CMPAC Meeting – 11/8/19

By Cheryl Dowden, November 16, 2019

The Comprehensive Master Plan Advisory Committee (CMPAC) held a meeting on November 8, 2019. Committee members in attendance were Chairman, Keith Keck; Vice-Chairman, Nikki Choyce; Secretary, Tom Heau; Pam Avila, Rolland White, and Clint Blackman. Also in attendance were Buddy Dixon, Board of Director Liaison and Stephanie Heffer, Staff Liaison (HSVPOA Director of Placemaking and Development).

The audience consisted of HSVPOA Director of Real Estate Acquisitions, Renee Haugen, John Duncan, and videographer Joe Dowden.

The following article is not a full transcription, but covers the main points. The work is deemed to be close but not perfect.

The YouTube video recording of this meeting is located at the end of this article.

Staff update

In the staff update, Stephanie Heffer, Director of Placemaking and Development, reported that the appraisal requirement is being changed from $250,000 to $400,000 which could make a difference. In other words, to obtain a loan, it is no longer necessary to obtain an appraisal for loans of $400,000 and under. Exceptions to this are government loans such as FHA, VA or HUD.

CMP Duration by Keith Keck

Chairman Keck explains that the CMP is a 30-year plan. “It is going to take time and it is going to be a slow process for us to work through a lot of this,” said Keck.

Committee Member Clint Blackman said, “I just wish we could educate more people to understand and accept that.”

Motion follow up

CMP Implementation Tables & Operation & Management Tables update by Stephanie Heffer

Heffer reported that CMP Implementation Tables and Operations and Management Tables have been through an initial review and department heads are meeting next week to make modifications or adjustments before the tables come back to the CMPAC. Heffer said, “that document will help with the education of how this is such a long term…”

“Heffer further clarified, “those will be the two documents that you guys will really lean on heavily as you make the recommendations to staff for the 2021 budget cycle.”

Keck said, “2021 looks like a standard government budget because what do you do every year? Kick the can out to the next year and all of a sudden it goes woom.”

“Keck said, “You look at the O and M Tables and there’s going to be some massaging going on in 2021.”

Board Liason Buddy Dixon said, “You’ve got that right.”

Heffer said, “We have to look at what are the options for addressing the shortfall. Right?”

Keck inquired about the wayfinding project progress.

Heffer said, “It’s 2020 budget item, so it won’t be until toward the end of the year and first of January before we kick that off and get started.”

CMPAC sub-committee reports

Growth/Community Development by Rolland White

Rolland White said, “We have been waiting on O and M Tables and marketing…Right now there has not been much motion going on.”

Dixon provided, “We have 52 new homes [permits] for the year and that’s really pretty good and we still have a month and a half to go.”

Buddy said, “Renaissance [Homes] says their phone is ringing on this development [Siega]. “

Heffer said, “Siega is coming along. We had a pre-construction meeting yesterday. Renee, myself and Brandon Tedder, Jason Temple. So things are moving nicely. We are in the infrastructure phase right now, getting all that in place. I would expect that we would see at least two or three permits from him before the end of the year.

“Are the lots closed?”

Heffer, “They are not. We are within a day or two, though. We are close on that. It is not a hangup on our part. It is a hangup on the judge’s part.”

Keck, “Have we turned any dirt, infrastructure wise?”

Heffer, “A lot. All the electric is in. The sewer will be finished in a week. Water is going in…We should be more or less complete with the infrastructure by Thanksgiving.”

FAQ Update by Nikki Choyce (Communications)

Nikki Choyce, “after the last meeting I sent you what we had on FAQ’s and have not received any feedback so I am assuming everything is good to go.” Some of the FAQ’s require more information but they are ready to upload the finished FAQ’s to the website.

Choyce made a motion to accept the FAQ’s that we have right now and recommended to staff to post them on the website. This motion was passed.

Choyce also said, “There is not a firm process on how documents go from a subcommittee to the committee…There should be a recommendation of how those baby steps go.”

Blackman, “Back to what Nikki was talking about. I really think it is important because I bumped up into this. How do we decide on recommendations and is there a way to add to the CMP? We probably need to define that because there are some things. My subcommittee, Lakes, there are some really great things going on in that committee and there are things there that I think need to be added to the CMP.”

