Stephen Bais, the Arrowhead Country Club employee blamed for a putrid smell that lingered around a Glendale subdivision, has been cleared of wrongdoing in the city prosecutor’s case against him.
Ahead of a pre-trial conference hearing scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, the Glendale Prosecutor’s Office submitted a one-page request asking the court to drop the case “in the interest of justice.”
“I’m happy that the (city) made the decision to finally dismiss this case,” said James Palestini, Bais’s attorney. “My guy had nothing to do with (the smell). It was something that he never should have been involved in. Justice prevailed.”
Bais, the club’s golf course superintendent, was accused of violating a city code relating to noxious smells in connection to the sewage-like stench emanating from the facility’s sixth-hole pond.
For years, the odor would come and go, largely disturbing residents of the nearby Arrowhead Ranch neighborhood in the summer. But when it didn’t go away this past winter, resident complaints mounted, prompting the city to pursue the odor violation charge.
In March, Bais pleaded not guilty to a class 1 misdemeanor criminal charge. A Class 1 misdemeanor is the most serious crime without being a felony.
Glendale did not respond to emailed questions about the case as of this posting.
David Leibowitz is the spokesperson for Arcis Golf, the company that owns the club. He called Bais a “solid employee” who’s been an “incredible trooper” throughout the matter.
“We feel good that (Bais) is no longer caught in the middle of something that was not his creation,” Liebowitz said.
When asked what led to the dismissal, Liebowitz said it was likely the result of the company’s efforts to clean the pond, ridding it of the algae buildup that contributed to the odor.
“We suspect that because we made real headway and progress in fixing this, the city understands that they have our full attention and that this is a problem that we keep under control going forward,” Liebowitz said.
After Bais was charged, Arcis took responsibility for the smell, acknowledging that it shouldn’t have allowed the lake’s stench to persist.
The excessive algae buildup in the pond meant high levels of phosphorous.
So much had built up that in a water sample, phosphorous levels were more than seven times higher than what was expected in a man-made lake that uses reclaimed water and 37,000 times the level expected in a natural lake.
The company touted its work with Arizona Lake and Pond Management to treat the sixth-hole pond and other lakes with chemicals. The substances are meant to eat away organic sludge buildup.
“All the lakes are trending in the right direction, and it appears to be working,” Liebowitz said. “So, in short, this is good for the neighborhood, it’s good for the city, it’s good for Stephen and it’s good for the club.”
While Arcis is seeing positive outcomes, the job isn’t over, “not by a long stretch,” Liebowitz added. He said the summer heat is expected to exacerbate the algae growth, a natural occurrence in lakes.
“Arcis is committed that when a smell comes up, we are all hands on deck to address it,” he said.
Resident complaints about pond odors have diminished to a degree, noted Helena Johnson Bodine, the HOA president for Arrowhead Ranch Phase Two. While the smell at the sixth hole seems to have dissipated, a stench from the lake on the eighth hole is worsening.
“I did hear from many residents that that is the new problem, it’s got quite a severe odor from hole 8,” she said, adding, “It seems like a ticking time bomb to have the same issue over there.”
The club acknowledged the eighth-hole pond smell in a May 31 membership newsletter.
“We continue to monitor the lake on hole 8, which has given off an odor recently,” the club stated. “We effectively treated the lake each time a problem became apparent.”
Arrowhead Country Club also announced plans to install a recycling and filtration system for the lakes’ water. The system will treat the water with a chemical product to remove algae, and will also take in, clean and replace the water.
At the time of Bais’ arraignment, Arrowhead Ranch residents questioned why he was being blamed and not Arcis.
On Friday, Johnson Bodine said she was happy for Bais, reiterating that he wasn’t at fault for the pond smell.
“It was publicly stated by Arcis that it was not his fault,” she said, adding that “the wrong person was prosecuted.”
Shawn Raymundo covers the West Valley cities of Glendale, Peoria and Surprise. Reach him at sraymundo@gannett.com or follow him on X @ShawnzyTsunami.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Prosecutors drop foul stench charge against golf course supervisor
