With just two weeks left before the annual meeting, Property Owners Association staff continues to encourage members to vote. At a Marketing Committee meeting on Monday, an incentive to vote was added. Every ballot returned will give the member a chance to win 12 months worth of assessments paid. Volunteers will also be busy calling members who have not yet voted.
On Monday, only 20.7 percent of the ballots had been returned. Ballots were mailed in April.
This year's ballot contains three proposal to change the Declaration, which is the document that controls Bella Vista's operations as a POA.
In order to pass a Declaration change two thirds of the members must vote in favor.
The board of directors election, which does not require a quorum, has only three candidates, so the three candidates, Bruce Portillo, John Nuttall and Andrew Davis will all be elected.
Some 32,202 lots make up the POA. Each lot in good standing -- which means each one that is current in assessment payments -- gets one vote. In order to approve a Declaration change, two thirds of the votes must be cast in favor of the change. That's about 21,000 votes.
In 2014, when an assessment increase was on the ballot, 25,251 ballots were mailed, representing 31,878 lots. Only 9,936 members representing 12,574 lots voted. Later in the year, a second election was held on a different assessment plan: 17,106 votes were counted. All recent elections failed to meet the two-thirds requirement.
The first two proposals on the ballot are designed to make future Declaration changes a little easier.
The new language will require only a majority of lot owners in good standing to vote in an election for a Declaration change. If half the eligible voters participate, a two-thirds majority of those voters will be needed to approve the change. If approved by the membership, it won't take affect until 2019.
The second change reduces the waiting period for an approved change to take effect. Right now it's a three-year wait. The new provision shortens that to one year. If approved, the one-year wait won't take effect until 2019.
The third Declaration change addresses a different issue. The Declaration doesn't allow long-term renters the rights to use the amenities. The proposal will allow members to assign their privileges to other people, so landlords will give up their own rights associated with a specific lot in favor of their renters. The renters can become members instead of guests at the facilities. The lot owner will retain the right to vote.
General News on 05/04/2016