POA Board OKs Metfield snack bar

The Metfield Clubhouse is one step closer to food service, in the form of a snack bar, after the regular POA Board of Directors meeting on Thursday night. The board accepted the low bid on the project for approximately $333,000.

Along with the new snack bar, other changes will be made to the Metfield building including moving the Membership Services office into what had been the restaurant's kitchen area, freeing up the former dining room for exercise equipment. The exercise equipment is now in the Dogwood Room and that will become a community room.

One board member, Dave Barfield, voted against accepting the bid. He explained after the meeting that the project grew unnecessarily when the board agreed to move the exercise equipment and the Membership Services Department. Membership Services may move again in the future to be more easily accessible to the membership.

The last restaurant closed in the Metfield Clubhouse in December 2012. Membership Services moved into the space when the Town Center buildings were sold to the city.

Both Metfield and the Highlands Clubhouse have had multiple lessees since the POA stopped operating the restaurants themselves beginning in 2003. Two other Clubhouses at Kingswood and the Country Club have functioning restaurants, operated by lessees.

Last winter, a meeting at the Highlands Clubhouse drew a large crowd that opposed the snack bar concept there and the general manager was asked by the board to look for a full-service restaurant.

A new lessee signed a contract for the Highlands space early this summer and should open in early September, General Manager Tommy Bailey told the board.

At Metfield, the menu will be much simpler, although some hot food and drinks will be available.

Also on Thursday:

n COUNTRY CLUB GREENS -- Bailey told the board the Country Club Golf Course will probably reopen Nov. 1. Seven greens were damaged by a combination of chemical fungicide and hot weather, he explained, although the fungicide had been used successfully in the past. The manufacturer of the chemicals had never heard of that reaction before.

The greens will be reseeded and will need about eight weeks to grow in. This is a good time of year for reseeding, he added. Other maintenance will take place on the course while it's closed.

Bailey said that there are rounds available at other Village courses and tournaments were rescheduled, so golfers can continue to play.

Board member Pat Laury asked why the greens are being reseeded with Bent Grass instead of Bermuda, but Bailey said, changing the type of grass is a big decision and there wasn't time to consider all the possibilities and get the course reopened quickly.

n SIGNAGE DELAYED -- During his monthly report, Bailey told the board that the installation of the Bella Vista signs on Highway 71 was delayed by the company doing the work. When they started on the north sign, they found an unexpected cement slab in the existing base and stopped the project.

POA maintenance workers eventually removed the slab, but then the project was delayed by rain. A meeting with the company was scheduled for this week, he said.

General News on 08/26/2015