Barony Place I/Barony Place II

I don't mind being the Lone Ranger, but I could really use some help from the homeowners in the Summit's HOA.  What can you do? You can show up at monthly board meetings, introduce yourself to the Board during the meeting, and make specific requests of the Board. Ask that your name and your concerns be reported in the Minutes of the meeting. Tell the Board what you want and ask them to report at the next meeting what they have done about your request. (Note that the Board does not use the New Business and Old Business sections of the Agenda, so Old Business gets lost.) Post a Comment here to these blogposts. If you don't wish to stick your neck out (i.e., you fear retaliation or retribution for doing so), then email me your comments. Anonymity will be assumed, unless you state otherwise. I'll respect that. How do you know I'll respect that? In Illinois I risked a Contempt of Court charge in Federal District Court and jail, when I intended to refuse to divulge my sou

What could be some of the effects of a major lawsuit against the Summit's HOA? What if a judge  - ruled that all of the Voting Members, except the one in the Barony Place Neighborhood, were not legitimate Voting Members? - ruled that the past 5-6 Annual Meetings of Voting Members were improperly convened (no quorum) and that the elections of directors were invalid? - ruled that all the current directors were not duly-elected? - ruled that none of the officers was legitimate? - ruled that the HOA could not contract for services (legal, management, maintenance, repairs, landscaping, etc.)? - ruled that no one was legally in charge of the HOA's cash assets of $2,000,000? - ruled that a Trustee or Administrator had to be appointed to safeguard the assets and to run the HOA? - ruled that the S.C. Secretary of State should dissolve the HOA and distribute its assets to other non-profit organizations? - ruled that directors and officers should be charged with usurping, intruding into,

Why would the HOA (office or an officer of the board) lie to a (THE) Voting Member? Have you seen the new sign at the Myrtle Pool? The one that says No Firearms or Weapons? (It's not even a legal sign, under S.C. law.) In response to a question about who approved the sign and how it happened, the Barony Place Voting Member was told,  "... the proper channels were followed to get the signs approved, purchased and then hung."  In other words, she got a "non-answer". There's another word for that. Eight letters. Starts with "b", ends with "t". I can tell you, for a fact, that the proper channels were not followed ! The proper channels would be a vote by the board at a monthly meeting. And that did not happen! Board Member Dennis Rybicki brought signs up at the April 2, 2024 monthly board meeting, when Sheriff Lott was at the meeting and Dennis whined about 18-year-olds now having the right to strut their stuff and carry guns, concealed or op

When I moved into the Summit in January 2018, I had no intention of becoming involved with the HOA.  That changed when a homeowner in Barony Place II received a Parking Violation Notice for a car (not owned by her) parked in front of her house, on the street, for three hours one afternoon. Her daughter had parked there while they went shopping in the homeowner's car. The Violation Notice arrived in the mail several days later. The car, of course, had been gone by late afternoon. I immediately suspected the HOA had no authority to enforce HOA rules over a public roadway. I argued it with the office and with Justin Martin, then-President of the HOA. He told me the HOA could enforce the By-Laws on the public roadway and also told me he didn't have to prove it to me. I set about getting a copy of the Deed for the roadway, as there was a 5% chance that Justin was right. When I finally got the Deed (that took about two years), there was NO language in it about the HOA or the By-Laws.

How serious (and expensive) would it be for the Summit's HOA, if the State of South Carolina or the IRS came knocking at its door? Why might they knock? Because the HOA doesn't not have a legitimate board of directors. Because there are no legitimate directors. Because there are no legitimate officers. Business can't be done with the State (taxes, fees, filings) or the IRS (tax returns) because there is no one who can legally sign for the HOA. The HOA is about to hire two people to conduct internal and external forensic audits. The HOA cannot direct them or pay them, because it requires a legitimate officer to do so. The HOA just retained a different law firm.  Did those board members who contacted Turner Padget inform the law firm of the question about their own legitimacy to represent the HOA? If the HOA found itself in a legal action, it couldn't even defend itself without first going to court to ask a judge to appoint someone to speak for the HOA. I don't know t

