NORWALK, Conn. – If a sewer line breaks at Oak Hills Park golf course, the course will close, the chairman of the Oak Hills Park Authority said last week. The vice chairman says that was a “bold statement,” and that the chairman misspoke.
OHPA Chairman Bob Virgulak said last week that golfers will not pay for the city’s “crumbling infrastructure,” in reference to leaking oil tanks at the park. He also described the $150,000 loaned to the authority by the city as being for “capital projects,” although it was described at the time as being needed to meet operating expenses.
OHPA Vice Chairman Clyde Mount said in an email Tuesday that Virgulak actually meant $150,000 that was allocated in the 2012-2013 capital budget, which the authority received in April. That money was allocated to finance course improvements. A payment is due on that money in September.
Virgulak indicated last Thursday that he knew his comments would raise eyebrows.
“I think there are a couple of people in the audience who are going to be interested in that,” he said, after definitively saying that the city would have to pay for the leaking tanks.
Virgulak gave a brief report on the park’s finances, in the absence of a finance committee chairperson. He said the authority needed to pay the city $14,474 by July 1, an installment payment for the $150,000.
“That’s the one we borrowed from the city to take care of the city’s crumbling infrastructure,” he said. “Which, from now on, just to give a little report, we pulled the oil tanks out of the ground and we had the ground tested because a couple of the tanks were leaking.”
Virgulak went on to say he was “fed up.”
“Oak Hills Authority and the golf course is not going to pay to remediate that soil,” he said. “The city of Norwalk is going to have to come up and pay for the remediation. The whole town is going to have to do that, or however the mayor wants to do that. But if they plan on remediating the soil it’s not going to be on the backs of the golfers at this time. It’s part of the crumbling infrastructure and quite frankly, I’m fed up with borrowing money that the golfers have to pay back to fix an infrastructure that’s deteriorating terribly. … As far as I am concerned no more money is going to be spent. Any capital projects that we do are going to be capital projects to enhance the golf course. And not pay for infrastructure. It’s in the hands of the mayor and the Common Council, as far if they care to remediate the soil at this point.”
The oil tanks in question are at the park’s maintenance shack and the apartment, he said. There is another one by the golf pro’s office, but that won’t be dug up until the fall so as not to be an impediment during the golf season.
Virgulak said Connecticut Tank Removal had come out and dug up the first two, and had given him a “cockamamie proposal” for cleaning up the dirt. That included the cost of the equipment and two project supervisors, one at $100 an hour and another at $90 an hour. He said he asked for a firm estimate and was told that wasn’t the way things work.
“I said thank you but no thank you,” he said. “… it’s not going to be on our back, not this time, that’s it. Thinking about the $150,000 we borrowed for the various projects, again, should have been on the backs of the city not on the backs of the golfers. I’m not supporting any capital projects that don’t have to do with improving golf …
“If a sewer line breaks we’ll close the golf course down until the city pays for a new sewer line. If a water line breaks, the city is going to have to pay for it. Otherwise the golf course will close. That’s my feeling.”
In addition to the September payment, There is a payment due of $14,474 on July 1 for the loan from the city to cover the park’s operating expenses through the winter, Finance Director Thomas Hamilton said.
That is Mount’s account as well.
“Chairman Virgulak miss spoke on Thursday night,” he said in an email. “The funds we received in the fall of 2012 are not for capital expenditures. Those funds are, as you stated, were deposited in our operations bank account and were being used to meet our daily operational needs. These needs included accounts payables and payroll. Those are the funds that we are making the upcoming payment on.”
The $150,000 in capital budget funds “raised Mr. Virgulak’s boiling point” Mount said. Purchases authorized under the capital budget included new boilers, the tank removal, the sewer replacement, bunker reworks, new roofs, and other various projects and equipment purchases, he said.
Mayor Richard Moccia commented in his March 14, 2012 letter regarding the finalized 2012-2013 capital budget that the Oak Hills request had been added on late in the process.
“While the city has been working with the Authority to reduce operating expenses, increase revenues, and restructure their note to the city, it has become apparent that offering a first-rate product is an important part of a successful turn-around plan,” he wrote.
Virgulak’s assertion that the golfers wouldn’t pay for the soil remediation was mistaken, Mount said.
“That was a bold statement to make,” he said in an email. “We have yet to determine what will happen with the soil surrounding the tanks. We will continue to work on it and hope to have a solution by the next OHPA meeting, but, at this point, per our lease, the OHPA has to handle infrastructure issues of this type. That is the reality and it can’t be pushed on the city as stated. … The residents are not paying that, the golfers are paying that out of the fees we charge.”
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