By Former Board Director, Frank Leeming, 3/8/2020
POA board expected to review CEO’s $210,000 contract, whether $63,000 bonus is due
There’s a lot of chatter in the Village about the POA board renewing the CEO’s contract. A petition with 551 signatures was presented to the board urging it not to do anything until the new board is elected. Ballots will be counted March 24.
Villager Scott McCord stirred things up a bit in an article on Hot Springs Village People dot com. Click here to read the article Scott wrote. Scott pointed out 551 signatures represent only two percent of the property owners.
Quite a few Villagers replied in the comment section saying 551 Villagers should be enough to get the board’s attention.
Board candidate Lloyd Sherman correctly pointed out the board doesn’t have to do anything with the contract because it has another year to run.
For the last few years, the board has reviewed the CEO’s performance in March. As the board’s only employee, a review is certainly in order.
Two things have riled Villagers who follow these things:
- The reviews have come just as Villagers are casting ballots and a new board is about to be seated. So the will of the people (as voiced in the election) is not reflected in how the board judges the job the CEO is doing.
- Prior boards have been reluctant to set measurable goals for the CEO so judging performance becomes more political and by feel than by actually doing what the board wanted.
As Sherman pointed out, this means “for several years now there has been much dissatisfaction with March and April surprises.”
Until last year, property owners didn’t know what the board was doing because the CEO’s review and contract preparation take place behind closed doors. Then the Cooper court ruling shed some light on what’s going on.
To give you a feel for the scope of all this, I’m reprinting below a blog I sent out last July explaining what had happened. It includes links to the CEO’s current contract, the bonus goals and a chart comparing the CEO’s salary to other public officials so you can judge for yourself whether the contract is justified and if it should be renewed.
POA board gave CEO a very sweet deal
In a blatant and some would say irresponsible rejection of what Village property owners were saying at the ballot box, the last POA board took an unprecedented step to make it virtually impossible to fire the community’s top executive.
Just two days before votes were counted last March 21, the board changed Lesley Nalley’s contract so it now takes six of seven board votes to oust her. In the past, a board majority of four votes could terminate the contract.
The new pact, signed March 19, also increased Nalley’s salary to $210,105, a rise of $6,105, and boosted her bonus opportunity from 20 to 30 percent of her salary. Her salary is higher than most top city and school officials in Arkansas, including the governor.
All this for a CEO whose major achievement has been the adoption of a half-million-dollar Comprehensive Master Plan (CMP). When the outgoing board adopted the controversial CMP at its final meeting last year, Nalley basked in the accomplishment, calling the CMP “my plan.”
An examination of Nalley’s last two contracts, released this month under court order, shows directors taking steps to keep Nalley in office, thus preserving the many “corporate” changes put in place over the last three years.
Sensing three avowed opponents of the CMP were about to be swept into power, the old board ignored an overwhelming rejection months earlier when property owners said no to Declaration changes they’d proposed. They moved forward anyway to protect Nalley.
[If you are an HSV Property Owner and would like to see the CEO’s 2019 Employment Contract please contact the POA.]
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To earn a bonus of up to $63,031 each year, the CEO is asked to meet four enterprise goals:
- Protect community-wide property-owner value and lifestyle.
- Strengthen the financial health of the Village.
- Build property owner trust and support.
- Provide welcoming visitor experiences that encourage property ownership.
You can see the specific targets the CEO is charged with hitting by clicking here.
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As you ponder the details of the CEO’s contract and job performance goals, keep in mind this very important fact: The CEO is the board’s only employee. What she does, how much she’s paid, how her work is evaluated – are decisions made by the POA board.
Any frustration property owners have should be directed at the board, not the CEO.
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To compare the CEO’s salary with what other cities and school districts are paying, click here.
By Former Board Director, Frank Leeming, 3/8 2020
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Walter Chance
03/08/2020 — 6:52 pm
Again, With the new board we will see some more financials that have otherwise been hidden. One example is the pool. Can we see the 3 competing bids. How much over the winning bid did it go. Why is it so expensive to use. This is what I want board members to do. As far as the contact, it was approved by previous board members. Those board members are being replaced by board members who have an agenda of finding out why we needed new covenants, why the previous board made the contact require 6 out of 7 board members to not renew the contact. If you want to see much more than 2% dissatisfaction, the new BOD should put her extension and pay scale to a property owners vote in November. A lot of retired Villagers to not use social media, therefore this is a sample petition. Put the salary, bonus, car allowance, and travel and compare it to other communities. Compare it to similar sized community. Again. The POA is in charge of maintenance, not to rewrite the master plan Mr Cooper envisioned 50 years ago.
Lynda Narug
05/21/2020 — 11:17 am
Are you sure the pool job was put out for bids? I heard it wasn’t, but maybe just HSV rumor.
