POA board sets ballot positions; approves corporate officers

In its first meeting of the new year the board of directors of the Bella Vista Property Owners Association approved a connector trail, heard reports from two of its committees and went over the results of the 2021 member surveys.

The meeting was held Thursday, Jan. 27, at the boardroom located at the Bella Vista Country Club.

The board’s first order of business was to hold a lottery drawing to determine the order of position on the ballot for the five board of directors candidates for this year’s election, which begins Sunday, April 10.

“This will be the order in which their names will be listed on the ballot,” said Election Committee Chairperson Robert Mitchell, “and in any communication about the election that references the candidates (they will be listed) in that order.”

The names were drawn in the following order: Jason Loyd, MaryAnn Bradley, Jerre Barron, Jr., Mike Abb and Sheila Heward.

After hearing reports from the lakes and recreation committees, as well as the association’s financial reports, the board voted (by a 7-2 count) to approve a connector trail at Tavistock Drive/Lesbury Lane. The trail, which will make it easier for hikers and cyclists to access Cunningham Corner, was proposed by citizens living in that area.

The board then turned to the matter of the annual appointment of corporate officers, a process which takes place during the first public meeting of the year.

“This is something that the state requires us to do every year, even though it’s the same people,” said Chairperson David Brandenburg.

Re-elected for another year were Tom Judson, president; Doug McCash, vice-president; Corinne Morin, secretary; Roxie Goines, assistant secretary; and Stacie Higgins, treasurer.

In its next order of business the board appointed Kathleen Coughlin and Cindy Thompson to fill two open positions on the Recreation Committee.

Turning its attention to a capital projects issue, the board heard from Judson regarding the purchase of a boat motor, the cost of which came in over the association’s capital threshold.

“We thought the purchase was going to come in under the $10,000 capital threshold,” Judson said. “We were under the impression we would not have to pay sales tax on it because a person pays sales tax when they rent the boat. But we were notified that was not the case and so the pre-tax number was $9,633 and the after-tax number was $10,548. So since it’s over the $10,000 threshold we are asking the board to make this a capital project. We will not spend the $10,000. That will be unused in the operating budget, so there will be no negative impact to our 2022 operating budget.”

Judson said future discussion could see that threshold pushed to a higher limit.

“Something we also mentioned at the (January) work session is that the rules and regulations committee is also reviewing all of the policies, and that may be a policy we may want to talk about and consider upping that threshold to maybe $20,000 or something of that nature. We’re a $32 million company and $10,000 is just a bit light. But that’s the policy that’s in place right now.”

The item was approved as a capital project.