POA Board Presentation draft

Keck made slides out of the bullet points.

• CMPAC structure (what the CMPAC is doing)
  • Buddy said, “Like I told you in my email, we have people on the Board that haven’t read the CMP.”
• CMPAC actions
  • Deferred maintenance
  • Terminology (short, medium and long term)
  • Education moments
  • SWOT analysis
  • Where we are going and what we have accomplished in regards to communications
• CMPAC goals
• Motions
  • Implementation Tables
  • Wayfinding
  • Project Management
• Budget Philosophy
• Marketing Subcommittee
  • The Marketing Subcommittee has done a lot of work.
  • “One thing I will highlight, and Buddy I know this is not what you wanted, what is the future alignment of a marketing committee? I am a believer that it needs to kind of go out on its own. Keeping a subcommittee under the CMPAC, do we keep it a subcommittee? But that is going to be up to the Board and how they want to align it. Do they align it like the Public Service committee or are there people on the Board who want to align it as a Board Committee?… After a while, once we get going, [into implementation tables] I don’t know how much time we are going to have to deal with marketing.”
  • Avila said, “I understand where you are coming from and there are different thoughts on it, of course, but I’m not sure that in this report is the place to bring that up.”
  • Keck said, “I want to let them know that they need to have a look at it.”
  • Tom Heau said, “Can I pile on to that thought?…When we look at the two proposals, the one that came from essentially from Jamie and the one that came from the subcommittee, I keep on coming back to the same thought which is, I am not a marketing guy. I might look at it from a very general perspective, but when it gets down to the particulars, I just almost feel like I am out of my depth. Particularly when looking at the marketing subcommittee’s work where it is put out by people who did marketing for a living. When I hear what Keith says, I kind of feel like I am out of my depth…I do have some very general thoughts, but they are not really specific.”
  • Blackman said, “If I can jump in…we’re really about advising and recommending.”
  • Dixon said, “Thank you.”
  • Blackman said, “I don’t see us as taking over…I don’t read it in the CMP…I haven’t read it in anything that we are doing that we take over some job of the POA. That is what the POA is there to do. We make recommendations. And we are a very good conduit for the public, the members of the Village to come here. We’re reaching out to them. They’re reaching out to us. There are some great ideas out there and yeah, there are a lot of people with really good experience. But what it really comes down to who’s pulling the…you know, who are making it happen. Those folks are paid to do it. That’s what I see us doing, is making recommendations, not pulling the strings.”
  • Choyce said, “Let me take it a step further. How do we make recommendations? We talk to the people who have the knowledge…We have a wide range of knowledge here on this committee, but we don’t have, we obviously don’t touch 100% of everything. But we can find the people who do and we hear the voices of what they are saying and then we can have something to recommend. So how can we make recommendations unless we get our toes dirty a little bit? We have to get into some of those issues and figure out what all the pieces and parts are.
  • Blackman said, “I just compare. I am on the Lakes Committee. I’ve been around lakes all of my life and so I have a pretty good idea of what needs to happen in places. And so I talk to the committee, which by the way brings me full circle back. As soon as we get the final on our report to the Board, I’d like to give that to my committee. I’d like to present it to them and say, ‘hey, here’s what we are doing.’ And while we are talking about what we are doing, I think it is really important in your oral presentation to talk about the work that we’ve done. All of us have met at least once or twice with each of our subcommittees so that we are carrying out that function of educating and in essence marketing. We’re making sure that the public…we’re an avenue for folks that come and say, ‘hey, I’ve got this idea.'”
  • White said, “We’re not talking the subject of [unintelligible]. That’s the Board’s problem, but boy I hate to see us fragment and fragment…The CMP is interrelated. Marketing is related to communications and it’s related to growth and it’s related to development and all that kind of stuff. If you want to stick them off into a corner and let them do their marketing there and talk to the Board, that is fine. But that loses a little bit of the [unintelligible] it gets when we try to bring other things to bear on it. Not that we are going to tell them what to do…
  • Keck said, “We are not going to tell them what to do. It is just where you align it. Do you align it like the rest of the committees or do you keep it underneath the CMPAC? The Board needs to make a conscious decision and say does it remain under CMPAC? Because it is the only committee like that…Public Services is out on their own. Lakes is out on their own. Where does the Board want it to stay?
