Riverhill Living Winter 2022

Jeff Hunter

As we enter the holiday season, your new board has been put in place.

I am honored to serve as the president of the Riverhill Property Owners Association and alongside such a highly qualified group. With Deby Fowler as the vice president, Casey Mikeska as the treasurer, Marnee Bscheid as the secretary and Hank Ortega as member at large, the association is in good hands.

Mark Eisenman APOR Board President

its fine work at a very critical time. We will continue to focus on the safety and quality of life issues that are so important to all the residents of Riverhill.

I encourage those who are not members to join, so we can maintain and improve the community in which we all live. Everything you need to join us is in this magazine and can be found at www/riverhillpoa.com.

I would be remiss if I did not publicly thank the previous board and the Architectural Committee for

Have a safe and joyful holiday season!

Eisenman APOR board president

The Association of Property Owners of Riverhill, Inc. P.O. Box 293895, Kerrville, TX 78029 3895 www.riverhillpoa.com

Mark

RIVERHILL Living Property Owners Association elects new board members

Welcome to a new year. It may seem early, but APOR years start on Oct. 1, so it is officially 2023 in APOR years.

The Kerrville Daily Times staff

Carlina Villalpando Publisher

Jillian Smith Managing Editor

Jeanette Eastwood Nash Assistant Managing Editor

Contributors

Nancy Foster

Mark Eisenman

Niel Powers Hank Ortega

Photography

Tom Holden Advertising

Chelsea Fore Angel Fortner

Daniel Moore

Lesney Bennett Composition

Which reminds me, have you renewed your membership yet? The form and in formation is right here in this magazine!

Mark Eisenman, president: “In early 2017, my wife, Carol, and I moved to Kerr ville after retiring from Houston, where we had long and fulfilling careers. Serving over 33 years in law enforce ment at the executive level, I believe I have the skill set and leader ship to serve the Riverhill community in a very positive manner.

“I have earned Bachelor of Science and

Casey T. Mikeska, CPA, treasurer: “My wife, Bethany, and I built our house on Spring Mill a couple of years ago, where we live with our daughter, Parker, who is 6 years old. My parents have lived in Riverhill since the late ’90s, and I grew up in the neighborhood, playing tennis and golf at the club and spending summers at the Riverhill pool.

Marnee Bscheid, secretary: “Hello! My name is Marnee Bscheid, and I was born here in Kerrville but spent the major ity of my life living in California. My family decided to make the move back to Kerrville in 2020, and we couldn’t be happier here!

“My husband, Alex, is a proud veteran of the U.S. Army, and we have a 4-year-old daughter (Madison) and two dogs (Berlin and Nutella). We love everything about the Hill Country, and this was without a doubt the right move for us.

“I graduated from Cal State University of Long Beach, where I earned my degree in Geography. Through all my work experience, however, I’ve learned that my skill set is more of a social/relational style, and I need to be

2023 brings in quite a few changes, not the least of which is several new board members. Deby Fowler continues on as vice president, but all other positions are new. Here’s the 4-1-1 on our new board members.

Master of Business Administration degrees as well as post graduate work at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard that add to my overall perspective of organizational development and leadership.

“After living in a more rural area for five years, we moved to Riverhill last year. We en joy the community and the many dear friends we have found here. I look forward to leverag ing the experience, skills and education I had the opportunity to acquire over many years in my position on the Association of Property Owners of Riverhill board.”

“Both my wife and I are graduates of Schreiner University, where I earned a degree in Accounting and Information Systems. I am a CPA and partner at Massey, Itschner and Company, a local CPA firm founded in 1995. I work with a number of homeowner asso ciation clients providing tax and accounting services.

“I look forward to applying my knowledge of HOAs, accounting, taxation and finance as a board member of the Association of Property Owners of Riverhill.”

in a field that allows me to help people and build relationships. I’ve found that the real estate industry is the perfect fit.

“I now work with Summit Real Estate and truly feel that I’ve found my passion. Every thing about this new career seemed appeal ing, exciting and natural to me.

“When I’m not working to find that perfect home for a client, I play a supporting role in my husband’s company, running the office and relieving some of the pressures that come with it.

“I recently became a member of the Kerr ville Junior Service Guild and am enjoying the opportunity to learn new things while helping the community and various nonprofits.

“With my experience, skill set and person ality, I plan on being a valuable asset to the HOA in the coming years. I can’t wait to meet you all!”

Under new management

Jeff Hunter brings enthusiasm, energy to club

By Nancy Foster

Jeff Hunter started work as Riverhill general manager on Aug. 1 — and he hasn’t sat down much since that time. Energetic, personable and enthusiastic, it’s evident this self-starter has the skills to lead a staff of 50 for the betterment of all Riverhill club members.

