Ward 1 Position 1
Linda Lloyd
“I’ve always thought it’s important to be involved in any community in which you live,” she said. “I wanted to run for council because of that and also because I have a good education and experience that would benefit the council.”
Lloyd has a master’s degree in regional planning and 40 years’ experience in real estate as an agent, developer and builder in different communities, she said.
Recognizing the citizens as her clientele and providing top-quality customer service, she said, would be her top priority as a member of the City Council.
“I’ve got a lot of ideas of my own as to what should happen in the city going forward,” she said. “As an alderman, I think my number one priority should be to represent the citizens.”
Challenges facing Bella Vista
“One is being responsive to the needs of the citizens,” Lloyd said. “The other is fiscal responsibility.”
It can be difficult, she said, to meet those needs without spending more than people are comfortable with.
“Everybody wants their roads fixed, nobody wants to pay for it.”
Just establishing a business, she said, can be difficult.
She talked about a co-housing project she has been interested in putting together, which would ultimately be a walking cottage community. Actually making this feasible, she said, was extremely difficult.
“That’s a real problem when we talk about economic development,” she said. “If I was given the lots, I couldn’t make the numbers work.”
Another challenge, she said, is getting the public on board.
“A lot of people feel that they’ve been disenfranchised,” she said. “Their voices need to be heard.”
Specific steps the city can take
“This is something I’ve given a lot of thought to,” Lloyd said. “It’s really tough when you don’t have control of a lot of the land.”
Town Center, she said, is a good example. Because it’s owned by Cooper Communities Inc., the city can’t really do much to address any concerns one might have about it.
“Town Center is a huge disaster,” she said. “My office is there and every morning I’m afraid my windows are going to fall out because it’s so badly maintained.”
She said it would be ideal to convince Cooper to either develop it or sell it to someone who will.
“Right now, when you get off at (Arkansas Highway) 340 and (U.S. Highway) 71, that’s where you go,” she said. Having outdated property as one of the main representations of the city, she said, isn’t doing its image any favors.
But development, she said, needs to be selective.
“I don’t want to see Bentonville and Rogers spreading up 71.”
Chain restaurants, she said, could cause Bella Vista to lose its appeal and uniqueness. It’s important to foster the growth of more unique businesses, she said.
Getting water to the non-POA pockets
It’s a difficult issue to address, Lloyd said, because only Cooper can add land to the POA.
“You can develop without public water depending on what the use is,” she said.
There are some commercial properties, she said, on well water.
Additionally, she said, she just built a home that collects rainwater, which provides the property with an adequate supply.
“That’s another very affordable option,” she said.
Rebranding
“I think we’ve got to work harder with the local media groups to not exclude us,” Lloyd said.
She said that on the televised coverage of all the craft fairs in the area, for instance, there was plenty of discussion of every fair outside of Bella Vista.
“I didn’t hear one mention of the Bella Vista craft fair,” she said, “even though it’s the best one.”
It is important to actually rebrand, she said, because the demographics are changing in Bella Vista.
“We used to be 75 percent 55 and over, and now we’re closer to 50 percent 55 and over,” she said.
Jerry Snow
“I’m probably one of the few native Arkansans in Northwest Arkansas,” Snow said. He was born in central Arkansas, he said, and moved to Northwest Arkansas when he transferred to the Sam’s Club home office, then retired after 17 years.
He was a council member, he said, when he was appointed to fill the term of another member and then ran unopposed.
“I dropped out for two years due to some health concerns,” he said.
He’s been involved in some community associations, he said, including the Bella Vista Historical Society and Bella Vista Business Association.
“I like to think that I am the people’s candidate,” he said. People lack advocacy, he said, and he’s a firm believer in the idea that the government should represent “we the people.”
“I am very concerned that that is something that we’re losing.”
Challenges facing Bella Vista
Economic growth, Snow said, is the greatest challenge.
“The city runs on tax revenue,” he said, “and that has to come from one of two places.”
Individuals may be taxed, he said, or commerce may be. The lack of commercial development, he said, makes things more difficult.
“The mayor has an economic development program that we have to work on and improve,” he said. “We talk about being landlocked, but there is some land available.”
“There are commercial developers that are going to identify those property areas and ways to develop them that we might never think of,” Snow said.
Specific steps the city can take
“Developers, any major retail chain,” Snow said, “they like a high traffic count. But they don’t like congestion.”
Traffic, he said, is something he believes to be a major concern for the majority of Bella Vistans.