Look carefully at the sign on the left. A couple of months ago Board member Dennis Rybicki said at a board meeting that he (then-Chair of the Safety Committee) wanted to buy signs prohibiting weapons in the pools and parks. I reminded him where gun violence occurs - in gun-free zones; i.e., where guns are prohibited. No motion was made. The Board made no decision. That was the end of it. So, what I do see today on the gate at the entrance to the hallway for the HOA office and Myrtle Pool? Who approved that sign? No motion was made at a board meeting to restrict Common Property in that manner. To do so, the Board would have to make a formal Resolution, and that would show up in the Minutes. Who approved installing that sign? If it wasn't authorized by board action, does it have any legal effect?

Myrtle Pool - 5:00PM An email was sent out from the office at 1:08PM. " I hope this email find you well. Myrtle Pool is closed today and will reopen on 06/23/2024, do to cleaning. Magnolia Pool is open at 91 Hunters Pond. " 1. Why start with an inane comment like, "I hope this email find [ sic ] you well." 2. "find you well"? Really??? 3. " do " to cleaning? Seriously? A simple and short message - with two glaring typos! 4. The pool isn't closed due to cleaning. It's closed because something happened that requires the pool to be cleaned. 5. Exactly why was it closed? Why did the pool need cleaning? Why not tell the Members what happened? Is the HOA running a Secret Society or something? 6. Why isn't the email signed? Who wrote that email? Above is the pool at 5:00PM. Has it been cleaned? It's 91º F. Think anyone might like to be using the pool this afternoon or this evening? And here is the locked entry gate. Notice the courtesy s

The Summit's HOA may be facing several serious choices. 1. The S.C. Secretary of State could dissolve the corporation because it does not have a legitimate board of directors, as required of all S.C. non-profit corporations. 2. The S.C. Attorney General could investigate the people claiming to be directors and officers of the corporation and charge them with being usurpers.  SECTION 15-63-60.  Action against usurpers, for forfeiture of office or against persons acting as corporation. An action may be brought by the Attorney General in the name of the State upon his own information or upon the complaint of any private party or by a private party interested on leave granted by a circuit judge against the parties offending in the following cases: (1) When any person shall usurp, intrude into, or unlawfully hold or exercise any public office, civil or military, or any franchise within this State or any office in a corporation, created by the authority of this State ; [ emphasis added

Finally! A brief message from the office. Today, this was emailed to HOA homeowners and residents: " The Summit Association office will be closed on Thursday, July 4th in observance of the holiday. " In appreciation I sent a thank-you to the office for the brevity and the omission of the CAMS promotional information and out-of-town phone numbers. The only improvement I can offer is that the message could have been emailed on July 1, not on June 20.

Have you received your copy of the 2023 Annual Report yet? I know at least one Member (homeowner) who has not. Yesterday I was informed by a board member, " While we do our best to follow the By-Laws, we are still a group of volunteers trying to serve our community in the best way possible. Trust me, we are fully aware of issues that need to be addressed and don't need your incessant emails to "educate" us. " Nice, huh? Why are they so close-mouthed about the issues? One issue is the "monumental hurdle to overcome financially" about which HOA President Danny Trapp wrote in the May Summit Scoop. Yes, volunteers. Yes, "trying". Here what this board of directors needs to learn. They need to learn to direct more and do less. That's why the HOA has a Board of Directors , and not a Board of Volunteers. That's why the Board hires a HOA management firm. So, to the Annual Report. Contact the office and request the 2023 Annual Report, which the

Have you received a Parking Violation Notice? For a car (or other vehicle) parked on the street in front of your house? Complaining to the office or one at a time to the board of directors at a monthly meeting will not solve your problem. It won't be a problem for you. Just email the office that the car is gone. BUT there is a bigger problem that needs to be addressed. The management staff of the HOA office should not be sending those letters in the first place. The street on which I live (in Barony Place II) is a publicly-owned street. It is the property of Richland County. The HOA has absolutely no authority over vehicles parked on it. The street is under the jurisdiction of Richland County. RCSD and the State Police are the only police agencies that can address parking violations. The HOA cannot. The street is not, and never was, part of the Common Property of the HOA. I suspect this is true of your street. I do not know of any street in the Summit that is not a county roadway. 