  • Heffer said, “The obvious reason the Marketing Committee was formed under the CMPAC was the section within the Master Plan speaks to marketing should inform the marketing plan and should inform the decisions that are being made within the marketing division…Do we modify it? Do we have what we need in the Master Plan to inform our decisions as we move forward and so that group will help to make sure that we have the proper information in our documents?
  • White stated, “Marketing permeates the plan.”
  • Heffer said, “There is no question. You are right. Marketing does permeate it.”
  • White said, “There are a lot of other areas of input there, other areas of the plan affected by it – rather than stick it off by itself somewhere.
  • Blackman said, “I concur with you. One of the things Nikki was really strong on…one of the problems with the CMP is that we had a number of definitions that were conflicting or unspoken. By bringing it here, we are able to coordinate these things. And I think our job is to advise the Board.”
  • Avila stated, “I think we’re looking and I think that what they’re talking about is really almost a model for the committees in general, overall, in the future. Because instead of having each committee be separate, have them all under something like the CMP or working with the CMP so that that communication goes across. We now have in our Marketing Subcommittee, we have the Golf Committee Marketing Subcommittee attending our meetings because it just makes sense. And that’s true, as you said, we see that permeating all the way through, so instead of having all of these separate committees going forward…and there was a time when that made sense. But I am sure that with the CMP that it makes sense anymore to have each of those be totally separate from the CMP.
  • White said, “Some of them stand alone pretty easily. Public Utilities is probably one of them because it is physical stuff you can see. But other things, you start getting competition. You got trails. Trails wants money, tennis wants money…I don’t know if they are even talking to each other.”
  • Dixon said, “Well there is one big thing that is in every charter for all the committees in the Village – ‘support staff.’ Just keep that in your mind.”
  • Blackman said, “Bringing this full circle. Will you get back to us with what the Board wants us…or kind of get some guidance on that?”
  • Keck said, “I think we’ll just present it out there…and on the 20th, have some discussion. Because I think that is probably the best thing – to have the discussion out in public.”
  • Keck said, “Maybe some of the other committees need to focus more like the Marketing Subcommittee. We can put that out there. I’ll put the third bullet down to keep under CMP and potential realignment of committees.”
  • Heffer said, “I think before you hit up the Board, this committee has to have a position. Collectively, you need to have a position that you are either advocating for it or not.”
  • Blackman said, “In that case I will jump in and say I think we need to hear from the Board Liasion and then maybe Keith and y’all can get together and kind of get some guidance, if not thoughts, together.”
  • Keck suggested they expose the Board to this idea in their presentation to the Board on November 20, 2019. It will then be an action item for December or January because I don’t think the Board is ready to have the discussion right now because they are not familiar with the CMPAC alignment.
  • Dixon said, “They are anxious to hear your report…your recommendations of today.”
  • Keck said the CMPAC does not have a lot of recommendations at this time.
  • Choyce suggested the whole bullet point be moved down to the “way ahead”.
  • Blackman said, “In Lakes Committee, I have two either recommendations/additions to the CMP that I need the procedure. I am not even telling anybody what they are. I am trying to figure out what our procedure is.”
  • Keck said he would just move the future committee alignment to “way ahead” slide.
  • Blackman said they are getting really great cooperation from the committees. “When you are there and you tell them what the CMP is and that we are their voice to help coordinate. They get that.”
  • Choyce said the Golf Committee sees this as a two-way street. It is a two-way communication.
  • Avila said, “The only thing I questions is 75% of recommendations. It is really about 45%.” [Avila felt that around 45% of recommendations made by the Marketing Subcommittee are being used by the POA.]
• Way Ahead
  • Potential things CMPAC will be doing in the future
    • 2021 budget development recommendations by the March/April time frame
    • Recommendation to management as to where their focus should be concentrated
    • Implementation Table review
    • Update recommendation status
    • Review 3-year O & M Table
    • HSV 2025 Strategic Focus – the five-year vision
    • CMPAC Charter review
    • Project Management Pilot
    • Wayfinding and Amenity prioritization tool [this helps management make decisions]

Marketing subcommittee update by Pam Avila

Keck said, “Nikki made copies of the second. She did not make copies of the first one. We have two documents there.”

