Shocker? Not really. Just business as usual in Brigantine. Mayor Guenther and Councilman Simpson do back-room Brigantine Golf Course deal. Food & Beverage concession w/ liquor license quietly awarded to Brigantine Public Works employee; Mad Dog Morgan.
Speaking of liquor licenses…. Did our former ABC liaison (Police Chief Reed) overlook background check on process involving City of Brigantine letting 3rd party (Meadowbrook Golf Management) do separate deal with Mad Dog Morgan that included liquor sales? Many were outraged to hear this deal was quietly signed behind closed doors. This type of transaction is normally disclosed to public…and put out to public bid…. especially since the Food & Bev concession of the Golf Course is a city asset…. that includes a liquor license.
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- Mayor Guenther and Councilman Simpson carved out the profitable food/beverage/catering business from Golf course, and quietly awarded it to a city employee…..at no charge?
- Brigantine Taxpayers are now left with money losing portion of this deal….the actual Links Golf Course. Brig taxpayers, as per usual, will handle all expenses associated with supporting golf course…..which directly helps Mad Dog Morgan’s running of the restaurant, bar & catering facilities.
- Any Food & Bev MONEY / PROFIT made by Mad Dog …..will NOT go to the city or taxpayers.
QUESTION: How did Brigantine Democrats allow…or miss activity by Mayor Guenther & Councilman Simpson to OK deal where Meadowbrook Golf Management can do their own deal with Mad Dog Morgan? Dems kept in dark?
AN EVEN BIGGER QUESTION: Why Didn’t City Solicitor SCERNI oversee contract between Meadowbrook and Mad Dog Morgan? FACT: Solicitor Scerni never even saw the contract.
ANOTHER BIG QUESTION: Why didn’t Police Chief Reed assign his ABC liaison to background check the Meadowbrook & Mad Dog liquor license / concessionaire deal? Chief Reed certainly checked liquor license transfer from COVE builder; MIKE SNYDER.
And have you noticed? Links at Brigantine Golf never reports on detail of revenues, they just provide one simple number. Instead..they should provide some detail on this revenue. EX: break out revenue for golf rounds, food, liquor and pro shop sales, etc.
- Did City auditor take a really good look at golf course expenses and revenues? We think not. We also think this monkey business spooked Jaworski.
- Do Brigantine taxpayers foot the bill for stocking all the retail items in Golf Course pro shop… like shirts, golf balls, hats, tees, clubs, cigars? We think so.
- Does profit from sales of these pro shop items go back into city coffers? We’re not sure. We never get to see the break out. But we doubt it.
Lisa McClay & Brigantine Democrats better step up and do their duty. They gotta dig into this stuff. If they continue to sit idly by…..and allow this stuff to happen, then we feel the Brig Dems could be seen as complicit in this highly unethical……and potentially actionable activity.
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I’m not even from Brigantine, and I don’t know Mr. Morgan, but the rumors of him getting the food and beverage concession have been in the public for months. So for the republican members of council to say they didn’t know anything about Mr. Morgan getting the concession is strange.
More municipal welfare handouts, more Brig Business = Crony Capitalism = Privatize Profits, Socialize Losses
John Pucci knew
He said he knows everything
Well here is something he doesn’t know
We are all tired of him pontificating at council meetings
Enough is enough
Find something else to do
You are a nitwit
Don’t blame Pucci, he’s just a Phil/Andy sheep nit-wit, not too bright.. whenever phil/andy walk into the Elks, he squeals like a little girl at a bieber concert
Jaws smelled the stench emanating from a potential deal on day 1. He knew he would be dealing with small town politics and was in fact told so in no uncertain terms. I think the exact quote was “don’t waste your time”.
Not to mention the fact that he couldn’t even get usable discernable numbers/financial data from the city, let alone a call back with lists of questions.
Where is the letter that was mailed, sent CRR with the 19 questions, 2 of which address food and beverage?
Then the question is asked, why didn’t Jaws show up in person? The answer he, is not a dog or pony, he is Jaws!
