Lions, Tigers and Coyotes, Oh My

General / By

02-19-2022

Feel free to skip the story and go to the summary… 

Story:

The recent sightings of coyotes in our subdivision reminds me of a true story that happened about 20ish years ago. Up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin by St. Germain, we have a family cottage. My mother and stepfather spent a lot of time up there enjoying the peace and tranquility of nature. One crisp Fall day, as summer is definitely over by Labor Day, this true story unfolded. My mother put on her walking shoes, grabbed her fly-swatter and went out for her morning walk in the woods. She was enjoying the beautiful colors of autumn and getting her daily exercise at the same time, who could ask for more? Then… all of a sudden she spots a black bear in the woods, he was foraging for berries or whatever they forage for… This black bear looks fierce and menacing, as normally you see them in their cages at Brookfield Zoo where they look sad and bored. The bear spots her and maybe snares, maybe winks, (we are not sure about that detail) as he pads through the terrain always eyeing her movements. She is very careful and decides to take a different path back to the cottage as to not upset the bear. She makes it back to the safety of the cottage and quickly tells my step-father of her alarming encounter. After some intense deliberation and careful thought, she picks up the phone and dials the Vilas County Wildlife Department (probably with one of those vicious rotary phones that hurts your index finger). She is connected to the supervisor who probably just came back from cleaning a couple of Walleye after her early morning fishing trip. After my mother details her hair-raising encounter with the black bear, she asks “what can you do about it?”. After the supervisor finishes her donut and washes it down with a swig of morning coffee, she politely responds “Well… that’s where they live, honey”. My mother, speechless for a brief moment, thanked her for the information and went on to have a wonderful day. The bear was seen from time to time, always looking happy and content, but he always watching out for those unpredictable humans, as you never know what they are going to do next…

Summary: 

Having said that, I called and talked to the Bolingbrook Animal Control person and here is the summary of the conversation:

  1. Coyotes are protected (like it or not)
  2. They hang around with family members, not packs
  3. We cohabitate (like it or not)
  4. Haze them, yell at them, call them names, stump your feet, spit at them
  5. Act big, they are afraid of big, act like you are in charge, do not show fear, do not act like prey
  6. Act crazy… they don’t like crazy, however they still may keep an eye on you from a distance
  7. Buy/use a Blowhorn, get one at Lowes or Home Depot or Amazon or your nearest Blowhorn store
  8. DO NOT FEED THEM (they love the small animals that hang around your bird feeders!) 

Clubhouse Streaming Device Switches

Uncategorized / By

02/12/2022

During the last HOA Residents meeting, the topic of “streaming devices in the clubhouse” came up. While the HOA itself DOES NOT provide the actual streaming devices (Roku, Chromecast. Apple TV, etc), we have made it easier to bring your own streaming device and get it working. 
We have hooked up a couple of HDMI switches (on the 1st floor) so you can bring your own streaming device and simply plug it in via your HDMI cable. Once it is plugged in, you simply toggle the HDMI switch so your device is now used as “input” to the TV. As such, this saves you (for example) from climbing on the fireplace, finding the HDMI inputs on the TV, plugging in an HDMI cable in the back of a dark TV, figuring out how to change the “input” on the Remote and then reversing all that so the next person could possibly get the TV working again. 

Please keep in mind that you still need to configuration your device to use the Clubhouse WIFI.
We hope this helps. Good luck

Pool Tournament Update

Activities / By

02/07/2021

The semi-final matches of the Bella Vista Pool Tournament were played this weekend in front of an excited crowd. 
Match #1: Ray Wesoloski vs. Steve Villanueva 
The first game was a battle for the ages. Neck and neck to the final shot on which Ray won, but barely missed scratching on the 8-ball, which drew a large gasp from the crowd. The second was well played on both sides with Ray taking the game, hence the match 2-0.
Match #2: Don Wittmer vs. Peter Lee (no relation to the referee)
Don came out strong with a convincing game 1 victory. Peter roared back to win game 2. Game 3 was a humdinger with the “table advantage” shifting back and forth so often that the fans got whiplash. In the end, Peter prevailed and captured the match 2-1. 