Avila asked if everyone had both documents.

Keck said, “Pam, let’s talk about the first document. These are the MSC (Marketing Subcommittee) recommendations included in the 2020 Marketing Plan.”

Avila said, “These are the ones included in the plan.” [the 45 percent]

Avila said, “I am just going to go through fairly quickly at a high level.” Avila was referring to the document called, “Recommendations Included in the Marketing Plan.”

Avila said, “The 2020 target market, we were in pretty close alignment with what Jamie was thinking, partly because Jamie was a key participant in all the Marketing Subcommittee Meetings as our liaison.”

According to Avila, Jamie was a participant in the discussions so most of the committee findings are in the 2020 Marketing Plan.

The things that were included in the external marketing strategies from the initial recommendations of the Marketing Subcommittee covered things like the Discovery Packages. A lot of advertising was included. A lot of the public relations recommendations were included in the Plan.

Avila said public relations has always been a weakness in the past.

At this point, Dixon walked up to Keck and said some committee members have the document and some don’t have what Avila is talking about.

Blackman asked, “Are we going to have some time to review it?”

Avila said she was just highlighting it.

Keck said they could talk about it in the future.

Blackman said he did not have the document.

Dixon said, “That is what I am saying.”

Keck said, “Well, you were provided with it electronically.”

Blackman said he did not get the document and he also did not get the slides for Keck’s presentation to the Board.

Blackman said, “Back to my point of order. Can we just get all this and then have this discussion?”

Keck said, “I will resend it right now.”

Blackman said, “I can’t get it because I don’t have a printer up here yet. So it is going to have to be next meeting or something.”

Keck asked for a motion to table the discussion.

Avila said, before we do that, I have something to discuss. “I don’t understand why we are even discussing it because the 2020 Marketing Plan exists. That is the bottom line. The Marketing Subcommittee put out a number of recommendations. They are the initial recommendations based upon what we’ve done in our three months of existence and a number of those were included in the Marketing Plan. Some weren’t. What’s the discussion?”

Keck said, “Well, I think the bigger discussion is what wasn’t included. Do we want to make any recommendations on anything that wasn’t included?”

Blackman said, “In back to my motion, to answer this…we’re getting off into…I don’t think we should be making formal comments or presentations until WE’VE made a decision on how we make the recommendations to the Board and the administration. Because, just because, we come up with our thoughts doesn’t mean that the CMP Advisory Committee, as a whole, has accepted that and backed that.”

Choyce said, “That goes back to my initial point also that the communication as far as my FAQ’s, but it could also apply here, where what is the process of going to Subcommittee to the Chair. Then what is the review process here? When it is approved, does it turn into a recommendation? And then what happens to it then? You all have done a lot of amazing work here and I want to make sure it gets the visibility it needs but I am not sure exactly what that process looks like.”

Blackman said, “Making the formalized presentation to the public, the camera…I think we are going too fast.”

Heffer said, “All the discussion that you guys are having is pretty much up to the Marketing Committee meetings is having meetings. Right? Basically, they have prepared whatever they have prepared and submitted it to the Chair. The Chair is distributing to the committee for you guys to review. I agree. There is no need for discussion. There is not any discussion. You have already had it. It is in your group. So for you guys, you’ve received it. You’ve reviewed it and you passed it down. That’s really all that you are required to do. You don’t have to discuss it anymore. They’ve already done that.”

Blackman said, “But part of our problem here is that we don’t all have the same piece of paper.”

Avila said, “It doesn’t matter. You can have no paper at all and it wouldn’t matter because as Stephanie just said, we’ve made the recommendations, passed them to Keith, and Keith passes them to staff.

Several committee members all talking at once

Keith said, “Well let me take this one. The goal on this…this is the first document that was sent to you. There were two documents sent to you yesterday – last night. Because that is when the marketing folks sent them to me. The first was, “Included” – so you know what was included. That is the smaller of the two. I will go ahead and resend them to everybody.”

Keck said, “This is so you know what was written in this plan that was presented last time.”

[This discussion was about two documents. One document listed all of the Marketing Subcommittee’s recommendations to the POA staff. The second, smaller document, listed only the recommendations that the POA staff used in the 2020 Marketing Plan.]

