Bella Vista

It's been a couple of months since the last meeting of our board. I had brought up the suggestion of having a representative from the county budget office come out and discuss with the board about Bella Vista becoming a special taxing district. The board was in agreement and Sharman, our property manager said she would check her calendar.

I have not heard from Sharman other than two emails stating that she was pretty busy and that she would again, check her calendar. Sharman had also stated that the board needed to put appoint a budget committee to put together a budget for next year. I have yet to receive any communication on that subject. I have to wonder what we the board are doing, or for that matter, what anyone is doing.

Oh, I almost forgot, I put a link up in the community pages an informational notice that was sent to me from the county budget representative, Mary Mahoney, that tells about what a Special Taxing District is. If by chance you might be interested, take a look. I'd be interested in hearing what you have to say about it.

I have had ten years experience within a neighborhood that was and still is a special taxing district so I know how it works from a Treasurer's position. I found it to be very straightforward and organized to work with.

I hope that you will have an open mind and think about this topic. I will be pushing to make it a reality for you unless I hear different.

Now we sit back and wait to see what happens. Are you with me? Or, are you just going to keep sitting there?

Are you surprised? One thing I noticed at the last meeting- there were things on the agenda that you as an ELECTED board member should have known about but seemed to be left in the dark. One could assume that there is communication between other directors that involve the community that you are not being included in. If this is true, I think those directors should understand that you were elected by the membership and so being are privy to those discussions. We know they did not want you on the board in the first place, but you were elected by the HOME OWNERS to represent us and should not be hampered by peoples personal agenda's. I know they feel that if they discuss things with you it will come back to me. This simply is not true. We do discuss community news but I have enough respect for you that I would never pump you for information about board business and put you in an awkward position. And as you know, I really am too busy right now for such nonsense. I still believe you are a valuable asset to the community and sometimes your words may be harsh but you are still trying to look out for the home owner's best interest and I thank you for that.

Rich, You might be correct in your assumptions but, it doesn't matter to me what is going on behind my back if anything. Because in time these things have a way with catching up with people when they least expect it. I am going with the hopes that what's left of this board will think of the residents and their committment to the community and put the past to bed and get on with current events here.

Not to change the subject, but I was awakened here this noon time from two people that decided they would park in our driveway to have a look at Jason's house. I woke to the dogs barking and I got up to investigate thinking maybe they just wanted to go pee or something. I took a look out the front door and found a black convertible mini-cooper and a cream colored mid size car parked in our driveway. Another car was parked in front of our property on the street. As I watched wondering what was going on I saw a lady with what looked like a large poodle on a leesh walking down the sidewalk to Jason's house. I then thought maybe Nicole is home from school, maybe her and her boyfriends got out early from school. I looked in her bedroom and no one was there. So, I went outside and walked down to Jason's house. I could see the lock box was open so I knew someone was looking at the house now. I went to the front door and tried the knob, it was locked. I then went back to my house and called the Sheriff's office to ask them what they thought I should do. I was told that there was a car burglary reported on Montilla Loop just this morning. I cannot remember what address he said but I seem to think he said it was 15510 or maybe it was 15410, the same house that is under foreclosure and had reported a burglary in progress on Aug. 13th at 06:45 AM. As I explained to the deputry that I am now seeing two ladies coming out of the house along with the poodle. He told me to tell them that my driveway is private property. I hung up with the deputy after thanking him and then the ladies and I began our little chat. Turns out that there were alreadly cars parked in Jason's drive, more house lookers, and the one lady explained that she had knocked on my door after parking. I explained to them that they had awakened me from sleep as I work nights. The one lady was very apologetic and offered to buy me lunch even trying to shove about ten dollars in bills in my hand. I had her keep her money while offering up answers to all her questions. She explained that she was looking to buy the house for her son. Then she wanted to know what all the fees were being spent on, 'Only for cutting the entranceways?', she asked. No, I told her, we pay a large portion to the property management company and then the landscaping company. She thought it an awful lot of money for such few residents. I told her I agreed with her and then told her I was on the board and was working very hard with the other members to try to find a way to help cut down those fees. The other lady interjected that she had been on many boards and found the same problem. The one lady then asked what I thought that house was worth. I told her probably over $150k. She said, 'That much?'. I thought that was not very much but maybe I'm out of the loop on house values around here. I figure it's worth a lot more than that now that I'm thinking about it. Oh well. Sorry to change the subject but I thought this worth mentioning. Especially about the burglaries starting to happen in our neighborhood now. Everything happens in 3's, right? So, we have to be on guard now. I need to get those security cameras installed around the house and record 24 hours.

