Marlo sent preservation notices requesting the basis for the assessment, records of the claimed inspection, the contracts involved, and copies of any board approvals. I asked for the association's budget information as an affected neighbor, while Willowbrook members had their own rights to inspect specified association records. Dalton and Savannah began asking questions at meetings because their dues, unlike my supposed assessment, were genuinely part of the HOA's business.
The first public meeting I attended was held in Willowbrook's community center. There were sixty-three residents present, more than the board was accustomed to seeing on a weeknight. The room smelled of instant coffee and damp carpet, and the projector displayed a photograph of my dam under the alarming heading UPSTREAM LIABILITY. Cordelia stood at the front with Brantley at her side, both looking as though they expected a standing ovation for having discovered water.
I waited through twenty minutes of reports about decorative fencing and holiday lighting before Dalton raised his hand. "Before we discuss the emergency assessment," he said, "can somebody tell me whether we voted to spend association funds suing a nonmember?"
Cordelia replied that the board had broad authority in emergencies. Savannah asked what the emergency was and how much money had already been spent. Cordelia referred her to the finance committee, then explained that confidentiality prevented discussing current legal strategy. The problem with that answer was that the finance committee consisted of a treasurer who had not seen the latest invoices and a vacant seat that Cordelia had somehow forgotten to fill.
When I rose, Cordelia told me the floor was reserved for members. I acknowledged that and asked whether she would accept the inspection information I had brought or direct me to the county authority that supposedly approved demolition. She accused me of disrupting the proceedings. I sat down, because I had not come to win a shouting match; I had come to learn who was willing to put their accusations on the record.
Afterward, Dalton caught up with me in the parking lot. "I've taught thirteen-year-olds who were better at answering a question they didn't like," he said. He handed me a copy of his emergency assessment notice. "Would you mind explaining why I'm paying part of a lawyer's bill to make you tear down something that kept my garage dry in the flood of '98?"
"I'd be very interested in the answer myself."
Savannah joined us, wearing a raincoat buttoned incorrectly because she had hurried outside. Her paper showed an emergency levy that represented nearly a month's disposable income for her. "She calls it protecting my investment," Savannah said. "If I have to choose between groceries and her lawsuit, I'd like to know which investment she's protecting."
That night, for the first time, I understood that the dam was not the only thing Cordelia was trying to control. The creek simply gave her an excuse to exercise power she had already been using elsewhere. And once I began looking beyond my fifteen acres, the shape of her campaign became much larger and considerably uglier.