By Joe Dowden, May 19, 2020
On April 15, 2020, Dan Aylward was elected by the new Hot Springs Village Board of Directors to the position of HSVPOA Treasurer. Formerly, Liz Mathis, CFO of HSVPOA, held this position.
Treasurer’s Report omitted initially in Board Packet upload
It is customary for the POA to upload the Board Packet on the third Monday of the month before the Regular Wednesday Board Meeting. This past Monday (May 18, 2020) was no different except something was omitted. The omission was the report from the HSVPOA Treasurer, Dan Aylward.
Today, May 19, 2020, the HSVPOA’s Treasurer’s Report was made available on the POA website. This report contains shocking information in regards to the blocking of the new Treasurer from receiving information he requested. Below please see some of the revelations in Aylward’s report.
Board not supplied with technology and information
At the first Special Board Meeting on April 20, 2020, Aylward had not yet been supplied with the necessary technology or information he needed to perform his job. (As an aside, none of the new Directors and Officers were assigned their secure e-mail addresses at this time.)
Management ignored numerous requests
On April 21, 2020, Aylward requested pertinent information to be used in order to properly evaluate the financial condition of the POA. He wanted to “assess where we really are, how we got there, and how we get to where we want to go.”
The information requested was standard and should be readily available to every good manager making the request.
On May 1, 2020, the HSVPOA Board Chairperson also requested that this information be provided to Treasurer Aylward.
Additionally, Aylward’s request for this information was renewed on May 15, 2020.
As of this date (May 19, 2020), this information has not been provided. Aylward said that,
“Based on the lack of responsiveness for information requests, I remain extremely concerned that financial monitoring is not being adequately done.”
List of documents requested by Treasurer
Treasurers-List-of-Requested-Documents-5-20-20***
HSV Inquiring minds want to know:
- Was Alward’s report originally omitted in the online Board Packet because of the shocking disclosures?
- Why was financial information kept from the Treasurer?
- Why make it more difficult for Aylward, a volunteer, still employed fulltime in the public sector, to do his job?
- Why is HSVPOA management not being transparent about HSVPOA finances?
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Click here to view the May 2020 HSVPOA Treasurer’s Report.
Treasurers-report-with-Budget-attached-2.20.Aylward***
Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow (May 20, 2020) to the Regular Board Meeting at 9:00 a.m. Click here to go to HSVPOA OFFICIAL YouTube Channel.
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Click here to visit Hot Springs Village PEOPLE private Facebook Group.
Tom Blakeman
05/19/2020 — 1:44 pm
Mr Aylward gets a Gold Star. Ms Nalley should be fired.
Gary Puffer
05/19/2020 — 2:26 pm
I’ve harped on this many times before, it is, what hell are we paying the so-called director of golf Tom Heffer around $150K a year, What the hell does he do besides losing millions of dollars every year. Fire the moron.
Carl
05/20/2020 — 8:54 am
He actually does very little, if anything, and this position could easily be eliminated.
We need to remove all the salaried people at the POA – they are all complicit in the downfall of HSV in one way or the other and they need to go.
Clean house. Clean it now.
Disinfect it.
Mike
05/20/2020 — 4:16 pm
I have to differ with you and others. Tom Heffer does many things. Managing the golf operations efficiently is not one of them. If someone is put in charge of a division in a company and over the course of years the division is insolvent and there is no concrete plan to improve the financials then that leader is reassigned or dismissed. The golf department managers should be embarrassed to say they are in charge of it. Losing that kind of money cannot be justified. May be time to find someone with better business acumen.
Gary Puffer
06/01/2020 — 2:38 pm
Sorry to disagree with you, Mike. I don’t see Heffer doing jack crap. The golf course managers are managers of the pro shops not the actual operation of golf courses. And get this, Heffer and one other golf pro has all the pro shop concessions and profiting from the sales of goods while the POA hires and pays the pro shop managers and pro- shop employees. In other words we, the property owners, are paying the salaries of people working at the pro shop that benefits Heffer and this other golf pro directly without costing them a penny. What sense does that make? Please tell me what (“…Tom Heffer does many things.”) Heffer does to earn close to $150k a year.
Mike
06/02/2020 — 8:26 am
Gary, it was sarcasm. My point is that Tom Heffer has not shown the ability to effectively manage the golf operations. A leader identifies the shortcomings and develops a plan to overcome them. We are at a crisis situation and IMO someone is finally asking the right questions and dictating that it will not be business as usual and we are seeing some changes to save money. These measures should have been done many years ago.
