TIMES UNION
Albany, NY
November 23, 2004

Hevesi faults river district

List of abuses cited includes regulating authority official who got $62,000 a year for four hours of work a week

By LEIGH HORNBECK, Staff writer
First published: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

UTICA -- In an audit released Monday, State Comptroller Alan Hevesi described mismanagement and inappropriate spending by the state agency charged with overseeing the Hudson River and Black River watersheds.

The Hudson River-Black River Regulating District, formed in 1959, is a network of dams and reservoirs built to prevent flooding of downriver communities -- Albany, Troy and Rensselaer among them.

Hevesi's staff audited the regulating district from March 2002 to April 1 of this year.

The auditors found the district's practice of using one person to both order and receive material left it vulnerable to corruption. Expenses often were undocumented, including the purchase of a $21,203 vehicle. The auditors also took exception to the lack of a code of ethics.

Among the findings was a report of the work done by former Secretary-Treasurer George Scaringe and former counsel Timothy Foley. The auditors determined Scaringe was paid nearly $62,000 plus benefits annually for an average of four work hours a week. Scaringe is a past commissioner of the Albany County Board of Elections and the former chairman of Albany County Republican Committee. He did not return a phone call for comment.

Foley was paid $75,000 a year and also received benefits, working an average of 18 hours a week, the auditors reported. The district reported full-time service credits to the state retirement system for both men. Hevesi said he referred the matter to the Comptroller's Division of Investigation for review.

Scaringe and Foley were replaced with new full-time employees in July, a secretary-treasurer, Henry Hess, whose title is also chief fiscal officer, and lawyer Shari Calnero. Executive Director Richard Lefebvre said he hired Hess at $65,000 and Calnero for $75,000 because he saw a need for full-time staff.

The agency's board members, while unpaid according to law except for travel expenses, also received full benefits. Hevesi said it was inappropriate because health insurance is a form of compensation and not a necessary expense.

Lefebvre said only two members rely on the district for health insurance. The newest member, Pamela Beyor, was not offered benefits, and the others, including retired board members insured through the district, "have been put on notice," he said.

"We hope to be out of the insurance business for ourselves in the near future," he said.

The comptroller described a board vote last year to increase access permit fees along the Great Sacandaga Lake by $1.6 million as a symptom of how the board operates. The vote was made without asking for input from the people who hold the 4,600 permits to the shoreline.

"When there was great hue and cry, they rescinded. ... They haven't raised fees since. It raises the question of if they really needed the money or not," Hevesi said.

Permit holder Peter Van Avery of Schenectady pointed out Monday that the board agreed in January to hire an independent firm to audit the actual costs of the permit system. A firm has yet to be hired.

Lefebvre said the board has selected a firm. The state attorney general's office and the comptroller must approve the choice before the consultant is hired. Lefebvre said he hopes to hold meetings with permit holders next summer to discuss the system.

Lefebvre, who was hired after the permit fee debacle forced out his predecessor, Willard Loveless, said he is proud of the steps that have been made to clean up the district. New personnel have been hired, internal policies absent before have been instituted, there has been a separation of duties and new internal controls are in place, he said.

The 29-mile-long Great Sacandaga Lake was built in 1930 and regulates water level on the upper Hudson. Hydroelectric companies that benefit from the dams in the district pay a large portion of the agency's $6.8 million budget.

Hevesi said the audit is part of an effort to rein in independent state agencies. The New York Racing Association also has been the subject of a comptroller's audit, as has the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

"There are 746 state and local agencies; they are not monitored or supervised," Hevesi said. "Some are run well, some are poorly managed and some are corrupt."

DAILY GAZETTE
Schenectady, NY
November 23, 2004

Audit Cites Agency Faults
Sacandaga Lake's Users Praise Report

by Jim McGuire, Gazette Reporter

GLOVERSVILLE -- A state audit of the agency that regulates the Great Sacandaga Lake contends the agency was poorly managed, improperly awarded full-time retirement credits to part-time staffers and had no apparent authority to provide health insurance coverage to board members.

State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi presented his audit findings at a news conference Monday at Herkimer County Community College. The audit of the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District examined the fiscal year March 2002 to March 2003, a period prior to Gov. George Pataki's appointment of current Executive Director Richard Lefebvre, the former chairman of the Adirondack Park Agency.