Have you driven by th3 corner of Summit Parkway and Summit Ridge Drive recently? That's where the brick wall and pergola were. That's where a vehicle did major damage in October. That's the damage for which the HOA's insurance company coughed up $28,000 for a $9,000 loss. The pergola is gone, and the brick wall is gone. And what's there? An ugly patch of dirt. How much time has passed? Eight (8) months! Read this Resolution from the Procedures Reference Manual (Art. II, §D, ¶5): Repair Common Area Damage Immediately : To ensure that Common Areas are kept in good condition, the Board of Directors adopted an operating policy to initiate repairs to damaged Common Areas immediately, documenting said repairs with itemized costs for submission for repayment of required repairs/replacement (approved 8/3/2004)" How well is the Board of Directors complying with this Resolution?

How much money is the HOA's board of directors spending that it doesn't have? When I write, "doesn't have", I mean "not in this year's budget". At last night's board meeting, Treasurer Linda Potter made a motion to spend $8,325 on black mulch to be spread along Clemson Road. The Finance Committee had considered that bid from Green Earth and did not approve the expenditure. The Board discussed it and voted to approve it. Why would the Treasurer make a motion on an item rejected by the Finance Committee? I wanted to ask if the money was in the budget, but I didn't ask because a Finance Committee member had asked virtually the same question. The answer I heard was that it was not in the budget. The HOA is beginning to resemble the Federal Government. When it wants to do something, it just goes ahead and does it. Prior to that motion, there was a motion to spend $10,530 to buy six light posts and globes to have on-hand, anticipating the next time

At last night's board meeting, a number of things should have been addressed but were not. Why wasn't Tommy William's resignation announced? Why wasn't a successor Director discussed (or even appointed) last night? Why wasn't the cancellation of the July 12th meeting announced? Why is the Board approving expenditures of money it doesn't have budgeted? Do all those trees have to come down now, just because Green Earth submits a request? What is the "monumental hurdle to overcome financially" that Danny Trapp, President of the HOA, wrote about in the May 2024 Summit Scoop? Why didn't the Board direct the on-site property manager to stop delaying and post the new Voting Member for Barony Place on the website? Why does the board continue to allow the property manager to issue parking violation notices, when the HOA has no authority to do on the publicly-owned streets in The Summit? Rather than have this issue go on and on, the President should appoint

When Homeowners (Members of the Association) and other residents speak up at board meetings, they should be asked to identify themselves for the record. Then their names should be recorded for the Minutes by the recording secretary. This provides a record of their comments or complaints, in case follow-up action is needed. Many comments by residents are not being included in the Minutes, and there has been no record of who spoke. 

In the Summit's HOA, the homeowners do not elect the Directors. Directors are elected by Voting Members. A Voting Member represents the Neighborhood in which s/he lives. There are 28 Neighborhoods in the HOA, and there are supposed to be 28 Voting Members. At least four neighborhoods have no Voting Member - legitimate or not. One Neighborhood (Barony Place) has a legitimate Voting Member. This means that 27 of the 28 Neighborhoods do not have a legitimate Voting Member. That's 27/28, or 96% of the Neighborhoods are unrepresented. There is only one way for a Neighborhood to get a legitimate Voting Member. THE one way is to comply with the By-Laws; i.e., to hold a Neighborhood Meeting with a quorum of 1/3 of the homeowners represented in-person or by proxy. Conduct an election of a three-person  Neighborhood Committee, which selects one of the three as the Voting Member for the next 12 months. Several years ago a board began allowing an alternate, but not legitimate, way of desig

