Barony Place I/Barony Place II

The following Open Letter was sent to the six (should be seven) HOA Board members and many (but not all) of the Voting Members. Good morning, members of the board (including  Vernell , as a member of the board and not individually), Will you be providing guidance to Voting Members this year about holding Neighborhood Meetings and Neighborhood Elections before the Voting Member Annual Meeting (Sept. 2-Oct. 2)? Barony Place Neighborhood did not have a Neighborhood Meeting in 2018, 2019, 2020 or so far in 2021. This probably means there is no legitimate Voting Member. Seventy-eight homeowners in Barony Place I and Barony Place II are unrepresented and are disenfranchised from electing directors. How many other Neighborhoods have not held Neighborhood Meetings in 2021 or in 2020, 2019, or 2018? How many others, if any, don't have legitimate Voting Members? Should all Neighborhoods be holding Neighborhood Meetings and Elections now, before the Voting Member Annual Meeting in September? ...

One of the powers of the HOA's Voting Members (VM) is to remove a board member. Should the VMs convene and discuss removing one now? Recently I wrote to the six board members to suggest that they follow good business practices and Robert's Rules of Order by changing how they approve Minutes of a previous meeting. My recent email to all six directors provoked one of them, recently-elected Vernell Butler, to reply and tell me not to send him any further emails. I replied to him that I would continue to include him on emails sent to all board members and that I would not email him individually (i.e., other than about HOA business). This further provoked him and he replied, " The next email will be from my legal representative. " Does that sound like a threat to you? If you tune into monthly board meetings on Zoom, Vernell is the "Mr. Butler" who kept his video turned off during the July 13 meeting. Justin should have told him to turn on his video, but he didn...

How many cars in The Summit have been hit with catalytic converter (CC) thefts?  It's pretty hard to know. The HOA doesn't put out any information. The RCSD monthly report is sketchy.  And that's if you can even find it. Now, CC thefts are not the HOA's problem. They are YOUR problem, if your car gets hit. But the HOA could do a better job of reporting to home owners where and when these thefts are occurring. Which blocks of which streets? What times of which days? How long does it take to cut off a CC and flee? How much does the repair cost? A Seattle friend had a houseguest this past week, and her Prius got clipped. How in the world do you ever get under a Prius to cut off the CC? The car was parked on the street, and they think it happened at 4:00AM.  Ask the folks in Seattle (or elsewhere), "How's that 'Defund the Police' working for you?" What can you do to prevent a CC theft? First of all, get rid of that junk in your garage and park your car...

At tonight's meeting of the Summit HOA's board of directors, a two-year contract for CAMS was approved 6-0 without discussion. President Justin Martin said the board had discussed the contract "ad nauseum" and he wanted to vote on it tonight, even though it won't begin for six months. There was NO public discussion of contract terms, duties, services, obligations OR COST. The board apparently discussed many of those terms during its pre-board meetings, which are not open to homeowners. The board didn't even mention Cost. No one asked questions before the vote. The concerns of the Treasurer, which last month delayed the vote, were not brought up.  The contract exceeds $100,000 annually. Well over $100,000. This is your board, folks. You should have been at the meeting to demand information. The vote probably would have been 7-0, but the board still has never declared the vacancy that occurred when George Reynolds died on April 5, 2021.

If you live in The Summit HOA, you are in one of 28 Neighborhoods. Every Neighborhood is to have a Neighborhood Representative (Voting Member). That is the person who represents you before the board of directors.  Every Neighborhood is to have a Neighborhood Meeting every year. That's in the By-Laws. Has your Neighboorhood had one yet in 2021? Did you have one in 2020? How about in 2019? Or 2018? At the annual Neighborhood Meeting the homeowners of your neighborhood are to elect a three-person Neighborhood Committee.  From that Neighborhood Committee, the Voting Member and two Alternates are selected. They serve for one year. For one year, only. It's not a lifetime appointment, like to the U.S. Supreme Court. There is no roll-over. There is no "continuation until replaced". The election is for one year.  The 28 Voting Members do not run the HOA. However, they do elect the seven people who run the HOA. The 2,500 homeowners do not elect the board of directors. The 28 Vo...

Should a Neighborhood Representative / Voting Member attend monthly HOA board meetings and keep the homeowners to whom she is responsible informed about goings-on? The last time a Voting Member for Barony Place (Barony Place I and Barony Place II) attended a board meeting was October 2019. If you wonder whether that attendance record is correct, read the Minutes of board meetings. You'll find them on the HOA website.  www.summithomeowners.com   Doris Covert was the Voting Member for Barony Place, and she last attended a board meeting in October 2019. In the January 2020 issue of The Summit Scoop Doris' name was replaced by Billie Jones, a homeowner in Barony Place I. Billie had been an Alternate. How did that change occur? Did the two women just swap roles? Did the late George Reynolds, who was Chair of the board's Neighborhood Committee suggest, allow or condone the switch? Board Minutes do not reflect any action for that to occur.  The By-Laws require an Annual Meeting ...