“Finals” and “Third place” matches will be played next weekend.

Snow Removal – General Guidelines

General / By
  1. Work normally starts an hour or so before the snowfall SHOULD stop (based upon a weather service)
  2. General order (but not set in stone as workers adjust as they go due to manpower and skillset…)
    1. Large streets, medium streets, cul-de-sacs (similar to Village of Bolingbrook and most cities)
    2. Bella Vista sidewalks, Townhouse sidewalks
    3. Driveway edges, Driveway proper (edges get done first, then another team does the rest later)
    4. Salting
  3. Equipment used: Large plowing machine, pickup truck with plow, small plowing machine, snow blowers, snow shovels, blower
  4. Timeframe: there is much to do, it takes time (hours and hours and hours). Please be patient.
  5. It may not be perfect at the end… but few things are. The HOA will and does complain about LARGE issues. Please let us know about the LARGE issues.

Pool Tournament January 29 thru Feb 13

Activities / By

The Bella Vista Activities Committee cordially invites you to participant in the first ever Bella Vista Clubhouse Pool Tournament. Please join the fun!
When: January 29 thru Feb 13
Who can play? Residents and family members (we are looking for at least 16 players! More would be great!)
What game are we playing? 8-ball 
Do you need to know how to play? Not really, but it helps you do better. Note: there are lots of Youtube videos out there!
What are the tournament rules? American Poolplayers Association (APA) rules, PDF attached
Who will be the referee the matches? Pat Lee (member of APA since 2012). 
Player registration NOW/Today until JANUARY 29, 2022. Register with Pat Lee via email, phone or text. leepa05@icloud.com 630–253-0542
How will the tournament be run? 3 games to a match. Winner of 2 games of the match, moves to the next level. Random drawing to determine opponents. You will be told “who you are playing” via email. Opponents decide a date/time to play their match, the referee must be available to attend. First level Matches must be played during the week of January 29 thru Feb 5.When first level matches are complete, next level matches are scheduled/played by opponents. Matches must be played during the week of Feb 5 thru Feb 12. Semi-finals and Final matches are played Sunday February 13. Match times depending on opponent’s availability.  There will be prizes.
*Masks must be worn unless both opponents agree to de-mask.** Spectators are welcome as long as they abide by mask requirements.***Based upon the number of registered players, the match schedule may be adjusted.  ****We suggest you practice before you play. The clubhouse has some new pool cues, but feel free to use your own if you have one.
A “Pool How-To-Play” workshop will be held Saturday January 29 at 10AM to introduce the game of 8-ball, APA rules and playing tips. 

1st Quarter 2022 HOA Residents Meeting

General / By

01/05/2022

The first quarter 2022 Bella Vista HOA Residents meeting will be held on Wednesday January 26 2022 at 7:00 at the Clubhouse. 
If you have any questions, concerns or topics of interest, please email them to the HOA Board BEFORE the meeting so the HOA Board has time to review and discuss. 
As always, there will be a formal presentation, a quiz (which may be more difficult this quarter) and Q&A.  
Masks ARE required unless the pandemic abruptly ends in the next 20 days. If you feel you are at risk, unsafe, or sick, please DO NOT attend. 
As always, the presentation and minutes will be posted on the website (www.bellavistabolingbrook.org) later.

Street Light Saga/Update

General / By

12/20/2021

Clubhouse street light – At long last, ComEd came out and fixed the Clubhouse street light. On July 14th 2021, Its brilliant light lit up Bella Vista Blvd for the first time in the modern era. Many thanks go out to Don for his many phone calls and hard fought battles to resolve this nagging issue.

Downed street light – Pole was knocked down by a Budget Rental Truck hit-and-run on June 30. Clubhouse Video confirmed the hit-and-run. Police report submitted. Insurance company called. Electrician/street-light-guy called and analyzed. The street light repair will take time to analyze, order and replace as we are still in a pandemic and shipping is slow and backed up.