Keck said that the CMPAC owed it to the staff and Board to make recommendations on items that were omitted from the 2020 Marketing Plan.

Blackman asked, “When you are sending out things, can we have a deadline? Because let me tell you folks, for me to get here, I have to leave at noon on the day before. I am in a car. I can’t get any emails. I get up here. All I’ve got is an Ipad. I don’t have a printer yet. Can we send it out earlier so I can…?”

Keck said, “We got a little bit behind.”

Blackman said, “I am not fussing. I am just saying, understand my limitations.”

Heffer asked Blackman what he would recommend.

Blackman recommended a Wednesday [before the Friday monthly meeting] deadline on sending committee members information. This is so that Blackman has a chance to “read them in his office.”

A discussion was had over the receipt of emails and proof of receipt.

Avila asked, “Can I read my report? I want to do my report because I spent time working on it.”

Dixon said there was a motion…

Blackman said, “Let’s do it next month where we can all ask intelligent questions.”

Avila said, “That is fine. We can do that on this. Take care of that motion. I still get to read my report.”

Blackman said, “No.”

Avila said, “Yes I do. That is a separate thing.

Blackman said, “Point of order. Its not on here.”

Avila said, “Excuse me. On the agenda it says ‘Marketing Plan Recommendations – Pam Avila.”

Blackman, “Chair.”

Keck, “You have a motion. Restate your motion.”

Blackman said, “Motion is that we pass…table this discussion until next month so that everybody has the same materials and that we don’t have any problem with the loss of documents or spam or whatever. So that we table it, all of the discussion until …”

White asked, “What documents? The two documents… Maybe she would like to tell us the other things they are doing.”

Avila said, “I would like to give my report.”

Keck said, “The motion out there is to table it. How many people are in favor of tabling this discussion right here.”

Blackman said, “Tabling this discussion and the documents until we have the documents and we can all look at…we can be educated about it.”

Keck asked, “But, can she still give her report?”

Blackman said, “No, why do that when we don’t have anything…”

Avila said, “Because it is separate from this.”

Blackman said, “Still, if we are going to discuss…I think it is fruitless.”

Keck asked, “To listen to what she said they have been working on?”

Blackman said, “Yeah, because until we see what…until we’ve got something to compare.”

Keck, “So table the whole marketing?”

Blackman said, “Yeah, until next month where we’ve all got…where we can be educated. We can read and be prepared. I don’t think we are prepared to hear your report.”

Avila, “You haven’t heard my report.”

Blackman, “I know.”

Choyce, “How about if we modify it to say, the report okay but the two documents we need time on?”

White said, “…I agree. We haven’t read these two documents but she’s going to give us a report here and we haven’t read her report either.” (White was referring to Choyce.)

Keck said, “I want Pam to at least give her report. But I don’t get…you guys vote on it.”

Blackman said, “Today or …”

Keck said, “I would like to give her a chance today. She doesn’t have to go through the documents. They went and worked on the two documents and she has other issues she would like to talk about from her report.”

Buddy said, We have an issue. He made a motion. It was seconded…

White, “I have a question. I withdraw my second.”

Choyce, “Okay, that is interesting.”

Heffer, “We have a motion but no second.”

Keck said, “So the motion dies.”

White said, “Can I suggest a different motion?”

Keck said, “Go ahead. The motion died.”

White said, “I suggest that we postpone the discussion of these two documents, which nobody had until the next meeting when we’ve had a chance to read them.”

Choyce seconded the motion.

Blackman said, “Now discussion. I have a sense that your presentation is gonna have some negative connotations. That is just flat out and I don’t think that we are here to air all of that until we can understand through the documents that you prepared what is going on and why you are making these statements.”

Keck asked, “Any other discussion on the motion?”

Keck asked, “Any other discussion on the motion to not talk about the two documents but still allow Pam to make her report?”

Ayes

White said, “Now I would like to make another motion.”

Blackman said, “Wait! I want to record my Nay.”

White said, “Now I would like to make a second motion. …Pam be allowed to read her report like all of us would be allowed to read our report.”

Heau seconded the motion.

Keck said, “Now this is a motion that allows Pam to read her report. Any further discussion?”

Blackman was the lone dissenter.