“The traffic light at Lowes (U.S. Highway 71 and McNelly Road), I think the traffic count there daily is 40k (40,000) cars,” he said. “Developers, commerce, I think they are reluctant to look at us to some extent because of this congestion.”
“There’s certain things I think we can do to deal with that issue,” he said. One step would be to post signs asking trucks on U.S. Highway 71 to keep to the right lane during peak hours. This, he said, could improve the overall flow of traffic.
Improving that flow, he said, improves other things in the city, and may increase its appeal to commercial developers.
Getting water to the non-POA pockets
The best place to start, Snow said, would be to look into getting a water system set up. The city is currently discussing the possible purchase of a water system from Centerton.
“That’s where it has to start,” he said. “If elected, I will do everything I can to support that effort and make that happen.”
Rebranding Bella Vista
“You can’t make them happen — so many things you talk about like remarketing Bella Vista,” Snow said. “That’s probably going to happen, but that’s not something you make happen. It’s going to have to happen over time.”
“I think a lot of these things that we are working on are coming to fruition,” he said, “but it will take time.”
The new trails, he said, may be an excellent opportunity for the city, not only for rebranding but also for economic development.
“We already have something that I think may be our equivalent of Crystal Bridges in our trail system,” he said.
The trails give the city a unique feature that can draw in guests, and also create opportunities for supporting a variety of related businesses.
The bike trails, he said, may actually be filling in a gap in Bella Vista’s recreation as golf declines.
“I understand there is some people that have even bought property in Bella Vista just to be closer to the trails,” he said.
The upcoming International Mountain Bicycling Association summit, he said, is an excellent opportunity to showcase what Bella Vista has.
“Sixteen-hundred people registered for this event in the first 30 minutes,” he said, “and this was people from all over the world coming to Northwest Arkansas.”
George Tracy
Candidate George Tracy did not attend the library’s forum.
Ward 2 Position 1 Jason Faulkinberry
“I’m a 15-year resident of Bella Vista,” Faulkinberry said. “I’ve purchased two homes.” He has a master’s degree in business management, he said, and owns two businesses.
“My first reason (for running for City Council) really is because I’ve seen a shift in the demographics in recent years.” There are a lot of younger families moving into the area, he said. “I would just like to be their voice and represent them,” he said
Faulkinberry said he also has some larger plans as a council member.
“There’s a project that’s really near and dear to me — I’d like to spearhead it if at all possible,” he said. “I feel like if we set that up in Bella Vista, Parks and Recreation, we could bring in extra revenue for the city year-round.”
A Parks and Recreation Department, he said, would help the city earn money and spare parents the drive to Bentonville to get their kids into things like athletic practice.
“I know we have a little bit of land to use, but we could make something happen,” he said.
Challenges facing Bella Vista
“I’ve done a little bit of research myself,” Faulkinberry said. “Most cities with our population are about 10- to 15-square miles. Ours is closer to 45.”
The city’s budget, he said, is also fairly low compared to the population.
“You’ve got to consider what’s being put on our police and fire departments,” he said.
Another significant issue, he said, is getting people to come together and work together on things. Bella Vista, he said, is very divided.
“The City Council has to flow,” he said.
Traffic, he said, is another concern.
“With the bypass going around, there’s a lot of concern about that,” he said.
Specific steps the city can take
“We need to be bold,” Faulkinberry said. “We need to go out and get with business owners.” It is necessary, he said, for the city to discover what’s keeping them away.
“If it is traffic,” he said, “that’s something we’re gonna have to deal with that.”
If the city can identify what issues are the most problematic, he said, it would be easier to tackle them and, as a result, spur development.
“We need to bring in restaurants. I’d love to have a few restaurants,” he said. “I’d like something closer to home.”
High-quality restaurants in particular, he said, are ideal and will bring in healthy crowds.
Clarifying some zoning, he said, is another thing that could benefit the city.
“I know there’s land that’s not completely set up the way it’s supposed to be,” he said. “I do understand that there’s some land that’s zoned commercial C-4 but isn’t really set up right.”
Getting water to the non-POA pockets
“This right here shows the importance of everybody working together,” Faulkinberry said. “It’s important, it can be done, but we’ve all got to have mutual respect for one another.”
Common goals, like growth, prosperity and high property values, make it easier to work together, he said.
“We need to start working together to make this happen or the city isn’t gonna be good for anybody,” he said.
Brent Stinespring
“My family and I moved to Northwest Arkansas in 2004,” Stinespring said. “I’ve been a teacher for 16 years, a Realtor for eight.”
He’s also chaired the POA joint advisory committee, he said.
“During that time we were able to get the Blowing Springs trail system established,” he said.
