If any of you believe for one minute that the purpose of the July 25, 2006 special meeting is to do something for the good of the entire neighborhood, you have rocks in your head.  How does it hurt the Association as a whole for one of its members who has been aggrieved to demand the resignations of those he contends have violated their duties to the HOA and to let them know that if they do not do so and others in the HOA want to proceed, he will represent them for free?  What harm will be suffered by the HOA if every person on the current Board were to step down?  What dangerous precedent for all of us could it possibly set to say "I was wrong", "I believe I was right, but this is not worth it", "I guess I should have put some more thought into this one before I acted", "Why didn't we sit down with this guy before we sued him", or something of the sort?

 

        Each and every one of these Board members simply needs to leave office.  What are they holding on to, anyway?  I understand from their counsel that there may never be another Board in this neighborhood because of this litigation and that none of the current members will ever want to serve again.  What would have been wrong with just leaving office as I had demanded and being done with it?  Sure, there is some disgrace involved, but so what?  The Board members could have spun it however they wanted to and walked away, and everyone would have understood and moved on with their lives.  While I believe that once the HOA members looked at the HOA's books and saw there was nothing left and that all of it had been wasted on this unnecessary litigation they might have gotten up in arms somewhat, this HOA Board likely would have skated by and everyone would have chalked it up to experience, just as they did in the Creech matter.

 

        I believe that the reason this group is running scared at this point and counting on each of us to do our duty to the HOA and pay our share of the costs they incurred on the HOA's behalf is because to them, stepping down would be an admission that they could (and should) have done a better job for the HOA with respect to his matter.  It is clear that someone has to pay for this fiasco, and if all of you want to handle it socialistically and share the costs, I will be the first to turn in my $100.00 check.  If you want accountability and to deter others in positions of authority within the HOA from abusing their power in the future, it is time to at least have a full and fair hearing about what these folks did (and could or should have done) and to decide as a community whether we all should share the burden.  We may decide as a group to let these individual slide for trying to do their jobs the best way they knew how, but that is our decision to make as a group, and not this Board's.

 

        You certainly can blame me for all of this, if that is your pleasure.  After all, I probably could have walked away from all this for $1,500.00 or so out of pocket when it first started.  For reasons I have documented and detailed for all who care to listen, I have never felt my actions were wrong or harmful to the neighborhood in any way, and I was simply unwilling to sacrifice my principles, no matter what the cost to me personally.  I am no fool, and if I had not believed I had some valid points all along, I would have taken my medicine and moved on.  Under the circumstances, what sort of example would throwing in the towel when I believe I was right have set for my family and others who were familiar with the facts?  I ask each of you to consider all of the facts and circumstances and ask yourselves what you would have done differently if you had found yourselves in my position.