Valerie Phillis
05/19/2020 — 2:35 pm
Joe, Thank you very much for sharing this information. I believe a lot of property owners have wondered what was going on and now can see the facts. There are no good reasons/excuses why our Treasurer should not have been given requested documents, etc.
Gene Garner
05/19/2020 — 3:08 pm
Good work Joe, is this going to be an ongoing problem?—Gene
Linda Anderson
05/19/2020 — 4:09 pm
Tom, you are right, Mr. Aylward and the Board are trying to work with Nalley. They have forgotten that Nalley will fight for continued control over the Board. It’s now time for the Board to get tough and bring out their Sword & Shield : a Forensic Audit. This will put a complete stop to what is going on, open every financial disclosure, and show where all the money has been spent. The property owners deserve transparency. Nalley has used and abused her power and put the village in a desperate financial situation. Time to get rid of Bad management.
Julie
05/19/2020 — 4:16 pm
The old guard, the little “ceo”, and the others who have been grossly overpaid for doing nothing but wreck our community, will continue to obfuscate and delay and mislead and misinform.
Of this there can be no doubt. And it is not just Dan who needs access to the information. It is all of us. Nothing should be secret from anyone.
I have said over and over they are afraid of letting people know just how bad things really are. We lost thousands and thousands of dollars on the failed Troon contract. There can be no doubt on this. These losses are still hidden.
The legal bills are hidden.
The loses on gate contracts are hidden.
Loses on contracts we don’t even know exist are being hidden.
Nothing is shared that should be. Nothing.
It is all a game and a joke to these fools.
What did you expect from these people???
They have been lying for years to all of us. All the time.
They are bad and should all be removed. All of them!!
Now.
Frank Shears aka Bubba
05/19/2020 — 4:31 pm
Thank you Joe Dowden and thank you Dan Aylward. I am interested in hearing their excuses for not providing the informaton the first time it was requested…. and the second time, and with no good reason given.
Something smells rotten!
Moe
05/19/2020 — 6:08 pm
We don’t want or need excuses. These people have got to go. Nothing else will work.
Andy Kramek
05/19/2020 — 4:32 pm
Wow! Not just interesting, positively scary. So we can finally see why Nalley et al are reluctant to disclose financial details, looks like it is a total mess! Comments like:
“Based on the lack of responsiveness for information requests, I remain extremely concerned that financial monitoring is not being adequately done”
confirm that not only what many of us have long believed to be the case (i.e. that no real monitoring has been done) but also that the situation is even worse than we feared. The bullet points are really scary …
• No daily reports
• No payroll monitoring
• Payroll is not budgeted except as an annual summary
• Budgets are annualized
• No early warning in place
O!M!G! Feet need to held to the fire over this, it is worse than horrible because it clearly shows a total disregard for proper business practice. It also makes the glowing reports repeatedly given by the CEO and CFO very suspect indeed. Begs the question of whether this is just incompetence on the part of the CEO/CFO, or if there has been a deliberate attempt to cover up the true state of the Village finances.
Tom Blakeman
05/19/2020 — 5:40 pm
I’m convinced it is both.
Julie
05/19/2020 — 6:07 pm
Of course it is both. No question.
These people are very incompetent and very dishonest.
George Phillis
05/19/2020 — 4:51 pm
The latest financial report by Dan Aylard, which by the way is an excellent job, clearly spells out just how poorly the Village has been managed. If my memory serves me correctly the CEO made a sideways comment regarding the new treasurer as not being an accountant. That’s “rich” coming from an accountant who is not a CPA. Fact of the matter to be a good treasurer does not require one to be an accountant. It does require financial knowledge, technical expertise, common sense, and a keen sense for what’s right and what’s wrong……all of which Mr. Aylard excels.
This report by the treasurer demonstrates an incomprehensible lack of financial knowledge and management expertise regarding the CEO and CFO. The CEO stated at the last work session the financial status of HSV was “sound”. Really!? By whose standards? I suppose Al Capone would have said the same thing.
The lack of following standard industry/corporate methods of documentation, planning and budgeting is unbelievable. HSV is not a local neighborhood lemonade stand and should not be treated as such.
We have been paying $200,000+ for this kind of management!?
Not only are the CEO and CFO culpable for this debacle but also past board members….Weiss, Luehring, Campagna and all the others who allowed this type of mismanagement. Not to mention the insane contract the board members approved for the CEO. Shame on all of you for not fulfilling your fiduciary responsibilities to the property owners.
