HSVPOA GM Kelly Hale Report 3-16-22

On March 16, 2022, at the Hot Springs Village POA Board Meeting, General Manager, Kelly Hale, presented his report to the Board. Hale’s report addresses a number of areas where Villagers have shown concern.

Karl Russ Replaces Coreena Fetterhoff as Controller

The GM began his report by welcoming Karl Russ, Controller, to the Hot Springs Village POA. Click here to read about Mr. Russ. Hale said, “Karl has a very familiar knowledge of not only our finances but the Village itself, so it was a very good fit for the team and the Village to have one of our residents be able to fit that role. I do want to thank Coreena for all the service that she has done for the Village… She’s done a phenomenal job and we wish her the best of luck in everything she is going to do in the future. But she’s been an intricate part of getting us to where we are today.”

Changes in Food And Beverage Operations

• Hale stated, “We’ve gotten every facility back up with vendors in them except for the DeSoto Club. We are still vetting through some things that we want to make sure we have right before we talk to the Board about what we finalize with the DeSoto [Club]”.

• Cafe Magellan is now open under under new management and they are open 7 days a week from 10:00 to 6:00 PM.

• Cafe Isabella started out with limited service last week due to an internet issue. They could not get connectivity to get the computers to talk to the systems so Gavin and Christy (spelling?) went cash only. They had a very good turnout the first day. Hale said he has been getting great feedback that a lot of people have really been supporting the restaurant.

• “As we get all the restaurants up and running, the POA will start an active campaign to help the restaurants out. Our objective as Members and as a POA group is to make sure our vendors are successful.”

• “We’ve coached them on what we think are appropriate menus…, price levels that we think are attractive to the Members to be competitive, to keep our Members inside the fencelines and support these groups.”

• “A big part of what we’ll do with our weekly Eblast is sending out a specific one for the restaurants, verifying times, specials they might have.”

• “We’ve asked them to do different themes throughout the year to drive more activity to get people to want to come up with their friends in their neighborhood or whoever they might have to come up and support them. But to come up and have a good time as well on the patios or inside. Everybody is very excited about that.”

Balboa Beach Park Update

“We met with the Evening Lions Club. We do greatly appreciate their donation to the Village. We were able to iron out a few concerns that I think many of us had. The original plan showed that everything was going to be on the beach. They donated a sunshade, volleyball [equipment], and some playground equipment that is very nice for grandkids and kids.” The following changes were made to the original plan.

• “We thought that having the playground equipment on the beach took away from the aesthetic view of what we had for a prime piece of property. It’s one of the only [few] beaches we have left. We would also have an issue of maintaining the equipment, whether it is metal or wood, with [it] being that close to the water, as well. We also had a concern with the safety of the children, being that close to the water…”

• There will be an additional sunshade added in the area where there are already sunshades. The new sunshade will follow the sight line of the existing sunshades for aesthetic purposes.

• A volleyball court will be located in the sand.

• In the back corner of the parking lot there is some common property where the Evening Lions’ Club playground equipment will be installed. The cost of this is very low and parking is easily accessible. Hale said they have a future expansion vision for that area.   There will be space for additional organizations to also donate more playground equipment in future, if they wish.  Hale wants to turn that into a little compound that looks very nice and aesthetically pleasing to the area.

• These changes will not affect the radio-control drone launch pad.

HSVPOA Partners with Area Schools to Develop Apprenticeship Programs

Hale has a four-prong approach regarding employee recruitment. He said the POA was behind in this area in the past.

• The POA is currently developing apprenticeship programs…for the Park and Rec, Public Works, and Golf Departments. “We want to attract young men and women, that are coming out of high school…We don’t want to just say, I need you to mow. That sounds unattractive.” We want to teach them other skills…- how to operate heavy equipment, how to use the lawnmower blade sharpening equipment, etc. “We are building an apprentice program to make these jobs more attractive.”

• Keith Keck and Hale are visiting the Saline County Tech on March 17 in order to develop a relationship. A lot of the Tech students have welding, heavy equipment, and HVAC skills. These are skills that the POA can use.

• Hale said he met with the Fountain Lake and Jessieville Superintendents. There will be another meeting in a few weeks to work out a time for Village representatives to come to the school and talk to the students. This will not only be for seasonal workers, but also for jobs for graduating seniors.

• Hale will work with the National Park Community College as well.

All Employee Event on March 3, 2022

• Hale said the March 3 Employee Event allowed him to take a time out with his team and for them to become acquainted and more comfortable with him.

• The Board attended the event.

• Stephanie Heffer and her team from Arvest Bank provided a cookout lunch. This was a big cost saving for the Village.

• Hale plans to host employee events a couple of times a year.

POA Saves $40,000 Due to Cancellation of Board Election

Hale said we received the invoice from The Inspection of Elections. The cost for work performed paid was $5,836.49. There were also $40,000 additional funds budgeted, which was saved. Unused voting supplies will be stored for future elections. [This savings was due to the cancellation of the upcoming 2022 Board election, due to there only being four candidates for four seats. Originally there were six candidates.]

Golf has Great Start in 2022

• Hale enthused, “The Golf Department continues to have a great start to the year!”

• Golf has booked 140 Stay and Play Packages with revenue totaling $292,518. “This is an increase, year-over-year, of $75,000.”

• Due to weather, we have had fewer playing days, year-over-year.

• Hale talked to the Oaklawn General Manager and discussed the opportunity of partnering with the Casino to build Stay and Play packages. The idea is for Oaklawn to use its shuttle to transport Oaklawn guests to the Village to play golf in the afternoon. The Oaklawn General Manager was very interested in this idea. There are many groups of ten or twelve Oaklawn visitors that could be accommodated by the Golf Department. Hale plans to continue talking to Oaklawn about this opportunity.

Village Digest Features Infrastructure Repair and Maintenance Projects

• The Village Digest (email sent to Villages every Friday afternoon) contains photos of infrastructure repair and maintenance projects.

• Hale is meeting with Jason Temple, Director of Public Services, on Mondays at 9:00 AM for an update on what Public Services is working on each week.

• Hale and Temple are focusing on infrastructure repairs and Villagers will start to see more communications now that the weather is improving. The community will start seeing more progress with roads, culverts, and a few other areas such as lift stations.

March 16, 2022 HSVPOA GM Report to Board

11_3-16-22_GM_Report

CHERYL DOWDEN, Hot Springs Village People Gazette, March 17, 2022

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