Odessa Blanchard sat in the back row with a fresh legal pad. She asked the assembled members, by show of hands, formally, before the meeting opened, for permission to record the proceedings. Thirty-four hands went up; two did not. The recording began.
Nell Harrigan was in the third row in a green cardigan. She looked like someone's aunt; she was not someone's aunt.
Beverly called the meeting to order. She had prepared a compressed agenda: financial report buried under six other items, community business slotted at the end after she calculated people would be tired and ready to leave. It was a reasonable strategy; it just required the room to cooperate.
Tad Brumfield raised his hand. Beverly recognized him.
Tad said, "I'd like to move to restructure the agenda. We have a legal matter that needs to come first."
Beverly said the motion was out of order.
Petra Sundwall from the fourth row cited the exact section and paragraph of the governing documents under which a majority of members present could vote to restructure the agenda.
The vote: thirty-seven in favor, two opposed. Floyd Tench in the third row stared at the ceiling.