In my opinion there is no reason to “buy out” the CEO’s contract. There is already enough evidence to terminate the CEO’s contract for cause. Of course the CEO can still file a lawsuit against the POA, however what has so far been uncovered will make it difficult for the CEO to defend or explain such incompetence and failure to do the job.
Julie
05/19/2020 — 6:06 pm
Please remember, it is always little “ceo” – lower case and in quotes…
Vikki Powell
05/19/2020 — 6:19 pm
New Treasurer makes two requests to CFO for financials (21 Apr & 15 May). Both ignored. Board Chairperson makes one request to CFO for same and is ignored. CFO works for CEO. That’s 3 strikes. Both should be out. Side note…quit requesting. Order, demand, give NLT date. Playing nice is good, if there’s cooperation. Otherwise, directness is the next move.
Minn Daly
05/19/2020 — 6:24 pm
To all above! Each of you are so correct in your analysis of our situation on financial issues! Why then can’t we get action from our NEW BOD & CHAIR on getting a Forensic Audit, or equiliven of same. Realize fORENSIC AUDITS are expensive, but not as expensive as haveing HSV in bankruptcy! Legacy BOD/CEO have made a mess of our community! The only way back to achievement of TRUST from memberships is for all to see where the spending went. Minn Daly
Had enough
05/19/2020 — 6:38 pm
Please take a vote for termination of the CEO now and let’s move on.
Had enough of her childish behavior.
Walter Chance
05/19/2020 — 6:52 pm
Dan is trying to uncover the truth about our finances. A deadline should be agreed to tomorrow on when he can get this information. If the information is not received. CFO should be terminated. And again, I am as frightened by the lack of transparency, and also frightened by the documents we finally will get to see!! Thank you Dan!!
Mark
05/19/2020 — 7:11 pm
Fire Nalley and her minions. Their incompetence is glaringly obvious.
Tom Blakeman
05/19/2020 — 7:37 pm
A few thoughts.
* Little “ceo” is costing us more than $300k per year in salary, medical insurance, 401k contribution, expense account, car allowance and whatever else such as free amenities.
* Little “ceo” is also costing us untold hundreds of thousands of $$ on lost opportunities, mis-spent funds, bad decisions and the time value of all that money.
* Little “ceo” and her attorneys obviously must think she may have some sort of wrongful discharge, discrimination, harassment or similar potential lawsuit claims should she be fired. Fact is, and regardless of any contract, such suits are notoriously very difficult to win by plaintiffs. Arkansas is an “at will” employment state.
* The case regarding our “cfo” is not so clear given that she works at the pleasure of and direction of the little “ceo”. She deserves the benefit of the doubt for the moment.
Bottom Line: Little “ceo” needs to go and GO NOW. Terminate for cause. Let her sue if she wishes. It can only be cheaper in the long run.
Julie
05/19/2020 — 8:26 pm
Amen.
Dave Sintich
05/19/2020 — 9:36 pm
Not presenting requested information to superiors has always been cause for dismissal in any company or organization throughout history. So can all their butts and have the attorney’s put leans on their properties and accounts until a financial investigation can be performed. This board should place a hold on the ceo’s computer and place her and the cfo on administrative leave, without access to POA accounts and information services. Then seek legal actions against any past board member having anything to do with the ceo’s contract and the wasting of POA monies for bad and wasteful reasons that have not benefited the property owners.
George Phillis
05/19/2020 — 11:17 pm
Watching the work session last week in my opinion demonstrated not only the incompetence of the ceo but also of the cfo. I do not believe either deserve a second chance. The cfo is a clone of the ceo in the way she dodged answering questions and her double talk. She has learned well from the ceo. Her lack of knowledge regarding matters a good cfo would have known is another reason for her removal. If there are any of the overpaid managers worth keeping then their salary should be adjusted downward to what is reasonable in Arkansas for that position.
I believe there is enough evidence to terminate the ceo for cause. Let her file a lawsuit as Tom suggested……she probably will anyway. As more evidence is uncovered revealing the horrific damage the ceo has wrought on HSV with her incompetence (and the incompetence of past board members) she will have a difficult time winning that case.
Moe
05/20/2020 — 5:53 am
He’s riding dirty.
Julie
05/20/2020 — 7:05 am
Troon loses were in the 100’s of thousands, by the way, and were a serious drain on our already stretched golf “budget”.
And, we got NOTHING in return.
