||| BY MICHAEL RIORDAN |||

Given the circumstances and the previous encounters, the special meeting of the EWUA board on Friday night to draft a letter of removal and a proxy form was a remarkably civil affair, with most board members in attendance, as well as an audience of about 30 owners. And despite some disagreement, the documents drafted seemed acceptable to both removal parties – the “dominant board faction” consisting of Teri Nigretto, Jim Nelson, Michael Cleveland and Leith Templin, and the opposing minority faction consisting of Carol Ann Anderson, Ron Claus and Jim Cook.

During the public hearing period, former board member Fred Klein objected to the “use of the EWUA email communications system by only one of the two groups affected by the recall,” as Board Chairman Nigretto has done. “I think it is patently unfair,” he said, “for one faction of the board to deny the other faction use.” This represents an abuse of EWUA resources to favor one faction over the other. And Klein argued “vigorously” for confidential voting during the recall process.

Another likely misuse of EWUA resources was the fact that the dominant faction was represented (via Zoom) by attorney Rochelle Doyea of ​​the Seattle law firm Cairncross and Hempelmann, who was reportedly compensated with member funds. In contrast, minority board members personally paid for the advice of attorney Shawn Alexander of Orcas Island, who was present in person.

The two groups nevertheless agreed to appoint retired Orcas Island Judge Stuart Andrew as the independent election inspector, who will receive and open all proxies and preside over the recall vote on Saturday evening, September 28. And if individual members so choose, their votes will be kept secret and revealed only to Judge Andrew and the two designated proxies. Former EWUA Board Chair Brian Ehrmantraut will serve as a proxy for those voting to remove dominant members, while Mike Stolmeier will do so for those voting to remove minority members.

There was much discussion and confusion over the proxy form, which took up most of the rest of the meeting. For example, what happens if a member wants to vote to remove all seven directors? I heard some express a desire to do so. And it was generally agreed that EWUA members could bring a signed proxy form to the meeting if they missed the formal deadline for mailing it on September 14. Those who wish to be present and participate in the meeting, it was agreed, must bring photo ID.

Still to be finalized was the actual wording of a cover letter that would be sent along with the authorization forms and would contain detailed instructions on how to use them and where to return them. Such a mass mailing is now scheduled to take place on Monday, August 26, but that date seemed optimistic (to this observer), given how much work still needs to be done and how much agreement needs to be reached on the content.