Page 329 - FINAL MASTER 616pp 20-6-19 SOUND

each, which Management hoped \[and advised that hope to all lessees\] that only approx. £208,000 would be in the bank to cover an approx. £219,000 outlay to Mrs Hillgarth’s preferred contractor, Wade. Hoping the £8000 deficit would be made up from outstanding Quarterlies during and subsequent to the works but not leaving a security buffer for any additional works \[and externals invariably go over budget\] or any other emergencies, the lift etc might be requiring some good luck indeed. Hardly advisable or in MHML’s opinion good management. All of these various quotes are on the S.20 dated 20 June 14 with works still not scheduled and now so far behind schedule and our Head Lease responsibilities in almost criminal negligence Yet another round-robin vote/request for confirmation re: a £12,000 contribution was made and I recall that the only comment received back from some lessees associated with Mrs Hillgarth were totally negative, non committed, requesting all sorts of information as regards why not enough money in Reserves and we shouldn’t have reduced Quarterlies so underfunding Reserves \[this was thoroughly proved incorrect by Management\]. In fact one lessee who commented about the supposed paucity of the Reserves was the very same lessee who had demanded back the surplus from the previous year’s accounts which Management had suggested we keep in Reserves! Your comment that we \[me\] simply proceeded to ride roughshod over the wishes of the majority by arranging for the premises to be decorated in the style and colour scheme which you had favoured from the outset is, I cannot deny, partly true because (a) there was no majority and there never was a majority, (b) there was not even a firm undeniable consensus on anything, let alone wall colours or lift colours etc etc. Mrs Hillgarth, along with I recall two other lessees were without doubt in cahoots on everything and anything including supplying templates for requests/complaints. Although somewhat out of character, Mrs Hillgarth did state she disagreed with one of her group over the choice of black for the lift doors \[being a prime example of no firm consensus on anything\] , and indeed also preferred the mooted Belle Epoque Tiffany lamps as opposed to Brass Lanterns preferred by one her group. One lessee also confirmed the mooted Belle Epoque preference \[admittedly Management’s choice as opposed to Neutral/Classic\] in an email to me but supposedly decided otherwise on Mrs Hillgarth’s prompting, having I believe, little to do with style but more likely \[financial\] substance. One lessee has remained totally neutral throughout the process and becomes extremely upset when her neutrality is abused, used or compromised. One lessee has visited Mitre House once and that’s when they visited me over Christmas and congratulated me on a superb job under the most intensive and complex atmosphere which they regret they had ever got so innocently involved. I have indisputable references to substantiate the above statements.