Municipal services discussed by POA
Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/brog/News/60284/
BELLA VISTA — The Bella Vista Property Owners Association Board of Directors met Thursday night to discuss the association’s ongoing role as the city’s municipal services provider.
The POA was responsible for providing all fire, police, sanitation and street services to Bella Vista residents before voters approved incorporation on Nov. 7, 2006. Since then, the POA has transferred emergency services, such as the Police and Fire departments, to the city, as well as the responsibility for the street resurfacing program.
Sanitation billing is the next item scheduled to be switched to the city, according to POA General Manager Tommy Bailey.
“ A June 1 transition date is what we’re looking for, ” he said.
Officials are expected to develop a contract in which the city pays the POA to continue the billing service. Residents currently receive their sanitation bills along with their water bills, which the association sends out because the POA is also the city’s water provider.
Continuing this service by contracting through the POA is thought to be the most cost-effective way to complete the process at this time, according to Roberta Dale, POA Board chairwoman.
Determining the most logical way to transfer the responsibility for the remaining street programs is the next task facing officials, Dale said. Pot-hole patching, major street repairs, inclement weather cleanup and street-sign maintenance are just a few of the obligations that have yet to be picked up by the city.
Officials with the POA and within the city administration are looking at a September / October time frame to transfer financial responsibilities of the street maintenance program to the city. However, it is not yet determined whether the services will be provided on a contractual basis through the association, like the sanitation billing service, or if another means of providing the services will be found, Bella Vista Mayor Frank Anderson said.
To help assess all the possibilities relating to the transfer, Dale asked board member Bill Johnson, chairman of the association’s planning committee, to meet with representatives from the city to further discuss the topic.
In other business, board members decided not to overseed the association’s eight golf courses this year. The decision came after hearing a report from POA golf director Mike Shea and Bob Eichenberg, Arkansas regional sales manager for Andersons Golf Products, the fertilizer company used by the association.
A combination of factors ranging from the damage caused to the courses by the floods in January, March and April to the rising costs of fertilizer inspired the association’s golf committee to recommend the cessation of overseeding this year, Shea said.
Overseeding — the application of an additional layer of rye seed to protect dormant Bermuda grass — can have both positive and negative effects on a golf course, Shea told the board.
The Bermuda grass on the courses would not have to compete with rye if no overseeding is done, which would improve the health of the grass, he said. However, other less-desirable grasses, such as Poa annua would also likely grow. The weeds might be manageable with a more aggressive chemical spray program on the fairways, he said.
Another drawback is that golf carts would have to be restricted to paths at some point — most likely from the beginning of January to the end of April — to protect the Bermuda from damage, Shea said.
On the upside, the POA stands to save about $ 36, 000 by not overseeding this year, and advisers from the U. S. Golfers Association have previously recommended taking a break from overseeding to POA officials to benefit overall turf quality, board member Steve Morrow pointed out.
The motion passed with a vote of 6 to 2, with board members George DeGroot and Bill Johnson casting the dissenting votes.