Bourke announces candidacy for mayor
Steven Bourke, a member of the Bella Vista City Council for just over three years now, has announced his candidacy for mayor of the city for the November general election.
Current Mayor Peter Christie said in November of 2021 he would not seek a third term, instead announcing his intention to run for the State Senate District 34 position, which was newly created for the north-central portion of Benton County.
Bourke holds one of three council positions set to expire at the end of this year. The other two are held by John Flynn, who is also running for mayor, and Larry Wilms.
Bourke (“It rhymes with work,” he said, “(as in) Bourke will work for Bella Vista.”) said his goal as mayor is to “maintain a strong culture of financial responsibility across all city services and departments” while seeking to continue the city’s low crime rate.
“No community has zero crime but Bella Vista has a very low crime rate relative to any other cities in Arkansas,” he said. “We consistently rank in the 10 best
cities in Arkansas for per capita crime rates. We will protect that.”
Bourke, who spent his career in information technology management, grew up in Pine Bluff as one of four brothers raised by a single mom and began working odd jobs from the ages of 10 through 17: mowing yards, running a daily paper route, gas station attendant, grocery store bagger and carry-out specialist as well as a dishwasher and pizza maker at the legendary Big Banjo Pizza in his hometown.
He feels those early jobs helped lay the foundation of a work ethic that pushed him to “Always work hard and do your best,” and “Always shoot straight with people.”
Bourke graduated in 1981 from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree, participating in work study programs during those years to help fund his college education.
“I learned business fundamentals and majored in computer programming,” he said. “It paid off landing me some great jobs and opportunities to lead others.”
After receiving a Masters
in Business Administration from Crummer Graduate School at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., in 1992, a program he called “a huge challenge” and one that emphasized “leadership, teamwork, problem solving and financial analysis,” he worked as a programmer and project leader for Phillips Petroleum in Bartlesville, Okla.; a senior manager for AT&T in Orlando, Fla.; a director of IT infrastructure for Level 3 Communications in Tulas, Okla.; and a senior manager for Chesapeake Energy in Oklahoma City, Okla.
During that time Bourke married his wife, Virginia (Ginny), and they raised two daughters.
“We moved back to Arkansas in 2017, choosing Bella Vista as our new hometown,” he said. “Ginny and I have always been active in the communities where we lived. Since moving to Bella Vista I’ve been able to commit a lot of time to serving our community in multiple ways.”
Besides serving as a councilman, Bourke has been a volunteer on the Bella Vista Planning Commission, was a three-time co-coordinator for the Bella Vista 6 in 60 Trash PickUp; and in 2018 completed the Bella Vista Police Department’s Citizen Police Academy.
He has also been a member of the Positively
Bella Vista Volunteer Patrol, helping with yard cleanups, pressure cleaning and odd jobs “for Bella Vista neighbors needing a helping hand,” and has served as a volunteer on the Property Owners Association Joint Action Committee as well as a TAP trail maintenance volunteer.
“We are a community of diverse people with many different visions for our future but we all share common ground in wanting Bella Vista to remain safe, beautiful and financially solvent,” he said. “By any standard of comparison, Bella Vista is a safe place to live and as a city we are on firm financial footing. These are two non-negotiable dimensions of my approach to the job of mayor. We will continue to make safety (police, fire, EMTs) a top priority and we will commit to sustaining the strength of our financial profile.”
Bourke said if he is elected he will see to it that the citizens continue to have a solid police department.
“We have a strong police department here to serve Bella Vista residents,” he said. “If you ever need them, they will be there for you. Our police force will be kept strong so bad actors know their nonsense won’t fly here.”
And he said the same goes for the other safety departments.
“Our firefighters and EMTs are heroes among us,” he said. “Again, if you ever need them, they will be there for you. I know this from first-hand experience.”
As the city continues through the construction phase of new safety facilities, Bourke said it will be important to see these projects through while keeping them on track and on budget.
“We have a new public safety facility under construction funded by a voter approved bond,” he said. “The bond also includes investments to improve fire protection. We will oversee these large projects through to completion and will maintain our outstanding safety profile. The sales tax bond for safety was originally projected to have a 20-year payback but we are way ahead of schedule due to a consistent trend of yearover-year increases in city revenue from county and city sales tax. We will manage to shave several years off of that payback period.”
Bourke said even though the city’s current financial situation is strong, it will be important to keep a “keen focus on financial responsibility and never spend beyond our means.” And, he said, “Elected officials of Bella Vista will not have to raise taxes over the next four years if we are good
financial stewards. And we will be.”
The city is currently in the process of receiving funds in the amount of $5.9 million from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan (ARP). Bourke said while the potential is there for “a wide range of potential uses” for the funds, he cautioned that the city has a “clear responsibility” to determine uses that will “provide the most value to residents,” adding that uses of the ARP funds “should be determined with public input and once determined, the projects will be managed efficiently through completion.”
During his time as a councilman the city made two policy changes that he feels should translate into less of a burden on the city.
“This year we changed from a city policy of generously improving roads for new home construction to a more practical policy,” he said. “Now home builders and commercial developers will bear more responsibility for the expense of road improvements.
“Also this year, the city council implemented impact fees on new construction so more infrastructure costs are recovered from home builders and commercial developers. These actions reduce the cost burden of growth that previously fell entirely on city
tax coffers.”
And while pointing out a rise in population figures for Bella Vista, Bourke said his administration would make sure any future growth would not threaten the quality of life that lures many to Bella Vista.
“The annual average population growth of Bella Vista from 2010 to 2020 according to our recent census was 1.3% per year,” he said. “By comparison, Bentonville grew at a rate of 4.37% and Centerton at a rapid rate of 6.46%. Overall, Benton County grew at an average annual rate of 2.54%. Annual growth rates are likely higher in the last couple of years but Bella Vista growth rates are less than half those of our county and neighboring cities. We will not encourage unchecked growth that threatens the foundations of our quality of life: a beautiful, safe, connected community with a village feel where neighbors care about each other.”
He added, “We will encourage a vibrant environment in which our local businesses and employers can thrive. This effort is not driven by a need to expand city tax coffers. It is driven by our recognition that a vibrant local business community makes for an improved quality of life for our residents.”
For more on Bourke’s campaign visit bvmayor. com.