Lefebvre said Monday that many of the 15 issues raised in the audit have already been addressed and he said the agency is in the process of complying with all 21 recommendations presented by Hevesi.

Peter VanAvery, a longtime agency critic and Great Sacandaga Lake property owner, called the audit welcome news to the lake's 4,650 access permit holders.

"It puts on public record what we have complained about for decades --that the regulating district has been managed with gross incompetence and arrogance. It is an absolute disgrace that this beautiful lake, one of the jewels in the Adirondack Park, has been under the thumb of a board of directors unable or unwilling to fulfill its responsibilities." VanAvery asserted Pataki should "clean house."

Hevesi said the issues of the retirement credits for the agency's former secretary/treasurer George Scaringe (former Albany County Republican chairman) and agency attorney Timothy Foley and the provision of health insurance coverage for the agency's five board members will be referred to his legal and investigations departments for review and recommendations. He said state regulations for such agencies prohibit board members from receiving any benefits or financial reward beyond compensation for necessary expenses.

He said his agency has not determined how much the agency spent on health insurance coverage for its five board members or for how long a period it was provided.

Hevesi said he is not alleging corruption or criminality, but said the agency was "poorly managed," creating an unnecessary burden on the ratepayers who provide the funding for the agency's $6.8 million budget. The agency assesses annual fees paid by the beneficiaries of its water management of the Sacandaga, Stillwater Reservoir, Sixth Lake Dam, Indian Lake and Old Forge Dam. It also sells access permits to landowners on the Great Sacandaga Lake.

Hevesi said the auditors determined that Scaringe was paid nearly $62,000 annually but worked an average of only four hours per week. Foley was paid $75,000 annually but worked an average of 18 hours per week. Both staffers received fully paid medical, dental and vision coverage and were given state retirement credit for full-time work, Hevesi said.

As an example of the way the agency was operated, Hevesi pointed to the agency's 2003 proposal to raise Sacandaga Lake permit fees -- some as much as 700 percent -- in the effort to generate an additional $1.6 million in revenue. After the proposal became public and met an outcry from property owners, the measure was rescinded. Hevesi said the required public hearings on the proposal were never conducted. Since the agency has been able to operate to the present time without the added revenue, Hevesi said it raises the question of whether the fee increase was justified.

"Had the board fulfilled its responsibility to New Yorkers and properly solicited public opinion on its proposed fee hikes, board members would have been aware of the widespread opposition to the increases. The lack of diligence by the board nearly resulted in unconscionable fee increases," Hevesi said.

"Worse, the need for fee increases appears to be driven by questionable actions of the board and a lack of financial controls by the district," he said.

In one instance, he said, agency management bought a $21,203 vehicle without justifying the purchase, a violation of agency procedures. "They just went out and bought it," he said.

Hevesi was also critical of what he termed lack of separation of management duties, a practice he called a "prescription for corruption." While he emphasized he found no corruption in agency practices, he said the lack of separation of duties provided no internal controls over financial matters. The audit recommended the board adopt a code of ethics to govern future operations.

Noting that the agency has new management, Hevesi pledged, "we're going to work with this agency.... We're going to make sure they clean up their act."

Lefebvre, who replaced former Northampton Supervisor Willard Loveless at the agency, said he identified many of the same issues when he took office in January.

"I feel the district is well on its way to addressing the items brought up in the audit and has been pre-emptive in many ways." He said he and the agency staff are working on satisfying all the outstanding issues.

Starting in July, he said, the agency hired a full-time attorney and chief financial officer. Henry Hess of Queensbury is CFO and former Scenic Hudson attorney Shari Calerno is the agency legal counsel.

A board member appointed this year was not provided medical coverage and remaining board members have been instructed to find alternative coverage so that their policies provided by the agency can be terminated, Lefebvre said.

Meanwhile, he said, new internal controls have been established. "We're right on track. We have good people and we're doing good work," Lefebvre said. Lefebvre said he agrees with Hevesi that during the audited year there may have been problems but no evidence of corruption.