Keckman said, “Pam, you can read your report. Now we’ve been through Roberts Rule of Order.”

Pam Avila gives report

“What it boils down to is I am really pleased to report that the Marketing Subcommittee has completed the second two tasks of the charter. And I think that is a really positive thing given the short period of time. Those two things are:

• “Being knowledgeable about past HSV marketing programs and their outcomes which we believe included all programs up to today.
• “Being familiar with HSV marketing programs.

“Those were the two key projects that we’ve been working on.

“When I first read the charter, my response as a former marketing consultant was that it read like a series of deliverables for a consulting contract. Other members of the committee, also from a consulting background, view the charter the same way. The result is the subcommittee has been performing the tasks outlined in the charter with the same professionalism and thoroughness that they would apply to any other consulting project. Of course, this has been without the compensation that would have come with those… [indecipherable due to talking].

“We’ve done it because we really believe in the Village and we believe in the future of the Village. That’s why we have been working really hard.

“Some of our documents have not pleased some of the people that have seen them and that is unfortunate because they are based on data and what we’ve learned.

“I’ve also been told that I can’t present the summary of the fact-finding and data-gathering that has been the focus of MSC [Marketing subcommittee] over the past three months. Although the information in it could and should serve as a solid benchmark for marketing efforts, going forward. So you won’t see that today.

“The focus of my report really is to point out an important change that impacts the tasks of the Marketing Subcommittee and in fact impacts the Village, itself, in a very positive way. The Marketing Subcommittee was formed to address an issue that had become a big one for many Villagers; poor marketing of Hot Springs [sic]. Let’s just call it what it is. That was the issue. And the Committee has taken its role very, very seriously.

“But at almost the exact same time that the Subcommittee was finally given formation approval, a new member was added to the POA staff. Someone with marketing skills and experience. While the Subcommittee was following its Charter and understanding what had worked and what hadn’t worked, up to today, the staff member was already addressing many of the past issues and moving forward quickly.

“That staff person has relied on the individual skills of the committee members for assistance with analytics, social media, the website, the business plan, the new RFP for a PR firm and the new marketing executive interviews.

“So we have been going on these two paths all this time and one is moving forward kind of this way and the other one is trying to be helpful, but not quite understanding where things are going.

“Now there is a second person that has been added to the staff. One with a solid marketing background, as well. I believe the challenge going forward, for the Marketing Subcommittee, is really two-fold.

• “Reframing our own understanding of the purpose of the committee so that we become a resource and a guiding hand for the POA’s new marketing staff.
• “Relying on our own experience and expertise to remain vigilant about the direction and success of Village marketing, going forward. That’s my report and I am sticking to it.”

Keck asked if there were any questions.

White said, “What secret data? What can’t you share with us?”

Avila said, “There is another document and it hasn’t been approved.”

Keck said, “It is not approved yet by…It will be submitted to the committee and we will get it out to you.”

Choyce said, “There has to be a process for submitting.”

White said, “It will come out?”

Keck said, “It will be submitted formally to the CMPAC. It hasn’t been formally submitted, yet.”

Keck said, “Pam there are a couple of items that I would like to take off of your report and add to the slide. As we move the potential alignment of the Committee, move it out there. We have some space on this slide. Near the end, we talk about what you are looking… especially where the Marketing Committee thinks they need to go. Can you bulletize those and send them to me. That would be something to let the POA Board know.”

Keck said, “It was a learning experience for the Marketing Subcommittee in dealing with that because this is the first time out in dealing with new staff members. It’s been interesting. Let’s just say that. It’s been an interesting process, but the good thing about it is, and I will attest, that yes, our marketing has not been the greatest in the world because first of all, our product line had to be figured out. And we need to hit the plumbing to do the marketing. It is kind of hard to market something that you don’t know what you are marketing and you don’t have the money…”

“That is where we were in the 2010 to 2017 timeframe. We didn’t have any money to do some of the things we probably needed to do. We will get better and hopefully with Jamie on board and Paul on board.”

“We put together a good start in a marketing plan, but it can always be better. I think that is the biggest challenge.”

“We made progress in marketing.”

Short, mid & long-term time frames by Nikki Choyce

It was decided that short-term is less than 12 months. Mid-term is one to three years and three-plus years is the definition of long-term.

