POA board hears details on proposal
The POA Board of Directors heard the details of a proposal to raise the monthly assessment this past Thursday. Assessments must be approved by the membership. If the board agrees to move forward, the election is scheduled to begin Oct. 9 when ballots go to members in good standing. On Nov. 19, the results will be announced at an open meeting at Riordan Hall.
Once ballots are received, members can vote through email or regular mail.
The proposal asks for an $11 dollar increase for improved lots and $2 for unimproved lots. Along with the increase, a new fee schedule will take effect that will abolish the user fees at several amenities for members with an Activity Card. The Activity card replaces the photo ID and will cost $30.
A change in the POA by laws was recommended by the Rules and Regulations Committee that will make it clear that votes attached to lots owned by the POA cannot be used in any election. Changes to the bylaws must be read and approved twice. The
first reading will be at this week’s meeting on Thursday, Aug. 22. It will be effect for the assessment election, General Manager Tom Judson said.
Judson presented a report on non-performing lots — lots that don’t pay the monthly assessments. Most of the lots are unimproved.
When Judson started at the POA in January 2016, there were 7,334 lots that did not pay an assessment along with more than 700 owned by the POA. Judson told the board he hired staff to do collections and they have been successful. There are now about 5,661 nonperforming lots. Also, the POA has sold many lots owned by the organization.
Judson offered a comparison to Hot Springs Village POA — which also was developed by Cooper Communities. That POA has almost 8,000 lots that don’t pay and owns about 3,500 lots. That means 33 percent of the lots in Hot Springs Village are not paying assessments. In Bella Vista, about 12 percent of lots don’t pay assessments. Judson assured the board that the collections staff is still working.
The water department recently closed a project that turned out to be 27 percent over budget. It was a water line replacement in one of Bella Vista’s oldest neighborhoods. Expenses were over the estimate because of the unexpected amount of rock encountered by the contractors. The board will vote to authorize the expense this week.
Judson also reported on ongoing projects. He said
the sale of the ArkMo land will probably close this week. Proceeds from the sale may go to help pay the costs associated with the Trafalgar Road fire which was also the subject of a report. The fire is out, an irrigation system is in place that is helping the grass planted over the site. The state’s Department of Environmental Quality will have to approve the final plan to close out the site.
The ADEQ is also considering a plan to “close” the stump dump on the West Side. No one has been allowed to dump there since last summer and the plan to close it includes covering a large area with a geo-synthetic liner. Since the liner would have to be ordered, the project could take months, he warned.
The regular board meeting will be Thursday, Aug. 22 at 6 p.m.