Bella Vista Property Owners Association Board of Directors Hears Flood Report

BELLA VISTA — The current homeowners association board of directors held its last meeting on May 26. The June meeting will see a new board, although there are only a few changes.
Director Teah Bidwell chose not to run for re-election to the nine-member council. Jason Loyd, currently chairman of the Joint Committee on Golf, will be the only new face. Mike Ab and Jerre Barron Jr. both retained their seats in the 2022 election.
The new council has already met to elect officers. David Brandenburg will continue as President and Barron as Vice President.
Director Jan Hagan reported on an executive session held May 25 regarding an allegation of misconduct involving three board members. Executive sessions are closed to the public and no minutes are available, but according to the governing documents, a report on the proceedings must be made at a public meeting. Hagan said four members, including himself, JB Portillo, Abb and Jackie Gains found the allegations baseless, while Jan Sims and Sandy Fosdick disagreed. No action was taken and no further details were provided.
An earlier executive session was held to create a working group that will act on behalf of the board to resolve certain legal issues. The task force includes Brandenburg and Barron, as well as association attorney Doug McCash and chief operating officer Tom Judson.
Keith Ihms, Golf Maintenance Manager, told the council about the recent flooding on the golf courses. The water wasn’t as high as it had been in the past, he said, but there was still plenty of debris.
A water main was broken on Kingswood and some railings washed away on a trolley bridge.
Ihms said most of the repairs were done in-house, saving the association the cost of contractors. He said he is always looking for ways to prevent damage from future floods because there will always be future floods.
The cost of the last flood was $36,000. He said flood cleanup costs more, but his department has been able to mitigate some of those costs. Last year’s repairs to bridges in Scotsdale were successful, he said. There was no further damage in these areas.
Flooding has impacted golf courses and golf revenues, Comptroller Stacie Higgins said, but it was still a good month. Revenue is over budget, she said. Food and beverage revenue was particularly strong.
The tiny Blowing Springs cabins are getting off to a slow start and haven’t hit budgeted revenue, Higgins said, but the RV Park is still doing better than expected. Overall, recreation is over budget, she said.
The water utility is also doing well, she said, and the association is repaying the loan to the water utility a little ahead of schedule.