By Diana Podawiltz, December 2, 2020
Kudos to Clark Vernon for starting a dialogue. We can’t continue subsidizing golf operations to the degree which we’ve been doing for the past several years. Golf fees have more than doubled in my 23 years as a property owner. Price is determined by supply and demand and our supply exceeds our demand.
Golf is not a huge draw to the millennials – our next target of owners. What will attract them? Is there a better use of the land that is now Balboa Golf Course than spending $1-2 million on infrastructure repairs at that centrally located course? Could we dig a small lake by expanding the water hazard on #18 & #9? Could we have a community garden area with road access and restroom facilities on hole #6?
Could we set up an area for an archery range? If we eliminated the Balboa Golf Course could we also eliminate the clubhouse, which is going to need a couple of million to either replace or refurbish?
I don’t have the answers, but I know we can’t continue on the same path and expect different results. Are we reaching a point where our employees are no longer adequately compensated? This is the second year where the only adjustment to gross wages has been due to the minimum wage rise. Will we find it harder and harder to fill our open positions like we have for golf course maintenance and the police department in recent years? What has been the total savings in gross wages as a result of the 2020 reorganization?
We have to have an assessment increase if we’re ever going to make a dent into our backlog of infrastructure repairs.
I suppose many of you would take the attitude that I need to stay out of these discussions because I left the board before my term was over. I’ve been silent on my reasons for departure – there were several, but the biggest was relinquishing spending and financial oversights from Board responsibility back to the General Manager. Tucker viewed me as a dictator; I NEVER MADE ONE DECISION THAT WASN’T VOTED UPON BY THE BOARD.
I am also what is referred to as a “long hauler” regarding people who’ve had COVID. My short term memory is very bad (known as brain fog), frequent headaches, fatigue. Also, my husband’s health has deteriorated; at this point, he can barely walk and will have a hip replaced on December 15. When that heals, the neurosurgeon will begin to deal with the issues of his spine. In addition, my 90-year-old mother lives with us.
* * *
Thank you for reading. Be sure to bookmark this website. Click here to visit the Hot Springs Village People Facebook Group.
Jama
12/02/2020 — 8:48 pm
I think you’re being voted out as chair, Wayne being relieved of Treasurer duties, Lloyd being a lone wolf and feeling powerless and my being encouraged to move on are all indicative of a problem. In a few quick moves, the property owners lost THREE experienced, volunteer, accountants and one talented businessman! That says it all.
Lloyd E Sherman
12/03/2020 — 10:21 am
Thank you Jama for all you did, or at least attempted to do. You were a great asset and would have served the board well in any deep-dives in fixing drains on our financial resources.
Dalene Whitwell
12/02/2020 — 8:56 pm
Thanks for the update. Hope your family’s health improves…you are missed on the board…
Lloyd E Sherman
12/03/2020 — 8:43 am
I want to add my kudos to Clark Vernon and Diana for speaking out. I have the same issue as Diana in that many probably don’t want to hear from me, but as property owners with enough inside information on the REAL issues, we have an obligation to speak out. I watched yesterday’s Discussion Session and couldn’t sleep last night thinking about how misdirected, misguided, and generally, uninformed the current board is. To think that the real problem of getting an assessment increase in quantifying our infrastructure backlog is so far off base I just can’t be silent. We already know it is huge. It has already been quantified years ago as somewhere between $45 to $60 million. Does it need to be validated. Absolutely! But the failure to realize that the REAL issues pertain to fixing subsidies is totally misguided. Those of us who tried to address those issues were systematically weeded out because we were INTERFERRING with operations. Deep-dives into every single amenity and operation is an absolute necessity and property owners will not be open to an assessment increase until they know this has been done. To think that the same senior managers who have previously been part of the problem are capable, or even open to, those deep-dives is absolutely misguided. The board had an opportunity to keep me on the board had they simply taken action against the individual who LEAKED my personal communication to the voting members of the Board to the new GM. Instead, they chose to ignore this breach to an oath of office, which resulted in a divide between me and the GM and recognition by me that this board had returned to what Clark referred to as another Legacy Board. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Diana Podawiltz
12/03/2020 — 9:44 am
In addition, this current board put out an eblast on November 5, 2020 impugning the character of “recent and past board members”. I asked for documentation and supporting evidence for this statement which was very libelous. None has been forthcoming.
