Club Management - March/April 2008 - (Page 27)

Parent’ Policy M Managing a country club, like playing golf, often requires subtle adjustments to unforeseen challenges. That was the task at hand for Victoria Country Club manager Chris Stewart when a family recently inquired about becoming members at his club in Victoria, Texas. Like many clubs, Victoria Country Club extended full membership rights to its members’ spouses and children under age 24. However, this young couple had an elderly parent living with them and wanted her to have those same membership rights since she was a central member of the household and depended on the couple for most of her needs. Under the club’s current policy, the grandmother would have been welcomed at the club only as a guest of the family. “There was a lot of hesitation for them about joining,” Stewart said. “They said, ‘I’d hate to tell my mother that she could come with us, but she couldn’t come by herself to meet her friend for lunch. She’s such an important part of our household. It’s almost like she’d be treated as a second-class citizen.’” Stewart said he called several other clubs and CMAA to see if any other managers had a policy in writing to deal with such a situation. No one did. He then thought about the changing nature of the “family unit” and the idea that as baby boomers retire, more members might take in their elderly parents. “We felt like this was going to be an issue clubs face more and more in the future, so we looked at adopting a ‘dependent parent policy,’” he said. “We thought it was forwardthinking.” At the November meeting of the club’s nine-member board, a unanimous vote added the following dependent parent policy to the club’s rules and regulations, with the policy set to become part of the bylaws when they are voted on by the membership: “Dependent Parent” is deﬁned as a parent or step-parent of a member who resides with the member on a full-time basis and is ﬁnancially dependent on the member for his or her livelihood. The primary member will assume all ﬁnancial obligations for the “dependent parent,” and the membership privileges may be terminated by the member, providing the Club receives prior written notice. A “dependent parent” can be the parent or parents of either the primary member or of the spouse. Stewart says the club will mail out a form annually to members with dependent parents to certify that the dependent parents are still living with them, much like the forms the club sends out to check whether the “signiﬁcant others” of members should still be entitled to full membership rights. He says he isn’t concerned that the policy might be taken advantage of by people who will lie about their living arrangements so their parents don’t have to pay the membership initiation fee and monthly fee required for a separate membership. “You write these policies for the 95 percent of the population that wouldn’t do that type of thing,” he said. “Our job is not to try to keep people out of the club. Our job is to be welcoming to the membership. It isn’t our job to police things like that.” With the changing face of the family unit and baby boomers expected to live longer into retirement, Stewart believes many clubs will adopt similar policies in the near future. “Five years from now, I’d be surprised if you didn’t see 5, 10 or 25 percent of clubs needing a policy like this,” he said. ❚❘ About the author Nick Fortuna is a former sports reporter and editor for Bloomberg News, a former editor at the Ocala, Florida, Star-Banner and a freelance writer. 357748_CCI.indd 1 MARCH/APRIL 2008 •5:47:21 PM 27 12/7/07 http://www.cciclubdesign.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Club Management - March/April 2008

Club Management - March/April 2008 Contents President’s Message Board Governance Technology Human & Professional Resources 2008 CMAA President Peter Homberg: A Profile in Courage, Perserverance Welcome, CMAA 2008 Board of Directors Club Events: Bring Magic to Your Members Club Adopts 'Dependent Parent' Membership Policy Paving a Path to Success Groundbreaking Project Measures Environmental Data for Golf Courses Paradise Preserved HFTP Insight New Directions Global Outreach Products and Services Marketplace Advertiser Index/Advertisers.com Club Wrap

Club Management - March/April 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.