Barony Place I/Barony Place II

The next Board of Directors meeting will be Tuesday, July 1, 6:30PM, at the Brookland Baptist Church Northeast, 1203 Summit Parkway. What should be on the Agenda? 1. Eligibility of Patricia Pollin to be on the Board. She was not eligible when she was appointed in November 2023, and she is not eligible now. She should voluntarily step away from the Board. If she doesn't, the first order of business should be to remove her.  2. The Board should declare the vacancy. 3. The Board should appoint two qualified, solid candidates to fill the unexpired board terms (2024-2026) of Ciara Bates and LaToya Adams. Both had been elected in November 2024, and both resigned in May 2025. 4. The Board should receive a general update on the status of the lawsuit against Gus Philpott (me). While lawsuits are typically considered confidential, I waive that confidentiality, so that the Board can discuss and explain to Members A) how the HOA started the lawsuit in the first place, since Art. XIII, Section ...

How transparent are the operations of the HOA? Can you find the names of the board members, their contact information, their terms-of-office on the HOA's website*? Does every Voting Member list contact information onn the website or in the Summit Scoop, so that their neighbors can reach them? When the Board is questioned about compliance with the By-Laws, how does it respond? Why doesn't the Board discuss the actual state of the HOA's financial affairs at monthly meetings? Why doesn't the Board insist that the Neighborhood Committee to do its job and help 27 neighborhoods to hold Neighborhood Meeting and elect legitimate Voting Members? When the Board fails to comply with the CC&Rs and/or By-Laws, why doesn't anyone on the Board speak up? Ex., starting (and continuing) an expensive lawsuit that is expressly prohibited in the CC&Rs. Will the Board stop making decisions in private, closed, pre-board meetings (workshops) for which no Minutes are published? * Th...

Read the rules for sheds in the Summit Modifications Committee Guidelines on the HOA's website. See Section 22 DETACHED STRUCTURES(SHEDS) on Page 15.  At the end of Section 22 authority is wrongfully claimed by the Committee. "Note: The Modification Committee reserves the right to allow or disallow the construction of the detached structure for reasons not covered in this guideline. These are just guidelines and not meant to be hard fast rules for construction of a structure. This is a guideline for the homeowner who may be considering the construction of a detached structure on their property. The Modification Committee has the final say in what is or is not allowed. " [ emphasis added ] Why should the Committee have such broad discretion? Can it just thumb its nose at the rules? These are not " just guidelines". They are the guidelines.  Who has the final word in The Summit's HOA? The Board of Directors has the final say, not the Modifications Committe...

What are the qualifications to be on the HOA's Board of Directors, according to the By-Laws? Be a Member (Owner, on the Deed); or Be a spouse of a Member;  Be in Good Standing with the HOA (financially); and Reside in the the HOA. The first two qualifications are found in the By-Laws (Art. III, §A(1) (Page 3)). The third and fourth are in the PRM (Art. III, §H(6) (Page 23)). Anything else? According to the PRM (Art. II, §B(2) (Page 8)), a candidate should be  of the highest caliber; selected for interpersonal skills; dedicated to the betterment of the Association and the community; and free of any personal agenda. Although not written in the Governing Documents, a candidate should have these additional skills: Understand that members of the Board make decisions (as a group). No one director is more important than another; Have administrative management background; Understand business finances; Be a team player; Have a strong backbone and be willing to speak up, not just "go al...

Some people are still "collecting signatures" to become a "Voting Member". Why are they doing that? They apparently think they are becoming official Voting Members, but they aren't. The By-Laws provide the one and only way of becoming a legitimate Voting Member; "getting signatures" is not it. With the same effort, they could collect Proxies and then hold a Neighborhood Meeting. I guess one reason they think that is allowed is because the Board of Directors tolerates and promotes it. The members of the Board know better. Or they should know better. Aren't they obligated to comply with the By-Laws? Why doesn't the President of the Board, Danny Trapp, make it clear to the chair of the (HOA's) Neighborhood Committee that his job is to follow the Mission of the Committee and help the 28 Neighborhoods to elect ( ELECT ) a Voting Member. A few meetings ago, that chair even put forward his idea of electronic voting for Voting Members. And maybe l...

In just four months there will be a HOA election. The terms of four directors (Bryant, Pollin, Potter, and Trapp) expire on Nov. 4, 2025. If you would like to run for the board, now is the time to begin preparations. Before Nov. 4th, 27 Neighborhoods (all except Barony Place) need to hold Neighborhood Meetings, elect 3-member Neighborhood Committees, and elect legitimate Voting Members. Homeowners do not elect directors. Directors are elected by Voting Members. Every neighborhood is supposed to have a duly-elected Voting Member. There is one way, and one way only, to become a Voting Member. It is spelled out in the By-Laws. A homeowner does not become a Voting Member by "getting signatures", hanging around for years without an election in his/her neighborhood, or inheriting the office when the spouse dies. Directors are elected at the Annual Meeting of Voting Members, which is held each November before the annual meeting of the Association (Board). In many past years there ...