Latest update (March 17, 2025)

Fellow owners,

There have obviously been mounting frustrations as to CWD's management and the Marselle Board's acquiescence for years, particularly with respect to the last two (maybe more?) budgets. The most recent budget process was filled with questionable approaches and a lack of transparency.

It has long been apparent to me that while budgets would always pass under the existing structure, what ultimately needs to happen is for an evaluation of CWD's management and most likely an RFP for management companies to take place, so that ALL Marselle owners could determine what management company could do best for us now. While there are certainly uncontrollable economic factors that impact budgets and options, it has long seemed that Marselle ownership has been less desirable since CWD was brought on as management.

Given that, rather than worrying much about another disappointing budget passing, I had been focused on the March 2025 Board elections, at which I knew that many owners who felt the same way would be interested in running for the Board, ideally to join Eric Wong with his institutional knowledge and promotion of communication and engagement, including setting up a town hall to discuss the budget ahead of the new ratification meeting.

Indeed, six owners stepped up to run for the Board. It was surprising and disappointing to then see the annual meeting notice arrive and indicate only two seats were up for election, and an implication that the three remaining Board members elected in 2022 would remain.

For those unaware, there are 5 Board positions. The last election was held in 2022. The four existing Board members at that time (Jacob Bertram, Efren Diaz, Christine Nettles, Eric Wong) were elected again to a two-year term. Sometime after that election but before the 2023 meeting, Cheryl D'Ambosio was appointed as a Board member.

At the 2023 meeting, there was an attempt to unilaterally expand the Board to 7 members, but it was pointed out that our bylaws don't allow that, so it was tabled and never ended up happening. You'll see that attempt in the draft of 2023 annual meeting minutes that are still not official. Those aren't official for 2 reasons - 1) they're wrong, and 2) there was no 2024 meeting to approve or correct them, due to a lack of quorum.

At that 2024 attempted meeting, the Board members still included Jacob Bertram, Efren Diaz, Christine Nettles and Eric Wong. All of their terms would have ended at that meeting. However, there was no meeting because there was no quorum reached. In turn, there was no election. As I read the bylaws and RCW, going without a meeting and election was not an option and we needed to attempt to hold another. That didn't happen.

So, after the tumultuous budget process started in late 2024, I, at the 1/1/25 "monthly" meeting, sought out the details of the upcoming election process. At that meeting, we confirmed:

- There are 5 Board positions.
- At that time, only 3 were filled (Jacob had resigned in mid-2024)
- Rather than appoint two right then (or anytime since they were short 1-2), the remaining 2 would be filled via the March elections.
- Of the 3 current Board members, Eric would be running for re-election and Christine would not be. Efren wasn't there to answer. Eric and Christine understood their terms were up.
- Lauren confirmed that at minimum there would be the 2 vacant seats open, Christine's seat would be open, but said she would verify if Eric and Efren's terms were up before the mailer went out.
- The plan was to get forms mailed out to solicit people to run for the board right away, in order to give time for people to apply, and then in turn time to inform people of who was running, and in turn time for discussion about the election ahead of the annual meeting.

That timeline did not happen, but once an email about interest forms was finally sent out (including a point where CWD's links to the forms didn't work), six new applicants submitted forms, as did Eric Wong who understood he likely needed to do so as his term had been up.

And now in what is the most dubious of all the dubious things CWD and part of the Board has done over the last few years, they have declared that the existing Board will remain in place to be joined by two members who will be a minority of the Board.

The result of course - if that plan was to succeed - is that it may not be possible for there to be a majority of the Board that will begin work to evaluate CWD and explore alternatives. And should that be the result, expect more of the status quo as to the budget and the overall value of owning a Marselle unit, until the remaining Board seats can be voted on.

Now, I don't expect that result to last for another year even if we're stuck with it in a few days. This is just the latest in a series of CWD and/or Board (most likely just the president) actions that have long warranted a legal response that will correct us back to where we should be. I'd hope that CWD and the Board realize ahead of proceeding this way on Tuesday that it would be a poor decision. Either way, I think this can be corrected before budget season and without having to wait until 2026 elections.

As it stands, vote for whoever you'd like under the current voting process, but definitely make sure you vote and/or that we get a quorum for this important 2025 meeting! All six of those running share the same concerns about CWD and its relationship to the current Board/president, and will work to get this fixed as Board members or otherwise.

Thanks!