native American history “that’s being honored has been corrupted through a colonizer’s lens.” Perrata said “our nation’s history of forcibly assimilating native Americans continues well in the modern century,” including the use of Native Americans as mascots. “Our schools commercialized the idea of Native American culture while real Native Americans are stripped of their own. It is understandable that the vast majority of native Americans find it extremely offensive and harmful to be made into mascots,” she said.

She referenced the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), who are “vehemently against Native American mascots and has been working to remove them in sports and popular culture since 1968.” The NCAI, she said, “is quoted as saying ‘rather than honoring native peoples, these caricatures and stereotypes are harmful and perpetuate negative stereotypes of America’s first peoples and contribute to a disregard for the personhood of native peoples.’”

Additionally, Perrata said a study “was found that the perpetuation of these mascots directly results in lower self esteem, lower mood among both Native American adolescents and young adults as well as increased negative attitudes towards Native Americans among non-Native Americans.”

She also addressed the headdress featured on the town’s mascot, which spells out Agawam. She cited research that it proved that the native American’s who first inhabited the land had no history of wearing headdresses and instead were known to wear beaded headbands instead. Using the headdress, she said, “is suggesting that different tribe cultures are interchangeable as well as the very idea that a nameless mascot represents all of the Ponkapoag people in the first place is offensive because it suggests that those people fit in a certain profile: narrow eyes, deep frown line, hollow cheeks and a stern lower lip and pronounced nose.”

“Maintaining our mascot is not worth the psychological damage that our culture of racism has on people of color in the town. I understand that changing the town’s mascot and nickname might not be a popular choice, even though there are a lot of people that want to change it, there are just as many people who don’t,” she said. “However, whether it’s the popular decision or not, I think that change is the right decision.”

The next statement was from Brendon Leeming, who serves as the territory sales manager for Trextron, the company the Agawam Municipal Golf Course purchased their last fleet of golf carts from. He referenced two motions addressed during the last city council meeting, TR-2020-53 and TR 2020-54, which requested emergency funds to replace the golf course’s fleet of golf carts. Leeming said the company had been expecting “a formal RFB bid process as the purchase carries a total value over the $10,000 threshold required by Mass General Law, chapter 149 section 44A.”

 “Additionally as required by 149, 144A, our proposed amount was substantially less than the amount requested from TR-2020-53 and 54, and would qualify between the 50,000 and 150,000 threshold where a publicly advertised and public bid opening takes place,” he said. “Contrary to the requested amount of $188,563.20 by TR-2020-53 and 54, our proposed amount would not qualify for a sub-bid and certification as required by chapter 144, section 44A through J.”

Lastly, he addressed the claim that the entire fleet was in need of emergency repair and replacement. He referenced the service contract on the existing golf cart fleet at the Agawam Municipal Golf Course and said the contract expired on March 19 for the golf carts, which were delivered in 2014, and “was not renewed by the Town of Agawam Golf Course.”

He said the company had “continued to make courtesy visits, as well as responding to any on-call service needs upon request from the golf course.”

“The claim of a fleet in disrepair is false, the carts are working as designed unless the town of Agawam has failed to notify us of carts requiring in-service work or have opted out to authorize any repairs spending,” he said.

Owners of the three other golf courses in town, Crest View Country Club, St. Anne’s Country Club and Oak Ridge Country Club, also submitted statements for citizen speak time. Oak Ridge began their statement by expressing their “complete opposition to the continued misuse of town funds in order to subsidize the town golf course operations capital purchases.” They referenced that the issue had originally been presented as an emergency preamble, and said “the fact that the purchase of new carts in order to replace carts that are in good condition was called an emergency seems disingenuous at best.”

During a pandemic, they said, many people are out of work, businesses have closed and people are struggling to live. All of this, they said, made it “appear unwise to be using town money to purchase swanky new golf carts.”

Oak Ridge also referenced previous instances in which the municipal golf course had not paid money back and said taxpayer money would be better spent elsewhere. “Why is the town and the council continuing to subsidize and carry this golf course to put the funding burden on the Agawam taxpayers when we should be investing these funds into so many needed improvements from which all taxpayers in town would benefit,” they questioned.

