Bella Vista POA.

[LJS]

Jim, I'm not really sure? But I don't expect that it would be that hard to dissolve the POA Board... and get rid of the rest of the Administration as well. After all... we voted them in office. Looks to me like we can vote the whole office and the administration out of existence. First of all though, I believe that at least half of the community would have to be in favor of ridding the community of the POA. After that... I'm almost sure we might need to take our votes, or a signed petition to a decent lawyer. One who's not in the "pocket" of the present Administration in Bella Vista. After all... the present administration... as well as the previous board members of the POA... have what appears to be some heavy duty legal issues brewing. It's very obvious that they've mismanged funds that should have been disignated, only, for maintaining and repairing the water lines in this community. That's a big issue. One that any good lawyer could hang them on... and then hand them their walking papers. If not... then we might as well all throw our hands up in the air.... in favor of greed, mismanagement of funds, and the negligence of these incompentent boobs. Who, in their right mind, would even think for a single moment... that playing a round of golf is more important then repairing the water lines that bring clean drinking water into our homes? Bella Vista, simply does not need anyone running the community who doesn't have more brains then that.

But back to your original question... I really don't see where any of this should be a huge problem... but only if we get the majority of the property owners to stick together on this issue.

This website is a great site to direct any member of the community to who feels the same way we do. While it's not the perfect means of communication... it does allow us to opportunity to come together as a community. It allows the members to have a voice... but they don't have to give their real names and addresses until we cast our vote in favor of dissolving the Board. After that... it might be down hill, so to speak, from there. It's certainly more then worth our time and our efforts. Isn't it? We have everything to gain... and absolutely nothing to lose. Well... nothing but the present thorn in our sides and our wallets.

If you feel the same, lets put our heads together and work out the rest of the details. Let's do our best to get the ball rolling.

**********

Jim wrote:

<quoted text>Ok i understand that but how do we get the vote going?

[LJS]

That's another thing that the property owners need to get a handle on. Having our water turned off just because we choose not to pay our assessment fee as a way of protesting the present administrations mismanagement of funds... or whatever other issues we have with them... how dare they turn off our water. One thing has absolutely nothing to do with the other. At least that's how I feel about it.

Let's face it, our money pays their salaries. Not the other way around. Who are they to "tell" us anything? It makes no sense at all to me that they've turned a blind eye to the real needs of the community. The board needs to be put in it's place. Better yet, it needs to be totally dissolved. We own the water lines here. Our water comes from Bentonville. So who in the world needs the present administration or the interference of the Bella Vista, POA Board? The simple fact is... that we don't "need" them at all to operate. In truth, we've never needed them.

John wrote:

<quoted text>Your so right...but what can we do about it?... I stoped paying my POA "fees" last year as a protest and they turned off my water until i payed them even tho i had 2 small kids in the house they wouldnt turn it back on until i brought them up to date plus an extra $80 reconect fee.

[LJS]

We should all stop paying the assessment fee. That should get their attention, if nothing else. Once we have it... that's when we tell them what we've decided, and not the other way around. If we all stick together... they can not function without our money. It's just that simple.

John wrote:

<quoted text>Your so right...but what can we do about it?... I stoped paying my POA "fees" last year as a protest and they turned off my water until i payed them even tho i had 2 small kids in the house they wouldnt turn it back on until i brought them up to date plus an extra $80 reconect fee.

[LJS]

I had a neighbor with diabetes. She had one leg, wasn't able to get around without a wheelchair... and her only income was her disability check. The POA had her water turned off. Can you imagine that? It's true.

Another retired couple had to sell their small boat because they couldn't afford the high fees that they were constantly being charged to put their boat in storage and in the water. So much for their "golden years" being spent in Bella Vista.

John wrote:

<quoted text>Your so right...but what can we do about it?... I stoped paying my POA "fees" last year as a protest and they turned off my water until i payed them even tho i had 2 small kids in the house they wouldnt turn it back on until i brought them up to date plus an extra $80 reconect fee.

