Franchise agreements preempt HOA governance on utility matters as a matter of state law. Every fine, every work order, every lien issued under Margaret's infrastructure compliance program was retroactively void. The lien against my property, lot 14, Warren Mills, $3,500, was formally dissolved and expunged from county records. I received the expungement notice on a Friday afternoon.
I filed it in the violation drawer, which I was beginning to think of as an archive rather than a weapon. Its work was done. The financial fallout came in two pieces. The HOA, through its insurance carrier, was ordered to pay my legal fees, $14,200.
The check arrived by certified mail, which struck me as appropriate. There was one more financial matter. Ridgecrest Power Services LLC had quietly extended a below-market rate on the community's utility service agreement when I moved in 4 years ago, a goodwill gesture I had never announced and no one had ever asked about. The new interim board renegotiated the agreement at current market rates.
I didn't offer the discount again. They didn't ask. Margaret settled her personal civil defamation liability out of court. The terms were confidential, but Patricia Okafor mentioned in passing that it was not a small number.
More importantly, all 11 infrastructure-related liens filed by Margaret's board over the previous 18 months were reviewed and voided. Fines were refunded. The Rivera family, who had sold their house and left rather than fight a $6,000 accumulated fine, were contacted directly. I don't know what that conversation looked like.
I hope it helped. Mrs. Patterson received a check for $900 and a written apology from the interim board. She called me when it arrived. "They apologized for the roses," she said.
"Good," I said, "in writing. Even better." She was quiet for a moment.
"I'm keeping them, you know, the roses." I assume you would. There was a long pause, and then she cried quietly the way people cry when something they've been holding for a long time is finally allowed to be put down. I didn't say anything.
I just stayed on the line until she was ready to hang up. The community handled the social peace with a speed that surprised me. An emergency homeowner meeting was called by petition. 44 signatures filed within a week of the commission hearing.
The recall vote, 71 to 2. Margaret Chen was removed as board president by a margin that left no room for interpretation. Both board members had resigned before the vote was counted, which saved them from the margin, but not from the record. The new interim board sent a formal written apology to every homeowner who had been fined under the infrastructure compliance program.
Three pages, specific, signed by three people who hadn't been part of what happened and were clearly trying to make that distinction visible. Tom Garza was elected to the new board by write-in ballot, a retired electrician who had tried to warn Margaret Chen and been dismissed in 40 seconds. Now sitting in the chair she'd vacated, he called me the night the results came in. "I wasn't campaigning," he said.
"I know," I said. "41 write-ins. Sounds about right."