Kindness Defeats Complaints

The $2,600 assessment was due February 15. I received a letter from a 70-year old resident telling me that she would only pay $1,600 until we submit a bill for the exact amount. An "approximation" was not acceptable.

I wrote a reply thanking her for her input, explaining how we can to the amount, that assessments are necessarily estimates, and that since the item was put to a vote that I had to ask her to comply.

She called (and then wrote) me back, explaining various items that I had "chosen to ignore" and stating her main issue as our secret "changing of the rules" without consulting the neighborhood.

I read meeting minutes from recent months and realized that they were incomplete enough that she could have reached this conclusion. So I wrote a reply apologizing for the oversight, and hoping that this would make her comfortable enough to pay the remaining balance.

She wrote me a reply thanking me for my kindness, and enclosing a $1,000 check.

Kindness defeats complaints.