[LJS]

If I sound angry, that's because I am. Do I feel that we should all throw up our hands and move somewhere else? No, I don't. That would make it too easy on the present administration. Afterall, we all have a right to live where we want... and that includes Bella Vista. It has a lot of potential. The only real problem here that I see... is the Bella Vista, POA Board. If the property owners here stand together... we can rid ourselves of them, once and for all. I'm looking forward to that day... and so are a lot of other property owners that I know. Getting rid of the Board is the best thing we could do for our community... and our wallets.

[LJS]

The property owners in Bella Vista, need a General Manager... and POA Board... like a hole in the head. We simply don't need them. We never did. It's just that simple. Do we need them to tell us what color to paint our homes? Do we need them to charge us excessive water rates? Do we need to pay ridiculous Late Fees on our water bills? Do we really need them to maintain our streets? Do we need them to take the money that we're forced to pay each month to spend thousands ... upon thousands of dollars on remodeling the bathrooms in a country club that the vast majority of residents don't use? Do we need them to charge us for the use of the lakes in Bella Vista? They don't even maintain the "common properties" in the area. They're supposed to... but they don't. Still, if you don't mow your lawn... they'll have it mowed for you and then send you a ridiculous bill for mowing it. They'll turn off your water, if you refuse to pay the assessment fee if you protest the excessive water rates that we're all being charged here. What does one thing have to do with the other? How does turning off the water to a disabled persons home benefit the community if that person doesn't have the means to pay for it? Is that really what any of us want to see happen in Bella Vista? Personally, I don't. I have more compassion for my neighbors then to allow something like that to happen to them. What's next? Isn't shutting their water off just about as low as a person or a community can sink? Now, I'm not talking about any dead beat member who sits on their rear-end and just refuses to pay their water bill. I'm talking about disabled people, or elderly people who are having a hard time living on a fixed income. That's totally different. If we can fund dead ended amenity projects in Bella Vista, we can surely find a way to help any disabled person living in our community. We can surely find a way to help the elderly. We can surely get rid ourselves of any administration that doesn't have enough sense to see the value of helping anyone in the community who doesn't have the financial means to help themselves.

[LJS]

Bella Vista, has just as much "garbage" as any other community. Some people put their "garbage on the street. They simply don't worry about what anyone else thinks of it... or them. So what's so "elite" about living here? It has your everyday drug lords, drug users, drug growers, prostitutes, robberies, professional thieves, common thieves, blue collar crimes, white collar crimes, child abuse, spousal abuse, and illegal immigrants living here... as well as surrounding our community... just to name a few things. It's no better living here then anywhere else in NW Ark. The criminals might be living in better homes, they might dress better, they might be driving nicer cars... but they're still here. Bella Vista, is better at hiding it's, garbage. It's here... but it's hidden better. That's all. Nothing more... nothing less.

[Kathy]

Ya get out whatcha put into it. If ya don't put anything into it, than ya won't get anything outta it. I don't golf, never have, but I can if I want. That's something.....There's a lot of cost to keeping Bella vista as nice as it is. Its why I chose to move there. Its one of the nicest places on the planet. My first neighborhood you got shot at we had to sleep on the floor when the hood was wild, and the taxes were higher! About the same for a hundred year old home [Iowa] as a new one in Bella Vista. I had an acreage that got hit by a different tornado two times in eight years, got tired of rebuilding by the second F5. Bella Vista is also one of the safest places on the planet, from weather and gangs. In my opinion ya gotta be careful of cities, and towns which are extremely diverse. I doubt if the pot smokers are gonna bother any one. POA costs were disclosed so I can't complain, once I bought a bottle of orange juice [labeled wrong] and it had grapefruit juice in it.......now,that made me mad. Peace now, Kath

[Kathy]

I think a "hardship exemption" should be available for people who are experiencing a real true and temporary hardship. That 24.00 a month is huge if your choosing between medicine, or food for your little kids. The POA should have an available option without burdening the churches who foot the bills for this hardship/trouble once someones water is shut off. On the other hand 60.00 a month for using everything is definitely cheaper than paying for even a little of whats available through the club houses. There's gotta be a way to balance the socio-economics with the needs and the wants. It would be a good direction for the POA to consider taking.....

