Barony Place I/Barony Place II

 ... across a sidewalk, fell, smashed your face, broke a wrist or arm, or hurt your shoulder or back, whom would you sue? The homeowner? The HOA? The County? AT&T? In my neighborhood, when AT&T laid cable for a fiber-optic upgrade, it strung a cable across a sidewalk in two places. It didn't tape it down or cover it with any kind of mat. Anyone walking along could easily catch one of the wires with his toe and fall head-first onto the cement sidewalk. On November 20 I emailed the Summit HOA's office and suggested they contact AT&T and request that the wire be secured and pedestrians protected. There was no acknowledgement or reply. Today I emailed the board and asked them to ask the office to take care of it. I also asked if there was a reason that the office had not replied to me. Now, read this response from the HOA: "I don't consider this a risk to the association nor [ sic ] the association's responsibility. If anything, the responsibility is all on...

Twitter reinstated Donald Trump's account after a short survey: "Reinstate former President Trump: Yes or No," the poll simply asked. " On June 6, 2020 I was tossed into Twitter Jail for tweeting to Michael Smerconish during his Saturday show on protests in Spokane and Portland.  What was my offensive tweet? "Stores should be defended. Looters should be shot." The Woke censors at Twitter didn't like it. I won't retract my tweet, so I sit in Twitter Jail. OK, here's my survey: Reinstate Gus Philpott? Yes or No I'll send the results to Elon Musk.

Did you see the FoxNews article about the $2,000,000 gone from a Florida HOA and the arrests of five people? I have urged the Summit's board of directors to conduct a forensic audit of the HOA's financials, but they refuse to do so. I'm not the only one who thinks this would be a good idea. George Reynolds was the long-time Treasurer of the HOA who died in office in February 2021. That event should have triggered a forensic audit. Then, in 2021, the HOA had three treasurers. Reynolds (Jan.-Apr.); Paul Hill (May - Nov.); Vernell Butler (Dec. - present). Three treasurers in one year ought to trigger a forensic audit. I am contacting the District 79 State Representative, Ivory Thigpen, this week to discuss his proposing new legislation that will give the State of South Carolina the authority to investigate HOAs that do not comply with their By-Laws. You can guess who the prime candidate will be for First to be Investigated. Currently, the S.C. Department of Consumer Affairs (D...

All Summit HOA homeowners should examine the 2023 Budget. One of the glaring errors in the 2021 and 2022 Budgets has been fixed - sort of. But it's still not right. Can you spot it? Here goes: Total Assessment Income is $1,262,250. The same as in 2022 and 2021. At first glance, that is as it should be. Dues have not gone up. BUT the number of homes has changed. On April 8, 2022 I learned from the CAMS office that there are 2,480 homes in The Summit. (I had asked because Treasurer Vernell Butler had told the board that there were 2,800 homes.) How much should the dues income be? 2,480 x $510 = $1,264,800. $1,262,250 / $510 = 2,475 homes. Is income from five homes missing? The HOA receives money from fines for Violations. Why are fines in 2023 expected to increase 121% ? Line Item 4600 was increased from $28,000 to $62,000! Grab your wallets, folks! Last year Line Item 6500, $140,000, was under Salaries. I complained that the HOA can't list anything under Salaries, because it doe...

Curious about the 2023 Budget that was approved by the HOA board of directors on November 1, 2022? It's on the website, in the Homeowner section (password-protected). Click on RESIDENTS, then on DOCUMENTS. Then click on Annual Budgets, then on 2023. After two years of my barking, the HOA finally did away with the category of "Salaries". Imagine that. The only problem with Salaries was that the HOA had NO employees. Increase the size of the spreadsheet, so that you don't go blind trying to read the numbers. Now, what's wrong? Even though rampant inflation has spread across the U.S. and South Carolina, the top line hasn't changed. It's still $1,262,250. Of course, it is fixed at that amount because of the dues (called regime fees by the old-timers). 2480 homes at $550 = $1,264,800 Why does the top line (gross dues income) show $1,262,250 and not $1,264,800? That difference is $2,550, or $510/year dues from five homes. Who isn't paying? Next, homeowners s...

