Kelly Hale, General Manager of Hot Springs Village POA, addressed the Board of Directors on June 15, 2022

Some of the subjects he talked about were the West Gate Sign being damaged, hiring a new police chief, the Defenders Motorcycle Club riding through the Village, vandalism, and much more.

Hale said,

  • “We were pleased to announce our new Chief of Police Kristi Bennett last week. Chief Bennett formally accepted the position and will begin to transition into her new role as soon as possible. She is the current Chief of Police of Texarkana, Arkansas, and has over 18 years of experience in law enforcement. Chief Bennett grew up in Hot Springs Village and is excited to be moving home with her family. We look forward to welcoming her as she fully onboards with us soon.
  • “The stone sign at the West Gate was severely damaged during a vehicle accident last Thursday. It is unrepairable and will be removed. We are currently working with Arkansas Department of Transportation to determine if improvements should be made to this intersection to increase safety and efficiency. After any necessary changes are made, we will look at how best to replace the iconic sign in an appropriate location at the gate.
  • “Hot Springs Village has the opportunity to host a “Ride Through” of the Defenders Motorcycle Club in conjunction with the club’s National Meeting in Hot Springs. The event will take place Saturday, June 25th, beginning at approximately 10:30 a.m. The Defenders Club is a group of veterans and active military as well as retired and active police, fire, and first responders. There will be 250 – 400 riders with a Police and Fire escort through the Village. We will have multiple locations for our property owners to view the Ride Through and support their cause. A special event for our property owners who are veterans and first responders is also scheduled at the Veteran’s Memorial located at the Ponce de Leon Center during the Ride Through. We will have food and fellowship there and will take this time to recognize and support the Heroes of our Nation and our Community.
  • “Stars & Stripes, Hot Springs Village’s premier annual community event, will begin July 1st. This will be a four-day event culminating in fireworks and a free concert at Balboa Beach on Monday, July 4th. This is the largest annual event we have in Hot Springs Village, and we’re excited to host many of our members’ families as they join us to celebrate Independence Day. Compliance, Beach Patrol, and the HSVPD will be out in full force during the event to ensure all of our members and their sponsored guests have a positive and safe experience. You can view a flyer with the schedule for Stars & Stripes HERE.
  • “Golf Update: Golf revenue ended well for the month of May with greens and cart revenue totaling over $629k, an increase of over $42k from 2021. May rounds totaled 24,775. Stay & Play packages continue as a highlight, totaling 363 booked YTD with earnings at $522,676, an increase of $65k over 2021.
  • “The Marketing & Tourism Department is currently developing plans to incentivize home building as well as attract new homeowners to our community. We’re marketing directly to demographic groups in the surrounding areas in a grassroots-style campaign with little investment or marketing materials. Our staff is meeting directly with professionals on why HSV is the right choice to live.
  • “HSVPOA will be rolling out a Public Services Work Order Tracking System that will be available to our property owners to submit maintenance issues. The new system will allow for timely updates and flow from the point of contact to fulfillment of the request. It is currently in its testing phase, and we plan to make this available to the property owners soon.
  • “Hot Springs Village was recently featured in Active Golfer Magazine, a popular print and digital publication out of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The write-up provides a very positive overview of our community and features Isabella, Cortez, and Granada Courses. You can view the article at: https://myavidgolfer.com/travel-hot-springs/
  • “The Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism completed their photoshoot of Isabella Golf Course recently. The state of Arkansas will be featuring Hot Springs Village as a retirement location with free digital and print advertisements throughout the U.S. You can view more information and a few sample photos in the pdf below.
  • “In late May we began to advertise for donations to the POA after one of our members generously donated a generator to our Public Services Department. Since we sent out the call to action, property owners have gone above and beyond, donating items that are very useful to the POA, including an additional generator, a lawn mower, and an electric range, as well as other items. We thank our property owners for their support and appreciate their giving spirit.”
  • Hale said that we are working with the State 911 Board to become compliant with (Public Safety Answering Point) PSAP. 911 center consolidations are occurring throughout the state. Hale said he would be updating the Board on this.
  • “We continue to have vandalism, damage, and theft to our member assets. We continue to see vandalism in our halfway houses. Those are the bathrooms out on the golf courses. We’ve installed cameras, but the cameras have been stolen or broken. We continue to have gates damaged, mostly from people tailgating that don’t have a reason to be in the Village. We’ve had 500 plus gallons of gasoline stolen from golf carts that was siphoned out over a weekend.” Someone cut through a fence and stole a John Deere Gator. “We’re going to start a reward program in source development. People know what is going on. They know who it is and we can no longer accept people treating the Village the way they do.”
  • “It’s bad enough we have members in the community…we think it is juveniles more than likely are the ones doing the vandalism. We’re talking amounts of money that are felony levels. We’re going to reach out to the community. We will prosecute. We don’t have the money to waste when people tear up our stuff or on people from outside the fence line that cut through and want to steal from us. “We’re going to be looking for source development around the Village. We will find out what is going on and we will not turn a blind eye any longer and continue being victims here.”
  • Ambulance Contract – “The RFP Process is in effect for the ambulance contract…We are doing that to see what the rates are and the quality of service.” When the bids are returned, Hale and the Board of Directors will review them. They will be updating the community on this subject as soon as possible.
  • The POA hired an Accounting Supervisor.