At tonight's June HOA board meeting, the Board failed to announce the vacancy on the Board of Directors. It has not yet been formally announced that Tommy Williams has resigned from the Association's board..  Tommy had been appointed as a Director after Vernell Butler resigned in a huff when he was not re-elected as Treasurer. Vernell's term-of-office was 2022-2024, which means his seat is up for election in November 2024. The board could opt to leave the seat vacant until November. The problem with a six-member board is board votes could end in a tie. A tie-vote fails. A bigger problem is that the HOA may not be able to hold an election of three directors in November. This may be the year when the issue of an insufficient number of legitimate Voting Members will result in there being no quorum (15). At this writing, the HOA has only one legitimate Voting Member (Barony Place). The Board also failed to announce there will not be a July board meeting. The July meeting cancel

Who really looks at the individual line items in the Annual Budget of the HOA or in the monthly financial statements? And who understands them? Are there any homeowners who look carefully at these important documents? Do the Board members study them and look for what might be wrong? Does the Finance Committee pay close attention? Line 4600 is "Fines - Violations". In the Budget this is money the HOA expects to receive from homeowners who violate the Governing Documents, ignore the Violation Letters, and allow violations to continue beyond 20 days, thus entering the fine period. What has Line 4600 been in the past four years? Source: Approved Annual Budget 2024 $20,000 2023 $62,000 2022 $28,000 2021 $25,000* (Proposed 2021 Budget) 2020 $45,000 * No Approved Annual Budget for 2021 is posted on the website. How much has the HOA actually collected in "Fines - Violations" in past years? Source: 12/31 Financial Statement for the Year 2024 $  53,945.73** 2023 $  67,083.60

How many homes are there in The Summit's HOA? 2,475? 2,480? 2,526? 2,595? 2,800? Even the office doesn't know. Has any board member ever asked? Where did these numbers come from? At a board meeting on April 5, 2022 then-Treasurer Vernell Butler proclaimed authoritatively, "2,800". I didn't think that number was correct, but I didn't know. So I didn't speak up. Soon after that I asked Angela Adelman, then-Property Manager, and she told me "2,480". The next year I noticed the Budget was based on 2,475, even though the five houses near Birch Park were completed, sold, and should have been fully on the rolls of the HOA. Where did 2,595 come from? The office. Recently I asked how many homes were in each of the Neighborhoods. I received a typewritten list in Word. The number of homes in Chapelwood was not listed. When I added the numbers, they totaled 2,526. Then I learned that Chapelwood has 69. So we're up to 2,595. And that is 115 higher the the

One of my all-time favorite sayings is, "If you don't have time to do it right the first time, you definitely don't have time to do it over." The semi-annual assessment notice has been sent to 2,480 homeowners. After I read it, I wondered if the Board had approved it before it was sent out. I have learned that the Board did and thought it was "fine". Was it? ¶1 reads that the assessment payment is due July 1st and is late after July 31st. ¶5 reads, in part,  "Payments received after the due date are considered late and will be subject to association late fees and a $10 administration fee." O.K., which way is it? Does this mean that not one of the seven directors (well, six, since Tommy has quit) saw the contradiction regarding the Due Date? What about dates written as  "July 1st, 2024"? Who does that? A high school graduate who never took a business course or paid attention in an English class. The wrong law firm was named in the letter f

Birch Park parking lot At a time when the HOA is pinched for pennies, why is money being spent on signs like this? And why does an unattended park open at 9:00am? Why doesn't it open at Sunrise? Maybe that sign isn't new. Maybe I just didn't notice it before. There's another sign that warns users that the park is under the jurisdiction of RCSD. Is it, really? RCSD deputies are not supposed to enforce rules and regulations of the HOA. They are supposed to enforce laws. If an authorized person (authorized by the HOA (i.e., by the Board or, if permitted, by the Property Manager) has told a park user to leave (ex., a non-resident or a resident without a valid I.D.), if the person returns, he can be charged with Trespassing. That's a crime. But it takes a previous warning that is documented. And it might require that authorized person to witness the return of the same person to the park.  Will the authorized person have to appear in court? Is the HOA going to pay the Pro

