POA board celebrates success at meeting

At their work session last week, members of the Property Owners Association Board of Directors heard a report on the success of the legal department’s effort to lower the number of lots that don’t pay their assessment fees. At the regular meeting, they had the chance to thank the employees responsible for that success.

A special program called Celebrate Success rewards employees who have gone over and above their job responsibilities. On Thursday, April 27, the program recognized members of the legal department, the collections department and the accounting department.

Chief Operating Officer Tom Judson explained that in 2015, the POA had 8,035 lots that were not paying and that represented $1.5 million each year. That was about 20.6% of all lots, he said, and now that number is 4.5% or 1,767 lots.

“This has had a significant impact,” he said. The number of improved lots has also increased over that period — bringing in more of those higher assessment fees.

Also, Judson said, the number of unimproved lots owned by improved lot owners has also increased. Since 2017, the number went from 4,400 to 6,977, giving more control to residents.

Staff attorney Doug McCash said he believes it was a member of the legal team that initiated a program to contact owners of neighboring lots when a foreclosed lot went up for sale — giving them the chance to buy it.

Giving the regular monthly financial report, Chief Financial Officer Beth Nagel said all the restaurants were ahead of budget in revenue, as well as the golf pro shops and Tanyard Creek Driving Range. Annual golf fees and boat registration came in below budget. Expenses were also better than budget for the POA overall.

The water department is not

doing as well, partly because the wet weather has impacted water usage. Expenses were over budget for water.

The reports can be found at bellavistapoa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/March-2023-Presentation.pdf.

The board approved issues related to two capitol projects that were discussed at the work session.

The Water Department asked for a waiver to the three bid policy for a project that includes boring under Highlands Boulevard.

Because contractors equipped to bore under roads are in short supply, only one bid was received for the project so the three bid minimum was waived.

Also a plan to renovate the Tanyard Creek Golf Practice Center needs both civil engineering work and a golf course architect at a cost of about $55,000. The board approved that expense.

The board considered changes to the bylaws recommended by the Rules and Regulations Committee. The committee and the board spent hours updating POA policies recently and are now moving on to update and clarify the bylaws. The project is meant to make the governing documents more user friendly, Judson said.

All the proposed changes are on the POA website: bellavistapoa.com/governance/governing-documents/.

Another long term project to correct zoning issues is also underway. Judson explained that in many cases, the city’s original zoning was not correct. The city had to assign zoning very quickly when it was incorporated and those assignments may cause issues in the future if work is necessary on those buildings.

People have been asking why the zoning changes are happening, he said, but the POA has no plans to sell any property or build any new facilities at this time.

The annual meeting — and the end of the current board election — is scheduled for Tuesday, May 16, at 6 p.m. at the Bella Vista Country Club. It was scheduled for Lakepoint, but has been relocated, Judson said. Ballots were sent out earlier this month. Voting is taking place either online or via mail-in documents. The deadline is one half hour before the start of the annual meeting.