Opinion ID: 77396
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Complaints by the Community Bank Board

Text: 15 In the spring of 2000, members of Community Bank's board of directors — Michael Alred, Wayne Washam, George Barnett, and Michael Bean (who was also Community Bank's Chief Financial Officer) — became concerned that despite the Bank's significant outlays for the Guntersville project, very little progress appeared to have been made at the Guntersville site. These board members raised their concerns formally at Community Bank's board meeting on June 20, 2000. They noted that despite all the money spent on the Guntersville project, absolutely nothing had been built above ground. Patterson responded by assuring the rest of the board that the expenses were justified, and he requested that the board conduct a full accounting of the project's progress. 16 After the board members looked into the Guntersville project further, they expressed further concern at a Bancshares board meeting on July 15, 2000, and at a second Community Bank board meeting on July 18, 2000. Appellant Dewey Hamaker attended both meetings. At the meetings, Dewey Hamaker assured the board members that MCC was not billing Community Bank for any work done on Patterson's home at Heritage Valley Farms, and he asserted that MCC did not charge expenses to Patterson's house except about every six months. 17 Two hours after the July 18, 2000 board meeting, Patterson called a meeting of the Community Bank board's Executive Committee, a subcommittee of the full board. At that meeting, Patterson recommended the dismissal of board members Michael Alred and Michael Bean. On September 28, 2000, Community Bank removed Alred, Bean, and Barnett from its board of directors. On November 10, 2000, Community Bank terminated the employment of Bean and Alred. 18 Shortly after the allegations of impropriety in July 2000, MCC markedly changed its billing practices for the work at Heritage Valley Farms. Before July 15, 2000, MCC had invoiced Patterson only twice and had received from him only $10,000. In the following five months, however, MCC sent Patterson twenty-nine invoices totaling over $460,000.