The Minutes for the May 7, 2024 Board Meeting state that The Summit's HOA has a new attorney. Somehow, I missed that during the meeting. I heard the discussion about hiring a new attorney (Turner Padget), but I thought they postponed the decision because the cost for collections wasn't clear and specific. The May Minutes contain this: "Linda Potter made a motion to hire Turner Padget firm [ sic ] as our new attorney. Discussion was  had [ sic ], Dennis 2nd [ sic ] the motion, all in favor, none opposed." The Board should have received an Engagement Letter that spelled out the costs of services. Instead, it now looks like the board is writing a blank check to Turner Padget. The Motion should have been separated from the motions to contract services or pay bills. The Motion should have been made by the President or the Secretary as a separate agenda item under New Business. And what about terminating the services of McCabe, Trotter & Beverly, P.C., the current law f

Looking five months down the road, the Summit's HOA will not be able to convene an Annual Meeting of Voting Members in November or conduct an election of three directors. There have been fraudulent elections in many past years. What is a fraudulent election? It's when the Board of Directors allowed homeowners who were not eligible voters (legitimate "Voting Members") to elect directors. That happened in 2023 and 2022 and in prior years. The HOA now has one ( only one ) legitimate Voting Member; i.e., one who was selected in compliance with the By-Laws. At least 15 legitimate Voting Members are needed. The 78 homeowners in Barony Place are once again represented.  The other 2,402 homeowners in The Summit are not represented.

In the May 2024 Summit Scoop HOA President Danny Trapp revealed the following, among other things, in his President's Report. "We have a monumental hurdle to overcome financially. We are experiencing requests for payments for invoices that are foreign to the current board, and there is no documentation justifying these requests." The "current board" has been in place since November 7, 2023. Did it inherit those financial obligations? They should have been in the Accounts Payable records every month. How can there be no documentation? A forensic audit should have been ordered in November 2023, after the former Treasurer abruptly quit. (I had suggested one after Treasurer George Reynolds died in April 2021 and again after Treasurer Paul Hill died in April 2022.) CAMS is the HOA's management company. Is there some serious problem with how bills are received and tracked? The Board uncovered that some bills were being sent to a CAMS address in North Carolina. Why

On May 4 Barony Place selected an official Voting Member, Tracy Manderino. On May 5 I notified the Board and the office of the names of the Barony Place Neighborhood Committee and that Tracy is the Voting Member. At the board meeting on May 7 I announced that Barony Place has the sole legitimate Voting Member in the HOA. During the month of May I reminded the board and the office that the list of Voting Members had not been updated. The Minutes of the May Board Meeting list the Voting Member and Alternates for Barony Place. Today, when the June Summit Scoop was distributed, it still contains the name of a homeowner who had not been a legitimate Voting Member for years. No Neighborhood Meetings were held in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, or in the first four months of 2024. People ask me sometimes why I am so critical of the HOA. There are seven people on the Board and two in the office who knew the Voting Member list needed to be updated.  So, why wasn't it?

In November 2023 Tommy Williams was appointed by the Board of Directors to succeed Vernell Butler. Vernell was in the middle of a two-year term (2022-2024), and he quit abruptly when the board did not re-elect him as Treasurer.  Tommy is serving the remainder of Vernell's term-of-office, but word is that he has resigned from the board. That has not been officially announced yet. Recently, the office emailed the Members that the position of Chair of the Safety Committee is open, but the office has failed to announce that a position on the board is open. Probably the office has not been told to do so, or it may have been told not to do so. If you are a homeowner and wish to be considered for this appointment, contact the office and Danny Trapp, President of the HOA. And be sure to show up on June 18, 2024 and publicly express your interest. Directors are expected to be leaders, not followers. A Director is 1/7 of the vote of the Board. One Director's vote is equal to that of ever

A community meeting will be held on the topic of Gun Awareness tomorrow night. Thursday, June 6, 2024 7:00PM North Springs Recreation Center 1320 Clemson Road The RCSD CAT officer for this area, Dep. Cory Warren, will lead the program. Hopefully, the program will start on time and respect those who arrive before the starting time. The agenda hasn't been published. The Rec Center is a gun-free zone. Leave your guns at home. I'd advise not to leave them in your car, because the kids probably know guns are not to be taken (legally) into the Rec Center, and they may be eye-balling cars about 7:15PM.  If you are late, please enter quietly.

