POA votes to close Berksdale

When the Bella Vista Property Owners Association met on Thursday, it was standing room only in the Country Club boardroom. One year after flood-damaged golf courses along Little Sugar Creek, the board was expected to vote on the fate of at least one of the courses. When the meeting adjourned two and a half hours later, the board had unanimously voted to close Berksdale, the first in a string of three courses that share the valley. And the board, at the request of member Jim Abrahamson, moved from its monthly meeting into an executive session which ended with a vote to remove board member John Nuttall.

A week earlier, at a regularly-scheduled work session, former chairman Bob Brooks, charged John Nuttall, the vice chairman of the board, with violating POA policy by communicating directly with POA members. He cited policy 6.02, which states that responses to “correspondence, emails or social media” must be clearly identified as personal opinion.

The board went into executive section last week and discussed the situation but took no action.

Board member Jim Abrahamson drew up a complaint against Nuttall dated April 26. He cited three violations. First, Nuttall is alleged to have violated the board of director’s ethics policy 1.10 which states that “directors shall adhere to the requirements of confidentiality. Abrahamson provided an email from Nuttall to “numerous property owners.” The email warns that board chairman Ron Stratton would present a plan to close two valley courses, Berksdale and Kingswood, and build a new course on land the POA owns north of city limits.

Later, Nuttall explained that Stratton’s plan had been discussed at a public meeting on April 10, so it wasn’t confidential.

The second charge was the violation of policy 6.02 which Nuttall allegedly did by posting on Facebook and answering emails in which he seemed to speak on behalf of the board.

Finally, according to the document, Nuttall allegedly commented to Brooks, using private messenger, that he didn’t believe the POA needs five golf courses. According to Abrahamson’s document, Nuttall supported his opinion with statements that were “factually incorrect, which further undermines the integrity of the board.”

In a statement issued Friday morning, Nuttall said that he had enjoyed his four years on the board and the members he worked with.

In an email dated April 29, Nuttall said he was removed from the board because he didn’t support the plan to build a new golf course on land the POA owns at the Arkansas-Missouri border. The new course would cost some $7 million. To support his assertion, Nuttall provided the text of the Messenger conversation that Abrahamson cited.

“We need you to lead regeneration of our community,” Brooks wrote about the possible new golf course and a housing development around it.

Nuttall responded, “My main issue with Ark/Mo is we don’t

need 5 golf courses, on our current trend rounds drop to 120,000 in four years that is three golf courses. Why build a fifth?”

Berksdale

During the open forum, which is a regular feature of board meetings, about 15 members spoke, mostly in support of keeping Berksdale open. Stratton pointed out that the costs of keeping the course would drive up the fee to play golf.

Resident Dick Hartman asked why the board was voting to close the nine holes of Berksdale that

have been open since last summer. Why not wait until there’s another flood to make that decision?

Stratton said that the money that is used to maintain the nine holes at Berksdale can be spent on the Country Club, the northernmost course in the valley. The Country Club is the higher priority, he said. The proposal, which passed unanimously, will close the holes that are currently open at the end of this year.

Another proposal, also passed unanimously, will permanently close the nine holes that have not been in use this past year. The closed portions were still maintained as a golf course, but that level of maintenance will now stop and the area will be mowed to one length.

The third proposal also passed. It authorized a study to look at the demand for current and future golf in Bella Vista. None of the proposals mentioned the middle course, Kingsdale.

During the open forum, general manager Tom Judson said that one possible future use for the land would be an extension of the Razorback Greenway — the bicycle path that runs from Fayetteville to Lake Bella Vista. When a resident asked if Berksdale might become a private park for Bella Vista residents only, Stratton said that no decisions have been made on the use of the land.

Two members of the board, Stratton and Josh Hart, will leave their positions on June 1 and chose not to run for re-election. Two other members, Pat Laury and David Whelchel, are on the ballot. Ballots have already been mailed for the annual election which closes on May 15.

According to POA governing documents, the board may fill an empty board seat by appointing a member to serve until the next election. In 2015, the board removed director Linda Leffler in early April amid allegations of an ethical violation. Since the ballots for the May 2015 election had already been mailed, it was determined that the vacancy would be filled by appointment and that the appointment would be made after the election.

There were five candidates for three seats in 2015, and the appointee, Bruce Portillo, was not one of them. He served a one-year term and then was re-elected in 2016 for a full three-year term.