What a shame that the November 2022 Summit Scoop did not include the results of the November 1st election of Directors. If the Board of Directors took any interest in the content of the Scoop, they would have directed inclusion of the election results. The same old stale list of Directors was published. Only one name would have changed, but it's important. Vicky McCarthy was elected to the board. Dennis Rybicki was elected (not "re-elected"). Vernell Butler was re-elected. Auby Dellinger was not re-elected. Vernell Butler too quickly announced at the November board meeting that (new) directors are seated in January. At the time I wondered where he got that. Vernell was wrong. Flat wrong. The By-Laws don't come anywhere close to saying that newly-elected directors are seated in January. The By-Laws, at Art, III, A, Section 6 (c) ¶2, read: "The directors elected by the Voting Members shall hold office until their respective successors have been elected by the Asso...

Here is a copy of my email to the HOA board this evening, following the monthly board meeting on November 1.  Good evening, board members, When does the term start for newly-elected board members?  It starts upon election. Vicky should have joined the board immediately at the November 1st board meeting.  Please note in the By-Laws,  Art, III, A, Section 6 (c) ¶2.  "The directors elected by the Voting Members shall hold office until their respective successors have been elected by the Association." Vicky was elected. Dennis was elected (not re-elected). Vernell was re-elected. Dennis' seat on the board as Paul Hill's successor is now vacant. The board should act promptly (at the December 6th board meeting) to fill that vacancy. One of the five directors elected in November 2021 needs to be removed. It shouldn't automatically be the dead one or the newest one. Mary Ann's mistake was inexcusable and a horrendous insult to Auby. Mary Ann should be replaced as c...

The following email has been sent to the Voting Members of The Summit's HOA, to board members, to the Association's attorney, to the CAMS Manager. Contact your own neighborhood's Voting Member with your own comments. Board members' names and emails are NOT published on the website. Use the 'CONTACT US" link to a webform on the website at the top right of the homepage. Be sure to request a response. Good morning, Voting Members, Thank you for your participation in the Annual Meeting of the Voting Members and for electing three to the Board. You are probably aware of Mary Ann Game's HUGE error, when she announced that Auby had won re-election and failed to say that Vicky had. She corrected her announcement, very much to Auby's embarrassment and shock! As a result of your election of Dennis Rybicki to a two-year term (2022-2024), Dennis will be resigning from the (2021-2023) seat on the board to which he was appointed in May 2022. He may have already done...

The HOA board held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, November 1, 2022. At the Voting Members' Annual Meeting prior to the board meeting, three directors were elected. The 2023 Budget was approved. How long should it take for the news to reach the 2,480 Members (homeowners) of the HOA? The Directors (McCarthy, Rybicki, Butler) should have been announced on the HOA website and in the November 2022 Scoop the following day. The 2023 Budget should have been published on the website the next day. In fact, the Proposed 2023 Budget should have been published on the website a month ago, when it was delivered to the board. Why wasn't it? What's the big secret? Why wasn't The Summit Scoop ready for publication on Wednesday, November 2nd, right after the election? I'll tell you why. Because the Board doesn't care about keeping the Members (homeowners) informed. You're sheep. Just fork over your $255 every six months and keep your mouths shut.  There were a lot of people a...

At tonight's HOA board meeting, November 1, 2022, Treasurer Vernell Butler jumped the gun after the corrected election results were announced and stated that the newly-elected directors would take office in January. First of all, it was not his place to make such an announcement. That announcement should be made by the President (who was absent) or by the Vice-President or by the Secretary. But know-it-all Vernell jumped into it. Is that correct? There was a question in my mind about whether he was correct but, at the time, I didn't know the answer. I found the answer in the By-Laws. Art, III, A, Section 6 (c) ¶2.  "The directors elected by the Voting Members shall hold office until their respective successors have been elected by the Association." In the case of Vernell, this doesn't really matter, because he was re-elected. In  Dennis' case, he was already on the board, having succeeded the late Paul Hill. Justin had told Dennis he had to run in November 202...

Tonight's HOA board meeting started 20 minutes late, of course, because the annual meeting of Voting Members took more than the 30 minutes allotted to it. Of course, it did. Who planned it for only 30 minutes. Dumb! When the board meeting did start, in a very soft voice Mary Ann Game announced the names of the directors who had been elected. Auby Dellinger, Vernell Butler, Dennis Rybicki. No surprise at all. Well, no surprise at all until Mary Ann announced different election results. Dennis Rybicki Vernell Butler, Vicky McCarthy. Vicky was sitting in the audience and was surprised by that announcement. How does something like that happen? It really instills faith in the election process, doesn't it? Vernell quickly interrupted to say that the new board takes office in January. Tonight's meeting was out-of-control. Justin was absent, and Auby was supposed to be in charge of the meeting. There was absolutely no control over the meeting. Vernell moved for the 2023 Proposed Bu...