December 1, 2023

Dear Owner,

Our Board needs a clean sweep and new leadership. Here's why and how you can help:

Last week on Nov. 21, the Board announced it would not hold a Special Meeting of the Owners to vote for removing Board members (i.e. them). That was despite the certified Petition demanding such a meeting, signed by 157 Owners and following the Bylaws to a T--more than 3 1/2 months ago. That email, along with the Board meeting later that same day that excluded any Owner participation, were just two more examples in a long history of disregarding Owner’s rights, prioritizing their own (mysterious) agenda, failure to communicate with Owners, and instances of outright dishonesty. 

And that's on top of mismanagement of our property and poor stewardship of our financials, all of which explain why the Owners issued the Petition to remove Board members. Please see some highlights (or “lowlights”) below.

Meanwhile, our critical need now is a clean sweep of this Board plus a new breed of leaders for a new Board, who have strong, relevant skills, love the Renaissance and want to serve and respect its Owners above all.

If that’s you, please reply to this email. Our next Board election is less than 2 months away!

 

Best regards and to a better Renaissance,

Bill Lee

 #1801

________________________

A Few Reasons Why We Need a Clean Sweep of the Board 

The Board’s email and meeting last Tuesday show a consistent pattern of Board practices that mandate a clean sweep. We can start with the...

11/21 Board meeting: It scheduled that meeting less than 2 business days beforehand. There was no invitation for Owners to participate—it was conducted on Zoom with no option for Owners to ask questions or respond. It lasted just 30 minutes, starting at 6pm, the dinner hour rather than the usual 7pm Board meeting. Their clear signal was that the Board didn’t care to talk to or even want Owners in attendance, despite the many issues facing the Renaissance.

11/21 Board email... in which the Board says they scheduled the Special Meeting, which is demonstrably false. Any Owner can check their emails for the last few weeks—you won’t see any Board emails with a time or location for the Special Meeting, or any Board meeting agenda to discuss it, or the required paperwork for such “meetings to remove” like proxy ballots for the Owners to vote with. 

Also, the email intemperately repeated their fib that the Owners’ Petition is invalid. In a previous email, they claimed the Petition is “fraudulent” and “deceptive”—which are serious charges. Quite a slap to 157 Owners—representing more than 25% of our Owners. The Board has never provided any evidence of this (because there is none) yet continues to repeat it.

Finally, the Board's email claimed it voluntarily scheduled the Special Meeting. Quite false. The Special Meeting was mandated by the Owner’s Petition, as stipulated by the Bylaws. Despite their posturing as cooperating with the Owners to schedule the meeting, they actually stonewalled us for more than three months now--until they cancelled it for specious reasons!

Btw, some missing context from the Board last week. The Petition was born more than 4 months ago, by the discovery that the Board secretly attempted to finance and purchase the notorious Poston land parcel for $9M, to be financed with a $15K assessment per unit (average), without a word to the Owners. When we found out, furious Owners demanded an explanation, which had to be moved to Arlington Hall’s Ballroom to make room for 400 (est) mostly angry Owners. 

In addition to their secretive ways, the Board was also unable to explain their high-spending plans coherently, much less persuasively. That and other neglects of the Renaissance property and financials overall, led to an Owner-led Petition for removal of Board members—which was certified in just two weeks with 157 Petitioners, 37 more than required, and all in compliance with our Bylaws. The Board's response? Ignore and stonewall the mandated meeting for more than three months, right up until they refused to schedule it, for specious reasons.

One more stunning display of the Board's adversarial relationship with the Owners they're supposed to serve.