Jeff has been in the golf business since 1985 in one form or another, and his skills and accomplishments on the course are quite impressive. He joined PGA America in 1988 and has been in Class A since then.

Although he has had multiple

opportunities to entice him out of the golf business, “I never wanted to. I love what I do,” he said.

When General Manager John Junker interviewed him, he said he found Jeff to be a seasoned professional whose ambitions and ideals align with his own.

“I had known John for a number of years. We spoke about our mutual vision to get the Riverhill facility back to where it should be, both structurally and with renovations. We knew certain areas had been neglected or needed repairs, including the mansion, which we both feel has been underutilized,” Jeff said. “Our priority is defining the most important needs, including water

for the course. Our existing system is archaic, and we’ve already consulted with an irrigation specialist to help us identify how we can use our water more effectively.”

Jeff said adding bunkers and tee boxes on the course, plus continuing upgrades to the landscape, are priorities, as is a thorough analysis of the mansion.

“We would like to be known as a gathering place where members can come for a cocktail or nice meal and socialize. We see lots of dynamic possibilities for growth here. Executive Chef Chase Carlile and his culinary team do an exceptional job, but we feel the mansion has so much potential for

other uses and events,” he said.

THE PATH TO RIVERHILL

Jeff grew up in St. Louis and moved to Fort Worth to attend Texas Christian University, where he joined the golf team and graduated with BBA and Marketing degrees.

The pursuit of golf as a career evolved through various positions as a pro, instructor and club manager. His more recent positions before joining Riverhill Country Club were as PGA Director of Golf at Comanche Trace, Head Pro at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth and a 10-year stint with The Club at Sonterra in San Antonio.

MANAGERIAL STYLE

As a leader, Jeff brings to the table a strong work ethic.

“I never feel as if people work for me — I work with them. I am tireless and will never ask people to do anything I wouldn’t do. I’m not a pointer; I’m a doer. I’ll bus tables, do dishes or do anything that needs getting done,” he said.

We saw this first-hand as we arrived

for the interview and found him busy setting up tables for an outdoor luncheon. His positive approach to management helps him succeed.

“When people are self-motivated, they work better, so I try to give ownership to our staff and allow each one to succeed. We have an outstanding team here,” he said.

CLUB MEMBERS

“We have an extremely loyal membership, and we want to give each member the club they deserve. We’ll work with the ownership group on how and when we can proceed,” Jeff said.

Interacting with residents has been helpful, he said.

“I take all feedback and constructive criticism, but at the same time, I ask people, including my staff, to bring me solutions, not problems,” he said.

Increasing membership is another goal. One way for outsiders to experience the club is their “Stay ‘N Play” program where visitors can enjoy resident status while staying in the Riverhill Cottages.

“This gives Matt Trevino, our director

of golf and membership director, a good way to introduce the club to potential members,” he said.

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE

Jeff is a single dad who is very proud of his three daughters.

“I’m extremely close to my kids. One daughter lives in San Antonio, one in New Braunfels, and one is up in St. Louis, where I was raised,” he said.

He is now a Kerrville resident and lives just a few miles away from Riverhill.

Over the course of 30 years, Jeff has won the Southern Texas Senior PGA Professional Championship and went on to win the 34th Senior PGA Championship as well as the section championship. He has also played in several U.S. Opens and won 10 sanctioned events.

He’s quite pleased in his new position.

“Being here at Riverhill is a great opportunity. I get to play our beautiful course a couple of times a week and interact with our members. For me, It’s a win-win job,” Jeff said.

National Night Out

Once again, Riverhill comes through! We had eight National Night Out locations in our little piece of paradise. With visitors from the police department, fire department and one city council member, things were popping! I guess they all heard about the great food and fun.

APOR board members got to all of the locations they could, and we received pictures from most. The weather was absolutely perfect. I

hope you got out to meet a few of your neighbors and just have a good time! We had several new hosts and a number of repeats. A big thank you to all of this year’s hosts:

• Steve and Lynda Ables

• Andrea ONeal

• Flora and Mike McClung

• Carol Powers, Chuck Hempstead and Brenda Wendel

• Kathy Sher, Charlie Diggs, Mindy Wendele, Julie Dunlap and Don and

Peg Cook

• Tom and Sherrilyn Blase

• Mike and Nancy Wilson, Nancy and Bob Watts, Judy Standridge

• Ginny Kotara and D.R. and Malia Coleman

And a special shout-out to Julie Finger, who enjoyed the outing on Fairway Drive.

Brags & Accolades

THE RESIDENTS

Riverhill community members and their offspring accomplish some amazing things in this world. We’ve always known this informally, but we decided it was high time we recognized just how much talent, drive and generosity comes out of our little community.

Yes, it’s time for “Brags & Accolades!” This is quickly becoming a highlight and standard of Riverhill Living.