Stinespring said he helped draft the master trail plan, as well, which had some influence in the current plan.
Part of why he’s running, he said, is to help the city improve its property values.
“As a Realtor I’m continually shocked at how much less our property values are compared to our neighbors to the south.”
“I’m running for City Council to promote a clear vision,” he said.
Getting everyone on board with, in agreement over and working toward the same goal, he said, will result in progress for the city.
Challenges facing Bella Vista
“The idea of getting a unified vision that everyone agrees on,” Stinespring said. “When we say economic development, some of us think of a monster-sized building. I think getting that vision clarified for what we want in these areas would be very helpful.”
Different demographics in the city can be divided he said, and that can make it very difficult to reach a consensus.
“Part of that challenge to getting a unified agreement on that vision is we have a lot of different authorities,” he said.
And even if those authorities work together, he said, they need to be very clear about what is whose responsibility. Without handling that, he said, there can be some wasted effort as two bodies work on the same part of a task concurrently.
Specific steps the city can take
“I don’t think we’ve bought in as a community that the greenway is our best avenue for development,” Stinespring said. ”Instead of the Razorback Greenway fizzling out when it comes to Bella Vista, I’d like to see Bella Vista become the highlight of the trail system.”
Other cities have built a lot of business around it, he said, and it’s something of a missed opportunity in Bella Vista right now.
“We have a golden opportunity knocking on our doorstep and we’re not opening the door,” he said. “It’s a perfect time to say ‘how do we get the greenway to come up and still leave room for business?’ I don’t think we need to wait for every problem we have to be solved to start taking steps.”
To start, he said, the Greenway needs to continue north from Lake Bella Vista.
“We don’t need to wait any longer,” he said. “We can start right away.”
Bella Vista’s world-class trail systems, he said, are drawing people into the city.
“We already have people coming into our area,” he said, “but we’ve got to keep them here.”
Relationship between the city and POA
“What’s good for the city is good for the POA, what’s good for the POA is good for the city,” Stinespring said.
In areas where their functions overlap, he said, the city and POA need to clearly define their responsibilities to avoid any sort of confusion, which can be frustrating for Bella Vistans.
“I do feel strongly that it needs to be decided so that we don’t have the fingerpointing,” he said.
Charlton Troutner
“The reason why I’m running for City Council is because I used to come up here when my grandparents lived here,” Troutner said. “Me and my wife, we’ve lived up here for five years.”
The city has been a great place for them to live, he said.
“I love the changes that they have made with Bella Vista,” he said. “I also want to focus on more green initiatives.”
Recycle bins in public areas, for instance, is something he’d like to see.
It’s important, he said, for a candidate to be approachable and honest.
“I want to be a transparent candidate — that in this day and age seems to be rare,” he said.
Challenges facing Bella Vista
Economic development, Troutner said, is the biggest challenge in the city and also his primary focus as a candidate.
“We need to come together and we need to fix this and we can fix it,” he said. “You can either raise taxes to get more revenue that way, or you can focus on bringing in more business.”
More business, he said, makes for more tax revenue.
“I want to set up a tax credit for any business currently here that expands into Bella Vista somehow,” he said.
If a business already in Bella Vista extends its hours or opens a new branch, he said, they would qualify. Additionally, he said he’d like to see a tax credit for any business that moves into Bella Vista.
“I want to make this city more accessible to everyone,” he said. “I want to extend the hours of the amenities that are out there.”
Another issue with development, he said, is that while space is limited, there is some commercial property that’s available but sitting empty, like the old auto parts store that sits vacant behind Town Center.
“With that infrastructure already in place,” he said, “we need to find the right people to fill it.”
Specific steps the city can take
“I know numbers, I know business,” Troutner said. “That’s what I do. We need to focus on economic growth. We need to really focus on that.”
“It’s one thing to go to someone and talk to them and say ‘yeah, this is what we want to do,’ but it’s another thing to actually go do it.”
If elected, he said, he intends to form a committee focused on bringing in new businesses.
“I’ll personally speak with small businesses to get them here,” he said.
Relationship between the city and POA
“I think the biggest issue is communication,” Troutner said. “We need to talk more to each other — the POA, the City Council — and we need to find out what we really want.”
“I don’t believe in serving any kind of special-interest groups,” he said. “The only special-interest groups I believe in serving are the people of Bella Vista.”
Troutner said that, if elected, he would be sure to be available to talk to people, address their questions and hear their comments.
“I will listen and I will address it,” he said.
