With nowhere near enough votes needed for approval, the Property Owners Association's attempt to change its governing documents crashed last week.
The 50th annual POA membership meeting drew only about 50 members. Three people were elected to the board of directors. The ballot also contained proposals to change three things in the Declaration.
The newest member of the Property Owners Association Board of Directors will begin his term on June 1.
Andrew Davis works full time at Walmart Data Centers and has two young children who go to Bentonville schools. He and his wife moved to Bella Vista in 2007. They were attracted by the natural setting and the space between neighbors.
“Bella Vista is a prime location if you’re not looking for a cookie-cutter subdivision,” he said. But while it can feel like you’re out in the country, everything you need is close by, he said.
After nine years in the area, he decided he wanted to make a difference in his community, so he decided to run for the POA board. He was elected last week.
His first step, he said, is to study the community.
“I’m trying to understand what the community as a whole is, and what the needs are,” he said. “This is my first time around and before I can make decisions, I need to have a good understanding of what the people want and what the community needs.”
As he looks at the community he’ll use his perspective as the father of a young family.
— Lynn Atkins
Two of the changes proposed to the Declaration would have made future changes a little easier. Now, in order to change the Declaration, 75 percent of all members must approve the change and, if approved, there is a three-year wait before a change is effective. Since participation in recent elections is well under 75 percent of all members, it's impossible to approve a change.
The proposal would have set a quorum of half the members for future votes on Declaration changes. According to the proposal if half the members participate in the election, 75 percent of those members would have to be in favor of a change.
The POA sent ballots to 25,854 members, who represent 32,204 Class A votes.
Each of three proposals were counted separately, but none of them came close to the necessary 75 percent.
On the proposal to lower the numbers needed to change the Declaration, 6,444 votes were in favor and 2,806 were against.
On the proposal to abolish the three-year waiting period for changes, 5,946 were in favor and 3,265 were against.
On the proposal to allow landlords to assign membership privileges to their long term tenants 6,562 were in favor and 2,670 were against.
The Class A votes represent lots.
All the Class B votes belong to the village's developer, Cooper Communities Inc. All were cast in favor of all three changes.
While the Declaration changes didn't pass, there is no quorum requirement for the board member election. Only three candidates ran for three open seats.
The two incumbents, John Nuttall (6,801 votes) and Bruce Portillo (6,657 votes) and a new candidate, Andrew Davis (6,957 votes) were all elected.
During the open forum, a member asked if other candidates were rejected by the board. Corporate Secretary Genevieve Henderson explained that she only received three sets of paperwork -- from candidates Nuttall, Portillo and Davis. She certified that each had 50 signatures of members in good standing. There are no other qualifications for candidates, she said.
After the meeting she said she handed out five sets of nomination papers to people who were not incumbents, but only one of those sets -- Davis' -- was returned.
Charlie Teal, a former board member, explained that, in the past, the board looked at potential board candidates and disqualified some. That practice ended several years ago, he said.
Jim Parsons, identifying himself as the chairman of the Bella Vista Patriots, also spoke at the open forum. He said a member of his group had a question about the hiring of General Manager Tom Judson. He provided a copy of a page from the minutes of a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Fairfield Mountains POA (also known as the Rumbling Bald Resort) on July 27, 2015.
Explaining that it was a yes or no question, Parsons asked, "In the interview and hiring process of Mr. Judson, were the Bella Vista POA board members aware that the Rumbling Bald Resort board members voted to not renew Mr. Judson's automatic employment agreement and that his contract would end on January 31, 2016?"
Vice Chairman Brad Morris, filling in for board Chairman Bob Brooks, answered. He said he was not aware of that information, but it probably wouldn't have mattered. It's not unusual for automatic renewal contracts to become employment at will in the business world. The information would not have changed his vote, he said.
General News on 05/25/2016