That evening, after Lena went to bed, I sat in my office and opened the HOA records again.
I'd spent weeks treating the dispute as a series of unfair fines.
Now I was beginning to wonder whether the fines were the entire point.
Patricia had wanted me to hire CanyonMark Landscape Solutions.
She'd repeatedly described their work as mandatory.
And she'd become increasingly aggressive whenever I asked for the rule authorizing the requirement.
I opened the original contractor proposal.
The company offered what it called a comprehensive water-efficiency conversion package.
For my property, the estimated cost was $8,750.
I compared that with the licensed contractor's assessment from when we purchased the house.
Our system already used efficient irrigation practices in most areas.
The improvements recommended by my contractor were modest.
They didn't approach the scope or expense of CanyonMark's package.
That didn't prove the proposal was fraudulent.
Different contractors priced work differently.
And a more extensive upgrade might have benefits in certain circumstances.
But Patricia had presented CanyonMark's services as something the HOA could force me to buy.
That was a different question.
I reviewed the board minutes.
The HOA had approved a neighborhood water-conservation initiative the previous year.
The proposal encouraged residents to reduce irrigation waste and offered educational resources.
It authorized the board to solicit recommendations from qualified contractors.
But I couldn't find any recorded decision requiring every homeowner to purchase a specific conversion package.
Nor could I find approval for destroying irrigation equipment that didn't meet a preferred design.
Then I noticed something strange.
In the meeting packet announcing the initiative, CanyonMark appeared under a heading describing preferred technical partners.
Beside the company's name was a small logo.
I recognized it.
I'd seen it on Patricia's husband's business website.
Her husband, Richard Voss, worked in property consulting and residential development.
He regularly attended HOA events and sometimes appeared in photographs beside CanyonMark representatives.
I'd assumed the connections were ordinary professional relationships.