Have something to brag about?

Email your brag and a photo to aporboard@gmail.com

THE GRANDKIDS

Rhonda Wiley-Jones published her debut nov el, “Song of Herself,” this fall. The story follows Fiona Weston, an Iowa horsewoman in work boots and trousers, who sails to India in 1906 to discover her journey is not the quest for which she has yearned, not the escape from those who ridiculed her unconventional ways.

The book in paperback and Kindle versions can be purchased on Amazon. An audio version is coming. On Jan. 7, 2023, Rhonda will hold a writing workshop from 2 to 3 p.m. and an author signing, reading and talk from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library.

Greg and Laura Shrader continued their quest to visit as many of our National Parks as possible. In September, they traveled to Washington and visited Mt. Ranier, North Cascades and Olympic National parks.

In October, they traveled to California to visit Channel Islands and Pinnacles National parks. While there, they made a repeat visit to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National parks.

Greg has checked off 49 of the 63 national parks, and Laura has visited 46. More to come next year, although visiting American Samoa may not be in the cards (ed. – why not? I’ll carry the luggage.)

THE KIDS

From Karen Robert: “My oldest granddaughter, Alexandra Nicole Winkler, lives in the small town of Arcata, California, where the old-growth redwoods meet the Pacific Ocean breeze. In May, she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Management, from the first graduating class of California Polytechnic, Humboldt.

From Bob and Nancy Watts: “So proud of our granddaughter, Brittanee Anne West, who was matched with her first choice, University of Utah, for her residency in psychiatry. Most exciting part is her choosing to celebrate ‘Match Day’ with her Nana and Gpa in Riverhill!”

“Following her college career, she accepted a position with a local California government agency that specializes in air quality. Working under the North Coast Unified Air Quality District has been nothing short of rewarding for her, and she is beyond happy to continue to provide legal guidance and support to members of the community and those on the front lines of the California wildfire season.”

Shari Vahidi is bragging on both her children: “Like every mom, I’m so proud of my kids. My daughter was 11 and my son 6 years old when we moved to the U.S. from Iran. They did not know one word of English. They had to sit in ESL classes for two years to complete their English. After passing the test, they sat in the regular classes. They both were in the top 10 of their classes when they graduated from Tivy.

“My daughter went to Trinity University and UT for grad school. She’s a CPA, and my son is an electri cal engineer graduated from UT. Coming from a different background, language, culture and being taken away far from families and friends, they learned and took advantage of unlimited opportunities in this country.”

Ford and Sharon Smith have welcomed another great-grandson to the Smith family. Ford has just celebrated his 83rd birthday. Thankful for these wonderful blessings.

From Bettye Warnock: “This is my great-grandson. His name is Weston Bartz. He is one month short of 5 years old and spent last weekend with his father at their deer lease. He just had to have a short nap in the deer stand. He will be going again this weekend.”

Ford and Sharon Smith have quite a collection of children, grandchildren and great-grandchil dren!

Grandson Tucker is serving in the U.S. Army, sta tioned somewhere in Poland, and will be coming home in December. Ford and Sharon haven’t seen him for over a year. (Just look at that hunk!)

Aiden Spurlock is Janna Spurlock’s great-grand son, and he is 5 years old. He lives in Katy. Wes Bartz (page 13) and Aiden are big buddies, just like their great-grandmothers are good friends.

From Raymond Holloway and Mindy Wendele: Caleb Hartmann, great-grandson of Raymond, is on the championship football team in his hometown of Comfort. He plays on the 10- to 11-year-old squad of the Comfort Youth Football Association as a running back and outside linebacker.

The team finished 8-0 and traveled to AT&T Sta dium in Dallas to play an exhibition game before a Dallas Cowboy home game.

Caleb also plays Little League baseball and is a fifth grader at Comfort Elementary School.

‘Winter is coming.’

It is no surprise to many who live in the Hill Country that an occasion al storm can play havoc with our homes and services. Sudden stresses to the systems that support our daily lives can impact us severely.

The impact of Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 and the resultant loss of power, water and other grid utilities and services — including gasoline, roads, closed stores — all resulted in some serious issues, not the least of which was the ability to communicate.

HANK ORTEGA

Radio Operator

License

† Ham: KG5TKV

† GMRS: WRUN 505

In any emergency or even in a “forced” emergency, the usual means of communicating to advise others of your safety, call for help from Emergency First Responders or family, or even to notify utility providers of your situation, can be severely curtailed.

One of the first services to go down in such scenarios are cell phone towers. Most of them have “emergency power,” meaning they have a solar- or propane-powered generator to keep things running; however, in the early stages of panic, most towers are completely overloaded with callers, and signals get lost or declined by the system. These earliest hours are when emer

gency services also most require free communications to receive calls for help and to communicate between units.

