By Former Board Director, Frank Leeming, 4/13/2020
How virus affecting Village, bailout request, new majority will take over
A new majority on the POA board will be seated at the end of the regular meeting Wednesday morning. It faces myriad challenges and carries the hopes of thousands of Village property owners who feel their votes in elections over the last four years have been ignored.
The meeting will be the first open discussion of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Village. While the meeting is closed to the public because of the pandemic, you can watch it live beginning at 9 a.m. by going here.
Below are some of the highlights of what will be discussed at the meeting:
- The CEO’s annual report is filled with the usual fluff and praise for what she believes has been accomplished. Of more interest is the effect of coronavirus pandemic is having on Village operations and finances.
- A shutdown of Village recreation and food facilities is expected to cost the Village $1.9 million. All non-essential spending has been frozen.
- The Village has applied for a $3 million bail-out under the federal Payroll Protection Program. The Village has $4.2 million in reserves and a $1 million line of credit available.
- Recreation closings have affected 48 employees; 43 restaurant employees are affected. 25 have accepted temporary re-assignments; 66 have taken unpaid leaves.
To see the CEO’s annual report, click here.
- The CFO’s report to the board shows revenue in the first quarter fell $21,747 (0.34 percent) from the same period last year. Operational spending rose $486,576 (7.46 percent) and capital spending went up $609,411 (25.59%).
- Opening the new outdoor DeSoto Pool (originally set for May 1) is in limbo. It needs state permits. They’re on hold because of the coronavirus.
- A new timber-management plan for the Village should be ready next month. The POA has hired a common-property and forestry manager to develop the plan. The goal: To improve property-owner views, fire safety, and forest health.
- Bids have been requested for road work in the Village. It’s been on hold for three years. No date was given when the bids will be presented to the board.
- Dredging on Lake Estrella should be finished this week. Then dredging will begin on Lake Granada.
- The number of permits for new homes – the best barometer of how well the Village is growing – was 10, down one from the first quarter last year.
- The number of golf rounds continued their slide in the first quarter. They were down 3,486, or 12.5 percent.
- The advisory committee for the Comprehensive Master Plan will present a 32-page annual report. It says 58 staff recommendations in the CMP (21 percent) are complete and two are operational. Another 130 are in progress, 31 are on hold, 46 haven’t been started and one (a mountain-bike trail around Lake Lago) has been canceled.
The report is interesting reading and includes some good recommendations for the board. To see the report to the board, click here.
- Perhaps the agenda item with the most long-term impact on the Village is the 121-page set of revisions to the Protective Covenants. Not being a builder or a Realtor, I haven’t a clue as to the merit of the proposed changes. I do know they have been a hot-button issue in the past.
- The results of a survey of property owners will be given to the board. It shows 83 percent of homeowners expect to be in their home for at least three years. To see the report, click here.
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For an update on What’s Happening in Hot Springs Village through the end of the first quarter, click here.
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Mark
04/14/2020 — 3:18 pm
Looking forward to a new direction!
Minn Daly
04/14/2020 — 3:35 pm
Frank thank you! I am looking forward to our NEW BOD seeking excellent legal advice, looking at financial books seeking a forensic audit of same. Seizing control of management & restructuring of the POA. Elimination of CMP & governance committees. Getting our bylaws back to sane principals & elimination of secrecy of BOD membersb& transparency to HSV members. Can’t wait for the action to start! Taking our beautiful community back to a sane growing operation & building trust with property owners. Minn
Joe
04/14/2020 — 4:20 pm
I guess the only sad news here is the abrupt cancellation of the planned mountain bike path around our only lake for drinking water. This was an excellent idea that had been put through the wringer by a qualified staff of professionals. Why, then, was it unceremoniously discarded seemingly at the drop of a hat??
I think I know the answer. Someone got to somebody. Someone who did not want the CMP to succeed.
This trail would have served as an attraction to a much younger crowd, which is something we need here in HSV in order to stay in business. Without a new demographic the old golfers will just slowly putt putt themselves out of the game and then where are we?
I think this idea was one of the best ideas that was part of the community saving plan some refer to as the CMP. I hope it is not too late for the new board to reconsider this ill-timed cancellation.
