Ken Unger: Hot Springs Village Initial Focuses: Part Two

This is the second installment of a two-part series. Part one states, “Ken Unger, the newly appointed Hot Springs Village (HSV) General Manager, is scheduled to begin his GM role on January 1, 2025. Currently serving the village as Director of Public Services, Mr. Unger has numerous innovative thoughts on achieving his objectives in his new assignment and overseeing the HSV Property Owners Association (POA) as effectively and efficiently as possible. “I am different than Kelly, so I will probably do different things.”

In part one, Mr. Unger talked about:

• Receiving Direction From the Board of Directors
• Optimization of Departments, Efficiency in Operations, and Economic Practices
• Enhanced Communication with the Community

In part two, Mr Unger discusses:

• Marketing
• Continuing to Work With Outside Entities
• Acknowledging Mistakes and Moving Forward
• Community Involvement

Marketing

“Most of our marketing, until recently, has been mainly external with digital advertising in 15 states. It doesn’t focus heavily enough on the local area around us, and it needs to.”

Unger said part of the solution to market golf is determining course utilization and external rates. “We may have to give flexibility on our rate structure to our golf department so they can fill the open slots with deals. We need to be open to what the possibilities are. For a long time, there was a mentality in the village that we are a private community, and we don’t want to impede members’ enjoyment of it by having outside people here. That was before we realized we couldn’t pay for everything. The other alternative is we raise prices such that we’re paying for the courses ourselves. Then, it becomes cost-prohibitive to a more significant percentage of our residents. Do you want to do that? My personal view is that I would rather have outside play and have villagers’ costs lower—have people come in here, pay us, and then leave. Then we get to enjoy the rest of it. Where that line is, I don’t know, and that is where we need to talk to the Board and come up with those answers.”

“The marketing segment of our POA will evolve throughout the next couple of months and set a strategic course based on all the information we give to the Board.”

“We need a strategic plan based on the goals of the Board and what they want the village to become. We want the members to have the most value.” Unger said, speaking as a member. “I live here. I don’t want to pay more than I have to. I don’t want it to be a Branson, but I think there is a balance.”

“Our strategy has been to bring the golf courses to a level where we can charge much higher rates for outside play. That is a two-for-one there—which is what we try to do. When we redo the bunkers, it is not just to make them pretty; it is done to reduce maintenance costs so that they drain faster, which allows for speedier cleanup after rain. It is also done to attract a higher price for a golf round. What we are doing on Balboa is the next level of that.” Unger said they originally would redo the bunkers, perform some strategic cleanup, and fountain work, but now they will address Balboa from head to toe for a very low cost.

Unger estimates they will spend around $280,000 for the Balboa clubhouse renovation. “It will be a marquis facility for us,” enthused Unger.

Some of this is still in the works, but they would love to work with The Balboa Club Restaurant owner to promote events and meetings there and maybe at the DeSoto Clubhouse and other locations.

Another interesting aspect of our marketing is our relationship with companies like Village Villas and developing an opportunity with Renaissance Homes. “They are building casitas on Maderas.

We have a great opportunity to work jointly with our realtor partners. If we work together, it is the best of both worlds. They get people into the rentals, which leads to higher amenity use and potentially people moving here. We need to work with them and foster that relationship, starting with a leasing basis where we sell golf packages, and they provide the housing. That leads to more business for them and helps us generate revenue with less work.”

“I haven’t had a lot of exposure to the Hot Springs Village Chamber of Commerce, but we want to be partners. We are a member, but we want to be engaged. The magazine they publish is beautiful! It is great! I understand that they distribute their magazine to every visitor center in the state.” Unger said he learned about the magazine when returning from an out-of-state trip. “There are opportunities there, and we want to work together.”

