BELLA VISTA — The Bella Vista Property Owners Association Board told General Manager Tommy Bailey at Thursday's board meeting to use a standard real estate contract for transparency to complete the sale of the emergency services buildings to the city. The board will approve the details of the contract in an open meeting, according to the motion by board member Dave Barfield, board member.
At an earlier work session, Bailey had presented an agreement based on discussions with Mayor Frank Anderson.
The membership authorized the sale of the three buildings during the May election. All three contain emergency services that are now run by the city. The Town Center building houses the police department and fire station number one. The association’s membership services department is also in that building. The other two buildings are fire stations — one on the east side of the city near Metfield Park and one on the west side, near Branchwood Recreation Center.
The price of the buildings — $1.8 million — was set when the city made an offer in December 2012.
According to the agreement Bailey presented earlier this month, the city would pay in three installments. The first installment would be due when the papers were signed, the second would be due on July 1, 2014 and the final payment would be due on Jan. 15, 2015. The building would remain the property of the association until all payments were made and the city would continue to pay rent, while the association would continue to pay for insurance and provide maintenance. There would be no interest charged.
After the meeting, Barfield said some members questioned the lack of interest payments. He said interest and rent if the associations’s Membership Services Department remained in the building could be negotiated.
“We want to make it standard and simple,” Barfield said. “We should use documents and terms that everyone is familiar with.”
Negotiations and a new contract will not delay the sale of the buildings, he said.
Earlier in the meeting, Jim Parsons, who introduced himself as the president of Bella Vista Patriots, offered to withdraw the group’s opposition to an assessment increase, if the board and administration “opened their books” and became more transparent.
The board has been discussing an assessment increase since November 2012. Since then, the board has considered and rejected at least two plans to increase assessments.
A forum has been set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Riordan Hall to discuss the latest proposal.