Just imagine the hoards of young, enthusiastic mountain bikers swarming over the mountain trail riding at all hours. They would work up quite a hunger and then come to the POA restaurants for a sandwich or perhaps a glass of milk. This is called new business, people!!!
And I can picture mountain bike rentals as part of the excellent program we have in the Base Camp money-making component of the POA. Or, even a bike store in the town center. It is not hard to imagine.
Mountain biking, in case you don’t’ know, is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States. With this trail system we would have drawn a vast array of fanatics to our sleepy village…and these fanatics have money! I can see many of them plopping down some serious coin for a pocket neighborhood house near our new, gleaming town center, so they would have a place to stay when they come for the mountain biking tournaments and races and special events.
I then see them inviting their friends, who invite their friends, and so on and so on! Finally, some actual new rooftops in HSV! And not just 10 or 11!
Remember, mountain bikers are just like the rest of us…they bank, they go to the dentist, the eye doctor, the grocery (our new one, of course), Starbucks (at the gleaming town center), the dry cleaners, the bars, the marina, etc., etc.
Who is responsible for cancelling this most excellent idea? That is what I want to know about it.
How short sighted. If the good ideas in the CMP all get cancelled, I can tell you one thing for sure. The CMP will never get off the ground and we, as a village, will not grow or glow.
I knew of several mountain bikers that were so excited about the trial that they had planned to vacation here next year when it would have been open…miles upon miles of groomed single track mountain biking trails. One of the top places in the country could have been here!!! In our own back yard.
To say I am disappointed in this short-sighted cancellation would be a gross understatement.
Please, everyone, take a step back and reconsider this damaging change of plans before it is too late.
Down to Earth
04/14/2020 — 5:58 pm
Hey Joe, what ever you are drinking or smoking really is good. It has completely warped your mind and set you off on quite an imaginary trip. Everything you promote is contrary to what a large number of members is trying to eliminate.
Possible drinking water contamination, opening the gates to the “hoards”, as you say. Mountain bike rentals will be about as prosperous as kayaks and paddle boards are now. And the outdoors types usually bring their own healthy treats and food, so I don’t think the restaurants were gearing up for a bonanza. And finally your bike store in the Town Center?? Where?
Sam
04/14/2020 — 6:26 pm
Totally agree. A tail around the water source was a terrible idea, and I’m glad it’s as dead as the heralded CMP is now! I’m not going to turn anyone who wants to buy here away, BUT who we really need to buy here are golfers who have time and money to play golf (preferably multiple times per week) to make the Village survive!
infectious
04/14/2020 — 10:42 pm
A mountain biker trail around an inviting water SUPPLY is an idiotic idea. Bikers would be sneaking into the water. We do NOT want coronavirus (etc.) in our drinking water! If you did not consider that previously, it should be glaringly obvious now!
Joe
04/15/2020 — 6:49 am
It would not be hard to completely fence in the lake to prevent unauthorized use by the mountain biking community.
Not Joe
04/15/2020 — 7:29 am
What a joke!
And the trail fees can help pay for trail maintenance, insurance and fence!
Gene Garner
04/15/2020 — 8:18 am
The incoming Directors have a chance to correct an unneeded and unwanted set of draconian restrictions imposed on us by the CEO and a compliant Board. The 116 page CMP Restrictive Covenants can be rescinded with a simple majority vote of the BOD and since they’re unrecorded, no changes are necessary to the land records.
The AR Appellate Court has ruled the BOD “…may amend, rescind or add to the Protective Covenants from time to time…” and have the legal authority to make such changes. This would allow the return of the 3 page “Cooper Covenants” which are recorded, been in use for over 45 years and have been accepted by the vast majority of property owners.
If the new Board members decide to act on this controversial set of restrictions it would be a giant step in returning the Village to the cohesive, friendly and well run community we enjoyed five years ago.—Gene
Julie
04/15/2020 — 10:39 am
If they don’t rescind them ASAP then something is very, very wrong.
These CMP Restrictive Covenants are bad. They are there to allow for low-income, high density housing, insane potential development, and abuse of our land in so many possible and crazy and wantonly wasteful ways.
The people who put them in place were plain wrong to do so.
Very wrong.
The new board must rescind them or they are not a new board at all….just more of the same old same old….
Step it up people. Do it and do it now.
PLEASE!!!