SWOT Analysis by Nikki Choyce

The Charter for the CMPAC says in Section IV (Duties and responsibilities of the CMPAC):

” D. Prepare and discuss as a group, each quarter, a SWOT analysis of the CMP’s implementation, resource requirements and status;”

The SWOT Analysis was supposed to be on Hot Springs Village, itself. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The committee started discussing the strengths, some of which were infrastructure already being in place, natural beauty, and diverse and engaged population.

Blackman said, “The existing marketing materials already identify all of our lakes, the golfing, all of the sports, tennis. I mean, you name the sport. We’ve grown into almost becoming well known for pickleball. Those are our strengths. That’s always been marketed.”

Keck said, “When we go to weaknesses, we start talking about our infrastructure. Our aging infrastructure is a weakness right now.”

Blackman said, “Are we talking about marketing. Or are we talking about…?”

Keck said, “We are talking about the Village in general.”

Choyce said, “That was my question when we started…”

Keck said, “Because we have already done a marketing one. Remember we did the marketing one.”

Blackman said, “I question the appropriateness for this type of discussion when we are videotaped and then it is presented on…and it’s out there for the whole. You don’t talk about your personal business.”

Avila said, “This is not personal business. This happens to be Village business that Village people would like to see.”

Blackman said, “Then they need to come here. Well, it’s also available to prospective people who are considering coming here and I have talked to at least one realtor who said that they already lost sales because of people who are touting themselves to be marketing and they are running off people because they are saying bad things. Well, you know, you name the city. I can tell you bad things about it.”

Choyce said, “You can also have some people who say good things and [indecipherable] things. There is going to be a mixed bag. Do you think there is a different direction we should take? To be honest, I didn’t make my notes good enough to remind myself. We just said Hot Springs Village. But I don’t know if there was a specific aspect of it.”

Keck said, “We said ‘overall Hot Springs Village.'”

Heffer said, “Think about it in terms of the Comprehensive Master Plan. So when you are thinking about the implementation of, then is there a…”

Keck said, “So we did the Master Plan; the Comprehensive Master Plan; the strengths and weaknesses.”

Choyce said, “Just the document. The document that was written. But as a plan perspective, is there something else we want to consider?”

Blackman said, “Marketing is supposed to be your cheerleader. They are the ones that put the best face forward. You don’t lie, but you put your best face forward and I don’t think we are doing that here.”

Choyce said, “Okay. Thoughts on where…a different spin on it?”

Blackman said, “Its being…I’ve always said. I think we need executive sessions, where we can hash these things out and then come forward with a plan that meets the needs of the Village. And right now, as discussed, we need more people moving here. That’s the bottom line!”

Choyce said, “Okay.”

Keck said, “Here is what I am going to recommend…”

Blackman said, “You don’t air your dirty laundry out in the public.”

Keck said, “Since we don’t have a good feel. Let’s go ahead and table this and we’ll just move on.”

Choyce, “I can do that.”

Facility condition indexing tools overview by Rolland White

White said, “Murray said the Public Utilities Committee will take that over.”

HSV 2025 Strategic Focus by Keith Keck

Keck said he talked with the CEO about this so the CMPAC would not go in a “sideways direction with her.”

Keck said, “As we look at this document and as we get the updated Implementation Tables…as we start looking at these, are there other things that need be subtasks? Or are there new tasks?”

Keck said this is a five-year look.

Heffer asked if it would make sense to develop a procedure in how the Committee collects, recommends… “How does it happen? What are the steps in order to make a change in the Comprehensive Master Plan? What has to happen?”

Choyce said she was in agreement with that and that some of the recommendations in the CMP are a little vague. Some of the recommendations say, “see another recommendation.”

Keck said, “The other thing we need to do is put it in more common terms.”

There is not much on golf and golf is our major amenity.

Blackman said, “We need a structure in understanding how to go about it. Not to pick up for these negative attacks, but to be able to look at it and say, ‘Here’s an idea.’ How do we discuss it within the Committee or within golf pros or whatever and say, ‘Hey, have we thought about this; whatever this is that could increase more people using the golf course. Taking into account, the people who live on that particular course. Is this going to affect them?

