Missing Glenmore president Michael Comer may be dodging an audit of Glenmore’s finances, or so it appears based on Kim Saltmarsh’s coverage at NBC 29. Prior to serving as president, Comer was the country club’s treasurer. You wouldn’t think that would put much money in play, but they’ve got an annual budget of $700,000. According to a press release from Glenmore, Comer had a meeting scheduled with a couple of board members to talk about why he hadn’t made all necessary financial data available to an auditor—that was the day that he disappeared. Right now Glenmore is only saying that “sufficient funds are available to continue normal operations and maintenance,” rather than saying that no money is missing. They’re in the midst of the first-ever audit of their finances (which is surprising for a $700k organization).
Obviously the suspicion here—which nobody wants to voice directly—is that Comer was skimming off the top; the audit was going to reveal theft, so he split town, presumably with a big chunk of Glenmore’s change. That’s nothing more than speculation, of course, with solely circumstantial evidence. But that’s bound to be where the investigation goes from here.
07/07 Update: As folks have brought up in the discussion, Glenmore the country club is a different legal and financial entity than Glenmore the homeowners association. Hawes Spencer explains the relationship in The Hook, but the important bit is that Comer is (was) involved with both.
Irrespective of the reason that Mike Comer may have gone missing, I will have to call you out on one statement that I really hope is not correct. Glenmore HAS to have a bigger budget than $700,000.
According to the most recent info I could find on the web, the cheapest membership is $202 for a family as of 2007. If no one ever played golf, and no one was over 40 years old at Glenmore, $700k would be hit with less than 300 members if none of them ever ate a meal or held a wedding on site. Their budget has to be closer to $5,000,000 wouldn’t you think? With 800 members (purely a guess) paying the full membership rate in 2007, that’s over $4.2 mm in dues alone, not to mention initiation fees, f&b revenues, guest fees, private functions, etc…
$700,000 isn’t very much money for a club.
Nevermind… I just checked out a different news outlet who said the audit was for the Glenmore Neighborhood Association which has a $732,000 budget… That makes way more sense.
Interesting, Keith—you’re making a distinction that hadn’t occurred to me. (I know very little about Glenmore.) So Glenmore Country Club is different than the Glenmore Neighborhood Association? That is, the former is for golf, etc., while the latter is a traditional HOA—paving streets, maintaining parks, etc? I want to make sure I get this right.
I must be missing something in the figures above. 800 members would have to pay a $5,250 membership fee in order to add up to $4.2 million?
Demopublican,
According to the Old Glenmore web site (that is still on line – he he) the full member monthly is $444 a month which times 12 times 800 is actually $4.262 million. I have no clue how many members there are, or how many are “full” members. This is just a guess.
Ahh, I see. I was thinking annual membership fees rather than monthly. That does make a huge difference. The next question I would have is this, what type of idiot does it take to pay $444 a month to belong to any club or organization in this area? I sit here and wonder why I pay Directv $111 a month. Wait a second, I just answered my own question didn’t I? I’m an idiot too!
It’s actually us the idiots, as we’re paying for their status symbols by way of obscene medical bills and such.
I’m curious — Comer is being called the “president of Glenmore Country Club,” but it sounds like he was in fact the treasurer of the Glenmore Community Association (the HOA). Are the news organizations just getting it wrong? I’m assuming the two organizations are completely separate. (I live in a much more modest neighborhood, but there is both a Club and an Association, and they are completely separate.)
According to the press release included on the nbc29 webpage article- the audit is for the time during which Comer served as Treasurer for the Glenmore Community Association- which is one of the HOA’s for Glenmore.
He very well may be President of the Country Club- but it’s the HOA activities that are currently being audited/investigated. Who knows perhaps at a later date his activities as President of the Country Club may also be scrutinized.
The initation fees for the club must be somewhere. I don`t who would be accountable for those funds.The Keswick Club (the incarnation of about 20 years ago – there have been so many)was $8000, a portion , $6,000, I recall,recoverable at resignation.
I believe the initiation for Glenmore Club is around $10,000. Non-recoverable. Not sure where those funds are placed.
Not positive about the above but close I think.
Hawes Spencer, editor of the Hook, has the best article about this affair and explains Comer’s roles:
“minutes from the Glenmore Community Association show currents of concern between the Association, which Comer served as secretary/treasurer, and the Country Club and the development company, both of which Comer was also serving. ”
http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/06/comer-canned-homeowners-oust-missing-treasurer/
C’mon guys(and gals). Comer was treasurer of the GCA and president of the whole club operation, but more importantly the son -in -law of Frank Kessler who built the whole place and whose family are millionaires.He had access to many things.His wife owns everything.He was playing with the books and got caught. It’s not that usual for a home owners association to have an audit when a family member works on the board and there are few transactions.It’s not like a profit enterprise, hence no audit. He was trusted, up to a point. The audit was called after he made a transaction that raised a red flag and the board members wanted a new treasurer. I know these people. I worked there for 2.5 years and saw the underbelly. Everyone there was on needles and pins and more so now. Glenmore is a microcosom of banking industry and many of the players fit the role perfectly. It’s just in our backyard is all. It’s all rather Shakespearean to me.