 Links: 

More Information on the Renaissance's Many Needs

Rebuttal of Board’s Nov. 21 Email

This Communication Was Not Sanctioned by The Renaissance on Turtle Creek Condominium Association

September 29, 2023

Dear Fellow Renaissance Petition Signees,

By now you may have read the unsigned email sent by the Board Tuesday evening, September 26, from the Renaissance on Turtle Creek email address, The misleading email claimed the petition, which all of you signed, was invalid “on its face” and as a result the Board would not hold a special meeting for the purpose of a Board of Director removal vote. Instead, they would “voluntarily” hold meetings on November 28 & 30 to “engage in meaningful dialogue about the place we all call home”,

In this email, they also minimized the significance of the 157 petition signees by claiming “a small portion of our community harbored a distrust of the current Board”.  In fact, we, the 157 owners and petition signees, represent a larger number of owners than the number that elected 3 of the current Board members and an exponentially larger number of owners that put 2 of the current Board members on the Board as they were appointed by 3 Board members to fill vacancies.

At this point, we would like to inform you of the contents from a letter (see attached), also sent Tuesday, September 26, from the Association’s legal counsel. This letter was sent to an attorney we (Chris Cantu & Keith Head) retained to work through the process from petition inception through the special meeting and removal of Board members.  We think the contrast between the email from the Board and the Association counsel’s letter is evident.

First, we would point out most of the arguments made by the Association’s counsel claiming the petition was invalid are unfounded and insulting.  The eligible signatures on the petition exceeded the 20% required by the bylaws to hold the special meeting and vote for removal.

We would also like to draw your attention to paragraph II A-B near the end of the letter. According to the Association’s counsel, despite the claim that the petition was invalid, the Board has agreed to hold special meetings on November 28 & 30 for a vote on the removal of Board members.

 Since the response from Association's counsel is more substantive in details pertaining to the special meetings, not to mention her role is supposed to represent the Association rather than the Board, we therefore construed that message to have more fidelity as far as the intent of the meetings.  That said, through our attorneys at Riddle & Williams, we will be proposing that the meeting dates be moved up to an earlier, more reasonable date in November that complies with notice requirements spelled out in our Governing documents and Texas law.  In our opinion, shared by our legal counsel, holding the meeting 15 weeks after the petition was originally submitted is unacceptable and a delay tactic.

Finally, thank you again for your support in this initiative to remove some or all the Board members.  Once we receive additional updates from the legal front as well as confirmed special meeting dates, information on voting process, and format of the meetings, we will be in touch. 

In the meantime, should you be aware of owners, who did not sign the petition yet may be interested in the status of the special meeting and Board removal vote, please feel free to share this update with them.  The update will also be posted on the petition initiative website RenaissancePetitionUpdate.com.

Sincerely,

Chris Cantu & Keith Head

November 20, 2023

Dear Fellow Owner,

Last Friday, our rogue Board suddenly announced a meeting for tomorrow, Tuesday, at 6 PM.  The Agenda includes approval of the 2024 Renaissance budget and the updated Reserve Study.  Apparently the Board plans another meeting soon to replace the two board members who resigned a few days ago;

In other words, the Board will make major decisions for 2024, when the members should have been removed from the Board months ago. Their refusal to acknowledge this is just the latest example of months of disregarding our Bylaws, our Governing Documents, and the will of a clear majority of Owners. This includes mismanagement of our property, poor stewardship of our finances, and consistent disregard of the wishes of the Owners they’re supposed to represent, to name a few.

This hit a tipping point with the Board’s surreptitious attempt to commit us, the Owners, to the $9M Poston parcel and (ave.) $15K assessment per unit. That followed with three months of ignoring our certified Petition to vote to remove this Board, as provided by our Governing Documents. (See attached message for more details.)

SUGGESTIONS TO TAKE BACK THE RENAISSANCE

We, the Petitioners, are developing a plan of suggestions to return control of the Board to the Owners, and will welcome your suggestions too. Please stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, we suggest emailing the Board <Board@rtcdallas.com> before tomorrow’s meeting, by 12pm Tuesday if possible. Here’s some suggested messages—please feel free to use as you wish or not:

 To the Board, please explain:

1. Why haven’t you followed through on our certified Petition to vote to remove the present Board. The Association's attorney wrote that a special meeting would be held November 28 & 30 for a vote on removal of the Board. On the same day, you sent an email that a meeting would be held November 28 & 30, for open communications with owners but no vote on removal.  Which is it and why haven't you set the meetings?