Continuing to Work With Outside Entities

“We will only succeed to a certain level without support from the government and our friends outside the village. As difficult as it is to obtain funds from the state, county, or federal government, there are plenty of things we can get and leverage through cooperation, like the water connection and upgrades to our entrances outside our gates. Another example is the bypass General Arwood, and others spent years working on with our partners outside, giving us easier access to Hot Springs. This helps us attract more residents who could live here and work in Hot Springs.”

“My goal is to find those things they can help us with. We’ll still try to pursue things that allow us to get money, but there are other things we need, and those are the things that, in my view, if I put my energy toward, we can make some progress.”

“The state knows who we are now. Kelly did a fantastic job of bringing the village to the attention of the state. Our state and federal representatives know who we are now. That is one of the things that people will never fully appreciate that Kelly was able to accomplish. They didn’t know us from Adam, and now they call us. If we want to meet with them, they meet with us, and they attend some of our meetings.”

Acknowledging Mistakes and Moving Forward

Unger admits they have made mistakes. “Yes, we make mistakes. People sometimes expect perfection. When there are people involved, you will have mistakes, and we try to correct them as best as we can.”

Unger said they acknowledge their mistakes. “We made them with HyperFiber by assuming their subcontractor was going to do the right thing.”

“We think we got it straightened out with HyperFiber. There were areas where their contractor got out of control. There will be dramatically fewer cuts in our roads. That was the big issue. We thought the two or three-inch-wide cuts would not be a problem, and it turned out to be a problem. It is harder to patch such a narrow cut. We will try a new product called FloMix, which is an epoxy-type product. We use it on the thin potholes occurring in the Super Pave areas. You only need an inch, and it hardens like a rock. It is black and blends in well. HyperFiber is going to have to go back and repatch a lot of the ones they did with asphalt because it is probably not going to hold. We will show them how to use the FloMix. We may do microsurfacing over some roads or spray them where they made the bad cuts. HyperFiber will pay for some of the repairs where the bad cuts are.”

“The problem with HyperFiber is that they move so fast, and by the time we arrived, they already had performed unacceptable work. Unless you sit out there the whole time, it is hard to catch their mistakes immediately. We can’t do that. We don’t have the resources for that.” Unger said they have engaged the Public Services Committee to help check on the work.

Unger stated that HyperFiber is a good company, and they want to do well. “They haven’t yet announced this, but I am pushing them to do all of the village. But, there is no commitment to do the whole village yet, only to do Garland County.”

“The benefit we will probably see with having HyperFiber in the village is that upgrades will occur with competitors. Ultimately, this will drive prices down and give us overall better deals.”

Community Involvement

In closing, Unger shared, “I am going to work hard to do the best I can to take us to the next level, and the more help we can get, the better.” He encourages community involvement and volunteerism, urging everyone to become involved in a club or committee. “There are plenty of clubs in the village that do great things. If you are unhappy about something, get involved somehow to fix it.”

“You can attend committee meetings, even if you are not on a committee. You can find out what is going on with the committees, and visitors are able to make comments. If people have enough energy to complain about something, they should have enough energy to get up and get out there and try to help fix it.”

Unger explained that this is ultimately how he ended up as the Director of Public Services and then the General Manager. He saw something he questioned and became involved, first with the Finance and Planning Committee and then with the Public Services Committee. It went from getting involved to really getting involved! “I am not suggesting everybody needs to become that involved, but we have a lot of talented people in the village. If you have concerns about something, don’t just sit there and complain about it. Get out there!”

Unger said he wants to focus on positive people. “We have a lot of people that volunteer endless hours, making this place beautiful and great. We have a great thing going. It is a great time! I am excited to see where we are at a year or two from now.”

“My goal is to treat everybody fairly, in accordance with our governing documents. If you are not happy, get involved. I know I am not going to make everybody happy. I am going to do what I can to be fair to everybody. I try to do the right thing.”

“The reason I took the job is because if there is an opportunity to fix something or do something, I am going to do it until I am done.”

Click here to read “Ken Unger: Hot Springs Village Initial Focuses: Part One.”

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By Cheryl Dowden