[TheKellys]

We are will be getting my husbands grandparents house that was built in Bella in the 80's. I, being very against POA's, dont understand why you have to pay so much for everything remotely involved with the POA. After doing some checking, it seems that everything of importance or entertainment is owned by the POA or Cooper. I hate dealing with Cooper Homes do to their legal history and current amount of law suits. We will be paying about 25.00 a month for what? And then we also have to pay to go to the movies and golfing etc? Not to mention the high cost of water here!
Any thoughts on how to deal with these issues and if there is any way to not be a part of the POA, please let me know.

[GRANDMA GETS HIGH]

The POA fees are okay with me as long as they leave me alone in the Tiree Sub Division and I can smoke my dope and beat my grand children.

[LJS]

Other communities have golf courses and other forms of entertainment and they don't have to pay a $24.00 dollar a month assessment fee. Basically, those who don't use the amenities here, end up paying for those who do. I think they should pay for whatever they use. The rest of us end up sub-sidizing amenities for those who don't want to pay "full price" to use them. We end up with "nothing" for our assessment fee. Plain and simple. And as for getting what you pay for? I've yet to see the pay off. The criminal element is here. It drives up and down our side streets and down the expressway that runs thru town. If you're new to the community, then you haven't seen the drastic changes that have taken place in NWA in the last 5 years. It's only a matter of time, a few years at best, and Bella Vista will follow suit. The rapid terioration of the whole area is astounding. And, the pristine looking golf courses will end up being a cover for those who want to believe that they are living in, Disney Land. The signs are already here. Believe them. It's the real deal. As for me? I'm already planning on selling my property, before land values deteriorate totally. NWA, is going to be the new, Little Rock.

Personally, I will never purchase property in any POA. When you do, you basically have no legal rights. If they could get away with telling you when to turn off your lights at night, they will.

[Billy Bob]

Guess What?... The POA is thinking about putting up the dues to $50 per month.

[LJS]

Billy Bob wrote:

Guess What?... The POA is thinking about putting up the dues to $50 per month.

If the property owners don't put a stop to what the Bella Vista POA Board does... then we only have ourselves to blame for what we've allowed to take place. That's what happens when you choose to live with your head in the sand. The property owners can take control of the situation. It's never been outside of our power to take control of the town we live in. But if we choose to throw up our hands and tell ourselves that there's nothing we can do... the present administration will continue with, "business as usual." I'm for the property owners voting to dissolve the Bella Vista POA Board... out of existence.

[annebellavista]

Before you start your insurrection, just consider moving elsewhere please. We don't own a boat or golf. The existence of a POA was a perk to us. We are still in the process of moving here. Our current neighborhood use to have a HHA (home owners association) but after Katrina it disbanded. We weren't active in it so can't complain too loudly. We weren't board members. Our participation was limited to attending an occasional meeting, the yearly party and paying our dues.
As many of us took great strides to recover, others found relief in no homeowners association. Now we have numerous "violaters" in the neighborhood and not a lot we can do about it. We have a half dozen or more that choose to park their cars across their lawns while their driveways remain clear.(??). We have an able bodied neighbor (40ish) woman who works from home as as medical transcriptionist that has had overflowing cardboard boxes in her carport since Katrina. They are dilapidated with their contents overflowing. She had volunteers rebuild her house while she vacationed. She's a happy, cheerful woman with no regard at all for her neighbors who continue to have to view the mess when they step out their front doors. We have a neighbor who kept a full size travel trailer on the side of his driveway (directly against our carport) for 3 years. It wasn't occupied and it wasn't anchored. It was borrowed from a friend. Now he brings his big boat and sets it in front of his former home (purchased by his daughter) because in his neighborhood they don't allow boats parked on the street. They have an association! Great! So he gets to block our roads.
There are two houses that routinely that let the grass grow high enough so that the city has to come in (greater than 6" is the city's limit) and charge them for cutting it. These are not elderly or disabled. Just disinterested. We know them both as our kids play together. I'm not trying to sound like a snoot. We just try to take care of our property. Keep the grass cut, the clutter down. PLEASE keep your POA or you can live in a neighborhood like us five years from now! I'd love to think that people will just do the right thing and take care of their stuff but, sadly, it isn't so. By the way, we do have elderly and disabled in our current neighborhood and there are people who help them with upkeep and errands, including my husband and myself.
If you moved into the Bella Vista area, for the price, the beauty or whatever, let's keep it looking like Bella Vista! If you don't like it, don't live here. We don't boat or golf but certainly enjoyed the beauty of all the greenery (golf courses and parks) and the lakes. WOW! What a place to live! And thank-you to the POA whoever you are!

