When Mary and her husband moved to Lake Royale in September 2019, Mary was concerned about the financial stability of the POA and the lack of financial reporting. But committee meetings were only quarterly (and not always each quarter) and it took some time for her to join the committee. During the few meetings she attended prior to joining, she was concerned that very little time was spent reviewing the financial statements. She was added to the Finance Committee as a regular member in April 2021.
Mary was elected to the Board of Directors in July 2021 and became a board representative for the Finance Committee. Mary resigned from the Board of Directors in January 2023 and therefore could no longer serve as a board representative, however, the board agreed to place her back on the committee as a general member.
On April 16, 2024, Mary was asked to meet with certain board representatives. Before agreeing to meet, Mary made the following requests in subsequent emails:
“You state that the purpose of this meeting is in reference to finance committee issues. Unless a meeting is requested with each member of that committee, not only me, I presume this meeting has to do with something I said or did. In that case, I want to know the specific comment or act that will be discussed.
In order to prepare for this meeting, I need to know what was said, when it was said, and to whom. If you can’t provide me that courtesy, there is no reason to meet.
Why so vague? As I wrote earlier, I have the right to know, prior to this meeting, exactly what was said, when it was said, and to whom. I will presume that you have documentation to support these incidents.
And yes, please convey these feelings to the other board members.”
Because Mary did not believe she was ever provided the information requested in these emails, she said she would not meet. On April 24, 2024 the board removed her from the finance committee. Subsequently, Mary wrote the following in an email to all board members
“In your initial request for a meeting you said the purpose of the meeting was in reference to “finance committee issues”. Clearly, the issues were not merely related to the finance committee or you would have addressed these to the chair of the committee. The failure to request a meeting with the chair implied that the issue was more personal. For that reason, I responded that I wanted to know the “specific” issue to be discussed. After several other emails, you acknowledged that this meeting had to do with “the issue with Mr. Grimes”, the fact that “two other board members are involved”, and “some social media posts”. Although you wrote that “we’re having a meeting so that you can voice your opinion as well” and “we can talk these things out” the failure to include others who were involved in these incidents (i.e. two other board members) suggested that this meeting is primarily to reprimand me, and remind me that the board members are to be respected ….
Your statements which I quoted in the preceding paragraph about talking things out and hearing my opinion suggest that this would be more of a meeting-of-the-minds, or a discussion about the events that occurred between Mr. Grimes (Ray) and myself. However, the conditions of the meeting that you presented did not suggest this intent. Director Gordon (Noreen) identifies herself as an expert in “conflict resolution”. I would ask Noreen if she would enter into any meeting of two opposing parties without both parties being present and without the specific issues being identified. Yet, these were the conditions you presented to me: the board members who were involved were not invited to the meeting, and you provided no specifics of a social media post to which you referred.”
This is another instance of qualified residents in excellent standing who were selflessly serving on Lake Royale committees being removed from their committees. Retaliation from the board is an ever increasing “normal” part of the board’s activities. What can we do as residents of the Lake Royale community? Vote in the upcoming election and not allow incumbents to continue to sit on the board. Vote new residents on the board to invoke change.
Loraine Ryan
Investigative Reporter – LakeRoyaleWatch
