For Josh Hart, serving on the POA Board of Directors will be a learning experience.
"The board,"he said, "has a bad reputation. I wanted to figure out what is going on. Why do people not like the board?"
He believes one problem is that people don't really understand the POA and their relationship to Cooper Communities, the company that developed Bella Vista.
"People think Cooper has the board in their pocket and that's not true," he said. One solution to the image problem is for the board to be more transparent so residents can see why they make their decisions.
Hart, who works as a Walmart vendor, has lived in Bella Vista for 12 years. He remembers when he came to northwest Arkansas from Atlanta. At first, his family, which included six children, settled in Bentonville, but once his wife brought him to Bella Vista, he knew it was where they would live. He loves the natural beauty of the area and it's an easy commute to his office in Bentonville.
Trails, he said, would be a good investment.
"People like to walk outside," he said. "Those are the things we need to attract people to the area."
He also would like to see the city add some sidewalks so pedestrians can walk safely.
But he doesn't think subsidizing restaurants is a good idea. The two failed assessment increases showed him that residents want their money spent wisely.
"We can't subsidize a restaurant where two or three have already failed," he said. "We need to give people what they want but not when it doesn't make sense."
Marketing, he said, will be important to the community, although he hasn't seen the new POA marketing plan yet. But people need to see what Bella Vista has to offer.
"It's a nice community we live in," he said, "but if we don't let people know about it, they won't come. One person can't do it. If you don't sell the place, it won't sell itself."
Golf brings people in, he said, and Hart said he plays golf, although not as often as he would like.
"Golf attracts people, but we need to make sure it's profitable."
The POA should be run as a business, he said.
Every business needs a plan and that should be a high priority for the board.
"We need to look into our future, rather than playing catch up later. We need to plan ahead," he said. He wants to be part of that plan.
General News on 03/31/2015