VanAvery said that while the agency's new administration has made what he called some headway, "progress has been glacial." He said the board agreed to hire a consultant to analyze the cost of operating its access permit system, but has failed to act on that proposal for 11 months. He said the rules governing the permit system are in need of review. VanAvery said some members have a poor attendance record at board meetings and he warned that the agency is not prepared should major downstream ratepayers Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. and Erie Boulevard Hydropower win lawsuits seeking $10 million in fee refunds.

He raised one other issue. "Astoundingly, 74 years after the creation of the reservoir, the district still cannot tell us whether the state-owned buffer zone around the reservoir is or is not part of the forever wild Forest Preserve."

LEADER-HERALD
Gloversville, NY
November 23, 2004

State audit blasts regulating district

By ANNMARIE MARANO, The Leader-Herald

A state audit of the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District released Monday found the agency to be poorly managed and cited evidence of potential impropriety.

The audit, conducted by the office of New York State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi, found that former secretary-treasurer George Scaringe and the former legal counsel for the district Tim Foley were receiving full-time salaries and benefits for part-time work.

The comptroller's team found that neither man submitted timesheets. The team discovered personal records of both men, that stated the secretary-treasurer worked on average four hours a week for $62,000 a year, while the legal counsel worked on average 18 hours a week for $75,000 a year.

Executive Director Richard H. Lefebvre said he is unsure why timesheets were not being submitted. He said it was a process he found when he was named to the position in January.

He said it is evident that steps have been taken to correct this process because the district now takes an entirely different approach to working with full-time employees.

Chief Fiscal Officer Henry S. Hess and counsel Shari Calnero are both full-time employees for the district.

"Most of my neighbors around the lake would just love to have a job that pays $62,000 a year and you only have to work four hours a week," said Peter Van Avery, a permit holder and co-founder of the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee. "That boils down to $300 an hour," he said.

The BBAC is a volunteer group of several hundred private lake property owners.

Van Avery cited the district's minutes of the June 15 board meeting, during which Foley resigned and Scaringe announced his retirement: "The board at this time thanked both Mr. Foley and Mr. Scaringe for all their hard work and dedication to the district."

"Has the board been wearing blinders?" Van Avery asked. "Who is to blame and what's the penalty?"

The audit also found that the 500 percent to 1,000 percent increase in access permit fees for the Great Sacandaga Lake proposed in 2003 by the board were unresearched and unjustified.

Lefebvre said he found the raise in permit fees to be "ill advised."

"Regulations of the district provide that permittees will pay in permit fees no more than the cost in administering the permit system," he said. "When it was proposed that the system would include other costs, in my mind it was inappropriate."

Lefebvre was named executive director in January, after the resignation of former executive director Willard W. Loveless.

"Although the current executive director, hired in January, appears to be making some headway in turning around the district, progress has been glacial, with huge challenges to overcome," Van Avery said.

Permits provide private property owners with access to a particular area of the buffer zone that surrounds the lake and is owned by New York state.

Fees for those permits depend on the size of the lake-front property.

An application for a new permit for parcels with up to 100 feet of frontage costs $300. For each additional 100 feet after that, the cost increases $30.

Each year permit holders must also pay a renewal fee. Renewal fees range from $43 for 10 feet of frontage to $72 for 100 to 200 feet. Every 100 feet after that increases by a $20 increment.

In 2003, the district board announced a proposed increase in permit fees by 500 to 1,000 percent. The 2003 budget approved by the board included $1.6 million in fee increases.

After much opposition to the increases, the public demanded an independent auditor be hired to review the permit fee system. The district said the permit fees would remain at current rates until an auditor was hired and an audit conducted.

CPA firm Bollam, Sheedy, Torani & Co. was hired to perform the audit. Its $38,500 contract was approved in October. The audit is expected to be completed by the end of the 2005 fiscal year's first quarter.

The comptroller's office found that the raised fees were proposed without proper back-up or research. The fact that they have not been enacted raises the question of whether or not the increases were needed in the first place, Hevesi said during a press conference Monday.

Information about the fee hike was not presented to the public and public hearings did not take place on the issue, which are required by law.

"The findings of this audit of the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District come as welcome news to Great Sacandaga Lake's 4,650 access permit holders," Van Avery said.

"It puts on public record what we have complained about for decades - that the regulating district has been managed with gross incompetence and arrogance."

