Cynthia leaned toward her microphone.
“Because we were advised the well was abandoned.”
“By who?”
“The project team.”
Malcolm Reed was sitting in the front row.
He raised his hand.
Samuel looked toward him.
“Mr. Reed?”
Malcolm stood.
“My preliminary plan specifically required field verification of the well and maintenance of drainage.”
Every head turned toward Cynthia.
She said:
“That note did not appear on the final landscape plan.”
Malcolm nodded.
“That does not mean the groundwater disappeared.”
A few people laughed.
Not kindly.
Cynthia’s face reddened.
“I was told the structure had not been used for years.”
Martin Hayes stood next.
“Domestic use and hydraulic activity are not the same thing.”
Cynthia looked at him.
He continued.
“A well can be unused for drinking, irrigation, livestock, or anything else and still be actively flowing.”
“That is exactly what this one was doing.”
Another resident asked:
“Did we own the structure?”
Samuel Price answered before Cynthia could.
“No.”
The room changed.
He continued.
“The well structure was inside Mr. Parker’s recorded parcel.”
“There was no recorded HOA easement granting authority to alter it.”
“Then why were we there?”
someone asked.
Samuel looked toward the board.
“That is one of the issues being reviewed.”
A woman near the front stood.
“How much has this cost?”
Treasurer Rebecca Ames opened a folder.
“We do not have a final number.”
“What’s the current estimate?”
Rebecca hesitated.
Samuel looked at her.
She answered.
“Emergency excavation, engineering, geotechnical work, temporary traffic control, drainage reconstruction, well remediation, pavement removal, base replacement, electrical changes, repaving, legal review, and related costs currently exceed two hundred thousand dollars before final insurance allocation.”
The room erupted.
Two hundred thousand was not the final number.
It would climb.
Cynthia tried regaining control.
“The board acted to protect the appearance and safety of the entrance.”
A man shouted from the side wall:
“You destroyed the entrance.”
Another:
“You filled somebody else’s well!”
Another:
“Did you even read his survey?”
Cynthia struck the gavel.
“This meeting will remain orderly.”
Nobody quieted.
The irony was too much.
Alan Whitaker made a motion.
“Effective immediately, no board officer may independently direct contractor work involving utilities, wells, drainage, easements, property boundaries, or adjacent private parcels without written project-manager approval and legal review.”
Second.
Vote.
Passed.
Then came another motion.
Suspend Cynthia’s authority to direct the entrance project pending completion of the insurance and legal investigation.
Cynthia stared at the board.
“You cannot do this in the middle of an active project.”
Alan replied:
“That is exactly when we need to.”
Passed.