Jim Wozniak
Jim Wozniak, the incumbent seeking re-election to the Ward 2 Position 1 seat, was unable to attend the forum due to a medical appointment. Ward 3 Position 1 Rory Crivello
“My employment history is I’ve worked in civil engineering and land surveying for 35 years,” Crivello said. “I’ve designed roads, bridges and highways.”
More recently, he worked parttime with the POA as well, he said.
He served as president of the POA Softball Association, he said, and worked to help build the softball field. He’s volunteered for Bella Vista Hay Days as well.
Currently, Crivello is on the building permit and streets committee, he said, and he’s also the vice president of the school nutrition association.
“The reason I’d like to become a council member, an alderman for the city of Bella Vista,” he said, “is I’m very interested in the health, safety and well being of the people of Bella Vista.”
Challenges facing Bella Vista
“The budget is limited, we’re a growing city, we’re new and we’re facing challenges,” Crivello said. “Some of the major challenges facing Bella Vista in the future are those of the past.”
Paperwork, he said, needs to be streamlined, and the land-use map needs an update — something he said was mentioned at last Monday’s City Council work session.
“The commercial land that is in and around the city is owned by land developers,” he said. “Their ideas are a little different from the city.”
The city, he said, needs to work with these landowners and reach an agreement.
“You cannot continue to raise taxes on the residents, they’re not going to enjoy that.”
Specific steps the city can take
“If we can develop small pockets of commercial development throughout the area,” Crivello said, “that’s going to help.”
“There’s plenty of ways to encourage it,” he said.
Convincing landowners to get more properties rezoned commercial, he said, would be a good start.
If all goes well, he said, major roads could host a variety of commercial endeavors.
“We could have small businesses and strip malls all along the major arteries,” he said.
As far as bringing in big names,
he said, it’s hard to draw them in. Chain restaurants, for instance, often have requirements for new locations, and challenging locations are likely to be passed up. Things like traffic congestion, he said, can deter the opening of a new restaurant.
“The traffic flow, there’s not much you can do about it,” he said. “I’m going to say our streets are actually in very good condition. We’re right on schedule with our street plan.”
Club restaurants failing
“I worked for the POA for ten and a half years,” Crivello said. “We used to fill that club with events, churchgoers, card players.”
Many of the club restaurants failed, he said, because they began to deteriorate as a result of being overburdened.
The POA, he said, asked them to maintain the entire club buildings, which put a financial burden on them.
But currently, he said, things are looking better.
“I think the POA can do a good job here in the future with restaurants,” he said.
Special interests on city signs
“Any decoration to the city signs, the city has to maintain those,” Crivello said in response to a question about decorating city signs for things like cancer awareness month.
Additionally, agreeing to decorate signs for one group could open the door for more groups requesting representation.
“Which special-interest group are you going to allow?” he asked.
The city’s signs will need maintenance, he said, even without decoration. The crossing signs for the Back 40 trail system, he said, are a great example.
“There are a number of crossing signs installed,” he said. “They are solar, which is great, but the paint’s gonna fade, they’re gonna deteriorate over time.”
Doug Fowler
“I’m originally from Southwest Missouri,” he said. He holds a degree in marketing, he said, and worked for Kraft Foods. He and his wife moved to Bella Vista after their daughter graduated high school.
“The only place we looked to buy a home was Bella Vista,” he said. “This was the only place we wanted to live. We were tired of the traditional neighborhoods.”
Fowler said he worked for seven years after he moved here, but got an early retirement option three years ago.
“So the last three years I’ve spent doing all those things you wanna do when you retire,” he said.
Now he’s interested in public service, he said.
Challenges facing Bella Vista
“It’s a complex community, right?” Fowler said. “We have the city, we have the POA, we have Cooper Communities.”
While it’s easy to expect friction between them, he said, the situation between these authorities is getting better.
“I think this relationship has improved,” he said. “I have only had conversations with reasonable people, that’s the truth.”
Getting all of these entities on the same page, he said, should be a priority.
“I think it’s just getting everybody going into a parallel development toward the betterment of Bella Vista,” he said. “We just have to roll up our sleeves and get down to business and figure it out.”
Specific steps the city can take
“After I decided to put my name in the hat for this alderman position, I knew I had a lot of research to do,” Fowler said.
He said he spoke with a variety of authorities in the city to develop a better perspective.
“It is up to the City Council, one entity,” he said, “to do the research and figure out what the opportunities are.”
Working to get businesses into the area, he said, presents another challenge that could take a great deal of time.
“The city alderman position is what you make of it — how much time you want to spend,” he said. “I have the time and energy to put the time in and go and talk to business entities.”
