BOARD IGNORED AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT

For a brief period of time, there was a minority of board members who were against the special assessment.

Jennifer Bratanch was one such board member looking to find alternatives to the proposed $1.2 million project that the majority of the board fervently favored.

She invited the president of a construction firm to a September 24, 2007, homeowners meeting to listen to the presentation given by the engineer the board had hired. The following day, he sent her this:

Bratanch presented the letter to the board and said, “We don’t need the special assessment.” Not one of them read the letter.

With $1.2 million of homeowner money at stake, not a single board member would take five minutes to consider an alternative option.

Mr. Weldon, at no cost to St. Regis homeowners, literally handed the board his professional opinion, and not one took the time to review it.

It’s little wonder that Bratanch - and others in the minority who could not in good conscience be party to the sprawling assessment - resigned in disgust.

The majority of the board members had a singularly dedicated obsession to pass the $1.2 million assessment, and nothing was going to sway them – not a professional contractor, not other board members, not even their neighbors.