POA committee looks at improving communication
Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Even when things are moving along smoothly, it isn’t a bad idea to sometimes sit back and see if anything could be done to improve the process.
That was pretty much the idea behind the agenda for the Bella Vista Property Owners Association’s Rules and Regulations Committee meeting earlier this month.
Following a visit by several POA Board directors to Hot Springs Village earlier this year to see how the village operates, board Chairwoman Robert Dale asked the RRC members to examine Bella Vista’s committees and see if any improvement is needed.
While Bella Vista and Hot Springs Village are vastly different in many ways, their committee structures are somewhat similar.
They each have an audit committee, staffed by board members, and joint advisory committees on golf, lakes and recreation, consisting of community volunteers and attended by board liaisons.
Along with the RRC, Bella Vista POA directors also sit on a planning committee. Hot Springs Village has one on governmental affairs and another on special projects, only called into action with specific assignments from the village’s board of directors.
In addition, Hot Springs Village has advisory committees for common property and forests, trails and public works.
The biggest difference between the way the two locations operate is their reporting process, according to Bill Johnson, chairman of the RRC.
“ They (the committees ) report to management and not the board, ” he said of Hot Springs Village. “ Ours report to management and the board. I don’t see a substantive difference except for that. ”
Johnson believes the local committees are working fine and that there is no obvious problem. However, the RRC — consisting of Johnson, Anita Werts and Tom Wooters — did find a number of things they will proffer as “ improvement ideas ” to the board at its next meeting.
They think a more thorough orientation of committee chairmen by the board of directors would help answer any questions and head off problems that might arise.
Johnson cited a section of the POA policy related to that, wherein it states the chairman of the POA Board and the general manager will meet with the committee chairmen as soon as possible after all have been appointed.
“ Maybe we could recommend that that needs to be a very important and proactive meeting, ” Johnson suggested.
Secondly, the committee members agreed that more communication, particularly between different committees, might help.
“(Members ) need to know what the other committees are doing, ” Wooters said.
Finally, Johnson and the others were in agreement that the joint advisory committee members should deal more with forward-looking items on their agendas and less of the details, which tend to bog down meetings.
Dale also had asked the RRC to examine the possibility of term limits for both board members and the chairman.
Johnson said this had been done in the past, but it was then agreed that voters would be able to determine if somebody’s time was up and they needed to move on.
Andy O’Neil, a member of the POA Board who was visiting the meeting, said he supports the idea.
“ I think the only way to get fresh ideas is to limit it to two (two-year ) terms, ” he said. “ I think you get stale after six years. ”
Werts said this wasn’t one of those issues where she had a strong feeling one way or the other, and that keeping people who are doing a good job provides continuity.
Johnson said he still has faith in the electorate, and he hopes they would vote people out who were no longer doing the job for which they were placed in office.
Citing recent elections and the number of candidates running each time, Johnson said he didn’t believe incumbent candidates were holding others back from trying.
They concluded that no recommendation would be made to the board on this item.
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