To those speculating about the country club membership costs- In 1995 it was 10,000 upfront and X number of dollars each year. As of 2009 it’s 20,000 upfront and X number of dollars each year (x is a figure I don’t know). In 1995 the upfront cost of the membership was usually included with the purchase price of the house. Don’t know how they do it now.
Yep, as greg says. The “underbelly” of all the popular or dignitaries… When will average thinking Americans wake up to the reality of America 21st century: everything is illusion and all is base instinct.
I’d like a detailed explanation of that analogy. How is it a microcosm?
I’d also like a little more elaboration on “underbelly.” And what did it look like?
What I wonder is, if Comer did disappear intentionally, did he tell his family what was going on and they just put on an act for local media and law enforcement? Or do they have no more knowledge of his whereabouts than anyone else? Stealing money you’ve been trusted with and then running off, leading law enforcement to waste resources searching for you, is pretty horrible. But letting your family’s imaginations run wild for days imagining the terrible things that happened to you is even worse, IMO.
TrvlnMn
Jul 8th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Glenmore is a microcosom of banking industry and many of the players fit the role perfectly.
I’d like a detailed explanation of that analogy. How is it a microcosm?
I’d also like a little more elaboration on “underbelly.” And what did it look like?
—————-
What, are you going to do something about it?
I think they must know where he is by now b/c why isn’t the family on tv begging him to come home to them? Why aren’t police out in force trying to find a missing person? This seems way too low-key to be a man that’s truly missing. Even the reporting on this isn’t great, nobody with an investigative nose digging into it?
Good luck to the family, though. Whatever happened, it’s the kids and his wife that will suffer the most.
Really? Maybe they’re just waiting for him to send 1st class tickets to South America…
Majunga wrote:
I’d just like elaboration on the analogy. “Microcosm of the banking industry” sounds intriguing. The “How” of it might be a good story.
Otherwise I’m just not seeing it.
Regarding the “underbelly” and “everyone on pins and needles”. Pin’s and needles pretty much describes every work environment I’ve experienced where there are a lot of “type A” personalities focused on generating wealth on that sort of scale.
You just answered your own question TrvlMn!
I don’t think so.
Majunga- Thank you for your comments and especially for responding to TrvlnMan. I just didn’t have the energy nor the patience. And thanks for your insight and intelligence. It’s nice to see there are others who are not blindsided by popular mores. And TrvlnMn – sorry I couldn’t write it out to you. I have been diligently looking to find out why he ran, whether he has committed crimes or if he has done something with the money that he’s too embarrassed to face.Either way I am still having a difficult time knowing I supported the club and stood behind it’s principles to find out the man who set the tone for all its employees has fooled everyone.
America is a big disappointment. It appeared to be destined for true Greatness at one point in time. But it’s glaringly obvious this will never happen. I’m not a religious man, but therein does lie the notion of Evil and Good, which is the accurate paradigm in which to evaluate our society: no matter how much we have, we want more just to be on top of others. The more there is to be possessed, the higher the goal to possess.
We’ve changed our most personal goals from virtuous hard work for the future of our children, to rapaciously acquiring their share for our immediate consumption. Hence the explosion of Ponzi and other pyramid schemes like Social Security, and the democratization of non-land Real-Estate and the Stock Market (!!!) In fact, what is Democracy today if not the most effective vehicle to bring the most into the fold of our Ponzi schemes? Do you really think the goal in the Middle-East and elsewhere is to “bring people freedom” at the cost of our [poorest] sons? That very notion is pathetically laughable given what we [should] know about our own world.
Of course, I digress…
Smarter people than me have dedicated much of their time to illuminating the populace on what has and is transpiring, but it is indeed, without a doubt, a lost cause: for every potential convert there are far more of the soulless in counterpart. As history teaches us, an empire must die before renaissance [rebirth] of a new Hopeful can emerge. We were believing ‘this time’ would be different, because we thought we had conquered our base instincts with the use of technology and the promotion of advance awareness. But it’s all as it ever was. Mankind cannot overcome it’s Animal.
Please feel free to “LOL”.
Hey Majunga- write to parishhouse@embarqmail.com
I am interested in your views and command of letters.I am curious as to your age/background/current situation. Thanks
greg – are you a member of the Church of Our Saviour Parish House?
No Majunga- I am Atheist. I lived in an abandoned church years ago and renovated it. It was called the parishhouse and when I signed on with msn for my computer I used the moniker.
Is that church on Old Dominion off Irish Rd?
no it was on Edisto Island, S.C.
“What’s the difference between Glenmore and Lake Monticello?”….about fifteen miles. Both are havens for rich white trash, so who cares?