2. Why are you replacing the seats of the two Board members so soon, with elections coming in January? Is this an attempt to continue the regime of the 2023 board and its agenda?  Why not let the 3 Board members elected in January 2024 make the decision on who will fill the open seat?

Bill Lee

#1801

This Communication Was Not Sanctioned by The Renaissance on Turtle Creek Condominium Association

October 30, 2023

Letter from a Concerned Owner   -  Bill Lee -  Unit #1801                                                                                                                

Dear Fellow Owner,

On August 1, 400 Owners (est) angrily confronted the Renaissance Board for attempting to commit us to a $9M land purchase and an average $15K/unit assessment, without any knowledge prior to late June. The only thing stopping it was pulling the land from the market before the Board could complete the deal.

At the August 1 meeting, and in the three months since then, we’ve tried to get the Board to respond to the wishes and interests of us, the Owners—and not only on the parcel debacle but also the overall management of the Renaissance including our property and our finances—which is their responsibility. They’re not meeting it. To the contrary, they’re issuing anti-Owner decisions and communications as if we the Owners are their adversaries. As a result,

A large number of Owners believe it's necessary to remove the entire Boardbefore the January elections. And we need your help.

 Following, please find our reasons for acting and suggestions for you to help us. And thanks for your involvement and support in this unfortunate but necessary initiative.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ASIDE: A few misconceptions have arisen among the Owners, that we’d like to clarify:

1. The dispute over the Hall Street Parcel is settled. The Petitioners won—the Board has dropped that initiative. Doubtful. The Board said they were dropping it, in a non-binding document. Regretfully, with their consistent habit of opposing us, we don’t trust them to not take a run at the parcel when it comes back on the market.

2. We can fix any other problems with the Board in the January 2024 election. Unlikely. Only three Board positions are up for election. Two current Board members stay on until 2025—and they’re particularly resistant to Owner needs. This is a major reason we need a clean sweep.

3. Both sides are burning too much of our money! Half true! We Petitioners were obliged to retain a lawyer in response to the Board’s decision to defy our clear, sanctioned Petition. All our fees are paid by twelve generous Petitioners out of their own pockets. The Board’s fees for “lawyering up” to defy our wishes are paid, ultimately, by us the Owners.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why We Lost Trust in This Board

At the August 1 meeting, with a ballroom full of mostly angry Owners looking for answers, the Board had none. They couldn’t articulate a financial or business case for that purchase. Or how it would enhance the value of any Renaissance units. They didn’t even know what they planned to do with the parcel. One frustrated Owner suggested, “How about a $9M parking lot?”

After the meeting, a large (est. 30), frustrated group of Owners organized a Petition for a Special Meeting and Vote to Remove (all or part) of the Board—as the Governing Documents provides for aggrieved Owners. Within two weeks, the Petitioners had 157 signatures (approx. 37 over the required) and submitted them to the Board on August 15.

Lawyering up in August

In August, the Board responded by “lawyering up” and “slow walking” our Petition. And rather than serve us, the Owners, they declared war on us. The Board said, in a September email, that Owner Petition “signatures were fraudulently obtained using deceptive methods” (which is a crime, for which they provided no evidence, because there is none).

There have been three monthly Board meetings since the Owners submitted the Petition. None of the agendas mention the Owner’s Petition—which is what Owners most wanted to hear about. In the 2 ½ months since the Petition was certified, we still have no Special Meeting or Vote to Remove scheduled.

This is an astonishing slap coming from the Board to us, the Owners. Four hundred mostly angry Owners crowding a ballroom, 157 Petition signers, 219 “Nos” on a Survey about pursuing the parcel sale (vs 76 Yes)—are a strong indicator of the majority’s wishes. And the Board’s actions (and failures to act), convinces us we have an anti-Owner Board.

Meanwhile, What About the Board Responsibilities They Were Elected For?

