Lakes committee hears from ranger

Members of the Joint Advisory Committee on Lakes had the chance to talk to a lake ranger at their meeting on July 18. They had some questions about enforcement of POA regulations.

Kenny Piel was the ranger. He told the committee about large groups of teenagers who like to swim off the Lake Avalon Dam. The dam, at the opposite end of the lake as the beach, can draw a crowd on hot days.

The problem, he explained, is that there is often one member with a photo ID who claims the rest of the group as his or her guests. When rangers question the guests, they often don’t know the name of the member, yet they insist that they are that person’s guests. Piel suggested that a limit be placed on the number of guests that a member can bring to an amenity. Committee members will work on a regulation to send to the full board.

Bella Vista Police aren’t interested in helping the lake rangers unless there is a law being broken, Piel said. They will come out if there is underage drinking, he said, but not to check for POA identifications.

He also assured the committee that all the lake rangers will be watching for wake boats on the larger lakes. The committee recommended a change to lake regulations to help prevent damage to the docks and shoreline. Wake boats — boats that can add ballast to increase the size of their wake for surfing or wakeboarding — are required to stay 150 feet from the shoreline. Boats pulling tubes and skiers are required to stay 100 feet from shore. Piel said the lake rangers will discuss the new regulation with anyone they see on a wake boat.

There are still unregistered boats on all the Bella Vista lakes, but now rangers can accept registration fees from the owners while they are using their boats. Each ranger has an iPad with a credit card attachment so they can accept fees on the spot, Piel explained.

Some members insist that they didn’t realize there is an additional usage fee for lakes if they have a paper ID card. In the past, rangers could only ask them to go pay at membership services. Now they can collect the fee themselves. It’s a good source of revenue for the POA, Piel said.

Rick Echols, Lakes and Parks Superintendent, said he now has a full complement of seven lake rangers who also patrol the parks.