Some emergency services can shut down all civilian traffic on cell systems, filtering only government (city, county, federal) traffic.

Land lines are an effective means of communication; however, many people don’t use an old form of phone, but rather have a phone that requires electricity to run. Lose pow er, and that phone is useless.

Radio springs to mind, and that is actually an effective source of com munications for emergencies locally and within its own limitations.

I often see on forums a newcomer to the world of radio stating, “I want a handheld radio that I can talk to my mom in Massachusetts, in case of an emergency.”

Not happening.

Realistically, the type of radio peo ple are looking for without knowing it is a General Mobile Radio Service radio.

These radios are inexpensive, cov er a wide range of frequencies and are powerful enough to communi

cate within your own neighborhood or even across town or possibly nationwide using “repeaters.” There is no esoteric knowledge needed, the learning curve is short, and the ability to communicate within the neighborhood is a real asset.

I am a licensed radio operator. I am both a Ham operator (general level) and a GMRS operator (only one level in GMRS). Ham operation requires training in electronics and theory and taking a test adminis tered by approved and federally licensed examiners (volunteers).

GMRS, on the other hand, re quires no training, no certification test and no electronic knowledge beyond what’s needed to operate the radio. Licensing is required, but a $35 license covers the entire family, which by definition is pretty loose in an emergency. The GMRS license is good for 10 years. Simple and easy. It is easy to apply, pay for and send off, and I got my GMRS license in 24 hours. GMRS radios can be purchased inexpensively, or you can spend a bunch. The choice is yours.

We know what that might mean.

APOR annual meeting

Our annual meeting for members of APOR was held Oct. 20 at the mansion at the Riverhill Country Club. We had a very good gathering, with close to 150 people in attendance. We welcomed back longtime residents and a good number of new residents.

Speakers included Jeff Hunter, the new club manager; Bill White, outgoing

president; Doug Holmes, head of the Architectural Control Committee; Deby Fowler, vice president; Niel Powers, outgoing secretary; and Mike Wilson. Mike shared his and the group’s appreciation for all the work done by the outgoing officers during their term.

New board members Mark Eisenman, Marnee Bscheid and Casey Mikeska

were voted in and introduced themselves to the members. You can learn more about each of them on page 6. The organization is in very good hands moving ahead.

Jill Gieseke and Warren Ferguson are leaving the board, and Hank Ortega is joining the board.

Riverhill Home Sales and Current Listings

GMRS is not at all like the CB fad of decades ago. That is still out there, but not really as usable in a local scenario such as this subject. GMRS requires no technical jargon or slang, and the user speaks in a normal, conversational manner.

But who do you call, and how do you work this out?

Like any process, practice makes perfect. Once you have two radios (they are cheap), you can practice using them and the repeater to talk to each other across town. That’s fun, and you get better and better at it.

Secondly, the Emergency Commo (short for communications) portion is practiced by conducting weekly or monthly nets, whereby a “Net Control” (everyone takes a turn being net control) in a certain group, such as a neighborhood, and works out how well or poorly each part of the neighborhood can hear or transmit to the others. Once that data is noted, other methods are worked on to improve the signal in certain areas (trees, buildings and hills all affect or improve signal).

A monthly check-in allows for practice for when emergencies occur. By the time an actual emergency occurs, many people in a

neighborhood are well versed, know who to check on and can pass the word to whomever needs to know.

In my case, for instance, I would receive maybe one or two messages out of 20-25 check-ins via GMRS, then switch to my Ham radio and communicate with emergency services, where others of my Ham club are stationed ready to relay traffic.

Data source is the Kerrville Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. January 1, 2019 to April 30, 2019. All residences including town homes and condos. Riverhill Sales January 1, 2019 to April 30, 2019

The larger system is already in place, and drills are being run. The only thing missing is a neighborhood-based rapid radio commu nications net to quickly advise if people are OK or needing help.

SALES PRICE NUMBER SOLD

I can speak at small meetings of imme diate neighbors in any part of Riverhill or before HOA meeting convened for that pur pose. I can help set up monthly or weekly check-in nets and act as Net Control until others are more comfortable with doing so.

100,000 - 199,000 0 200,000 - 299,000 6 300,000 - 399,000 3 400,000 - 499,000 3 500,000 - 599,000 1 600,000 - 699,000 0 700,000 - 799,000 0 800,000 - 899,000 0 900,000 - 999,000 0 > 1,000,000 0

Individuals can contact me at hankpac@ yahoo.com. I also know at least one other person in Riverhill is a licensed Ham opera tor, so please contact me, if you see this.

Talk to me about this subject if you wish at the next Association of Property Own ers or River Hill get-together, or email me anytime.

Best wishes to all.

Carolyn Northcutt

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Current Listings as of May 6, 2019

LISTED PRICE NUMBER ON MARKET

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