Property Mismanagement. Anyone who walks the property or uses its amenities knows the Renaissance has the sad look of decline. A two-year delay in our pool repair. *Ongoing landscape issues. *Much-needed, repairs and upgrades. *Lax cleaning of carpets, walk rails. *Damaged carpet. *Broken elevator landing tiles. *Deplorable elevator cabs. *Fitness rooms with frequently broken machines with wires scattered near them. *Boken hot tub for months… It seems like an endless list.

Many of these issues are old, but this Board has done little to address them and much to increase them. For example, a previous Board recognized the decline in FirstService Residential (FSR) quality of service, and engaged FSR assertively, including the president, to correct it. That resulted in several meetings including the president and team, and a comprehensive plan to correct the problem. The current Board appears to have ignored it.

It is inexcusable for the largest condominium in Texas to content itself with 2nd class service.

Financial Mismanagement.

In addition to attempting a $9M purchase with an average $15K assessment per unit, with no financial analysis, and no plan for the parcel…

The current Board neglected needed rehab projects from the 2021 Board, which identified $6M+ in badly needed maintenance & repairs. Unlike the Hall Street property purchase initiative, in March 2022, the Board vetted the projects and cost with the Owners in a Town Hall. Fast forward to 2023, when the present Board needed to prioritize the projects. Instead, it spent five precious months on the undercover Hall Street property purchase initiative, which could have committed us to a further $9M expense on top of our much needed $6M rehab expense—that is, further financial mismanagement. This Board also delayed most of the rehab projects. It was only at the September 2023 Board meeting that this Board held a cursory discussion on some of the rehab projects—almost two years after first being presented to the Owners.

Finally, what can only be called: An Anti-Owner Board. 

In addition to, *Insisting that the Board didn’t need to get approval from the Owners to commit us to the Hall Street Parcel. *Claiming falsely that the Petition and its signers acted “fraudulently” and “deceptively.” *Slow walking our Petition’s certification, that took more than a month and which could have been done in a few days. *Ignoring the Petition’s stipulation for a Special Meeting on removing the Board, which has force in our Governing Documents, and substituting ordinary “meetings,” with no such force.

As always, please feel free to share this email with other concerned owners.

 Send an email to RenaissancePetitionUpdate@gmail.com to join our email list.

This email and other Petition information can be found at our website: RenaissancePetitionUpdate.com 

Bill Lee

This Communication Was Not Sanctioned by The Renaissance on Turtle Creek Condominium Association

October 13, 2023

Dear Fellow Owners & Renaissance Petition Signees,

As a follow-up to our last email update sent on September 29, we wanted to make you aware that a lawsuit has been filed against the Board. It is unfortunate that it has come to this point however we feel this is our last option in an effort to hold them accountable for their behavior and actions as described in the lawsuit.  This filing does not mean we are giving up on getting a firm date for a  Special Meeting with a vote for removal of Board members.  In fact, we are attempting to have it moved up to an earlier date in November.  We will keep you posted as we have additional updates.

 

As always, please feel free to share this information with other owners who may be concerned about the Board's actions over the last 6 months.  This email as well as the lawsuit will also be posted on our website RenaissancePetitionUpdate.com/.

Sincerely,

Chris Cantu & Keith Head

September 24, 2023

Dear Fellow Owner,

First, thank you for participating in the Board of Directors Survey! It paid off (literally). Last Wednesday, the Board announced the results. Out of 282 survey responses, 206 said “No” to any further attempts by the Board to purchase the Hall Street parcel. And no assessment of $15,000 per unit (on average). Only 76 said “Yes.” A margin of 73% to 27%, a landslide by any definition.

This is great, but just a step to avoid other threats to our homes and investments, to say nothing of the  unrealized potential of the Renaissance to be a truly great address as Uptown flourishes. In addition to their attempt to purchase the Hall Street property without input from the Owners, the present Board has allowed continuation of significant decline in critical areas including financial management, property management, services management and most of all, governance: understanding that the Board represent—work for—the Owners.

We’ll be elaborating these problems in the next few weeks, for those Owners who are interested. In the meantime, we have this urgent priority now.

