Critique - August 3rd Board Meeting

The HOA board met in regular session on Tuesday, August 3rd. Meetings normally start at 6:30PM. Did you even know the meeting location was changed on July 30 from North Springs Community Center to Zoom? 

Last night's meeting started at 6:45PM, after "Mr. Butler" (Vernell Butler) finally showed up to make the fourth board member and a quorum present. Treasurer Paul Hill arrived at 7:04PM. Mary Ann Game was absent. All board members should be required to turn on their videos; Vernell doesn't.

A seventh board member never made it; the position is vacant, although it has never been declared Vacant after George Reynold's death in April. Maybe Justin is just going to announce that George has missed three meetings (unexcused), so that the Voting Members really can elect his successor. (They can't.)

On July 26 I emailed president Justin Martin to suggest a more correct way to handle approval of Minutes of a previous meeting. Justin replied on July 27: "The procedures for approving minutes might not be entirely correct, for which I’ll try to correct in future meetings."

I've always had a charge on the word "try". Do you know what happens when you "try"? Nothing. Nothing happens. As Yoda said, "Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try."

How did Justin "try" to handle the Minutes last night? Instead of asking for a Motion, a Second, and whether there were any changes or corrections, before a vote to approve the Minutes, he merely stated  that the Minutes are "approved as mailed". And did any board member object? No! Was there a vote to approve the Minutes? No.

Auby Dellinger made a motion to approve a contract for the removal of 100+ trees (actually, 140) for $14,000 without a competitive bid. That's $100 per tree. What could possibly go wrong with a low-ball bid like that? Wait and see.

Justin mentioned receipt of 25 Forms "201", but he never informs the directors or the Members how many 201s have been for sheds. Do you wonder? Who is inspecting erected sheds? Who is handling those sheds that are not compliant?

There was no Finance Committee report. Vernell was there; Paul was not. And after Paul arrived, he did not give a comprehensive Treasurer's report. And the CAMS employees were unable to provide information on collections that they should have prepared in advance.

The Indigo Springs Neighborhood Representative/Voting member, Theo Blue, no longer lives in The Summit, and the Board and the office did not know it. No mention was made of the new Voting Member for Summit Hills IV. Did Summit Hills IV hold a Neighborhood Meeting and Election?

There is to be a Neighborhood Representative (Voting Member) Appreciation Day on August 21 from 3:00-6:00PM at Myrtle Pool. The office is to send out invitations by August 6. No mention was made of the budget for the party or whether Members are invited. 

Are there any legitimate Voting Members to attend? If your Neighborhood did not have a Neighborhood Meeting and Neighborhood Election in 2020 or so far in 2021, you do not have a legitimate Neighborhood Rep (Voting Member).

Justin and Greg Thomas, the Board Secretary, called as many Voting Members as they had contact information for, which was not all of them. How could the HOA office and the Board not have current and complete contact information for EACH Voting Member? These are the homeowners who elect the Board (and who can remove board members). Justin announced it is optional for a Neighborhood Representative to list a phone number. Seriously? How do homeowners contact their Rep? Some don't list any contact information. Why are they hiding?

After Paul Hill, the Treasurer, arrived at 7:04PM, Justin asked him to vote on the $14,000 tree contract. That was completely wrong! Paul's vote was not needed. The contract had been approved earlier by a vote of 4-0-2-1 (Yeas 4, Nays 0, Absent 2, Vacancy 1). Because Paul was not present for the discussion, he should have declined to vote or abstained.

Paul did bring up that there is to be an election of directors before the end of the year and that the Nominating Committee needs to begin working. He said that's part of the Finance Committee. It's not. It's part of the Neighborhoods Committee, which lacks a Chair. He failed to mention that there is to be an Annual Meeting of the Voting Members between September 2 and October 2.

At the end of the meeting, Justin failed to ask for a Motion to adjourn. He just declared the meeting adjourned.

Summit Community Association is S.C. non-profit organization with an annual budget in excess of $1,000,000. What will it take to get a board in place that will act like a board? This fall there are four director positions to be voted on. Terms expire for Justin Martin, Greg Thomas, Paul Hill and Mary Ann Game. 

Homeowners should get busy now and propose a slate of business-oriented men and women who can efficiently and effectively direct the HOA and CAMS. Right now it's almost like a runaway train that has topped Cajon Pass. The train is picking up speed, and the engineer doesn't know he doesn't have brakes.