Barony Place I/Barony Place II

Why does the Summit HOA continue to waste money publishing The Summit Scoop? Look at the February 2022 edition carefully. First, you'll notice it is now only four pages. That's one 11"x17" sheet of paper, folded in half. The February issue was delivered in Barony Place II on February 23rd. You'll be glad to know that the February board meeting was three weeks before, on February 1st. And the Senior Luncheon WAS on February 16th. That's at least three months now, when the Scoop has been delivered after the Luncheon. I have suggested for over a year that the Board should take control of publication of the Scoop and appoint a homeowner or Board member to manage the Scoop. CAMS appears unable to comply with the Board's previous announcement that publication should be much, much earlier in the month. The Scoop is basically worthless as it exists. I wonder if 2% of the 2,500 homeowners read it. It may not even be delivered in neighborhoods that do not have newsp...

The HOA Board probably held its pre-board meeting on Tuesday, February 22, in advance of the Regular Meeting of the board on Tuesday, March 1.  Because the pre-board meeting is, in effect, secret and private, there is no way of knowing whether the Finance Committee submitted the 2022 Budget for discussion. As of February 25th, no Proposed 2022 Budget has been posted on the website of the HOA. This means that 2,500 homeowners still don't have a clue about what the board has planned financially for the current year. Last night (2/24/2022) I emailed the following short message to the co-chairmen of the Finance Committee, Vernell Butler and Paul Hill: " Will the 2022 Proposed Budget be posted for homeowners' review and comment before the board votes on it? " Committee co-chairman (and HOA Treasurer) Vernell Butler replied at 5:07AM today: " homeowners yes will get to see the budget, homeowners " He didn't say "when".  Note that homeowners haven...

Summit homeowners should be banging on the doors of board members and demanding to know where the 2022 Budget is. The Finance Committee should have finished the budget by November and delivered it to the Board at the November board meeting. Then board members could have reviewed it for a month and approved it in December. The Finance Committee chairman is Vernell Butler, who is also Treasurer.  Did they? Apparently not. The Board did not approve the 2022 Budget in December. Did even one board member object to the budget's not being ready? The Board skipped the January meeting, even though the very important item of the 2022 Budget was pending. The Board did not approve (or even mention) the Budget at the February 1st board meeting, according to the Minutes of the meeting. No Proposed 2022 Budget has been posted on the SCA website. Are homeowners being kept in the dark? And the Approved 2021 Budget has never been posted on the website. The next board meeting is March 1, 2022. The F...

Homeowners, be sure to read the Minutes of the February 1, 2022 Board Meeting. Are they accurate? Note that the Board quickly approved the Minutes of the December 7, 2021 Meeting. Did the board actually consider a Motion to approve the Minutes and vote to approve them? Or did Justin just state that the Minutes of the December 7th meeting are approved? Should there have been a statement that no board meeting was held in January 2022 and an explanation of why no meeting was held? Should the error in the December Minutes have been corrected, where it stated that "The board approved the minutes of the November 9, 2021 Board of Directors meeting at 6:34pm" That statement is false. The board did not approve the Minutes. Justin stated that the Minutes were approved. There was no vote by the board to approve them. That happens every month. At the December 7th meeting there was no mention by the Finance Committee of the status of the 2022 Budget. The Treasurer, Vernell Butler, failed ...

Yesterday I attended a webinar about HOAs that was presented by the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs. The DCA will never need a dentist. State laws don't have any teeth in them. I knew from a previous complaint against The Summit Community Association that the DCA wouldn't act. Nothing has changed. Today I sent the following email to S.C.House of Representatives member Ryan McCabe. He happens to be the attorney for the Summit's HOA. Will anything change on behalf of the public? "Good afternoon, Rep. McCabe, "Yesterday I attended a webinar presented by the SC Dept of Consumer Affairs on HOAs. As I expected, they confirmed that the DCA cannot require a HOA to comply with its By-Laws. Homeowners with complaints must retain counsel and probably go to court. If you sit on the House Committee that addresses HOA rules, will you please inrroduce legislation to give the DCA authority to require HOAs to comply with their By-Laws? Thank you."