The Current Need

The Board continues to give us no information on our successful Petition for a Special Meeting and Vote on Removal of (some or all) Board Directors. It’s been 40 days since the Petition was submitted with more than the required 120+ owner signatures, meaning we the Petitioner-Owners have the right to such a meeting and vote, per the Bylaws.

The Board’s only updates have been that they’re certifying the owner signatures: a process they could have done in a few days, easily. Several Petitioners believe—and I agree—that we should insist that the Board ASH:

1.      Announce a Special Meeting date, by this Tuesday, September 26.

2.      Send formal owner notification of the Special Meeting by October 9.

3.      Hold the Special Meeting by October 30.

If you would like to express your concern, here is their e-address: board@rtcdallas.com. And some suggested language to use, if you agree:

_____________________________________________

Dear Renaissance Board,

Enough is enough! 40 days have passed since the Owners successfully filed a Petition for Special Meeting and Vote on Removal of Board Directors. You have had more than enough time to certify the signatures that could have been done easily in a  few days. I (We) insist that no later than Tuesday, Sept. 26, you announce the date of the meeting; that no later than October 9, you send formal owner notification; and that no later than October 30, such meeting and vote will be held.

Sincerely,

Unit Owner(s)

_____________________________________________

In closing, we wanted to make you aware that on Saturday, September 23. The Dallas Morning News published a 4th story on the ongoing Renaissance saga.  All 4 stories, previous petition updates, & FAQ’s have been posted on our initiative website RenaissancePetitionUpdate.com. We encourage you to visit the site as well as share with others who may be interested in supporting our initiative.

Sincerely and on behalf of the Renaissance Petition Initiative,

Bill Lee

#1801

September 12, 2023

Letter From a Concerned Owner

 

Dear Fellow Owner,

 I offered to write this letter as a concerned Owner for two reasons. First, I’ve loved living at the Renaissance for nearly 20 years. I love my neighbors. I love our location in the City and on Turtle Creek. 

 However, our Renaissance is seriously adrift. After much deliberation, I signed the Petition for a Special Meeting and Vote on Removal of Directors of the Board. Following are the most serious reasons I’ve taken this step. If you agree and would like to help right our Renaissance ship, please see some suggestions for you, below.

THE IMMACULATE ASSESSMENT

Last June 27 at a routine Board meeting in the B Building, the Board disclosed it was in negotiations to purchase the “Poston parcel” (bounded by the Renaissance property and Hall Street). To finance the purchase, they laid plans for a special assessment on Renaissance Owners—a minimum of $9M, which breaks down to a minimum of $7,000 (approx.) for a 534-sf unit.

The Board did all of this without consulting or even informing the Owners of the intended purchase—no meeting, no deliberations with us, no opportunity for Owners to be heard—claiming that utmost urgency was required to buy the parcel before someone else did. The Board also claimed that Renaissance bylaws or declarations don’t require special Owner approval of the planed land purchase and Owner assessments.

Further, if the parcel had not been pulled off the market temporarily during this time, the Board gave every signal that they would have executed the parcel purchase and special assessment before any Owner had any idea this was happening. 

 I don’t know what the lawyers are saying about this, but as a regular HOA, dues-paying Owner for almost 20 years, I find it outrageous. Other words that occur include unacceptable, unethical, lacking common sense, and outright disrespectful to “we the Owners.”  

So did a few hundred other Owners, who demanded an open meeting with the Board on August 1 at Arlington Hall. Some 400 mostly angry Owners attended—including yours truly—many of them in standing room only when seats ran out.  So palpable was the anger that Board members apologized for such a brazen effort to bypass the Owners.

Energized Owners immediately submitted a Petition, as is their right, to call a Special Meeting to remove all or part of the Board. Just two weeks later (August 15), the petition had drawn the signatures of 157 “units” (more than the approximately 120 required) to mandate the meeting and vote. 

One would think that after facing the wrath of hundreds of angry Owners and pressured to apology,  the Board would snap-to and schedule the Special Meeting pronto. Unfortunately, the Board is already reverting to their old habits just weeks after the stuff hit the fan. They seem, once again, to be pursuing their own priorities and disrespecting the needs and preferences of the Owners they’re supposed to represent. 

