Dear BBLCA Community: The petition to remove some of the directors of the BBLCA Board was started to protect members’ investments. It is strictly business and has nothing to do with ulterior personal reasons or views about individual directors.

· On December 9, 2021, then BBLCA Board chair, Darlene Fiscus, sent a whistleblower letter to the membership warning of potential operational and financial peril due to the decisions and behaviors of some board directors. She also advised that the actions of the board may jeopardize the retention of our new General Manager, Shannon Ritzke, who had been there less than six months and for whom the Association had spent six months and nearly $30,000.00 to find.

· On December 11, 2021, the board called an “emergency” special board meeting to reorganize. The special meeting was immediately followed by a town-hall session, and they collectively lasted five hours. The board voted to remove Darlene as chair and replaced her with Jane Casagrande. Greg Bonawitz became vice chair, Maksim Kunin remained as Treasurer, and Elaine Viggiano remained as Secretary. Mark Piazza and Felix Rudensky remained as directors. And Darlene stayed on the board as a director.

· On December 21, 2021, the board called a special meeting to approve $10,000.00 in funding for an HR investigation into claims of a hostile work environment and possibly other unnamed issues. This was done at least in part in response to the whistleblower letter and accusations made by the GM and other employees at the town-hall meeting.

· On January 5, 2022, the new GM resigned, giving 60 days’ notice. Her resignation letter stated, “In light of recent happenings, I no longer believe this is a safe environment where my talents are valued and where I can contribute productively the betterment of BBLCA.”

· On January 6, 2022, the board called another special meeting and selected a law firm from Wilkes-Barre to conduct the HR investigation.

· On January 11, 2022, the current GM, Shannon Ritzke, who was not under contract, ended her employment with BBLCA.

· In addition to the General Manager, BBLCA has now lost several other employees, including the Web Admin/Communication Coordinator, Architectural Review Coordinator, various Administrative Assistants, and a third-party CPA Consultant just to name a few.

· On February 10, 2021, some concerned members formally asked the board to disclose the HR attorney’s engagement letter so that the scope of work and costs could be reviewed by Association members.

· On February 15, 2022, the board called a special meeting and approved another $10k in incremental funding to continue the HR investigation. Association Counsel, Nick Haros, attended this meeting at a yet unknown cost to BBLCA. A majority of the board voted to release a heavily redacted version of the engagement letter. Darlene Fiscus voted “no” because she favored releasing the letter in its entirety without redactions.

· On February 22, 2022, Jane Casagrande resigned as chair of BBLCA and from the board effective immediately.

· On February 23, 2022, the board called another special meeting that immediately recessed into executive session to discuss HR matters and a proposal for Appletree to provide interim GM services. Greg Bonawitz announced Jane Casagrande’s resignation at the beginning of the board meeting, and he further announced that he would be serving as Acting Chair of BBLCA. Members were not permitted to question the Appletree proposal, what problems it would actually solve, and whether or not it was the best option for the Association. Nor were they able to ask questions about Jane Casagrande’s resignation as chair. 

Of note, the board did not notify the general membership of the chair’s resignation and the change in leadership by email blast, which is customary. Due to the community and staff not being notified, there could have been repercussions with pending contracts and bank transactions.

· On March 3, 2022, a redacted version of the engagement letter was finally released to the members. As detailed in the letter, the purpose of engaging Rosenn, Jenkins & Greenwald, LLP is to conduct an investigation into the allegations that certain employees of the Association had been subjected to a “hostile work environment” and/or been treated less favorably on account of their gender, as well as allegations that certain board members have engaged in misconduct.

· The HR investigation remains ongoing for an indeterminate amount of time and could cost the Association even more.

· At the very least, these events and the actions of the board represent poor planning and a lack of transparency. They also raise concerns about the possibility of board misconduct and whether or not some directors are fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities to BBLCA.