The regulating district is a public authority responsible for operations of the Great Sacandaga Lake.

Hevesi's office conducts audits on hundreds of public authorities across the state. Public authorities are public benefit corporations. They are unmonitored and operate outside the state budget process.

"The problem with these organizations is that some have severe management issues," Hevesi said during a press conference Monday.

"Some are well managed, some mismanaged, some of them are corrupt and some of them are all three," Hevesi said.

The audit included 15 findings and 21 recommendations. It began in March, and examined the period between March 2002 and March 2004.

The audit also found district board members to be receiving full medical, dental and vision benefits. Board members should only receive compensation for "expenses incurred in the performance of their duties," such as mileage costs to get to board meetings.

Lefebvre said the district is in the process of reviewing such benefits. Pamela S. Beyor, named to the board in November, is not receiving benefits, Lefebvre said.

"We are in the process of securing alternate sources of benefits," he said.

The audit also found the district to be lacking in internal financial controls.

"You can't run an agency unless you have policies in place to ensure that the money is handled properly," Hevesi said.

The district had failed to provide adequate documentation and justification for certain credit card purchases and an automobile purchase.

In its response to the audit, the district did not disagree with the Comptroller's findings.

"We are going to work with this agency and come back and make sure they have cleaned up their act," Hevesi said.

He said he is hopeful the district is moving in the right direction, although he has seen no evidence of that progress yet.

"I think there are many things that are evident," Lefebvre said. "You see it in our day to day operations."

The district went through a stringent budget building process, he said. It was exposed to the public for three months.

The district has also embarked on a governance plan that would "increase our predictability and cause for transparency," Lefebvre said.

He said he has seen a good deal of public review. The counsel now operates in committees, so as to build expertise in different areas, he said.

All meetings now resemble a "town meeting format," he said.

"I am looking forward to seeing the full audit, then proceeding in a logical way of working on remediation," Lefebvre said.

"I feel very convinced with the progress we've already made that within the 90-day period the district will be in full compliance"

The district has 90 days to write back to the comptroller with the remedial actions taken to show the district is complying with the findings of the audit.

Sacandaga Park resident and permit holder Leo Boland said this is an opportunity for Lefebvre to make the necessary changes to the district.

"It is an absolute disgrace that this beautiful lake, one of the jewels of the Adirondack Park, has been under the thumb of a board of directors unable or unwilling to fulfill its responsibilities," Van Avery said. "The governor, who wields executive control over the district and who appoints its five-member board, should clean house before they do even more damage.

THE RECORDER
Amsterdam, NY
November 23, 2004

Regulating district hit in state audit

By CRAIG CLARK

The state comptroller's office faulted the board of directors of the regulating agency overseeing the Great Sacandaga Lake on several issues, some of which have already been corrected, in an audit released Monday.

The comptroller's audit examined the operations of the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District between April 1, 2002, and March 31, 2004.

The comptroller's office found that during that time the district's board of directors "provided insufficient oversight of district operations, lacked basic financial controls to ensure money was spent appropriately, and provided extensive health benefits to board members who should not have received them."

Although now corrected, the district also paid some hefty full-time salaries to two employees who reported directly to the board and who only worked a few hours a week.

State auditors have determined that the district's past secretary/treasurer, George Scaringe, "was paid nearly $62,000 annually but worked only on average four hours per week."

The district's former legal counsel, Tim Foley, earned an annual salary of $75,000 but only worked an average of 18 hours a week.

The regulating district also "reported full-time service credits to the New York State Retirement System for both individuals and both also received full medical, dental and vision benefits," the comptroller's office said Monday.

The audit also cites a number of internal control issues such as improperly secured petty cash; the lack of a formal code of ethics for board members, agency officials and staff; the lack of annual audits on investment practices; no separation of important accounting functions; a lack of justification and documentation for some purchases including a $21,000 vehicle; and other issues.

The audit also criticized, as many have, the board's attempt last year to drastically increase the price of access permits on the Great Sacandaga.

The increase, which for some permit holders on the man-made reservoir meant hikes as high as 700 percent, caused such a public outcry the board withdrew the proposal and eventually the district's then executive director, Willard Loveless, resigned.

