Debra Fuller, Chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee, gave a Quarterly update to the Hot Springs Village Board of Directors on October 20, 2021.

Thank you very much.  My name is Debra Fuller.  I am the chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee, pleased to report out to you our committee quarterly report to you today.

The purpose of the Parks and Recreation Committee’s focus is to work with the HSV Parks and Recreation team, namely Terry Wiley and Company to provide recommendations related to Parks and Recreation fees, annual budget, targeted marketing for various amenities and coordinate opportunities to drive participation to our amenities here in the Village.

As mentioned in our last report out, Evan Hanson has officially joined the Parks and Recreation Committee, post approval by the Board in August of this year.

Recreation Amenity Bundle

From an update perspective, the recreation bundle has generated $117,000 in revenue since December of 2020.  This includes 85 Property Owner bundles, 72 couples bundles and 7 dependents.

Pickleball and Archery

As Coreena mentioned earlier, the Pickleball Court resurfacing has been completed.  The Archery Range also has generated a lot of interest.  Residents are now participating in various functions related to the Archery Range and it’s being well received by the community.

Newcomers Meeting

From a Newcomers Meeting perspective, we’ve made it a point for those of us from the Parks and Recreation Committee to attend the Newcomers Meeting every other month.  And what this has done from a Parks and Recreation Committee perspective is to drive interest in our amenities here in the Village.  

We’ve handed out approximately 200 informational pieces to newcomers, answered tons of questions and our presence there has been well received by our community.

Upcoming Focus

HSV Community Foundation Giving Tree Grant – From an upcoming focus perspective,  Maureen Morgan, who serves on the HSV Arts Council and is also one of our committee members, in fact the secretary of our committee, worked with the Council to apply for an HSV Community Foundation Giving Tree Grant on behalf of the Woodlands-Ponce Center.  The grant money will be earmarked to extend the audio and media center equipment into Casa de Carta and a decision on this grant should occur earlier this month.  We’ll keep you posted on that progress.

Capital Fee Subcommittee – As far as the Capital Fee Subcommittee perspective, we did have a subcommittee forum to work with Terry Wiley to review and provide feedback on the amenity bundle, the fee schedule, to simplify and provide ease of use for Villagers as well as capital expense improvements and the prioritization of those.

Amenity Sponsorship – One of the things that we are focusing on too, is sponsorship for some of our amenties around the Village, such as the Dog Park, the Bocchi Ball Court, etc. and really looking at ways to generate interest and sponsorship to bring in materials and support for those areas where the underlying maintenace and such doesn’t fall particularly under our budget, but we can generate some of that revenue and sponsorship to really beautify those areas, so to speak.

Exploration

Annual P & R Event – From an exploration perspective, and looking into 2022, we continue to earmark an annual Parks and Recreation event.  Serena Gonzales is leading that effort and we’ll be talking about that and planning that for 2022 over the next couple of months.  We should have a solid report back to you guys in the January session.

In addition as younger families with children continue to move into the Village, we want to make sure that we are exploring creative ways to engage these families and draw them into our amenities and increase awareness from their perspective. 

Potential Green Space Development – In addition to that we are looking at green spaces and discussing those potentials for family picnics, badmitten, etc.   So we’ve got some things that we are earmarking for 2022. 

We’re excited about the opportunities and continue to enjoy the engagement with Terry Wiley and Company.  Thank you for the time.  This concludes my report out for this month.  Any questions?

Questions and Comments from the Board

POA Board Director, Bob McLeod said,  “You mentioned a grant.  Who’s the grant from and how much is it?  Do we have a good chance of getting it?  

That’s a really good question.  I will have to come back to you on that.  But it is through the Giving Tree Council.

Terry Wiley, Manager of Parks and Recreation,  answered this question but he was not at the microphone and I could not understand his answer.  I have asked him and will include this information when he answers my email.  Edited to update on 11-1-21 – Terry Wiley said in an email to me (Cheryl Dowden) “We actually did receive the grant from the Hot Springs/Hot Springs Village Community Foundation.  The amount was for $1,000.  We will use the money to update audio/video capabilities in the Card Club room.”

Thanks, Terry.  Thank’s guys.

POA Board Director, Pam Avila said, “just a quick observation and that is that over the four years or so that I have been here in the Village, the activity on the committees has grown so much and they are making such big contributions to the community.  And the people serving on those committees should really get a big huge pat on the back because they are really doing things of value and I think that is pretty amazing.”

POA Board Chair, Joanie Corry said, “It’s interesting you say that because we’ve talked about trying to have the Volunteer Luncheon to give those people a pat on the back and everytime we start to think it might be okay, COVID kind of rears its ugly head a little bit and everybody ducks back down.  We haven’t forgotten that; we just haven’t had the best time yet to do it.”

The Volunteer Luncheon originally scheduled for the week of October 24-30 was cancelled.  This date was the rescheduled date.

Transcribed by Cheryl Dowden, October 29, 2021

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