Barony Place I/Barony Place II

Long-time HOA Treasurer George Reynolds died in April 2021. Why did the HOA's Board of Directors never declare his position of Director vacant? Why did the Board of Directors never appoint a successor to George, to serve the remainder of his unexpired term-of-office to November 2022. What the board did do was set up the Voting Members to elect five directors in November 2021, apparently under the mistaken belief that it was replacing George. The VMs should have elected only four. That's what the By-Laws say. I explained their error leading up to the 2021 election and urged the president and the board to seek a legal opinion. Obviously, it did not. Three Directors will be elected in November 2022. George's seat is one of the three. The board is about to create a new problem, because Dennis Rybicki (who was appointed to success Paul Hill) has been told by Justin Martin that he must run for election. Dennis should not resign before he is elected in November 2022 by the Voting ...

Each month the HOA's board of directors meets one week before the next board meeting. What happened at the pre-board meeting on Tuesday, September 27. Often the directors discuss important items and make decisions. The decisions are seldom announced or explained at the next regular board meeting. Such decisions are improper, when made outside of open monthly meetings. No Minutes are kept of pre-board meetings. Or, if they are, they are not published for Members (homeowners) of the HOA to read. The pre-board meeting should be only for the purpose of setting the agenda for the next meeting. And, speaking of the agenda, the board should publish an agenda that is specific to the meeting. It should include New Business and Old Business by item. It doesn't. So "Business" gets lost from one meeting to the next. There is no tracking. No accountability. Are pre-board meetings open to the public? Open to Members (homeowners)? Pre-board meetings do not qualify as Executive Sessi...

This year's Richland 2 school board election is very, very important. There are 12 candidates. Please review them and pick the four you want before you go to the polls. Don't wait until Nov. 8 to just check four names. I've been attending school board meetings since February 2018, right after the shootings in Parkland, Florida. The school board has been (and still is) a mess. Earlier this year, Gov. McMaster ordered the S.C. State Inspector General to investigate Richland 2.  I have every reason to believe he is doing a thorough job. May I invite your attention to these four candidates? Terrance Staley is my No. 1 pick. He is a retired Army Colonel.  McGee Moody is my No. 2 pick.  Larry Smalls is my No. 3 pick. Angela Nash is my No. 4 pick.  I'll be providing candidate information here and posting where you can learn more. Only one incumbent is running for re-election. She deserves to come in No. 12. If you have been paying an attention to the chaos of the past year,...

Remember the SNAFU last year with the 2022 Budget process? Is the Board doing anything differently this year to assure Homeowners that this process will run smoothly this year? The HOA had three Treasurers last year (2021). George Reynolds served until his death in April, 2021. Then the Board appointed Paul Hill as Treasurer.  At the November 2021 board meeting, Paul Hill, speaking for the Finance Committee, told the board that "the committee is firming up the 2022 budget in the next few days." The Minutes for the December 7, 2021 board meeting state, for the Finance Committee, no update on the 2022 budget. At the top, Paul Hill is listed as Treasurer. At the end of the Minutes, HOA president Justin Martin announced that new board officers had been elected at the pre-board meeting (November 30, 2021) and that Vernell Butler is Treasurer. Therefore, the Minutes were wrong in reporting that Paul Hill is Treasurer. He was not. He had been replaced by Vernell Butler. The proposed...

How can you stop thefts from autos? Or, at least reduce them? Homeowners and residents in The Summit continue to experience night-time thefts from vehicles. What can YOU do? 1. Park your vehicles in your garage. Clear out all the clutter and junk in your garage and make room for two vehicles.  Read the CC&Rs.  Article XII,  Section 2. Parking and Prohibited Vehicles. (a) Parking. ... No garage shall be permanently enclosed, nor shall the use thereof otherwise be converted,  such that the capacity for parking of vehicles therein is reduced below that for which it was originally designed . ..." 2. Lock your vehicles.  3. Remove valuables (computers, phones, tablets, firearms, coins, garage door opener). Leave nothing in sight except what came with your car. 4. Install motion-detector light bulbs in your outside lighting fixtures and leave the switch "On".  5. When you see kids or adults roaming the streets at midnight-5:00AM, call RCSD immediately. 6. Ask...

It's official. Myrtle Pool will remain open until Friday, September 30th. Of course, the HOA board could have included the week-end of October 1-2, but it didn't.  The HOA office sent out an email blast today. Who got it? Those few homeowners (out of 2,480) who are registered on the HOA's website. If you are one of the many homeowners, and all of the residents, who are not signed up on the website, then you will not get the email.  How many homeowners ARE signed up? It's a big secret. Trying to find out.

Do you swim in a pool of The Summit? If you do, keep a sharp out for a change in the closing date for the Myrtle Pool.  At this week's board meeting on September 6th, residents asked why pools closed so early in hot weather and asked for pools to stay open until September 30. It's beginning to look like the board listened and is taking action. It's not approved yet, but there is a strong possibility that the Myrtle Pool will stay open until September 30. There may or may not be a pool monitor. Since that "monitor" is only a gate guard and not a lifeguard, there is probably no need for a monitor at all. Follow the rules. Don't swim alone. Don't enter the pool at night. If you drown at night, your body will be fished out in the morning. Be kind to your neighbors and the women in the office. Don't drown in the Myrtle Pool. How will the HOA inform 2,480 homeowners and residents? 