Crest View expressed many similar concerns, and said many of the carts at their own club were older than the carts at the municipal court and worked fine. “Many of our carts are older than the carts currently at the municipal golf course and we maintain and operate without a professional maintenance contract in place and no apparent issue,” they said.

Additionally, they called the plan to finance the carts with money from the cell tower being put on the courses’ land “illogical.” They argued against the need for a municipal golf course and stated, “Most municipal golf courses are owned and operated by a town to meet an underserved community need. Certainly the case with Agawam there is not an underserved need.”

St. Anne’s said the municipal course “should not be allowed to use another dollar of taxpayer money to pay for operating shortfalls, additional salaries, or capital improvements or purchases.”

“Over the past six years the Agawam municipal golf course has taken over $600,000 of taxpayer money to purchase equipment and make repairs to the clubhouse. Most of the money was used to purchase new equipment, while the taxpayer was tricked into thinking the money would be repaid to the town,” they said. “Instead, the money was taken in the guise of a loan with no intention of ever paying the money back.”

Before getting to the item addressing the funding for the golf carts, the council approved a resolution appropriating $14,720 of Community Preservation Funds to rehabilitate Borgatti Field. The council then unanimously reappointed Vincenzo Ronghi to another term on the Liquor License Commission, which would end in June of 2025. Also reappointed by the council was Daniel Michael, who will serve on the Agawam Golf Commission. Michael’s term will expire in December of 2020.

The council also passed a resolution appropriating $31,895 from the Energy Management Project Stabilization Fund for several electric vehicle charging stations. Council Member and President of the finance committee, Dino Mercadante, said the stations will be placed at the School Street Park, the dog park, the senior center and the high school.

Mercadante then addressed TR-2020-54, a resolution appropriating funds to buy a new fleet of golf carts for the municipal golf course, which had been referred to the finance committee. He said the entire council, Sapelli, city auditor, city solicitor and golf course manager were present for the meeting. The item, he said, was referred to the auditor.

Mercadante said he personally had asked that should the council vote in favor of the motion, the golf course must be self-sufficient and the money should not come out of taxpayer revenue. “It’s very important as a business that you succeed on your own and the taxpayers shouldn’t have to bear the burden of this,” he said.

He said that during the finance committee meeting Council President Chris Johnson stated that if the golf course was not given the tools to succeed that the burden to the taxpayers may increase substantially as homes may be built on the land and result in an increase to school taxes. Johnson said it was discussed at the sub committee meeting adding an amendment to the resolution so no taxpayer money would aid in paying for the lease and the “golf course would slowly be responsible.”

Councilor George Bitzas said that while he was not in favor of the original resolution due to the use of taxpayer funds. However, he said, now that the amended version of the resolution was before the council he was in favor of it. “The payments will be spread over five years, no residential or commercial tax revenues will be needed to pay the course. I believe this makes it a lot easier for me this time to support the resolution and I believe it is the right thing to do,” he said.

Bitzas said he went to see the manager of the golf course and asked him why the golf carts purchase couldn’t wait until next year. He said he was satisfied with the answer he received, which was that the golf course would lose a lot of money. Bitzas said he also inspected all the carts and saw firsthand that they need to be replaced. Additionally, he said the cost of the exchange for the golf carts will be significantly less should the town wait a year.

Council Vice President Cecilia Calabrese said she was originally “adamantly against this measure,” until she received an article from State House News Service earlier in the week regarding the “amount of unrestricted government aid” and funding the town would be getting.     However, she said she had been relieved to hear that the funding had come through and it was “a huge weight off of my shoulders.”

“However, given the great news that our local aid was not going to be cut this year and the clarification from department of revenue that we got from the auditor with regard to the cell tower revenue staying within the golf course enterprise fund, I have evolved my position on this matter and I will actually be voting in favor of this item tonight,” she said.

Councilor Paul Cavallo agreed and said the golf course would essentially “be required to pay back $59,000 and roughly $12,000 a year give or take $100.” He said, “It’s not a free ride at all, revenue has to be certainly grow, because we’re looking at a substantial amount of money, $12,000 a year.”

Councilor Gina Letellier questioned why the position of the assistant was added following the passing of the budget. She said, “The question is are we going to be able to clear 60 grand extra a year to pay for the golf carts and the new position?”

