Lennar first offered to sell us the clubhouse last summer for $5.9 million. This offer had a similar deadline and identical price to the one we are now dealing with but it included a $500,000 cash incentive if we would allow Lennar to build 3-story units on POD I.

The Presidents called a meeting at which they took a straw vote of the couple of hundred people who attended. As a direct result of this straw vote to reject Lennar's short deadline, Lennar withdrew its offer and $500,000 cash incentive. Had the straw vote not been taken, it is likely that we would have purchased the clubhouse and today had $500,000 in the bank and be in control of the master association.

The lesson to be learned from this experience is that our leaders need to make the decisions we have entrusted to them and NOT solicit and be influenced by the results of straw votes of a minority of residents. Let's not repeat the errors of the past.

Willard Schaeffer