By Vikki Powell, January 18, 2020
CEO Made It Personal Against Me!
Some may have already read a December 22, 2019 post I made on the Facebook Hot Springs Village People site last month. If so, this is basically a repeat of that post, just laid out differently. If you didn’t read my December post, prepare to be enlightened about a personal situation I experienced as the result of our CEO making a false statement about me. If it happened to me, there’s the possibility she could do the same to you. I have the documentation that supports what I am sharing.
Sometime on or before November 26, 2019, the CEO called Lxxxx Xxxxxxx, a member of the XXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXX, an established HSV non-profit organization. Lxxxx assists this organization in obtaining sales ads and patron donations. In 2019, the CEO made a patron donation of at least $500 to the organization. Her donation was shown in printed materials distributed by the organization. She was shown as a “Diamond” patron. There was one other “Diamond” patron that made a $500 donation to the same organization for 2019. That patron was me.
As a result of the CEO making a phone call to Lxxxx Xxxxxxx, he sent an email to 10 organization members and one non-member on November 26, 2019. The Subject was, “Let’s ask Vikki to resign” In that email he stated, “The last straw for me is when I received a call from the CEO of the Village, who has been one of only two diamond patrons, having given $500 each of the past two years. She told me she can no longer support the organization because Vikki openly stated on social media that she wanted the CEO removed and called her a “vehicle of destruction.” Well, you can disagree with a point of view, but you don’t resort to name-calling on social media, particularly with a high valued paying customer.”
In Lxxxx’s email, he asked the recipients, “Would you be willing to put your name on a letter that would ask her to resign?” He also stated, “Please give me your thoughts, suggestions, additions, critique, etc. and tell me if it’s OK to add your name. Also, send to anyone else you think would be interested.” Essentially, in my opinion, Lxxxx took it upon himself to conduct a witch hunt that began with a phone call from our CEO.
Two points need to be made here.
- Point one. I was elected by the membership to be this organization’s 2019 President. I’d also served as the Vice-President in 2018 and the Secretary in 2017. My term as President was to end at a December 2, 2019, combined General Membership meeting and Christmas party. This was less than one week from when Lxxxx sent out his email to 11 people.
- Point two. On August 16, 2019 I did make a post on NextDoor and I did use the term “vehicle of destruction.” Here is what I said in my post, “We HAVE to replace certain board members and vote in new ones that WILL NOT ride the CEO vehicle of destruction AND WILL do what’s required to get her voted out.” As is obviously apparent, at no point in my post was there any name calling of the CEO.
Clearly, Lxxxx Xxxxxxx did not verify or obtain proof of what the CEO had claimed I’d done.
I finished my term as President and was sworn in on the 2020 Board as the Immediate Past President. I then resigned from the Board. As a result of the witch hunt, the person in line to be the next President resigned, as did the incoming Treasurer and a Member-at-Large. Also, there was no one to fill the Vice-President position. All of this was directly due to the CEO’s phone call.
After the events of December 2, 2019, I received an email from an individual that was one of the 10 members Lxxxx Xxxxxxx had contacted on November 26, 2019. In his email to this member Lxxxx wrote, “First off, I want to make sure you understand that the letter I sent to Vikki was not from me, I was just the messenger.”
Messenger for who? The CEO? Why go to a member versus to this organizations board? I would also think that the CEO has better things to do than troll (or have someone do it for her) websites looking for information to use against a property owner. My comment was made on August 16th, but it didn’t bother the CEO until November? Hmmmm. The CEO made a false statement about me calling her a name. She then relayed that false statement to another person. I now perceive her call and the subsequent events that followed as an attempted threat to tarnish my character, integrity and reputation. Had the facts been checked, the truth would have been known.
My head is held high. I repeat what I said in August. “We HAVE to replace certain board members and vote in new ones that WILL NOT ride the CEO vehicle of destruction AND WILL do what’s required to get her voted out.”
By Vikki Powell, January 18, 2020
Mary Odom
01/18/2020 — 1:12 pm
Agree with you Vicki and there are a lot of us that are ready for her to gooo! I’m sorry this happened to you!
Melinda Noble
01/18/2020 — 1:19 pm
Lesley only does what she is allowed to do. She will take advantage of any opportunity to advance her cause. Unfortunately she has many enablers in the Village and they are as guilt as she is.
Andy Kramek
01/18/2020 — 1:23 pm
Vicki, welcome to the ever-growing club of those who have been personally attacked, insulted and bullied by our charming and dedicated CEO.
If she would only put half the effort into doing the job she is being paid to do that she puts into trying to improperly suppress people she might actually achieve something worthwhile. Alas, history tells me that this is an unlikely scenario.
Vicki Husted
01/18/2020 — 1:24 pm
Vikki Powell,
Thank you for going public with this account. People need to understand that this behavior is not a rumor, not a lie, and goes on frequently. I really regret that you had to experience it.