Mercadante said he felt that the golf course should be able to support themselves as a business. “If it wants to be a business, they say if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck it must be a duck. If it wants to be a business, it has to be viable, it has to make it on its own,” he said.

Mercadante also said he wants the golf course to be successful as the alternative of selling the land and developing the land was not a good option either. “If we end up having to sell that piece of property and develop 100 plus houses up there, then even the golf courses in this town are going to Nash their teeth and be lamenting the fact that their taxes are going to go up significantly higher,” he said. “Because now you have to support trash pickup, you have to support kids going to school and it becomes a real real serious long term debt that the town has to undertake.”

Councilor Robert Rossi said the idea or concept of a municipal golf course was not a new idea and when the Agawam Municipal Golf Course was seated back when Johnson was the mayor in the 1990s they had made a commitment. He said, “There’s no secret, and I think everyone will agree with me, that we’ve had some setbacks and they were primarily due to bad management and administrations.” However, he said the city council and Mayor Sapelli “had made significant changes” to the golf course in recent years including new management and the addition of a new golf course operations manager.

He said, “Most importantly in this matter, and allow me to be clear, the consideration the mayor’s asking the council to approve tonight will not harm or adversely affect any other golfing program based in this community or the tax levy in any way.”

Rossi also referred to the golf course as “Agawam’s most hidden treasure.” He said, “You don’t need to be a golfer to appreciate” it, and referenced people who taking “causal walks on the course” due to the “gorgeous views”

Councilor Rosemary Sandlin said she wouldn’t be supporting the measure as she was unsure what would happen if later on, years after, the golf course would not be able to pay the agreed upon portion. Councilor Gerald Smith said the golf course was a resource for “many young people and older people who feel very comfortable there who might not be comfortable at other places.” Smith said the town “owed” the residents “to give them the best possible golf course that we can.” He said, “They deserve the good carts.”

Councilor Anthony Suffriti said he’s been vocally opposed to using taxpayer monies to offset the cost of the previous deficit and being in competition with fellow golf courses. Last to speak was Councilor Mario Tedeschi who said the town was engaged in business and cited the parks and recs, street sweeping and other businesses the town engaged in. He added that he truly believed “the council needs to support it, manage it, [and] watch it.”

Johnson said he shared a lot of the same view points as the other three golf courses in Agawam. He said he was among the initial set of councilors that came up with the idea to purchase the course in the first place. He said, “My goal in the beginning, and my entire tenure as mayor was that it be a sustaining operation and that it pay its way, and it did.”

However, he said after he left office there were “some poor decisions made up at the golf course and the town was called upon to provide subsidy.” This, he said, he did not support. “During my tenure on the city council since I’ve been back, I do not support that subsidy and to be frank, the funding for this, if the funding was coming from taxpayer money I would not support it,” he said.

Additionally, he said he’d had conversations with the mayor and golf course manager, and was confident that the carts would not be funded with taxpayer money. The council then came out of committee as a whole, where Sapelli explained the position was needed to assist the director throughout the year, who does not get a chance for vacation and needed to work incredibly long hours at the moment.

Suffriti questioned why the town didn’t renew the service agreement. Sapelli said he believed it was due to allocating money and called it a “business decision.” Sapelli said, “He looked at the cost of that and realized.” Suffriti, like councilor Sandlin, questioned what would happen should the golf course ever not pay their share in the future.

Sapelli said that while golf has gone up because of COVID, he believes that course revenue is also up because of the transformation it has undergone in recent years when it came under new leadership. “He’s really really putting 110 percent effort in and getting results because of it,” he said. “It’s just a different place.”

Sandlin questioned why the carts weren’t maintained by a city repairman after the contract had lapsed. Sapelli explained that there was a single individual that worked on items such as golf cars and lawnmowers, but said that was something the management would likely look into such an option now.

Mercadante then questioned if the golf budget would be able to be reduced in future years, should they not be able to pay the agreed upon amount for the carts each year. Sapelli said that would automatically happen each year if the course were to ever not pay the money. Mercadante said he was glad to know “it’s not going to be a tax payer issue, it’s going to be a golf course issue.” Johnson clarified that the council was not approving the funding for the full, five-year amount, but instead were approving the contract and funding for the first year.

Ultimately the council voted in favor of approving the funds.

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