“In order to make those kinds of recommendations or suggestions, that I think is the idea of this Committee, we kind of need to have some structure so that we can do it in a confidential way and kind of decide things among ourselves and then formulate a formal plan or recommendation. Does that sound reasonable?”

Choyce asked, “How we get it from the subcommittee to the committee and on through? Is that what you are thinking?”

Blackman said, “Yeah. Something like that.”

Blackman said, “I use Lakes as an example. I’ve sent you a memo. You’ve got. There’s one addition that is easy to pass. There is another one, boy, it’s tough. And I haven’t spoken to anyone about it, because it is something that needs to be discussed but it needs to be discussed in the right place.”

“They have identified a problem. They have definitely identified a problem and we need to have a structure that we can deal with something that is not ever going to be politically correct.”

Keck again talked about the lack of recommendations for golf. “We have more recommendations on bicycle facilities on and off-road, than we do for golfing.”

Heffer said we do not have a service gap for golf. “When you are thinking of development and master planning and future development, golf is not…we don’t need more of it. We have lots.”

Blackman said, “But, here is a another argument for keeping all the committees here. What’s it involve? Marketing. If we are going to make good recommendations, you have to look at everything because there are people who own lots on those golf courses. There are people who play golf every other day. There are a lot of factors out there, we should be taking into consideration, in making our recommendations.”

Blackman said we need to educate folks because if Villagers don’t hear about it and they start thinking what is the POA doing for me. What are they doing for marketing? And all of a sudden we get negative rumors and then we have to fight all of that.

Choyce said that in addition to the 2025 plan, “there has to be a little peek behind the curtain of what we are thinking about doing 10 years from now.”

Committee member comments

Avila said, “I don’t want this committee to ever be put in a situation where they can’t say what needs to be said, positive or negative. Because it is important that we all be able to trust each other and that we are all able to be honest.

“We talk about transparency in the Village and it is one of the biggest issues. We need to be transparent. Part of that is being honest. And we’re not always happy, happy, positive. But when we are negative, we need to bring it out so that we can find a way to take that negative and turn it. But to hide it and pretend it is not there, or refuse to let people bring it up, it is not taking it in a positive direction.

Keck asked, “Clint?”

Blackman said, “Yeah, I will respond to that. If you’re going to have a good thorough discussion, then you also need to bring up the personalities involved and their own personal agendas. From what I’ve heard and what I will be better prepared [sic] is those personal agendas are coloring what people are saying and doing.

“Now say what you want, but marketing in my opinion, is our cheerleader. You figure it and you know, when it comes to making…that is what marketing is about is putting our best face forward. And if you want that, then you get the other side of it, too. So be careful what you ask for.”

Keck asked, “Tom, do you have all this written down?”

Heau said, “No.”

Heau said we generally agree where we are today. “It is still not clear to me, where we want to be in 2025 or where we need to be in 2025.

Heau said the CMP lays out a long-term vision, but there is no ordering and that is the job of the CMPAC.

White said, “Probably where we need the most help” is the reality of life.

Blackman said, “Education.”

Heffer said every year we have a new set of personalities on the Board of Directors. The Master Plan is supposed to act as a guiding document for us so it is not as easy to change courses every year. “It is meant to help us stay somewhat directed.”

Dixon suggested the Chairmen of the different committees to come and talk to the CMPAC, instead of wondering what the committees are doing.

Choyce discussed what would be on next month’s agenda. Some items mentioned were:

• Shift Murray Claasen to next month.
• Heau and Choyce will talk about what the analysis has shown on the decision-making tools.
• Process procedural.
• Marketing (comments on the two documents that were tabled at this meeting). Specifically, the second document – if the CMPAC needs to advise the POA staff on items recommended by the MSC, which were not included in the staff’s marketing plan.

After this meeting, Chairman, Keith Keck resigned from the CMPAC in order to concentrate on his duties as Justice of the Peace and Nikki Choyce assumed the Chairman Duties. The November presentation to the Board from the CMPAC is postponed.

There are presently two openings on the CMPAC that need to be filled.

CMPAC Meeting Agenda 11/8/19

Nov-20-CMPAC-Meeting-Agenda

HSVPOA CMPAC Meeting 11/8/19 YouTube Video

By Cheryl Dowden, November 16, 2019