[annebellavista]

Having read all the posts now, please allow me to repost. To those of you who provided thoughtful and reasonable arguments against the current POA system, maybe the time for the need of the POA has come and gone. But rather than do away with it entirely, consider working to reform it. The fees could be revamped for those who actually use the facilities. Would it make it impossible to keep up? Don't know. Would the facilities be gone in ten years? Don't know. Would the price for those who want to join the gym, pools etc.. become exorbitant? Would your individual neighborhoods become eyesores? Don't know. Even not wanting to use the golf course or lakes, I appreciate that they are there. I'd like to be able to use the parks and see them as pretty as they are now. I look forward to moving in soon. Maybe there is a solution for the area somewhere between what Bella Vista has now and just total abandonment of restrictions. You may find yourselves surprised and dismayed by what neighbors will let become of their properties if they don't have to take care of them. All these blogs are giving me a little concern about our move there - though too late. We've already bought the house. The neighborhood is average but the homes look neat and maintained. So much angry talk concerns me. Our own neighborhood, where we will be moving from soon, has declined so much in just a few short years (less than four years). People moved in because they really liked the family style neighborhood, the prices, etc. Now the drag racing on the streets where we have lots of young kids, the late parties on the streets (kids and adults), the debris in carports, the cars parked across lawns, the graffiti on sidewalks, etc.. has changed the face of our neighborhood. Nothing to do with black, hispanic or white. The teen crime in the neighborhood is by young white and black hoodlooms who busy themselves with pranks and destruction because they can. The police talk to the uninterested parents and the sprees go on. The lady with the junk piled high in her carport is white. The overgrown grass yards belong to two white families. It's not about race it's about self-respect and taking care of what you have. It's about respecting your neighbors enough to take care of what you have. I hope those of you who are posting some of the more thoughtful arguments will work towards finding a solution that allows Bella Vista to maintain it's beauty without fees that run the residents into the ground. Still looking forward to moving there...I think.(lol)
My husband is retired. I work as a hospice nurse. We are not wealthy or poor. We are average or maybe even below average in income for having two adults, but, through my husband being the smart,frugal one we found ourselves able to move to (what we perceived to be) a better, safer place to raise our child. We are raising a young son and hope for a safe, clean place to raise him. We are leaving our current neighborhood after 21 years here. OUCH! I badly want to leave a post at the entrance of our current neighborhood saying "Abandon hope all ye' who enter" but that would make it difficult to sell our home! Oh well,...
We do look forward to meeting some of you and hope a peaceful, practical solution is found. Thanks.

[sportrider68]

Billy Bob wrote:

<quoted text>I agree 100%

Yes I must agree. We know the deal when we moved to BV. POA dues & fees and we who own property there signed documents making us aware of such dues and fees but the mis-use of the money is what has me upset. And why did the POA retain control of the water dept after the city was incorparated?

Sportrider68

[LJS]

Yes, we know the deal before we moved here. What we didn't know was how the water lines had been left to deteriorate. We didn't know that the Planning Commision would allow a cell phone tower to be built in a residential area without even speaking with the property owners who had to look at it everyday... or live within a few feet from it. Now, our children have to play within a few feet of it! The property owners have no voice. That's something we didn't know when we purchased our property here. When you contact the B.V. Board... you're told that you knew what the deal was before you moved here. The truth is... no one told me that our neglected water lines were not a priority here. If they had... I would have purchased property somewhere else. The Board... is more concerned with amenities then the real issues here. As for why control of the Water Department wasn't turned over to the city? Bella Vista, obviously, has mismanaged funds for a very long time, including the water payments. I'm almost sure they kept it... in order to control the money from it. Have you seen the latest rate hick for late payments? Most communities charge approx. 1.5% Late Fee's. Do the math. Bella Vista, now charges $12.00 dollars per month for a late payment. That's outrageous. While I don't agree with missing a payment... it's still outrageous to charge that much for a late fee.