WE’RE  STILL NOT GETTING STRAIGHT TALK FROM THE BOARD 

The Board has recently responded to the Owners’ successful Petition by sending out a “Survey” that includes no meeting. Also, a “Survey” is not a Vote with deliberation and healthy debate. Once again, we  the owners seem invisible in the deliberations of the Board.

The “Survey” itself gives away the Board’s priorities. Any respectable survey is scrupulous about being unbiased, objective, neutral. But this “Survey” reads like a PR release. Notice the two choices: the first choice (favored by the Board) is clearly biased for that choice, praising those who choose it as “enabling, informed decision making.” Actually, that’s not even true. The Survey doesn’t mention the $7000 (minimum) assessment that comes with that choice! That seems very relevant to any “informed decision.”

As for the second Survey choice (which the Board opposes), those who pick it are lectured: “we will have no control over what could be built ln the property.” To the Board: that’s pretty much the nature of high-density development anywhere.

Another insult to our intelligence is the Board’s reaction to the Petitions. The leaders collected more than enough signatures in just two weeks, on August 15. That authorizes the Special Meeting and a Vote on the Board. 

It is now almost 30 days later. We have clearly made the requirement (157 petitions, 26% of our units, only 20% required). But the Board insists it needs more time to certify the petitions, which is obviously “slow walking” the certifications and another insult to our intelligence. To the Board: we can count! I went down myself to the management office and asked them to certify my survey. And watched what they did: it took a minute or less. At that rate, 157 petition signatures should take three hours or so. Yet we are now on day 26 and still waiting for the Board to certify, schedule the meeting and conducting a vote. 

The Board plainly does not want a Special Meeting or Vote on this Board, despite the wishes of the Owners expressed at the Arlington Hall meeting, and through our Petition filed on August 15.

For now, please sign and submit your Survey(here’s a link) to any concierge desk at the Renaissance or email to Aubri.Goudy@fsresidental.com by 

Wednesday, September 13 by 5pm. I suggest you check #2. As flawed as it is, it’s our best way to prevent the Board from attempting a second rogue attempt to purchase the Poston parcel and incur a multiple thousand-dollar assessment that a large percentage of our Owners certainly appear to oppose.

Sincerely,

Bill Lee

#1801

PS: Whatever the outcome of our Survey responses on September 13, I urge all of us NOT to back off, that we keep our pedals to the metal. 

The next critical event will be the Special Meeting and Vote on Removal of Directors. If past behaviors hold, the Board may try to delay it for many more weeks and possibly months. Please stay tuned on this.

September 11, 2023

Dear Owner & Petition Signee,

 We wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with a quick update on the status of the petition for a Special Meeting and associated vote to remove all or some of the Association Board members.

Friday of last week, you should have received an email from the Board stating that the petition signature validation process is ongoing. This was the same update we received from Board Secretary Tim Doyle at the August 22 Board meeting.  We find this statement interesting and, quite frankly unbelievable, in that the management office and Mr. Doyle have been in possession of the petition for 16 business days.  To claim that 157 signatures or a minimum of 9 per day cannot be processed by the management office in this time period is questionable.

While we believe we have more than enough signatures to remain above the 20% required to call the special meeting, as expected, some of the signatures will be invalid. Reasons would include:  the signee does not match the owner of record in the office records; the signee is delinquent in monthly dues; the signee has outstanding fines.  If you believe you may fall into one of these categories, and want your signature to count, please contact the management office to confirm. 

Finally, although not mentioned in last week's letter from the Board, we learned that they have not set a tentative date for the Special Meeting because nothing in the Association's governing docs or Texas law requires the Board to set a meeting date within a specified period.  With this in mind, they could essentially delay setting the meeting indefinitely.  Our hope is that the Board doesn't use this loophole to delay what is clearly stated in our bylaws as a right of the owners.  Doing so would demonstrate a blatant willingness to put their own self-interest and self-preservation above doing what is ethical and right.