Lloyd E Sherman
12/03/2020 — 10:22 am
I asked for the same information and have heard nothing. I deserve a retraction by them using my name in the same sentence while impugning the character of “recent and past board members.”
Jama Lopez
12/03/2020 — 7:44 pm
Very well said, Lloyd!
Mark
12/03/2020 — 10:22 am
The only way I’d support an assessment increase would require that all the ala carte fees be eliminated. All property owners would pay the same monthly fee. No fees for any “amenity” and no extra fees for townhomes or discounts for unimproved property. Additionally, it’s vital to go after money that is already owed.
Lloyd E Sherman
12/03/2020 — 10:29 am
Fixing subsidies of all amenities should have been priority number 1. This requires deep-dives into every operation to determine what is draining the revenue or creating unnecessary costs. Any attempt at doing that by committees or board directed activities is met with resistance. Why for instance is the revenue we receive per round $28? I know I pay around an average of $41 when I play. Why the disconnect? What impact does providing 50% off to employees or super seniors having on our revenue stream? How many rounds are being given away and to who? Why are property owners paying more than employees of the POA? I could go on but until we get answers to questions like these, the subsidy deficit will continue.
Raymond Godfrey Lehman
12/17/2020 — 4:54 pm
Lloyd, I resigned as the Chair of the Marketing Committee because the Board stripped the Committees of their oversight power over the POA departments. The Marketing Department Charter states to this very day “The purpose of the Marketing Committee is to assist and advise the HSVPOA Marketing
Department in all aspects of internal and external marketing of the Village inclusive of the various amenities both current and future with the goal to increase revenue and ensure we both protect and enhance the reputation and recognition of Hot Springs Village. If for any reason, now or in the future, the Board wishes to cease and rescind this Standing Board Committee, the committee shall remain intact and fall back under the Finance &Planning Committee as a subcommittee thereof. ”
And then came the “Clarification Letter” sent to all Committee Chairs which in effect said we needed to get permission from the GM before contacting POA employees. Why would any volunteer leader want to head a Committee that had just been neutered. In my address to the Board, along with 7 other Committee Chairs, I asked the letter be rescinded. That request was denied. It appeared in your denial that you were a supporter of giving the GM more responsibility so I am both surprised and heartened to hear you oppose that.
There are 5 Board seats up for election. Can we, you and I, find 3 more Property Owners to run? People who understand the hierarchy at Hot Springs Village resembles this. 1) Property Owners 2) BOD 3) Committee Chairs 4) Committee Members, 5) POA Staff including the GM 6) POA employees.
Ray Lehman
Robert Dubbelde
12/03/2020 — 12:54 pm
Thank you for the comments, this information is important.
Linda Anderson
12/03/2020 — 6:08 pm
Could it be that our GM has no idea how to fix HSV’s Financial mess? Did he really intend to cut costs and take a hard look at the financial bleeding going on? With a budget of almost $40 Mil. its beyond belief that our financial stability is in jeopardy. There was talk of an audit when the GM took over. Suddenly any reference to that disappeared and now it appears that the only way to raise assessments is to use the infrastructure figures ( Millions ) to blow up the figures. Lloyd Sherman is right- there needs to be a deep dive into each subsidy and deal with it before any assessments are raised.
Hazel Ecyla
12/03/2020 — 6:57 pm
IMHO the (new) general manager is a substitute for L Nalley. He obviously has fooled a few board members with his ‘expertise’ but he is just like nalley (a pre-Madonna) who swayed into the graces of a few board members who ate it up just like flies on s***. Yeah, you got it !!! He came to us with ‘superior skills’ in socializing & food distribution entertainment. What the hell does he know about ‘income & expense’ in managing a retirement community ???? What does he know about golf & the expenses involved???? He saw an opportunity just like nalley where he could brag about his expertise in this & that but, where is his thoughts about the home & landowners here in the village. Yep, in his pocketbook. He is running the board of directors instead of the other way around. Just like nalley. Opportunity knocked & the NEW GM answered. Laughing all the way to the bank on OUR (home/landowners) dime.
Moe
12/25/2020 — 9:02 am
Anyone taking a “deep dive” into HSV finances would simply move away knowing that we are doomed.