“I wish I had specific things,” he said. “I’m doing my research right now and I can tell you, my head’s about to explode. Cause you talk to a thousand people, you get a thousand opinions and you have to get them all in the bucket to unlock that potential.”
Club restaurants failing
“The food was mediocre, the service was mediocre, the facilities were dated. It just wasn’t a great experience,” Fowler said. “The view is nice.”
He said he’s fairly optimistic about Lakepoint Restaurant and Events Center, the new name for the renovated Yacht Club on Loch Lomond.
“I’m willing to give the POA a shot at this,” he said. “The POA did a lot of research bringing these guys in here.”
“If in fact they can be successful,”
he said, “remember, that’s revenue for the city as well in terms of sales tax.”
“The POA is also, in total, a source of revenue for the city,” he said. “Everything that’s being created up here can bring tax dollars into the city.”
“I get tired of Gusano’s and I get tired of JJ’s,” he said. “I love them.”
Rebranding
“Sometimes I think there’s push-back to remarket our city,” Fowler said, “because there have been people who obviously came here for retirement purposes. I think retirees coming here today are a little different than retirees coming here 15, 20 years ago.”
Many are a bit younger, he said, and they’re more active, with a younger outlook.
Fowler said he went to the grand opening for the Back 40 trails and was a little surprised at what he saw. In addition to the younger crowd, he saw plenty of people in their 50s.
“It kind of unveiled this part of Bella Vista to me,” he said.
He also took a look into the biking scene and checked out Bella Vista’s lone bike shop, GPP Cycling, he said.
“The energy when I walked into that bike shop was really cool,” he said. “This demographic is ready to be heard here.”
Chuck Leffler
“My wife Linda, and I, have been married for 40 years,” he said. They retired in Bella Vista after he spent approximately 50 years working in the food industry in Los Angeles dealing with highend restaurants.
They liked Bella Vista as a retirement community, he said.
“Somehow, we’ve got to try and bring that excitement back to the community.”
“We like it here,” he said. “I think we’ve got to start here in the city and promote Bella Vista. Reinvent Bella Vista. Get the people to stay here and spend their money.”
“If we could have five restaurants out here,” he said, “we go out to eat a lot, that’s our entertainment.”
With the lack of options in town, he said, he and his wife often end up spending their time in Rogers.
Challenges facing Bella Vista
“We need a face lift out here,” he said. “I think that’s a challenge because everything is getting tired.”
“Cooper Properties — I don’t hear their name come up other than we pay them a lot of money,” he said. “Why don’t they reinvest in this community?”
Bringing business into the area, he said, would help residents enjoy their time in town more, while generating more revenue for the city.
“We’ve got to get people that live here to stay out here, to spend their money,” he said. “My wife and I, we come to Rogers, we spend a lot of money out there just for entertainment.”
They would be happy, he said, to stay in Bella Vista if there was more to do.
“Entertainment, whatever it’s going to take,” he said. “I know we need a new theatre out there.”
The current theatre, he said, is a fire trap.
Specific steps the city can take
“There’s a unique opportunity for Bella Vista to expand with the bypass coming in,” Leffler said. “We’ve got to figure out where to go with it, cause it’s going to pass us by again.”
This will create some new space for development that could see a significant amount of traffic, he said.
“You look at the growth — Fayetteville, Springdale, all revamping,” he said. “We’re sitting still.”
“I think we’re ready to bring a hotel out here of some sort, there’s nowhere to stay.”
Lighting and signage, he said, are also a problem. The city is especially difficult to navigate at night, because there aren’t many streetlights on the winding roads. It can be black outside once the sun goes down, he said.
“I go out at night, I think we need some streetlights out here,” he said. “I’ve had to literally get out of my car to look at a street sign.”
“People don’t go out after night,” he said. “They can’t find their way around Bella Vista at night.”
“I think we’ve got to do some inner-city rebuilding and get people to come out and rebuild Bell Vista,” he said.
Club restaurants failing
“Being in the restaurant business, so to speak, living in the Highlands, I’ve seen what’s happened with the restaurants,” Leffler said.
He’s not expecting Lakepoint to do remotely well, he said, because
hiring a particularly good chef can be very expensive, and that is hard to justify with the small number of hours the restaurant is intended to be open.
“We’re looking at an expense that is going to come into the picture,” he said.
The POA’s current management, he said, doesn’t really have much experience with keeping repeat business.
“Mr. Judson and his food guy came out of South Carolina,” he said. “Nobody mentions they were in a resort area. Makes a difference for food area.”