WARD 1, POSITION 1
George Tracy Linda Lloyd Jerry Snow
Ward 1, Position 1
George Tracy said he built a house in and moved to Bella Vista in 1998, shortly after retiring from the U.S. Air Force. • The role of an alderman: “I think the aldermen, no matter who they are, should be for the people,” he said. “As well as being the overseer for the community. Taking care of the city business, making sure it’s done correctly and ethically and legally.”
A member of the City Council, he said, should also spend a great deal of time researching and informing himself or herself on the city’s issues so that they can work for the good of the whole community.
“There shouldn’t be a hidden agenda,” he said.
• Why he wishes to become an alderman:
“I think that I am probably like every other American,” Tracy said, “who is fed up with the government.”
When his children were growing up, he said, he found the umpire’s calls in their baseball games frustrating. Rather than complaining, however, he said that it was best to become one of the umpires.
“I’m not saying that the aldermen we have are doing anything wrong,” he said.
“I want to make a difference,” he said, “a positive impact. And it may not be what I want, my personal opinions have to come second.”
“It’s a calling,” he said. “I served my country 20 years and I still got a lot of life left.” • Qualifications: Tracy said he served in the Air Force for 20 years, and that he has 15 years’ experience in human resources.
Additionally, he said, he’s lived in Bella Vista and seen a lot of the changes it’s gone through, and he thinks it’s important to maintain Bella Vista’s value as a retirement community while keeping up with the changing demographics.
“When I moved here in ’98,” he said, “Bella Vista was a huge retirement community. I see a lot of newer, younger folks moving in. I still don’t want to lose that retirement aspect, but I think that as a city we need to keep up with the new times.”
• Bella Vista’s biggest challenges in 2017:
Residential and commercial growth, Tracy said, should be any city’s top priorities.
“I think long term, the city needs to focus on the growth,” he said. “When I moved here in ’98, they
were building all over.”
“I remember in ’98, there was a new house coming up everywhere,” he said.
“But I still want to keep the beauty of Bella Vista,” he said. “Where else can you get up in the morning and see deer in your back yard?”
• Accessory structures: “You’ve got to make it right for everyone,” Tracy said. “We don’t want to detract from our neighborhoods.”
The city needs to get involved, he said, because while the POA does have its own set of regulations, there are pockets of the city that the POA doesn’t cover.
“I do feel that a detached garage should not be in the front plane of the house,” he said.
“The attached building should look like your primary residence,” he said. “Space is limited, but it needs to be done in a way that doesn’t detract from the community or lower property values.”
But a specific, wide-reaching rule, he said, would be difficult to generate, largely because there is such a variety of structures, including garages, sheds and boat docks.
Tracy said he’d need more complete data, like what a council member has access to, in order to form a more solid opinion on the topic.
“I would like to come up with a workable solution,” he said.
Ward 1, Position 1
Linda Lloyd has lived in Bella Vista for six years. She’s a principle broker with Acorn Realty in Bella Vista. Lloyd said she’s previously lived in Vermont and Amarillo, Texas. Additionally, she said, this is not her first campaign in Bella Vista — she ran for mayor last year. Her campaign website is http://llforbv. com/ • The role of an alderwoman: “It’s to help guide the city through responsiveness to the residents and business owners,” she said. “We’ve also got to balance the required and the requested services with fiscal responsibility.”
“We’ve got to be responsive to all residents,” she said.”The city’s also got to recognize that customer service to our residents is number one.”
• Why she wishes to become an alderwoman:
“I feel it’s important to be involved wherever I live,” she said.
Aside from the desire to help steer the community, she said, she also believes that she’s very qualified between her education and work experience, something she believes is important that council members have.
• Qualifications:
Lloyd said she believes she has the right combination of education and skills, including a master’s degree in regional planning and 40 years’ experience in real estate as an agent, developer and builder in different communities.
“Marketing and real estate is something we really need to work on,” she said. “And I’ve got that experience.”
“I’ve run a three-town planning district,” she said. “I’ve been involved in grant writing for trails and a variety of other things. I’ve got extensive experience in real estate development and marketing.”
