This letter is particularly addressed to newcomers to Bella Vista.
From hearing some of the vociferous comments against the POA board and COO Tom Judson, one might think that the numerous and sometimes ugly complaints against the management system of Bella Vista POA are something new.
Having been a resident of Bella Vista for now over 16 years, I can assure you that there has been non-stop criticism of our POA board and the management long before Tom Judson became our chief operating officer. I attribute a lot of that to the socioeconomic background of our members.
Most Bella Vistans come from the middle to upper-middle income strata of our country. They are educators, small business owners, middle management personnel, health practitioners, and health workers. These are successful people but people with strong opinions who question the decisions of our board and often think they would have or could have "done things differently."
I am not an exception to that. There are a few times I have thought certain things could have been done better. But the truth is all of us who have not actually been on our board and spent countless hours, attended endless meetings, and possibly sleepless nights pondering decisions to be made and the effect of those decisions on our future, have a scant perspective of what it takes to run a large-amenities community like Bella Vista.
What I can personally attest to is that, prior to our current manager taking the reins, Bella Vista was falling apart. We could not keep a restaurant open, many clubhouses were dilapidated and Bella Vista needed better direction. Mr. Judson and his management team have done an outstanding job of rejuvenating this amenities community.
Don't get me wrong. I personally liked Tommy Baily, who preceded Tom Judson, but Tommy was basically an accountant and had little or no experience in running an expansive, vibrant amenities community like Bella Vista. There were complaints that Tommy Bailey was highly overpaid but, when we began looking for a new COO to run this multi-million-dollar operation, we found that with inflation we were going to have to pay even more to get a qualified person to properly run our POA.
Tom Judson has proved himself to be the person to do it and, in addition, has saved us millions just on putting out the Trafalgar fire alone. I believe there are three people running for our POA board who are needed to continue the progress we have made in Bella Vista, Jan Simms has the financial background to help us, John Hudec is a businessman with a young family giving us that perspective, and David Brandenburg has shown himself to be a reliable POA board member and brings the long-term perspective of Bella Vista.
All three have personally expressed to me that, with the exception of golf, they want our lakes and amenities reserved for POA members only. Great!
Ralph Patterson
Bella Vista
Editorial on 05/13/2020