LV
01/18/2020 — 1:40 pm
Be transparent and post the entire email Vikki. You seem to be fixated on only one of many points made by your fellow Players.
LV
01/18/2020 — 2:11 pm
Post the entire email Vikki. You seem to be fixated on one of many points made in it by fellow Players.
Tom Blakeman
01/18/2020 — 2:31 pm
Vikki,
This is a real shame and so sorry it happened. Things like this should not occur in our Village or elsewhere. It is this kind of activity that causes people to want NOT to volunteer for, donate to or participate in organizations, committees and the like in our Village.
It appears from your description of events that two folks were guilty here, CEO and also Lxxxx Xxxxxxx.
I’m also curious. Was the CEO’s “Diamond” patron donation a personal one or one on behalf of and paid by HSV?
Andy Kramek
01/18/2020 — 4:16 pm
What a great question, Tom. I would love to know the answer to that one too.
Vicki Husted
01/18/2020 — 4:36 pm
I would like to know the answer to Tom’s question as well.
Anonymous
01/19/2020 — 7:36 pm
Paid by the POA, written in ceo contract.
Vicki Husted
01/20/2020 — 1:13 am
Anonymous01/19/2020 — 7:36 pm
I see that dues to professional associations, service organizations, and clubs are part of the contract, but didn’t see anything about donations. Am I wrong?
Anonymous
01/20/2020 — 8:11 am
other expenses incurred during such meetings and activities in the furtherance of HSVPOA’s interests, shall be paid outside community activities benefitting HSVPOA
Frank Shears aka Bubba
01/18/2020 — 4:44 pm
Vikki,
Thank you for sharing this with us. It appears this is one more example of our CEO’s twisted strategy and questionable tactics. I can say something good about it though. It proves that the Congress of New Urbanism training worked on our CEO and she will proceed with her wild ideas in our divided community regardless of what WE, the OWNERS of the Village desire!
I cannot stress this enough, we must ALL let everyone know about the unsustainable destination where she is leading the Village. We must take control of OUR Village back to make certain the Village remains the wonderful place we all chose.
Monica Martin
01/18/2020 — 5:07 pm
Thank you for making this public, Vikki, as all HSV Property Owners need to know the level of control and manipulation taking place in our community by the current POA manager. I have no respect for LV because he didn’t defend his group’s president, and the same goes for those who jumped on the bandwagon against you. Kudos to the other members who resigned as well.
Tom B, you are correct about people not wanting to get involved because of these type of actions. I had planned to volunteer teach yoga at the Coronado Fitness Center, but chose not to because of the current leadership issues here in Hot Springs Village. I hope others who feel the same way and are not participating in POA and other activities speak up.
I assumed the Diamond donation was paid for by our associations because other memberships have been on our dime. Even if a personal gift, how wrong of someone to use money to coerce an organization to oust someone from a volunteer position.
I hope our Directors are aware of this situation and others like the one Andy K referenced. Does the BOD think this style of leadership is appropriate for HSV??
Kathy Henderson
01/18/2020 — 5:59 pm
Thank you, Vikki! We need to hear about things happening to our Villagers. So sorry you had to go thru this.
Sam Taylor
01/18/2020 — 7:04 pm
It sure is funny how LN can file a grievance about two BOD members that leads to one being removed (at least until we vote him back on 😂), but she would expect no repercussions against herself for a stunt like this. It IS time performed their duty and reined in their out of control employee!
I might even donate $500 to get her fired!
Anonymous
01/18/2020 — 8:55 pm
The Great Divide in our community began with Twigggs and continues with our CEO! The CEO appears to be actively involved in shutting down her opposition. Saul lives…
Vicki Husted
01/20/2020 — 9:35 pm
Anonymous01/18/2020 — 8:55 pm
Yes, and we don’t have to go far to see:
If you would know who controls you see who you may not criticize.—Tacitus
Sue
01/18/2020 — 10:48 pm
Contrary to popular opinion from the CEO’s supporters, it is quite evident from this event and others like it that the toxic work environment is not being caused by unhappy property owners but rather by our very own CEO. It’s been my experience that a toxic work environment comes from the top down and seeps throughout an organization. This situation is proof of that. Please don’t forget when you cast your vote in March. Sue
Bill
01/19/2020 — 7:15 am
Post the full letter Vikki. Your actions led to your fellow Players asking you to resign. “The final straw” means there were other issues and we all know it.
HSVP C
01/19/2020 — 7:52 am
In my opinion, you are right to a degree, Bill. There were other “perceived” issues. These were horrible accusations. Lxxxx was on a witch hunt, an attempt to take Vikki down and he said this was due to a phone call from the CEO. One of two things happened here. Either Lxxxx was lying about the phone call or the CEO called him about this. Pick your choice and stop shooting the messenger. But that is what you and your comrades do, shoot the messenger because you cannot discuss the issues.
