Dues-paying members of the Perry Golf and Country Club (PGCC) learned last week that the facility’s clubhouse would be closed until further notice.
On Wednesday a message from Sambino’s Hospitality Group LLC, which managed the clubhouse, indicated that the facility “is currently closed due to the Board of Directors changing all locks to the building the night of Aug. 8, 2023, without notice to the company who operates here, Sambino’s Hospitality Group LLC.”
The Perry Golf and Country Club (PGCC) board of directors issued a statement Friday that aimed to clarify the circumstances that led to the closure:
“In the contract with Sambino’s, there is an obligation for the organization to pay PGCC a monthly rent payment from May to September,” the board’s message said. “Sambino’s also agreed to pay 50% of dram shop insurance and 50% of card processing fees. From May to Aug. 8, no payments were made to PGCC. The board had conversations with Sam and were told we would receive payment by Aug. 8. No payments have been received to date.”
At that point, the board of directors “felt the next step was to no longer allow Sambino’s to conduct an income-generating business using our members’ clubhouse,” the board’s statement said.
According to Villanueva, when “our team arrived” on Wednesday, they were “unable to open for business due to not having access to our leased space, our inventory, our personal property, etc.”
Sambino’s has since “begun the necessary steps to be able to serve you all once again in the future,” Villanueva said, but it looks like the PGCC is moving on, with the board now “working diligently to obtain a liquor license from the state of Iowa” and “collaborating with a few local restaurants to get our clubhouse reopened as soon as possible,” the statement said.
The board acknowledged that the disruption in services made for an “unfortunate situation” for “our loyal membership,” but they said “income from the clubhouse rental is critical to help meet our financial goals and our responsibility to keep membership affordable for everyone.”
They said they hope to reopen soon. In the meantime, members may bring their picnics. “Feel free to bring your own beverage and food,” the board said. “Please, no glass bottles.”
Isn’t there a process which must be followed for non-payment on a lease? I know, as a landlord, that if my tenant with a one-year lease did not make the March payment, for example, that did not enable me to simply change the locks on the house on April 1st while the tenant was away at work. Seems to me a FAR better way of handling this could have been found.
Nonpayment of dram shop insurance forced them to lock that door and gave them the legal right to. Remember that tidbit about failure to pay their share? Insurance companies want payment and stop insuring when they do not get it. You cannot legally sell alcohol without it, and you certainly can’t allow someone to do it on your property.