Barony Place I/Barony Place II

The litigation filed by Vernell Butler and Michele Rattray (separate actions) did have some merit. Had it been properly filed, it might have been successful, rather than being dismissed this morning in the Blythewood Magistrate Court. What was wrong with it? The Plaintiffs tried to save money by filing  pro se ; i.e., on their own without an attorney. Their claims were vague and insufficient. They filed in the wrong courts (Dentsville, Blythewood, and Pontiac Magistrate Courts), and the consolidated case was in the wrong Court. A Magistrate does not resolve the claims that were made. The case probably should have been in Richland County Fifth Judicial Circuit Court of Common Pleas. When the HOA sued me, I continually brought up at hearings that there were no legitimate, duly-elected Voting Members (except Barony Place); no legitimate Board of Directors; no legitimate officers. Two Circuit Court judges tolerated my  comments, which an attorney probably would never have gotten ...

Did you read the May 27, 2026 email from the office about Neighborhood Meetings? Did you open all three attachments? They are worth printing and reading carefully. Unfortunately, parts of that communication are wrong, starting with the first sentence in the email. " Your Neighborhood Representative will be holding an annual meeting to conduct an election for the Neighborhood Representative and Alternate. " Why is this wrong? Because 27 Neighborhoods (out of 28) do not have legitimate, duly-elected  Neighborhood Representatives! There is no one to hold that meeting! It's the Neighborhood that holds the annual (neighborhood) meeting, not the Neighborhood Representative.  And the election is not for the "Neighborhood Representative and Alternate." The election is of the (local) Neighborhood Committee, which consists of three homeowners from that neighborhood. One neighborhood has already held its Annual Neighborhood Meeting. Barony Place held its Meeting on May 2,...

In separate hearings this morning in the Blythewood Magistrate  Court, Vernell Butler and Michele Rattray lost their legal actions against four residents in The Summit - residents who happen to be Directors of The Summit's HOA. Butler and Rattray were both pro se and filed against the four residents as individuals, not as Board Members or officers. The sentence, " a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client" i s often, and possibly mistakenly,  attributed to A braham Lincoln. Butler lives in a Summit Hills neighborhood (the online map doesn't clearly indicate which one), and Rattray lives in Whitney Falls.  Several times I had to look closely at Butler to see if he ever took a breath between long, convoluted sentences connected with "so".  Butler complained about "rules" not being followed. Why didn't he raise his issues when he was a Board member for three years (Dec. 2020 - Nov. 2023). Rattray went on and on about there being no neig...

The monthly Financial Operating Results of the HOA have not been published on the HOA's website since August 2025.  Why not? The Financial Operating Results have not been published on the website for September 2025 October 2025 November 2025 December 2025 January 2026 February 2026 March 2026 The Results for April 2026 should be posted on the website early in June 2026 but won't be. There is no Board Meeting on June 2 (thanks to a bad decision by the Board to go into hiding every other month). If you have gone to monthly Board Meetings (at least, when they were monthly), you may have obtained a copy there - if you got there early enough, before they ran out. Why hasn't the Board Treasurer ever explained why they are not being published on the website? The August 2025 Results were published when CAMS was still the Property Manager. Doesn't Town & Country have personnel who know how to publish them on the HOA's website? Who is the roadblock on publication? The Pro...

The February 3, 2026 Minutes have finally been published online. A serious error exists in those Minutes. The Minutes include the following "report": Neighborhood Committee Report  The Neighborhood Committee met in January but did not have a quorum and therefore could not vote on a new chair. It was noted that the Neighborhood Committee consists of all voting members and serves as a forum for residents to raise concerns and discuss community matters.  The Board apparently does not understand how the Neighborhood Committee is to function. On the HOA's website the following Mission of the Neighborhood Committee has been published for years: Mission: Responsible for helping each community in the Summit to locate and elect a local neighborhood committee that will represent their community at SCA board meetings and thereby allow their Voting member to vote on vital issues that affect the Summit and their local neighborhood. The Neighborhood Committee will assist and advise loc...

This should worry you. The HOA, through its Neighborhood Committee (of the HOA), should be assisting Neighborhoods to hold Neighborhood Meetings and to elect Neighborhood Committees, which then elect a chairman who is the Voting Member. The Neighborhood is in charge, not the HOA! That isn't what the lengthy email from the Board of Directors said (5/18/26 4:44PM). If you didn't get that email, contact me and I'll forward a copy. There are errors in the email. The biggest one is that no one signed it. It is from "The Summit Board of Directors." Did they meet and did the majority approve that email? Or did one (or more) Director(s) write it and send it out? A Neighborhood Committee isn't "up to three" members. The Neighborhood Committee, elected at an official, bonafide Neighborhood Meetings, is three members. To my knowledge, the HOA had no legitimate Voting Members before May 2024. After the Barony Place Neighborhood Meeting in May 2024, the HOA had ...