[sportrider68]

LJS wrote:

Yes, we know the deal before we moved here. What we didn't know was how the water lines had been left to deteriorate. We didn't know that the Planning Commision would allow a cell phone tower to be built in a residential area without even speaking with the property owners who had to look at it everyday... or live within a few feet from it. Now, our children have to play within a few feet of it! The property owners have no voice. That's something we didn't know when we purchased our property here. When you contact the B.V. Board... you're told that you knew what the deal was before you moved here. The truth is...
no one told me that our neglected water lines were not a priority here. If they had... I would have purchased property somewhere else. The Board... is more concerned with amenities then the real issues here. As for why control of the Water Department wasn't turned over to the city? Bella Vista, obviously, has mismanaged funds for a very long time, including the water payments. I'm almost sure they kept it... in order to control the money from it. Have you seen the latest rate hick for late payments? Most communities charge approx. 1.5% Late Fee's. Do the math. Bella Vista, now charges $12.00 dollars per month for a late payment. That's outrageous. While I don't agree with missing a payment... it's still outrageous to charge that much for a late fee.

I agree 100%!!! Don't miss understand I can't stand the POA!

I went to the budget meeting and was very disapointed with the low turn out!

So what do we do now?!

[LJS]

sportrider68 wrote:

<quoted text>
I agree 100%!!! Don't miss understand I can't stand the POA!
I went to the budget meeting and was very disapointed with the low turn out!
So what do we do now?!

The only thing we can do is to vote for the closing of the Bella Vista POA. The city can run the golf courses and all the other amenities here. Other cities have golf courses, pools, walking trails etc. The present POA... has mismanaged the money they've been paid. They've duped the property owners into buying here. The "hype" to purchase property here... was just that. Personally, I don't care if we have amenities here or not. I'm more concerned with our drinking water... and the cell phone tower that's been built without allowing the property owners a chance to voice their opinion. The property owners need to come together and close the POA... once and for all. It's lost it's purpose, if it ever had one. The property owners should have a voice in everything that goes on in Bella Vista. Personally, I thought my "package deal" came with decent water to drink and water lines that were taken care of properly... instead of being allowed to deteriorate to a point where I need two hands to keep the water pressure from blowing the glass out of my hands everytime I turn my water faucet on. A decent ice-cube would be wonderful as well. At the present time I'm not even able to make an ice cube that I can add to a glass of ice tea. That's how efficiently the POA has handled the water payment funds they've received over the years. I wonder if they buy their ice too? I hope so! Tom Bailey, loves to golf. Great. Good for him. I just wish he had to drink the water that comes through the water lines in my area. Maybe then, he'd see what the real priorities in Bella Vista, should be. I also wish he'd have to look at the cell phone tower, better yet, I wish he, and the rest of the board had to live under it. I'm not sure... but perhaps the water department could be taken away from the POA? They've proven that they have no idea how to take care of it in the best interest of the residents here. Perhaps, a take over by "eminent domain"... could be applied in this matter? Like I said, I'm not sure. What I am sure of is... that they have no business handling the water department.

Oh, one more thing... I called the POA this year to fix the deteriorating sides of the roads in my neighborhood. The maintenance department was kind enough to throw a shovel full of rocks in it. They haven't been back yet. The last time I looked out my window a woman driving a new car hit the pile of rocks with one of the tires on her car. The rock bounced up and hit the car in the door. It left a good sized dent in her vehicle. The rock was at least 6 inches in diameter.

Last winter... our roads weren't even maintained. My son damaged his truck trying to get to work. I called the POA. Needless to say... they gave me the run around. The streets weren't plowed and we couldn't even get up or down our road without crashing into something. So exactly what good is the POA? But... we have to remember that we bought into the "package deal"... don't we? I guess by now you know what I think about their, "package deal."

Let's all wake up and close the POA once and for all. It's our town, not theirs.