Loveless was replaced Richard Lefebvre and even the district's most outspoken critics have acknowledged that the new director has made change for the better.

"I do think we have been proactive," Lefebvre said Monday, adding that the directors brought him on board in January with a carte blanche acknowledging that changes needed to be made.

Lefebvre said he is committed to instituting the comptroller's suggestions for action and pointed out that a number of the suggestions have already been enacted.

For instance, following the resignations earlier this year of Scaringe and Foley, the district's new legal counsel, Shari Calnero, and treasurer, Henry Hess, work full weeks.

Calnero and Hess were each hired at roughly the same salaries that were paid to Scaringe and Foley, the executive director said.

The comptroller also recommends the board institute committees, which has already been done.

Several other suggestions are also outlined in the audit such as discontinuing the practice of giving health care benefits to board members; evaluating the practice of lending equipment to employees for personal use; requiring all employees to complete time records (the audit found past instances of three employees not doing so); establishing a code of ethics; and several other suggestions.

This winter state Comptroller Alan Hevesi in conjunction with the state Attorney General's Office announced an initiative to reform the state's public authorities which Hevesi referred to as a "large semi-secret unsupervised government empire."

In a statement issued Monday Hevesi took the board of directors of the regulating district to task.

"The board of directors of the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District should act as the first line of defense, ensuring that the district operates appropriately and effectively and provides careful financial oversight of public monies," Hevesi said. "Unfortunately, as we have seen at other public authorities that we have examined around New York state, the board has fallen short in its duties."

Peter VanAvery, cofounder of the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee and a tough critic of the regulating district, offered harsh criticism of the board of directors, stating that the comptroller's audit gives authority to complaints made for decades.

"It is an absolute disgrace that this beautiful lake, one of the jewels of the Adirondack Park, has been under the thumb of a board of directors unable or unwilling to fulfill its responsibilities," VanAvery said in a written statement. "The governor, who wields executive control over the district and who appoints its five-member board, should clean house before they do even more damage."

Lefebvre said he expects the comptroller's audit to be discussed by the board at its Dec. 13 meeting in Johnstown.

NEW YORK POST
New York, NY
November 23, 2004

YOU PAID THIS MAN 62G FOR 4 HRS. A WEEK

By KENNETH LOVETT

November 23, 2004 -- ALBANY — In a shocking patronage scam, a politically connected state employee was raking in $62,000 a year for just four hours of work per week, it was revealed yesterday.

An audit by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi disclosed that the salary for hardly any work, plus full benefits, was doled out to a former Albany County Republican boss by a little-known state authority controlled by Gov. Pataki.

For serving as secretary-treasurer of what Hevesi called the "out of control" Hudson River-Black River Regulating District, George Scaringe averaged an outrageous $300 an hour on the taxpayers' dime.

Scaringe also received full pension credit for his part-time job, as well as a generous benefits package that included health, vision and dental coverage, according Hevesi's audit.

The auditors also found that the authority, which monitors the flow of the Hudson and Black rivers to prevent flooding, also paid its legal counsel, Utica lawyer Timothy Foley, $75,000 a year — even though he worked an average of just 18 hours a week.

"On the surface, it seems disgraceful," Hevesi told The Post.

"It's a perfect example of another out-of-control authority that has not been monitored or supervised and is extraordinarily poorly managed."

Scaringe, who could not be reached for comment, was Albany County's GOP chairman from 1976 to 1993, and from 1996 to 1997, when he gave up the political post after the tiny regulating district hired him for the plum, four-hour-a-week job.

Both Scaringe and Foley resigned from the authority in June, just weeks after Hevesi's auditors wrapped up their work.

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester), who chairs the Assembly committee that oversees state authorities, said Hevesi's audit reveals a system of "runaway" public authorities that have been left unchecked for years.

"The authorities are run by the executive branch as patronage mills and cash cows for the political class," Brodsky said.

The authority's new executive director, Richard Lefebvre, said he began cleaning up the mess he found as soon as he took over in January.

"I came in and I saw what was going on," Lefebvre said. "I just needed full-time workers. Changes have been made."

Pataki spokesman Andrew Rush said: "We're aware the new management team put together by the trustees in January have addressed these issues, and we're confident the new leadership will manage the authority effectively and efficiently as they go forward."