On May 4 the Barony Place Neighborhood selected a legitimate Voting Member, in compliance with the By-Laws. On May 5 the office and the Board were informed of the names of the three members of the Barony Place Neighborhood Committee (Tracy Manderino, Della Glynn, and Gwen Hayes) and that Tracy is the Voting Member for the next 12 months. The HOA's website still has not been updated! Why not? It would take less than five minutes to update the webpage . It would probably help if the Board had one member who was responsible for communications in the HOA, including the website. Is it because Barony Place now has the only legitimate Voting Member, out of 28 Neighborhoods?

The HOA office sent out this email today at 11:10AM: "The June Board of Directors meeting has been moved to  June 18th . This is due to the primary elections on June 11th and the church is a voting center.   "We apologize for any confusion these changes may have caused." Anyone else tired of the apologies from the office? The two changes in the dates of the June board meeting demonstrate the utter chaos on this board. The meeting never should have been moved from the first and long-time scheduled date of June 4. And now to move it from June 11, which has been Primary Election Day for many months? Did not the office check with the church first? The board has no time to fool around. The November Annual Meeting of Voting Members, at which election of directors should take place, is scheduled November 5th, the first Tuesday. However, that is National Election Day. Will it be changed to November 12? This crucial meeting (the Annual Meeting of Voting Members) can only be conve

At past Summit HOA elections of directors, there were those who wanted poll watchers. The poll watcher would have presumably watched for irregularities in the voting. Sometimes a RCSD deputy was there. He should not have been. A deputy should have been there only if there was some suspected danger. A deputy's job does not include watching an election at an HOA and looking for an irregularities. An interesting thing happened at the November 2022 election. No one paid careful attention to the counting of the votes. Were there poll watchers that year?  If there were, what did they do? Observe the counting of the ballots? Apparently not. As a result, when the board meeting started, it was announced that Auby Dellinger had won re-election. He was chairing the board meeting, in the absence of Justin Martin. About five minutes into the meeting, Mary Ann Game, board member and chair of the Nominating Committee, was called out of the room. She returned shortly and had to announce a correcti

The Summit's HOA must take action to create legitimate Voting Members from all 28 Neighborhoods.  Why? Because its Board of Directors is not legitimate. The Officers are not legitimate.  This "can" has been kicked down the road for many years by previous boards of directors, which included persons who served many terms and controlled decisions made by the board. Previous boards ignored complaints about their non-compliance with the By-Laws. Previous boards allowed fraudulent elections of directors to take place in year after year. They allowed ineligible homeowners to elect directors. It was classic Voter Fraud. The By-Laws state that each of the 28 Neighborhoods must hold an Annual Neighborhood Meeting, elect a three-member Neighborhood Committee, and select a Voting Member who serves for one year. The position is not perpetual. It's not a lifetime appointment. "Getting signatures" is not a legitimate way to become a Voting Member. The Barony Place Neighbo

It took months , but it has been fixed! On the HOA's website is a tab for CONTACT US. It used to work just fine. Then someone fiddled with it, and the webform, used for asking a question of the office or HOA, was changed, and the tab led to the LOCAL INFO page. I think I first reported the misdirection in January and was told that the board had many things to fix and that was a low-priority one. When I clicked on CONTACT US today, the webform showed up. When you write to the office, you may hear back from someone. Just be sure to enter your own name, not mine. If you enter my name, you won't receive a reply from the office or from most board members.