Andy Kramek
03/08/2020 — 6:58 pm
The question posed was “Should HSV CEO Contract be Renewed?” but this omits a vitally important qualifier and I suggest the real question is:
“Given that it still has a year to run, should HSV CEO Contract be renewed by the Board, less than one month before a majority of the Board (i.e. 4 out of 7) are replaced?”
Whether one approves of the CEO’s performance or not, it seems absurd to even suggest that the contract be renewed a year early by outgoing Board members.
Vicki Husted
03/08/2020 — 8:27 pm
Andy Kramek03/08/2020 — 6:58 pm
You are very concisely correct. I agree 100%, and my answer is NO.
Steve Bylow
03/08/2020 — 8:55 pm
Two additional items in the CEO’s contract that are disturbing:
1. Item 1c. restricts the Board from changing the CEO’s job duties without her approval. At first I thought it was a typo.
In my opinion, LTD should pull the string to determine who gave the Board advise that such a statement was considered appropriate and consider not using them in the future.
2. Paying the premiums for the CEO’s Medical, Dental, Short Term Disability, and Long Term Disability is above the norm for even CEO’s.
In my opinion, someone failed to obtain and use relevant market data from the Arkansas Compensation Association. Even national compensation data would show the benefits provided are outside the norm.
Steve
Minn Daly
03/08/2020 — 9:24 pm
Frank thank you for shedding light to all property owners on this subject. NO, current BOD should not extend the CEO contract. Attorneys should be looking at what current contract states an accurate ways to get HSV POA out of it within a year. Also take a strong look at her job discription, extras she is compensated for, that is more than the governor of AR.. BOD should make her perform staff reductions especially high end salaries that are not warranted for position held she created them she needs to downsize or eliminate positions NOT needed. We need cost reductions starting with her salary. We need a total restructuring of POA! Again I realize that you will need very good attorneys to combat what we as OWNERS are already paying for on her behalf, however we do not need any more lawsuits. Why does she need a bonus? What has she accomplished in order to receive one? Voted LTD! Let’s hope they can get legacy BOD to work with them & save our community & get us back to sane financial structure, get our infrastructure back in shape. Minn Daly
Tom Blakeman
03/09/2020 — 7:13 am
The absurdity of the present contract boggles the mind. That the current board may actually (probably already has) extend it is insanity. But that is today.
The real problem is that it was ever entered into in the first place. Forget what the new board may do. Do we not have any recourse to hold accountable those past and present board members who got us into this mess?
Maybe they would like to pay our costs out of their own pockets. The fact that for years there has been no accountability for improper and ill advised actions, not to mention negligence, by our directors is the real issue here.
No Renewal
03/09/2020 — 10:54 am
Tom,
Your points are right on target. Every time I refer to the contract because of a question and see the signature at the bottom, I think how can there be no accountability to the person and those who advised him that this was an absurd agreement for our community to enter into.
Vicki Husted
03/09/2020 — 1:44 pm
No Renewal03/09/2020 — 10:54 am
You’re right, and I’m sure Mr. Weiss is expecting that accountability will catch up with him sooner or later.
I recall a discussion in the court hearing when CCI won our right to obtain documents the POA had been refusing to release. Don’t recall the details, but it was an effort to provide him protection.
What goes around, comes around, eventually. I’m anxious for Karma to catch up with ALL those responsible.
Barbara Murphey
03/09/2020 — 10:39 am
NO way should her contract be renewed. She Has done nothing for the Village but put us further and further in debt. Spending our money on everything but what it needs to be spent on like maintenance on roads. Nally does not care about the property owners or the Village. She only cares about her only her own agenda. She does not honor our votes or care how we feel about what she is doing. She needs to go away. She is destroying our beautiful paradise.
Barbara Murphey
03/09/2020 — 10:40 am
NO way should her contract be renewed. She Has done nothing for the Village but put us further and further in debt. Spending our money on everything but what it needs to be spent on like maintenance on roads. Nally does not care about the property owners or the Village. She only cares about her only her own agenda. She does not honor our votes or care how we feel about what she is doing. She is destroying our beautiful paradise.
Gary
03/09/2020 — 4:06 pm
Who cares what kind of arrangements these “board” members make with the little “ceo”. She needs to go. Everyone knows it. The whole place is falling apart and the “cmp” will NEVER EVER be implemented in anyone’s wildest dreams. It is simply not going to happen. Ever. Trust me on that.
So get rid of the whole position – reassign her – whatever it takes – but we don’t need or want a little “ceo” running around in secret destroying our once vibrant community.
Linda Anderson
03/09/2020 — 5:38 pm
Frank, Thank You. This is a scandalous cover up involving the Board and the CEO. The Board has crossed the line and ignored their governing responsibilities. The CEO and the brigade of lawyers submit changes to By-laws, covenants, and procedures and the Board votes to give the CEO supreme control. The absurd CEO Salary Contract ( without proper termination policy ) represents the Board’s gross negligence and incompetence. This Board should be replaced ASAP. Change is desperately needed NOW to save our Village. Vote LTD.