I just wonder how many people who make these wild accusations and slanderous innuendos have ever played a round of golf or visited the course. All past rumors of shady deals and back room politics aside … It is my understanding that Meadowbrook golf kept all profits from F&B in the past and would continue to do so if they kept the old contract of $7500. The new contract whether they ran F&B was $6000 a month so we saved $1,500 a month. So now let’s talk about this “POT OF GOLD” everyone thinks we have down there. I play year round @ least once a week and up to 3-4 times during summer months,so I talk from experience. The F&B is not what everyone thinks. If it were such a money maker why wouldn’t Meadowbrook want to run it. I believe the answer is most rounds are by locals who play multiple rounds a week who don’t have the funds to play and eat and drink multiple times a week. Golf is not as popular as it once was and average rounds a yr steadily decline every year. It is hard to get people to come visit our course with no range, no food and for the same price they can basically play courses offshore that are a lot better and challenging. Nevermind the bugs in the summer and the fact that the course has had some rough times since THE STORM. Bravo to the superintendant and the guys for keeping it in such great shape battling the elements. Just like every other business on the island it’s tough to make it in Brigantine. AND THATS WHY I WELCOME MAD DOG MORGANS. I feel the only chance that place has is bringing in someone who has built up a reputation for great food, great prices and a friendly staff. I do believe they have their work cut out for them and there is no guarantee as to how successful it is going to be. But everyone is acting like city council handed him a gift. Trust me any success he has will be well earned and deserved. And will not cost us tax payers any money but will benefit the golf side and hopefully those numbers will grow along MAD DOG MORGANS
Here we go again! The same folks hiding behind false identities to throw out slurs and false accusations. If your so he’ll bent on saving Brigantine from itself, then you should come to Council Meetings and voice your opinion in person, but you can’t do that because your whole motus operandi is cause decent and division among all political parties while hiding behind facticious names. You Mr Knobbs with the numerous women’s photos on the wall in the background of your reply photo, leads me to believe there’s something a little sketchy going on in your life. He who casts the first stone as they say. As far as the Democrats being asleep at the wheel. Their not asleep, their lost without their puppet master. According to my fellow responders the MagDog deal was in the bag for weeks,but yet Mr. Delucry and Mrs. McClay didn’t get wind of it and come prepared to voice an opinion before the vote? In my opinion Mr. Morgan’s selection was a good one. He presently operates a quality restaurant here and Brigantine where others have failed or are failing. Why would it make sense bring in another operator for the F&B to further saturate the market. As far as Mr. Pu cci is concerned, it takes some confidence to stand up and voice your opiion at the council meeting and he is entitled to his 5 minutes. Personally I’m more unnerved by Mr. Delucry’s self serving, condisending pontifications at these meetings and Mrs. McClays comments on everything ( some inaccurate) and the research she has done on the topic. I believe it is in the best interest of the Home Owners of this island to consider All options available to make the Golf course less of a burden and Taxpayer dependent and for folks to stop making disparaging comments that serve no purpose to that end.
“Paul” ignoring your misspellings and grammatical errors for this purpose, I will address some of your comments with questions.
What slurs and false accusations are you referring to?
What do you mean when you say “further saturate the market” and what “market”? The F&B market or the F&B operator market? Do you think both the F&B market and F&B operator(s) market in Brigantine is saturated?
How much confidence does it take to stand up and regurgitate force fed statements/opinions by crony board members?
Are you a Brig Business municipal welfare recipient?
The only market in Brigantine that is saturated is the “Available For Sale” homes market!
Whats this pot of gold you refer to? How much is the pot worth? Do you have the numbers?
You’re missing the point… golf course = losses on the backs of taxpayers, F&B = profits in the pockets of cronies
Why not bid the F&B out to subsidize the golf course losses?
If I gave you a profitable venture, what would you consider it?
Lastly, why do you think its tough to make it in Brigantine?
Abacab side 1 song 2
Again, : If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
See all of you at the city council meetings.