The what??? The Summit Assets Committee . From the HOA's website, " Mission: This Sub-committee, is responsible for establishing a balanced annual budget, and presenting it to The Summit Community Association, Inc. Board of Directors for approval. The budgeting process considers input from all levels and includes members from the general community. "OPEN, Chair " This has to be one of the most important Committees of the HOA. Not only is there no Chair(man), there are no members. Why not? Last year (2021) the HOA had three Treasurers : George Reynolds, who died in April 2021; Paul Hill, who was elected Treasurer after George died and who served as Treasurer until November 30, 2021; and Vernell Butler, who was elected Treasurer at the pre-board meeting on November 30, 2021. The Minutes for the December 7, 2021 reflect that Vernell is Treasurer. At the November 9, 2021 monthly board meeting Paul Hill reported that "the (Finance) committee is firming up the 2022 bu...

Losing sleep waiting for this month's Scoop? Your wait is over. The September 2022 Summit Scoop is now available on the HOA website for your reading enjoyment. And you don't even have to enter the secure area of the website.  The Summit Scoop is no longer printed and delivered to homes. Go to www.summithomeowners.com   Click on "Neighborhood News" and scroll down a little. Click on the link for it. If you are registered on the website, it is emailed to that email address. If you didn't receive it, check to be sure your current email address is registered. If you'd like to look at archived copies of the Scoop, go back to the homepage and scroll down to "Recent News". Click on that, and you'll see links to Scoops all the way back to January 2016. The Scoop was published on September 8 and carries the important reminder of the (September 6) board meeting. Nice; eh? Could that be why so few homeowners were there Tuesday night? Important dates coming ...

Here it comes....   Watch your step. Work has begun in Barony Place II to upgrade AT&T's fiber optic line.  If you have questions or complaints, call AT&T at 877.245.6660 and refer to Project Number A02BGP3. Or stop and visit with one of the supervisors. Today I spoke with Brian, who is super helpful and friendly. He lives nearby, and his son was graduated from Ridge View High School two years ago and is at Winthrop University now.

There will be three Directors elected o the HOA board in November. The seats of Auby Dellinger and Vernell Butler are on the cycle for this election, and the vacant seat of the late George Reynolds is open. The board should have filled that seat after George died in April 2021, but it never did. Auby and Vernell were elected at the same time George was. Why didn't they speak up about filling the vacant seat? Applications are to be submitted to the office by October 7. The first action step is for the office to screen them to verify that the person is in good standing with the HOA and is a resident [ sic ] of the Assn. That's all that the office is to do. (Procedures Reference Manual (PRM), Art. III, H, §6. What is "in good standing"? One guess is that the applicant doesn't owe money to the Association. And, yes, the language in the PRM is "resident", not homeowner or Member. More on this in another article. So far, I know of three people who are planning...

On the Agenda for tonight's Summit HOA monthly board meeting was Item 4 - Becca Brendle, CPA. Shortly after the meeting was called to order, HOA President Justin Martin said that there was no Law Enforcement report (Dep. Cuzzupe was not present) and that Becca Brendle "was not here". Because the Agenda was not amended to remove Item 4, I expected that she would arrive and the 2021 Audit would be presented. The meeting dragged on and on tonight without control from the chair, and as it neared the end, Justin asked if there were any other questions. I raised my hand. He glanced in my direction and adjourned the meeting. On August 10th I had emailed Justin to ask if the Audit would be presented at the September 6th meeting. He responded the same day with, " I think so. It's ready, but hasn't been scheduled for presentation yet. I'll ask around." So the Audit must have been rea dy. Why wasn't it presented? The fisc al year ended on December 31, 2021....

An important monthly board HOA meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 6, 2022, at 6:30PM at Brookland Baptist Church Northeast. The HOA never publishes an agenda, and even the agenda at monthly meetings does not contain specific information. Expected at this month's meeting are the 2021 Audit and the announcement of the Nominating Committee. The new auditor is believed to be Rebecca Brendle, CPA, although her name and appointment are not mentioned in Minutes of any prior meeting. It is believed that her hiring took place during a pre-board meeting earlier this year, out of sight of the Members of the HOA and not voted on at any public meeting. The By-Laws state that the Nominating Committee is to be appointed every year. It is not a Standing Committee. The members of the Nominating Committee do not serve perpetually. The By-Laws (Article III, A, Section 5) read: "The Nominating Committee shall be appointed by the Board of Directors not less than thirty (30) days prior to ...

In case you are wondering about the street markings on Barony Place Circle, these may be for the utility work to be done by AT&T for new fiber-optic lines. A utility worker walked the street yesterday and painted lines, which may indicate where street cuts will be made. You might want to take "before" photos of your street, curb, parkway, sidewalk and yards. Then you'll have them, in case you aren't satisfied with the restoration after the work is done. The HOA emailed homeowners (those who are registered on www.summithomeowners.com) recently, and there may have been a notice in your newspaper box or on the handle of your front door. If you don't know whom to call if you have a complaint, start with the HOA office.