Absolutely nothing.
The whole Troon contract was a complete and utter fiasco from day one….just like so many of the things these people have done to hurt HSV.
Very sad, very sad indeed.
MARK MEYERS
05/20/2020 — 7:26 am
Just a question, Couldn’t both of them be in contempt of court for not allowing info to members? Wonder if the judge knows?
sbm
05/20/2020 — 8:53 am
Good morning ❤️😷
Moe
05/20/2020 — 8:56 am
People. We don’t need a treasurer AND a CFO – completely ridiculous. Eliminate the CFO position immediately.
It is a travesty to have anyone in this needless position.
Kenneth P.
05/20/2020 — 10:26 am
Congrats to Dan Aylward.
Dan, I hope you’re reading this blog. Your list of 14 questions is most appropriate. Having been an auditor in my past life, there is one question that I feel you may have overlooked. Maybe you have full intentions to ask this pertinent question. Not sure, but I didn’t want to leave it to assumption that this inquiry would be performed. Please don’t think of me as presumptuous. My only intent here is to add value to your inquiry of HSV’s financial condition.
Any audit would be incomplete without a very detailed analysis of expenditures. Expenditure “management reports,” as you are surely aware, can be “slanted” to represent a financial picture that misleads the reader. The only way to obtain a true representation of where POA Membership moneys are being spent is to examine the POA’s Bank Statements.
Someone needs to review the actual checks issued with close scrutiny of Payees and respective amounts. It’s also very important to scrutinize the signatures.
By auditing the POA’s bank statements, a true picture of cash flow, appropriate or otherwise, can be determined.
Mr. Aylward – you surely have majority Property Owners support.
Thank you for your service.
Sue Sutley
05/22/2020 — 9:51 am
Kenneth, At the BOD mtg Mr. Alyward asked for volunteers. Please consider answering the call. You seem to have the knowledge that can help at this time. Thanks! Sue
Jerry Jay Carroll
05/20/2020 — 11:34 am
The new treasurer must remember it takes some time to cook the books.
Sam
05/20/2020 — 11:47 am
Indeed. And they are cooked very well done!!!!!!
These people have been mismanaging since day one.
No more!!!
It is absurd to pay a “cfo” who doesn’t know the first thing about accounting or managing money. Nothing.
Ignorance is bliss…and that is why these people are smiling all the time…they have taken us to the cleaners and we have allowed them to get away with it.
Scott free.
We should all be ashamed.
Very and deeply ashamed.
We’ve been had by our own elected people….the past board members were a disgrace…most all of them…little know-nothing toadies who were most certainly out of their league. Not sure how any of them were successful in the private sector (if they ever were).
You people don’t know the half of the problems….they are legion…trust me on that.
BAD situation in the Village. We are not only flat broke, but we don’t even have a clue as to how broke we are. And we may never know if these people are allowed to continue to stonewall and hide and cheat and lie and such. And so far they have been allowed to do just that….over and over and over again.
It is nothing short of a disgrace and may in fact be far worse than anyone even could imagine.
Moe
05/20/2020 — 1:25 pm
Sam is right!
Bob P.
05/20/2020 — 3:04 pm
WOW, I just heard that our golf courses might be in bad shape in the near future.
SOMEONE either forgot or messed up and did not order fertilizer and other necessary products for application!!! Here comes bad fairways, weeds and other ugly foreign grasses attacking our beautiful golf courses.
I HOPE THIS IS NOT TRUE, but heard from a reliable source.
On a positive note: Great Job from all golf course maintenance workers.
Really looking good NOW.
Mike
05/20/2020 — 4:24 pm
They have been spraying at many of the courses. You run into problems if you don’t apply pre emergents before the weeds germinate. Fertilizer is readily available normally along with weed killers needed to spot treat problem areas.
Bob P
05/21/2020 — 8:22 am
They have only sprayed around the greens!! I live on Granada and they have not sprayed the fairway yet this year!!
Bob P
05/21/2020 — 1:00 pm
HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE POA
Comparative Statements of Revenue and Expenses
Months ended April 30, 2020 and April 30, 2019
Golf Revenue compared to last year – (163,732)
Golf Expense ” ” (226,031)
Pre emergents were NOT purchased this year .
kilroy
05/21/2020 — 7:04 am
The little *ceo* has expertise in her governances.
Think she studies declarations & bylaws & her contract daily. I think that is where her main expertise lies. She doesn’t know squat about managing. Everyone else is doing her job for her.