 THREE IMPORTANT REMINDERS

• The deadline to submit your Hall Street property purchase survey response is this Wednesday at 5:00pm.   Your survey can be returned to the concierge desk or the management office.  It can also be emailed to the management office.  Renaissance Survey

• We are still accepting Special Meeting / Board Removal petition signatures.  Should you know of a neighbor wanting to sign the petition, please have them email RenaissancePetitionUpdate@gmail.com and we will send a copy of the petition for them to sign and return.

• Check out RenaissancePetitionUpdate.com for all information related to the petition initiative.

Sincerely, 

Melanie & Bryan

Co-Chairs

Renaissance Petition Initiative

August 31st, 2023

Renaissance Owner & Petition Signee,

Thank you once again for signing the Renaissance petition to hold a Special Meeting and vote on removal of some or all the current Board members.  To keep you informed, this is the 3rd update being sent to those owners who have signed the petition.  As you are aware, the petition, representing a total 26.2% of undivided ownership interest percentage assigned to all signees and a total of 157 owner signatures, was delivered to the office and Board Secretary Tim Doyle on Tuesday, August 15th.  The submitted petition exceeded the minimum 20% owner participation required by the bylaws.  Our expectation was a timely response from the Board on a date for the special meeting.  Unfortunately, more than two weeks since delivery, a meeting has not been set, nor has there been any communication with us as to when the meeting will be scheduled.  

This lack of responsiveness, communications, and action is yet another example of why this Board must be replaced.  After 16 days since delivery of the petition, our only option was to have legal counsel, funded by contributions from more than a dozen owners, contact the Association’s legal counsel. A letter was sent by the attorney to the Association attorney yesterday with a demand that a meeting date be set.  We will provide an update on this issue as soon as we have additional information to share.

 As an update on a Board enacted process now underway, the results of which could significantly impact all of us financially, is the owner survey regarding the Hall Street lot.  The email version of the survey was sent August 24th.  The U.S. mail copy of the survey began appearing in owner mailboxes Tuesday of this week. Owner delivery of the survey by mail should take place throughout the week and into next week. For your convenience, a copy of the email from the Board with a link to the survey is attached.  The deadline to submit your survey response is 5:00pm, Wednesday, September 13th.

At the August 22nd Board meeting, during a discussion about the survey, several from our group stressed to the Board the importance of full disclosure of potential individual owner financial liability associated with an "Option 1 / Support" response. In addition, a request was made that the fact chart emailed by the Board on August 18th be referenced, if not included in the survey.  This is a critical piece of information necessary for owners to make an educated decision when responding to the survey.

The survey is obviously a blatant disregard of our requests and once again the Board has demonstrated a lack of transparency in the final survey for several reasons:

•  There is no explanation provided as to what will constitute an appropriate number of responses for the Board to accept the survey as an accurate reflection of the opinion of most of the owners and members of the Association.

• The sentence before Option 1 reads “The Board will honor the collective decision of our community, and the certified results will be circulated.  In fact, there is nothing in our bylaws stating results of a survey are binding.  The Board does not have to comply with the results.

•     The last sentence of Option 1 reads, “I understand the Board will not take any binding actions on behalf of the Association without majority support of the owners.  This is contrary to statements made at the June 27th Board meeting and August 1st informational meeting at which time owners were advised that owner approval is not required for purchase of the property or issuance of a $9M+ special assessment.

• Option 1 does not state the financial implications of a “Support” response.  Should the property be purchased and a special assessment approved, each owner will be required to pay $13-$17 per condo square foot in a special assessment should the property be purchased.

Finally, please return your survey as soon as possible and encourage other owners to do the same.  We also want to remind you of our website, RenaissancePetitionUpdate.com, where you will find information and updates related to the petition for the Special Meeting and the vote for removal of the Board.  This is also a great source of information for those owners who have not signed the petition and may still be interested in doing so.

 Sincerely,

 Melanie Goodheart & Bryan Hatfield

Co-Chairs

Renaissance Petition Initiative