By John Rymark, January 21, 2022
One request…future Board Members, please don’t try to make our community into something it’s not (CMP). Please follow our mother’s wisdom that she taught when we first started dating. Mother said to be true in life. “Be yourself.”
We have a very unique place here – very-low-density living where we live with others, but also in nature. Thousands of square miles of beautiful nature surround us for recreation.
There is a marvelous heritage resort town nearby and an urban pub crawl and restaurants within a 45-minute drive to the bigger city.
We have excellent healthcare, in the nearby town (20-minute drive) and in a bigger city (45-minute drive). Coming from the Chicago burbs, the drive time to high-quality healthcare services was the same as here.
With the existent and growing number of our nation’s most successful, affluent professionals working from home, they are free at last to live in resort areas like ours where before they could only vacation. Urban and suburban areas are losing thousands of ‘free-to-live-where-they-want’ workers every day.
Please use our money (POA money) to keep up our infrastructure and let free enterprise invest its money in added amenities, restaurants stores, etc. Let them gamble their money on the sustainability of these new services.
Pledge your commitment to this upfront, now, or you will not have my vote. This is the time, we’re waiting to hear your commitment.
A Little About John Rymark
John Rymark is originally from the Chicago area. He retired from the Navy in 1990. After the Navy, he was employed at a chemical company where he was Head of Compliance and Quality. John and his wife, Cheryl, moved to the Village and built their home here in 2016 and love living here. He feels the Village has a lot to offer and enjoys recreational reading on the screened-in porch, listening to the critters of the night, bird watching, writing, fishing, and charity work.
Village Photography Below by Joe Dowden
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Missy Masterson Hale
01/21/2022 — 10:31 am
Excellent post, John. I echo your sentiments.
Jama Lopez
01/21/2022 — 11:51 am
John,
Excellent article! I agree on all points and, if elected, I’ll stand with keeping the Village as it should be while spending money on our infrastructure and not new “amenities” which may be nothing more than someone’s pipe dream. No more CMP or even pseudo CMP!
Kindest regards,
Jama
Lynda L Narug
01/21/2022 — 12:08 pm
At one time HSV had the largest population from Chicago burbs of anywhere outside the city. We had our own picnic and get-togethers, welcome from another Chicago burb retiree, here 22 years now. It seems commonsense is missing in some now, but like your comment about leaving HSV alone, let it be what we moved here for. Also husband was stationed in nearby Glenview Navy Air base, now gone I understand.
LLOYD SHERMAN
01/21/2022 — 12:20 pm
Great article John. The other thing I would love to hear from the candidates is how they feel about having POA staff doing board business. To me this has always been a conflict of interest and yet two of the incumbents supported turning these positions back over to staff. Nothing against the staff currently performing these functions, but in both cases (Treasurer and Secretary) this is akin to having the fox in the hen house. It is just not a sound business practice. So along with what John Rymark has asked, please tell us how you feel about this issue.
Jama Lopez
01/21/2022 — 12:58 pm
Lloyd,
Personally I don’t understand why the Board took such a serious step backwards. We had an excellent volunteer treasurer in place, then suddenly when King took the job as GM, our treasurer was gone and the job of financial oversight was given to the controller. Anyone who understands segregation of duties and proper oversight would have never permitted this to occur. It puts the controller and the POA at risk. But, a year ago when I brought this to the attention of the then board chair, he seemed to understand the conflict but made no corrections.
There is no good reason for the treasurer and secretary to be staff members. But, also did you know staff who sit on committees decide which volunteers are allowed to join the committee? And, some of these staff members are not Village residents. Who’s running this show? Not the Board!
LLOYD SHERMAN
01/21/2022 — 2:33 pm
Very insightful post Jama Lopez. If I wasn’t already aware of your financial where-with-all, this post alone would have gotten you my vote. Good luck in this endeavor and thank you for being honest on an issue that has been a head-scratcher for me.
Ella Scotty
01/22/2022 — 2:55 pm
Per the charters of the majority of committees, the committee chair, vice chair and staff member appointed to the committee collectively make the decision on which applicants to recommend to the board for appointment. An exception is the Finance & Planning Committee which requires the committee chair, the board and staff members appointed to the committee make committee appointment recommendations to the board.
Jama Lopez
01/22/2022 — 6:23 pm
Thank you, Ella!
You remain a wealth of knowledge.
Jama
Lorri Street
01/21/2022 — 4:21 pm
Jama…you have my vote, and should I be asked, I will encourage others to seriously consider you!
Bobby Bledsoe
01/21/2022 — 6:36 pm
John Rymark, you hit the nail on the head:
“With the existent and growing number of our nation’s most successful, affluent professionals working from home, they are free at last to live in resort areas like ours where before they could only vacation. Urban and suburban areas are losing thousands of ‘free-to-live-where-they-want’ workers every day.”
To capitalize on this market trend we need a top of the line school system to entice these professionals with families to the Village. It’s ever more important to vote yes to the millage increase so that FLSD’s capital improvement plan can commence ASAP.
Lorri Street
01/21/2022 — 7:03 pm
Well Bobby…you certainly high jacked the topic and made it your own vote push.
So here’s my take too…Vote NO FLSD Millage Increase! It’s just NOT needed!
Mrs. Katherine Miller
01/22/2022 — 8:06 pm
Most improved real estate values are 50% higher than they were in 2017. When revaluations are issued this summer, FLSD is sure to realize at least the increase it is seeking, if not more. It will affect counties’ tax base populations as usual … (same system, with some builds, lots of buys, some increased values, some freezes, many staying frozen, some improvements/unfreezings …) business as usual. Just wait until this summer!
Tom Blakeman
01/21/2022 — 7:58 pm
This is not and should not be referred to as a resort.
Jama Lopez
01/21/2022 — 8:41 pm
I believe John was referring to Hot Springs “heritage resort town”.
Did I miss something?
Jama
Sue Posner
01/23/2022 — 6:59 pm
Amen
Kirk Denger
01/22/2022 — 12:15 am
John, I voted to remove the CMP and the illegal Governance committee that enabled it, and the illegal 119 pages of restrictive covenants that came with it. Arkansas code 18-12-103 states that no restrictive covenants or any other instrument purporting to restrict the use of real property is valid unless the Property Owners vote for them. There are several of these restrictions of the CMP that have been converted into “rules and regulations” that have been illegally transferred from the CMP by the POA. Those illegal restrictive rules along with several Bylaw changes made by the illegal CMP governance committee need to be removed. Gambling with other people’s money on large unproven grandiose ideas must stop. All major expenditures must be voted on by the Property Owners.
Nancy Merkle
01/22/2022 — 8:01 am
Well said! You have put so many Villagers thoughts into words.
HSVP C
01/22/2022 — 12:16 pm
It is the policy of this website to not publish comments without a first and last name. Thank you.
Sue Posner
02/05/2022 — 3:53 am
These need to be curbed and addressed since our declaration specifically forbids lodging which is business on residential street and past couple years they are increasing in numbers. Vacation condos and los logos are in their own self contained complex. These will devalue residential homes in here not to mention less safety and wear and tear from non members and non assessment paying strangers. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/32384162?source_impression_id=p3_1644051763_Y9WKJeq4DYn%2FkqQt&modal=DESCRIPTION
Ella Scotty
02/05/2022 — 3:07 pm
Please provide the specific article in the Declaration that you are referencing.
Thank you!