Morning all.
As one of the trio who showed a red card in response to the straw poll
around legal representation, it was suggested that we send something ahead
of the meeting about our reasons for this. ( I'm also interested in hearing
from those who registered Orange cards about their serious reservations).
I'll do my best to be brief.
a. I'm assuming that all those who've registered an opinion about our
legal representation have read the summary column put together by Alex. It's
my observation that as a group, we may be looking at the same set of 'facts
and opinions' but we are 'weighing' this information differently.
Eg while it is interesting to learn more about our former lawyer's role in
managing complex individual property purchases in the past, to my mind, that
has little bearing on our current situation: that all 24 transfers of money
to the bank along with titles to be issued, covenants applied, etc for a
brand new development need to be completed at the same time in order for us
to discharge our obligations to Kiwi bank and be able to move in to High
Street cohousing. Any delays or muddles around these processes have
significant implications for us all: for one thing, we have all signed a
contract with Kiwibank that we are responsible for our own loans and that of
the rest of us to the amount that Kiwibank has agreed to lend.
On the scale of 'Stressful life events', moving house is right up there. A
number of us will be timing the sale of our properties to hopefully line up
with the move in date; others are already renting. Any delays have
significant financial implications for us as a group. Some of you may be
able to cover an additional $20K plus were that required - we are not in
that happy position. And none of us need to be put under that stress if this
transaction is handled efficiently, accurately and to time.
Which brings me to the matter of the resources required by whatever law firm
manages this complex transaction. This is not a 'one person' job. It is
going to require the dedicated attention of a small team over days and
possibly weeks to have this all lined up and ready to go. In my view, we
need to allow for the predictably unpredictable; staff illness/ absence for
what ever reason. Again, a 'one or two person' operation doesn't provide
that. As shareholders, we have a responsibility to act cautiously for the
good of us all.
b. Irrespective of capacity and past performance, in this sort of
matter, I want to know I can rely on the judgement of the person
representing my interests. While we can all make mistakes, and hopefully
learn from these, when errors of judgement occur, and especially recur, it
makes me pause. Many things can affect cognitive capacity, as my aging brain
is only too aware.
Again, in my view, it behooves us to be cautious. There is no satisfaction
in ' I told you so', as we, along with the rest of you, face expensive
delays and additional fees due to factors we considered and decided to set
aside. Again, as shareholders, we have a responsibility to act cautiously
for the good of us all.
Several people registered Orange cards in response to the recent straw poll.
I would like to hear more about their serious reservations too.
c. My third issue relates to the process around the discussion about
legal representation.
In my opinion, this discussion has become embroiled in a confusing mix of
loyalty conflicts, muddles around roles, and proposals that reflect a wish
to either reward one party or punish another ( neither of whom are
shareholders in this project).
Directors have a responsibility to shareholders and need to act with the
best interests of that whole group in mind. I've already spelled out
something of our obligations to one another that are set out in the Kiwibank
contract.
Over this process, most of us have experienced considerable discomfort,
wondering what we got ourselves into. People have used words like
'manipulated';' furious'; 'too embarrassed to talk about this with family,
knowing what they would say' etc etc. Discussions ( Lobbying?) have gone on
by phone or over coffee cups with some, while requests to meet to talk
through differences with others have been declined. This is not how the
kaupapa of co-housing was presented to me and I expect it is not the picture
attendees at our most recent induction work shop were given either.
We need to be willing to walk our talk.
Quite a bit of this has bought to mind the book 'Emotional Blackmail: when
people in your life use fear, obligation and guilt to manipulate you'. The
author describes how a fear of others anger (or our own) can produce what
she describes as a 'FOG' made up of fear, obligation and guilt that muddles
our thinking, makes it hard to focus on the facts and interferes with good
decision making. If we can't see conflict as 'growth trying to happen', we
can instead fall into a pattern of shutting it down at all costs, or
agreeing with anything to make it go away, and then paying the price inside
ourselves for acting against what we knew to be in our best interests and/
or those of the group.
I'm hopeful that as a group, we'll get through this issue in a sane way, and
that we'll use this experience to help us build our resources for other
issues that we'll face together down the track.
Best wishes and see you on Thursday -
Marianne.
Marianne Quinn
Level 3, 115 Stuart Street, Dunedin
P.O. Box 20, Dunedin 9054
ph +6434773115 or 0211612050