Find that number and get more than that." We found the clause buried on page 47 of the covenants. A petition signed by 25% of homeowners could force a special meeting. Our neighborhood had 120 homes.
We needed 30 signatures. We felt we could get double that. The next challenge was the financial audit. How could we get our hands on the books?
Karen held them tighter than her purse strings. The answer, it turned out, came from within her own crumbling regime. Barry, the perpetually terrified treasurer, had seen the writing on the wall during the hearing. He had watched the video of the landscaping truck.
He knew he was attached to a sinking ship, and he was implicated in the illegal lien attempt. Two days after our alliance meeting, a plain manila envelope with no return address appeared in my mailbox. Inside was a USB drive and a single typed note, "I'm sorry. I was afraid of her.
Look in the landscaping and maintenance budget." I plugged the drive into my computer. It contained a complete dump of the HOA's QuickBooks files for the past 3 years. It was the Rosetta Stone of Karen's corruption.
I spent hours combing through the data, and what I found was staggering. There were hundreds of payments to a company called Creative Community Solutions. The invoices were vague. "Beautification project."
"Consulting services." "Seasonal planting." But the payments were huge, tens of thousands of dollars over 3 years.
A quick search of the state's business registry revealed that Creative Community Solutions was a sole proprietorship. The business was registered under Karen's maiden name. She wasn't just a tyrant, she was an embezzler. She was using our HOA dues to pay herself for phantom services.