HSVPOA – Another Interesting Day

Written by Karen Daigle Lundberg (May 23, 2019)

Another interesting day in Hot Springs Village, courtesy of Board Chairperson, and I am quite sure, guided by CEO. How much further are they going to go in their dictatorial manner? They are apparently willing to stop at nothing, short of gagging us, to force their ludicrous ideas on the members of the Village, and not allow us to say a word about it.

While I can only speak for myself, I would be willing to state that there is a great majority of us who are sick and tired of pipe dreams for our Village, spending millions of dollars on these pipe dreams, and when the members speak up, we are immediately shut down. Now, it has gotten even worse.

They are now banning people from meetings as a punishment for what the Chairperson of Board, CEO, and OUR attorney perceive as our bad behavior. Interestingly enough, I find it rather odd that the HSVPOA attorney is giving advice AGAINST his/her clients. Yes, folks, we are his/her clients also, because we are HSVPOA.

We did not move here for this

As much as she would like it to be, HSVPOA is not the CEO. WE are HSVPOA, and the HSVPOA attorney is now disciplining his/her own clients. The best part of this is that WE are paying the attorneys’ fees for this.  Would someone please wake me up from this nightmare? Oh, that’s right, it’s not a nightmare. This is real life right here in the lovely Hot Springs Village, which we all moved here to enjoy the beauty and peace, for most of us, in our retirement years. Is this retirement? It certainly feels to me like we are all back in grade school, being told how to think, how to speak, how to act, and what our leadership will and will not do, regardless of any of our opinions. I think I’d rather go back to work and have a boss who would at least treat me like a human being, unlike how the members in good standing are treated here in the Village.

Sanctions against Brian Darst and Melinda Noble

But I digress. The reason I am so riled up and writing this is because yesterday, two of our members in good standing, Melinda Noble and Brian Darst, were sent, via email and certified copy, letters stating that they have been banned for ninety (90) days from all Board meetings and any other assembly called by the Association for the purpose of any property owner observation and input. (Please refer to sanction letters below.) May I ask, what “input” we have at any Board meetings? Oh, is that the three whole minutes they allow us to speak, only to the Chairwoman, while the CEO sits right next to her whispering to her what to say? During those three minutes, what difference does any of what we have to say matter? The Board is going to do what they want to do, and those three minutes are a total waste of my breath, and anyone else’s. However, to ban members from Board meetings for which they are paying for because, in the eyes of Board Chairperson and CEO, their conduct in the May 15, 2019 Board meeting was “contrary to our stated purpose,” appears to me, to quote an old phrase, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Are sanctions one-sided?

Which brings me to my next point. Were there letters sent to CEO’s husband and also to the Director of Golf for their conduct of charging across the room and CEO’s husband getting in Melinda Noble’s face yelling at her that she had threatened his wife? As the video clearly shows, there was a police officer directly behind the CEO’s husband and also the Director of Golf, and the police officer could not get through them to try to diffuse the situation. Are they getting letters or banned from meetings? If not, why not? Their conduct was certainly “contrary to our stated purpose.” Since when are spouses allowed to usurp the police authority? Is this acceptable only because it was the CEO’s and the Director of Placemaking and Development’s spouses? I think that probably is a true statement, rather than a question.

Why was I not sanctioned?

And now, the big question: Why did I, Karen Daigle Lundberg, not receive such a letter? Could it be because I went to Hot Springs Village Police and filed a report against a board member for screaming at me, charging me, getting in my face with the most vicious look, balling his hand into a fist as he was screaming in my face until the police interceded and pushed this board member away from me? Could I possibly not have received the same letter because I was standing there, holding onto the podium in order not to fall because in the melee my walker had been pushed across the room, and I was not saying a single word until this board member started screaming at the top of his lungs, and that is when I screamed back that he was not going to scream at us like that? At that time, this board member charged me and got in my face screaming at me, me screaming at him that he was not going to scream at me that way, balling his hand up into a fist. Could it possibly be that if I had received a letter like that, then they might have to address the issue of our very own Board member’s outlandish behavior that day? Ahhhh, I think that may be the very answer.

Meeting refused

I know that I have now requested on two separate occasions a meeting with Board Chairperson and the screaming Board member, along with an impartial new Board member and have been denied twice. I was told that no, she would not meet with me because everything was being evaluated, and they would let me know what decision had been made. Nothing, nada, not a word from anyone, and it has now been one week.

Is there favoritism or nepotism?

Will the Board member who screamed at me be seated in his Board member chair at today’s meeting? He should not be, nor should he be a Board member any longer. All we have heard about this entire week is about the conduct of the members at the Board meeting, yet, unless I posted it, very little has been said about the conduct of the Board member who screamed at me, nor CEO’s husband and also Director of Golf’s conduct. All of that has been swept under the rug. Is there a little favoritism or nepotism going on here?

Board meetings are a waste of my time

Actually, had I received such a letter, it would not have made a bit of difference to me. I know that this will break Board Chairperson and CEO’s hearts, but after walking away from that fiasco last Wednesday, which, in my opinion, was caused solely by the Board of Directors and CEO, I swore I would never attend another Board meeting. I did not make that decision due to what happened at that meeting. I made that decision because it is my opinion that attending a Board meeting is merely a waste of my time. Everything I would learn at a Board meeting is the next item on their agenda that none of us want, no chance to argue the point, and walking away more frustrated than the last meeting.

Frustration levels are high

The reason I state that it is my opinion that the fiasco of last Wednesday’s Board meeting is solely the fault of the Board and CEO is that in the last year, this lovely Village of ours has been like a volcano, waiting to erupt. The Property Owners, no matter what transpired among them, were nothing more than a lot of extremely frustrated people, who are tired of having to fight the Board and most especially CEO every single day. The volcano erupted last Wednesday, and the Board is surprised? Why are you surprised?

So are we not going to get any answers as to what sentences will be imposed upon CEO’s husband, the Director of Golf, and the screaming Board member?

Members are being silenced

While it has already been announced that there will be no question and answer session at today’s meeting (May 23, 2019), please do not be surprised at future meetings to find bandanas in baskets at the entrance in order to tie around your mouth as a requirement to enter the meeting.

Written by Karen Daigle Lundberg, Hot Springs Village (May 23, 2019)

Melinda Noble sanction letter

Suspension-to-Melinda-Noble

Brian Darst sanction letter

Brian_Darst_5-22-19

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