  2/6/2022 3:06PM - not quite what I fought for. When  I went to war with the HOA over its intention to enforce the CC&Rs on the streets of Barony Place II, the purpose was to halt the HOA from sending Parking Violation letters to homeowners about parking in front of their homes. That one, I won. Now, when drivers park cars like this, they block the street, which is against Richland County ordinaces and State law. If a fire truck or EMS vehicle (or law enforcement) tried to get through, it couldn't. Let's say that the back of the house on the right was on fire and a fire truck needed to get through. Would the driver just push his way through? Homeowners, when  you have guests who are blocking the street, even in the turn-around, will you please ask them to park legally?

  One of the tools that the Richland County Sheriff's Department is using is a survey conducted online. This survey is a designed as a periodic check-in with the community to help deliver the services that the community needs and help keep community members safe. This survey is a research project, and it is completely anonymous. There is no identifying information being collected. So please share your thoughts below about community safety, it will take just a few minutes. Please click the link below and help keep your community safe! https://rcsdfeedback.net/

You might want to call the Treasurer of the HOA or any other board member and find out why the 2022 Budget has not been approved yet. If you check the HOA website , it's not there. You can reach Vernell Butler, Treasurer, at  vernellbutler88@yahoo.com   You'll find the board members' names in The Summit Scoop or online. Good luck finding their email addresses or phone numbers.  The 2022 Budget should have been completed by the Finance Committee (which is loaded with four Board members (Butler, Hill, Dellinger, Game), three Voting Members, and one chairman of a different committee, by October, and then presented to, discussed by, and approved by the Board in November. And then it should have been posted to the HOA's website. The Board skipped the January meeting. At the February 1st board meeting  the 2022 Budget awas not pproved. Will the Minutes of the January board meeting mention the budget? Do you know what would happen in a real business if the Board of Dir...

Did you receive your January Summit Scoop? It was delivered sometime around January 24. So much for getting it out early in the month (again). Once again it was delivered after the date of the Senior Lunch. Did you notice? But maybe you didn't get it at all. Do you have a newsletter box on your mailbox post? The delivery agent used to toss Summer Scoops on driveways and in yards of homes with no newsletter box. That may not be the case now. People complained about litter. Naturally. Do you even care if you get it? I wonder how many people read it. If you want it, call the office. The number is in the Scoop. Oh, wait; it's not. The Scoop came out during the black-out period, when the phones weren't working. And the new temporary phone number for the office (for February) hadn't been set up yet. (Hint; try 803.409.9976) Wait for it. When I just tried it, there was a delay before it began ringing.  You can read the Scoop online by entering the portal at www.summithomeowner...

Why would Angela Adelman, CAMS manager of The Summit Community Association (HOA), mail out the announcement of the February 1, 2022 board meeting and omit the email address of a homeowner who has received meeting announcements in the past? Angela sent out the meeting announcement with the Zoom link at 9:26AM on February 1st, the day of the board meeting. The homeowner's email address was not on the recipient list. The homeowner had been on "the list" and had not requested that her email address be removed. At 6:28PM admittance was requested into the Zoom meeting and it was denied. Subsequent attempts were responded to with this message: How did that happen? HOA President Justin Martin directed Angela not to admit the homeowner. It was not a board decision; it couldn't have been a board decision, because the board meeting was not until 6:30PM. It was an independent and arbitrary decision by Justin Martin. It was a decision he had no authority to make. Furthermore, it w...

This evening the HOA blocked a homeowner from attending the February board meeting that was broadcast on Zoom. The homeowner is current on her dues, having paid the January assessment last week. The homeowner is outraged that she was blocked from the meeting without explanation. The entire board should be fired except for Brenda Bryant who, if she knew about it, would have voted against blocking the attendance of a homeowner in good standing. Was Angela directed by Justin to block this homeowner? Did the board vote to prohibit attendance by this homeowner in good standing? I hope you will deliver the sternest message to the president of The Summit Community Association that blocking a homeowner in good standing cannot be done. PERIOD.

Did you get the link for tonight's Board meeting yet? It's 3:30PM and a number of people have not. What's the delay? The link should have been posted yesterday. Why doesn't the Board include the Zoom link in the Scoop's calendar of upcoming board meetings? Then homeowners and residents wouldn't have to fight for it. Imagine coming home at 5:45PM, wanting to attend the board meeting, and not having the link. Of course, the office would be closed. And the board member's are now hiding their email addresses from the homeowners, so you'd miss the meeting.