Chapter 9 - THE STEWARD AGREEMENT
Diane’s Resident Steward Agreement was renewed every three years.
It allowed occupancy.
It required:
accurate financial reporting,
no undisclosed self-dealing,
reasonable access for approved foundation purposes,
and conduct consistent with charitable mission.
It also contained a removal process.
Not instant eviction.
Notice.
Opportunity to respond.
Board vote.
Ninety-day transition unless immediate safety issue existed.
Claire was disappointed.
Part of her wanted Diane thrown out with one suitcase the next morning.
Grace said:
“That would make you like her.”
Claire hated the sentence because it was true.
Diane had expelled Claire through raw household power.
The foundation would not do that.
Process mattered.
Independent investigators interviewed:
vendors,
employees,
board members,
Diane.
Claire did not participate in the vote.
She was not a board member yet.
She submitted only:
the vendor complaint,
public records,
and her factual account of how she discovered the issue.
That restraint mattered later.
Diane could not truthfully say Claire had simply engineered a private eviction.
Diane was also given counsel.
Copies of accounting findings.
Time to rebut.
She successfully challenged several charges.
One hotel stay really was tied to a preservation conference.
One furniture invoice had mixed public and private use.
The final record became narrower.
May you like
Stronger.
Claire learned that fair process often felt emotionally unsatisfying precisely because it gave the person who hurt you a real chance to answer.
