Chapter 23 - THE REFINANCING VOTE
The company still needed money.
Governance reform did not repair roofs.
Coastal Commonwealth offered final terms.
Sell Orlando.
Suspend family distributions for three years.
Independent finance controls.
No personal family guarantees.
Trust veto over core asset sale preserved.
Employee representative added to audit committee.
Higher interest than Dad wanted.
Lower risk than Sandstone’s original structure.
The board voted.
I had turned twenty-seven by then.
My stewardship review was complete.
Approved.
Not unanimously.
The employee representative supported me.
First Commonwealth supported.
Independent director supported with conditions.
Family nominee abstained due conflict.
I became successor stewardship trustee.
Not CEO.
Not owner of everything.
Trustee of a thirty-nine-percent voting block with fiduciary duties.
My first major vote was the refinance.
I approved Coastal.
Dad opposed through his personal shares.
Mom abstained.
Outside investors supported.
It passed.
Orlando sold six months later at a loss relative to purchase price but freed cash.
No mass layoffs.
Some corporate positions were consolidated.
Twenty-three people lost jobs.
We funded severance.
I refused to describe restructuring as painless.
Employees notice when wealthy families use words like efficiency from comfortable homes.
May you like
Rosa told me:
“Good. Keep noticing.”