Back to the other subject...as for board business, there just hasn't been anything happening since the last meeting the last part of June. Things are quiet before the next meeting which will be the annual budget discussion or presentation and or approval. I can tell you and everyone else here that I have sent out an email to the other board members asking for a meeting date where we can discuss the 2010 upcoming budget and a couple other items. You know I'm pushing for becoming a special taxing district. It will eliminate those coupon books and quarterly payments. The county will collect our fees in the form of ad-valorem taxes which you would see in a line item on your annual property tax bill. The only people that will have to worry about writing a check and sending it in on time will be those owners who do not have an escrow taken out for taxes and insurance and are responsible for paying those themselves. I think I can say with a hundred percent certainty that there are few of those people who do that. We would have to take a survey to find out for sure. But, that's the gist of it. Another thing I've pointed out to the board is if someone was in arrears then the county would be placing a lein on your property, not Bella Vista. To verify what I've said, we would have to have Mary Mahoney of the county budget department come and speak to us and get all our questions answered on this subject. It's been years since I have worked with her when I was on a board in another neighborhood.

Yes, you are absolutely correct. People with a personal agenda have no business being on a board. If things have gotten to that point they need to rethink their position and who they are serving. I found it interesting that I was voted onto this board on my candicacy letter that was sent out to the residents. I didn't think I had much of a chance being that I hadn't lived here that long. I can only assume that my experience pointed out in my letter is what gave me enough votes and I'm thankful of that. I came into this position with the feeling that I could offer some good to the community and I think there is hope of accomplishing something in the next year or thereafter. Yeah, I may get a little crazy and talk some trash but if you really got to know me you'd find it's just my way of pointing things out when no one wants to listen and it seems to work for me. I invite people to point out when I say or do something wrong, it puts me in my place. Hey, a lot of us need that from time to time. You can't be living in a vacuum, right? Okay, I think I've about written a tome here and I need to get some sleep. I have to put my burglar alarms back in their cage now...

I've decided that a Special Taxing District is not for Bella Vista. Why?

Too much work involved and not enough interested parties.

Current board members resistant to change.

Residents apathy (it shows from lack of meeting attendance).

The one thing that made me change my mind last night was the realization that a Board of Directors of a community cannot have anything to do with a Homeowner Association duties when under the county via a special taxing district. Meaning, that in order to enforce the violations a Homeowners Association would  be responsible for this and there would have to be separate fees collected, voluntarily, in order to pay for legal expenses, etc.

There just simply isn't enough people that would commit to anything as complex as this at this time nor do I forsee it in the future. A board of directors could also be members of a homeowner's association but I know that no one wants to be this dedicated. Furthermore no one wants the responsibility of enforcing violations. It's easier for a property management company to do so even if it costs us. I don't know why I didn't think of all of this in the beginning when I first mentioned this to the board. I feel it was because I was looking for an easier way to collect the annual dues and to be sure most would be collected.

So, at this time I will devote myself to working alongside the board and our property management company and continue to look for ways to save money. I feel that is all most residents care about now anyway. Or, should we take a survey?

I don't feel there is much hope of saving much money though as about the only wiggle room we have is the landcape contract, which when it gets too high we can just put it out for bid again and take the lowest bidder. I think this can occur every three years from my experience of being on another board in the past. The property management company will continue to raise it's fees and we'll continue to pay more each year accordingly. That's of course, if we don't look around for another company and get some bids. But, I doubt that will happen as we are too comfortable with Greenacres.

For now I'll just settle in and wait to see what happens next. Will anyone come forth to fill the vacant director's seat? Will a change of positions occur? Will Rob take back his Presidency? Will Tim become President? Stay tuned!