Bill
01/19/2020 — 7:27 am
Here is an excerpt “your leadership style is autocratic, dictatorial, caustic and demeaning which probably worked just fine in the military but is not suitable when working with older volunteers who just want to have fun….we want the Players back the way it was before you.”
Shall I continue or will you have the decency to either post the full letter yourself or admit you are again on the warpath and stop this nonsense? We want peace.
Anonymous
01/19/2020 — 8:31 am
Is this the redacted version Bill? post the full letter, what are you afraid of?
Vikki Powell
01/19/2020 — 2:06 pm
Just to be clear Bill L, my post above was not about a non-profit organization in the Village or about any internal matters associated with the administration of a non-profit organization. It was about one thing and one thing only…the CEO making a false claim against me and the residual impact.
For the record, as you outed the non-profit organization that I was protecting and did not identify in my post, there is a process laid out in the Constitution and By-Laws to remove a board director. You and others involved in the witch hunt, five that were previous board members and two still on the board, did not follow that process. You were a nonentity as you had resigned your membership in September. Also, one of the five individuals apologized to me for their involvement in having me resign and said they’d been misled by LXXXX XXXXXXX. That took the number down to eight individuals that wanted me to resign less than a week before I was already going to end my term as President. Considering there were 139 members at the time, less than 6% wanted this to happen!
If my leadership style led the organization to having the highest membership in six years, gaining 49 new members in 2019 and receiving for the first time two Readers Choice Awards, then golly gee whiz, that is a terrible thing.
I will never let you or anyone disdain my 20 years of successful military service of wearing the USAF uniform.
My focus will continue to support having the CEO removed.
Anonymous
01/19/2020 — 7:47 pm
It has come to a point in time where 99% of property owners are all united in one thought, and that is to have the ceo removed.
Bob
01/20/2020 — 6:34 am
The same 20 people moaning on this site do not speak for the thousands. Some do not event live here anymore and some are posting under multiple names. Get a life and a hobby like the rest of us. We are tired of your endless drama and conspiracies.
Anonymous
01/20/2020 — 8:18 am
Thank you for representing the 1%.
Phil Lemler
01/20/2020 — 10:40 am
Oh Bob – you sound just like a Bob who was a recent member of the POA Board … lost and a little disgruntled!
The “endless drama and conspiracies” continue because nothing is getting fixed. Your management team and the POA board continue to espouse programs that are irresponsible and are not working. Simply look at the revenue figures which continue to deteriorate.
Does it not concern you that revenue is falling, expenses are increasing and the POA continues to “sing the same old song”?
Phil Lemler
01/20/2020 — 11:54 am
Oh Bob … this is not true … there are many more than 20 … the Dowden’s facebook page has more than 900 members. My guess is that a lion’s share of those members are not in favor of HSV’s current direction.
What do you think Bob?
Judy Weatherly
01/19/2020 — 2:24 pm
Thank you Vikki for refreshing our memories. This is uncalled for by the CEO or anyone!
Another fine example of why the CEO needs to be removed from office.
She doesn’t like anyone else to get recognition. It’s all about her!
I too would like to know if her donation was from her bloated salary or the POA members money.
Vikki Powell
01/19/2020 — 3:46 pm
Regarding the CEO’s “Diamond Patron” donation of at least $500 in 2019. The treasurer of the non-profit organization mentioned it when presenting his financial report at a board meeting in early 2019. Both her donation and my donation were mentiined. That treasurer is still in place and can be contacted if one desired to do so.
Anonymous
01/20/2020 — 9:40 am
We all know what the solution to our problem is – Lesley must be removed from office along with the legacy BOD members and turncoat Tormey.
VOTE LTD – Lloyd – Tucker – Dick
Just do it!
Vikki Powell
01/20/2020 — 5:31 pm
They have my vote.
Vicki Husted
01/20/2020 — 9:47 pm
Anonymous01/20/2020 — 8:11 am
By golly, Anonymous01/20/2020 — 8:11 am, you might just have me there!
The contract states:
“expenses incurred during such meetings and activities in the furtherance of
HSVPOA’s interests, shall be paid or reimbursed, according to established policies.”
I still don’t find anything about donations, and I understand donations to be voluntary personal gifts, not expenses INCURRED. But then, I also momentarily forgot that SHE is the one who writes her POLICIES, so it’s probably covered there. NICE!
Chipmunk
01/22/2020 — 7:04 am
Every year our POA is a contributor to at least a couple of charities outside the POA. Now I have no objection to charity but do believe that since our POA is essentially a charity itself (non-profit) why are our leaders giving our money away to others – worthy, needy or not?