Note to Membership: Vermilion Fairways By-Laws Amended
A vote to change the By-Laws, eliminating the board position of Treasurer and transferring those duties to a CPA retained and overseen by the Vermilion Fairways Board of Directors was passed with unanimous approval by a vote of the membership on October 27, 2021. This amendment will bring Vermilion Fairways in line with how business is conducted now as opposed to when the By-Laws were last amended in 1963. For those of you who voted, we thank you for your support.
Board of Directors - Vermilion Fairways, Inc.
Update to Vermilion Fairways Membership - July 17, 2022
Dear Vermilion Fairways Members, Over the course of the past year or so we have been working to raise funds to replace old and spent maintenance equipment-specifically a front end loader/tractor with take- off and wide rough mower, a greens roller, a greens mower, and a Fall greens turbo blower. These items collectively retail for around $130,000 new, but can, under good circumstances, be found used for around half that price. Part and parcel of that fund raising exercise has been obtaining, by the generosity of the Beatty Township Board of Directors, a $10,000 grant for 2022, in addition to which and via your help we raised another $10,000 through the September 2021 raffle. On top of that we were blessed with an anonymous donation of yet another $10,000 which, when added to $2,000 in our maintenance reserves, gave us a total of $32,000 of maintenance capital. Conceptually, our plan for this year was to seek a matching $30,000 grant from the IRRRB ($30,000 is their cap) and, indeed, we made application for same this Spring. Unfortunately, the IRRRB’s Culture and Tourism budget was limited to $375,000 globally, and they could only accommodate 8 of the 30 applicants. On the heels of that exercise, the Blandin Foundation of Grand Rapids, MN opened up a grant plan for which we also made application. In that exercise we were advised that of the $1,000,000 in the available grant budget, 300 applicants seeking over $24,000,000 made claim and thus only a small percentage of applicants succeeded. In both the IRRRB and Blandin situations we were advised that further grant opportunities would go forward and that we should continue to make application, which we are in the process of doing. That having been said, we needed replacement maintenance equipment for this golf year. On that score, we were able to obtain a used, but quite viable front end loader/ tractor with take-off and a 15 foot trailing mower for $27,000. The import of this acquisition is significant: prior to acquiring this equipment, mowing the rough took approximately 70 man hours at $11 per hour. It now takes less than 8 hours. In short, the machine’s value to us will be paid off within 2 years. Additionally, we were able to obtain a much needed greens roller for a tad under $7,000, thereby depleting (and then some) our maintenance reserves. The good news is that despite the grant disappointments, we now have in our arsenal the most needed equipment for our current operations-but we are not done. Inasmuch as there remain needs for additional replacement equipment, we will continue to seek funding from Beatty Township on a going forward basis, and once again will be sponsoring fund-raising events, including another raffle. Needless to say, we also invite donations, which are now tax deductible since we are owned by Beatty, which is deemed by the IRS to be a 501c3 operation. In any event, thank you for all of your help and anything you can do to assist in keeping us a viable entity will be most appreciated. The Vermilion Fairways Board of Directors