Hevesi noted other questionable — and possibly illegal — practices by the regulating district, including providing medical, dental and vision benefits to the five "volunteer" board members appointed to oversee the operation by Pataki.

Hevesi said his agency's findings will be referred to prosecutors if he and his aides feel any laws were broken.

He also said the state pension fund that he controls will investigate if Scaringe and Foley are eligible for full pension credits with their work at the regulating district.

The authority's $6.8 million annual budget is funded through access fees and charges to use the river water.

TIMES UNION
Albany, NY
November 26, 2004

River district finds itself in hot water again Scrutiny raises questions regarding oversight of other authorities

By JOEL STASHENKO, Associated Press
First published: Friday, November 26, 2004

ALBANY -- State Comptroller Alan Hevesi turned his scrutiny this month to a state authority with a long name and a history of running afoul of state regulators.

Not surprisingly, based on past shenanigans at the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District, Hevesi found payroll, pension, medical benefit and fiscal expenditure problems, including the authority paying one politically connected staffer, former Albany County GOP Chairman George Scaringe, $62,000 a year for working what auditors said was an average of four hours a week.

There is no direct evidence of criminality at the authority, Hevesi said, but some of its dealings suggest potential improprieties that prosecutors may want to take a look at. Hevesi also suggested 21 ways the agency could clean up financial practices. The regulating district's executive director, Richard Lefebvre, said all the recommendations have either been adopted or would be by this winter.

"I believe in good government," he said. "A timeline for corrective action will be established, and it will be met."

In the scheme of things, Hevesi is not as interested in what his auditors found in a 27-employee, $6.8 million-a- year public benefit corporation with offices in Albany, Utica and Mayfield as what he contended his findings suggest about the other 700-plus quasi-public agencies that exist around the state.

"Many of them do good work," Hevesi said. "Many of them are mismanaged. Many are corrupt. And some of them are all three."

Hevesi also has criticized fiscal practices at big agencies like the state Thruway Authority and the New York Racing Association. He said they and the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District exhibit many of the same signs of lax and murky fiscal management that is allowed to persist because most authorities are not subject to the same financial oversight as government agencies under the state's executive branch.

The Democrat-dominated Assembly has been pushing greater authority control as part of any of the many "reform" efforts at the Capitol in Albany. State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Westchester County Democrat and chairman of the Assembly's corporations committee, exposed sweetheart financial dealings at the MTA and the Thruway Authority that he said would not have been possible if authorities are brought under normal state agency oversight.

"The Assembly is going to pursue authority reform," he said. "In terms of 'dysfunctional Albany,' it is probably the poster child."

Majority Republicans in the Senate say reform is under consideration in their chamber, too.

Republican Gov. George Pataki controls the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District through his appointees to its board -- as he does the majority of important public authorities. A commission appointed by Pataki recommended in July that authorities should disclose financial information with uniform standards and undergo independent audits.

The Hudson River-Black River Regulating District controls flooding and water flow in the two upstate watersheds by managing a series of dams and the Great Sacandaga reservoir about 40 miles northwest of Albany.

The regulating district funds its operations through fees for access to the Great Sacandaga, and use of water on the Hudson and Black rivers by utilities and others.

Pataki brought in Lefebvre to run the regulating district in January. Lefebvre got high marks from environmentalists, property owners and others in the constituency of the state's North Country when he headed the Adirondack Park Agency before his retirement in 2002.

Lefebvre was lured out of retirement to straighten out the water regulating district. He said he was unaware of most of the deficiencies Hevesi highlighted.

Scaringe and Foley did not return telephone calls seeking comment on Hevesi's audit.

The regulating district's management problems pre-date the Pataki administration.

In 1993, the state inspector general under former Gov. Mario Cuomo's administration said the regulating district's board paid for trips for spouses and friends at resorts and voted themselves salaries, which were later rescinded. A critical state Ethics Commission report in 1995 led to a housecleaning at the regulating district under the new Pataki administration.

In 1999, more executives and employees at the regulating district were forced out when the Ethics Commission found improprieties, such as the employees' acceptance of "honorary" memberships at the Sacandaga Boat Club and the Mayfield Yacht Club, two clubs the district regulates.