As of 9/21/2021 the street light pole has arrived at the local distribution hub. Expected availability for the installer is 11/04/2021. The work to assemble, deliver and erect may be completed in 3-4 weeks. Stay patient.

As of 12/08/2021 the street light has been delivered and installed. However, there is still a problem with the brackets for the street sign (the brackets broke). They have been ordered. No delivery date has been given. Stay very, very patient.

As of 12/15/2021, the brackets have arrived after a pandemic delay. The electrician is now going to schedule a truck out to Bella Vista to finish the job. Hopefully this is completed in time for Christmas. Thanks for being very, very patient in this difficult time.

As of 12/20/2021, the signs have been put up on the pole and this saga is over!!

Solara Mailbox Relocation

General / By

11/17/2021

The HOA is taking steps to move the Solara Mailbox from Bella Vista Blvd to Solara Court. There is not an exact timeline yet, but we are busy getting quotes and will move quickly as winter is coming. We hope to get it done before winter, but this may have to wait until spring.

Update: The weather is getting too cold, this project will need to wait until spring.

New Directors Titles For Coming Year

Announcements / By

11/8/2021

According to the HOA by-laws (Article II, section2.14, page 29) the Board shall elect from among its members a President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer.

Subsequent to the meeting your directors decided that for the coming year the title assigned to each director will be as follows:

Pat Lee President

Lela Laha Secretary

Don Wittmer Treasurer

As we have indicated previously, we will continue working as a team and your questions, suggestions, comments and criticisms can be sent to any one of the directors and the answers will represent a majority view.

Reserve Study

General / By

11/05/2021

As previously communicated at last quarter’s HOA Meeting, the HOA Board is working with a company to perform a Reserve Study. When the company meets with us (in December), they will be measuring, counting and analyzing all Bella Vista roads, townhouses, sidewalks, etc.

Election Results

Announcements / By

10/27/2021

Patrick Lee was reelected as a Director via “voice vote” at the HOA Annual Meeting held on October 26,2021. Patrick’s nomination was the only submission received by the nomination committee by the deadline of Oct 10, 2021. During the meeting, President Don Wittmer asked for “nominations from the floor” (as per By-Laws). There were no “nominations from the floor”. Since the current By-Laws do not address a process to deal with an “uncontested election”, the board decided under the authority of “By-Laws Exhibit B Article 1 1.2 C” to simply ask for a “voice vote” and document the results in the official meeting minutes.

Landscaping End of Year Cleanup

Landscaping / By

The Landscaping team will be performing the final activities of the end of year cleanup. This includes some more trimming, aeration, fertilizing and general cleanup. Aeration is planned to be performed in two phases to address both larger and smaller areas. While they make every attempt to leave Bella Vista perfect for the Winter season, there may be a couple of issues that either linger or were missed. If you notice anything, please contact the HOA Board. We will either try to address it now or add it to the list for next time.

Sprinkler SHUT OFF

Landscaping / By

As of Thursday, September 23rd, Bella Vista sprinkler watering will be shut off. Later in October the entire watering system will be flushed out and disabled by Carefree. If you have any questions, contact the HOA Board.

White Posts

Landscaping / By

Why the White Posts? These posts are to alert residents (and others) of “sprinkler heads or water t-box tops” in harm’s way. We have had numerous incidents of residents or residents’s visitors running over and destroying these items. Each incident costs about $100 to fix (which is of course is paid for by your monthly assessments). This is an attempt to limit accidents and cut expenses. Please do not remove or move them. If there is a problem with any of these white posts, please contact the HOA Board immediately. Thank you.

Additional Mulch Beds

Landscaping / By

If your townhouse does not have mulch beds by your siding, those are now scheduled to be dug in the spring (delayed until spring due to various reasons). We want to work with the individual townhouse owners to confirm they want them dug and with JULIE. These mulch beds are to provide protection against siding damage by mowers and weed whackers, as well as to provide those townhouses with additional planting areas. Please adhere to the published Landscaping Policy (under Documents) regarding adding new plants. If you have any questions, contact the HOA Board.