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Cooperation goes a long way

Nothing seems to compound a problem like pretending it doesn’t exist or worse yet, the people involved putting themselves at loggerheads over it. On Nov. 13, the Town of St.

Nothing seems to compound a problem like pretending it doesn’t exist or worse yet, the people involved putting themselves at loggerheads over it.

On Nov. 13, the Town of St. Paul administration sent a letter to the members of the golf club executive, stating that the club had misrepresented the state of its finances at a September council meeting. The letter continued on to state that the Town of St. Paul would not have extended its guarantee on a line of credit had it known exactly how much the golf club owed, and said the town felt the most “prudent response will be for the Club’s executive to pay from their own personal resources, this $36,900 to the Town,” naming president Danny Gadowski, vice-president George Parrott, and treasurer Maurice Brousseau.

These are members of a non-profit board who gave up their time to provide a service and a golf facility to the people of St. Paul and area. The move seemed hostile, adding more heat to a situation the town had already inflamed when it abruptly terminated the land lease and secured the clubhouse while the restaurant was still in operation. One can understand why council may have lost faith in the board, but a little diplomacy goes a long way.

While the residents of the Town of St. Paul may not be thrilled to have to pick up the $923,000 plus interest that the town now owes as guarantor for the loan on the clubhouse and line of credit, perspective is needed. Town council and administration made the decision to guarantee the loans with open eyes, knowing it might have to pick up the debt if the club could no longer operate. On the other hand, the employees of the golf course and restaurant came into their situation blind, not having any reason to expect they would lose their job with no warning and without being paid for their work. Some of these staff lost not only a job, but security, scrambling to find a way to pay their day-to-day expenses and having to find work in tough times.

There are bigger fish to fry than the golf club executive. Everyone would like to see the golf course go on, one way or the other, and a cooperative, rather than antagonistic, approach is likely the best way for that to happen. One can hope that this will be the way forward in the future.




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