She’s also president of the Bella Vista Business Association, she said, and she’s on the Bella Vista Community TV and Bella Vista Ambassadors boards, as well as the Bella Vista Board of Zoning Adjustments.
She also volunteers with the museum here in Bella Vista, she said. • Bella Vista’s biggest challenges in 2017:
“Balancing what people want the city to do with fiscal responsibility,” Lloyd said. “For instance, everybody wants their roads fixed, but nobody wants to pay more taxes.”
Trying to work in what everyone needs and wants to do without increasing the cost of living in Bella Vista, she said, could prove difficult.
“That tap dance is one of the hardest things that we need to do,”
she said.
The city’s branding, she said, can be another concern.
“Marketing and real estate is something we really need to work on,” she said. “And I’ve got that experience.” • Accessory structures:
“While I value personal property rights,” Lloyd said, “I feel that when somebody puts up a structure that adversely affects your ability to sell your house, or sell your house for as much money, that’s a problem.”
If an offensive structure goes up in a neighborhood, she said, it can be difficult for people to sell property near it. This is especially problematic, she said, because a home may be the only significant asset many retirees have.
“We’ve got a lot of 80-year-old people that may not have a pension or retirement fund — but they’ve got their house that’s paid for,” she said. “And if they can’t sell their house as quickly or for as much money, that’s a huge problem. The equity that they have in their home constitutes the majority of their finances in many cases.”
Ward 1, Position 1
Jerry Snow has lived in Bella Vista for 20 years, and lived in Russellville for 20 years before that.
He also runs his own sublimation printing shop, Pop’s Custom Creations. • “The role is one of legislation,” Snow said. “To either introduce or support legislation in the interest of the people of Bella Vista or the future of Bella Vista.”
•
“I enjoy being of service to the people,” he said. “I think our city is in a position to experience meaningful progress.”
“I believe in people’s representation,” he said. “When I was alderman, if someone came to me with a problem, I wouldn’t just give them lip service. I’d go see them.” • “I’ve got prior experience in municipal government as an alderman,” Snow said. Snow was on the City Council previously, and he was also mayor of a small town about 40 years ago, he said.
Snow said he is also on the Historical Society board of directors and he’s a member of the Bella Vista Business Association.
“I would consider myself to be blessed with common sense,” he said, “which seems to be a lost art anymore.”
•
“One of the challenges that will always be facing us is economic development,” he said. “A city is supported either by taxation of the people or commerce.”
The terrain, he said, makes it very difficult for any large retailer to move in. Beyond that, he said, it could become difficult for a business that isn’t based in town to join the Bella Vista Business Association. His response, he said, was a proposal to make entry into the association easier.
Because of the area’s increasing size, he said, larger chains could become attracted to Northwest Arkansas, but the difficulties in becoming part of the community and finding a spot for a retailer can make Bella Vista hard for them to approach.
“A current challenge that we have is traffic congestion,” he said.
With the current growth, he said, the bypass may help to alleviate some traffic, but it isn’t going to completely fix it.
Additionally, he said, the city’s land use and master street plans should be updated, and the city needs to look into some new facilities.
“A new City Hall, police and courts facility is something that’s going to have to happen,” he said. • “I see that issue as being much simpler than what it is going through,” Snow said. “It seems to me the simplest way would be the accessory structure be tied to the square footage of the house.”
While he said he doesn’t have a specific percentage in mind, he believes it would be ideal to use some sort of ratio — 50 percent, for example, would allow a 1,000-square-foot garage to be built alongside a 2,000-squarefoot home.
“A big concern of everyone is the aesthetics of that accessory structure,” he said.
Snow said he believes a structure that can’t be seen from the street should be able to be built without much concern for looks, but one built that is visible from the road should match the house.
“To me it seems simple and reasonable,” he said. “But it would be unreasonable to the man with a 2,000-squarefoot house who wants to build a 4,000-square-foot accessory structure. You cannot come up with an accessory structure ordinance that will satisfy everyone.”