Barony Place I/Barony Place II

With the election of two new directors on November 12, perhaps now the Board of Directors will begin steps to improve its respect of the Members (homeowners) of the HOA. The Board, from May until November, lacked one of the seven directors, after the seat held by Tommy Williams was vacated by resignation. The then-President, Danny Trapp, should have consulted with the Chairman of the Nominating Committee and nominated a homeowner to succeed Tommy and serve out the remainder of Tommy's term-of-office. Tommy had been appointed to serve the remainder of Vernell Butler's term, after Vernell resigned in a huff after he was not re-elected by the Board as the HOA's Treasurer. That was impossible because there wasn't any Chairman of the Nominating Committee. That left six on the board, an even number, which would have stymied any attempt to move on issues not favored by the President. Now that the Board is back to seven, a tie-vote on a Motion is impossible. A Motion will eithe...

What all is wrong with the November 12th Minutes of the BOD Meeting? Aside from the omission of the names of two newly-elected directors who were seated at the beginning of the meeting, here goes. There are many errors in the listing of Voting Members/Alternates Present. Michael Edwards' first name is misspelled as Micheal; There is no Barony neighborhood; it's Barony Place ; There is no Glen Knoll neighborhood; it's Glen Meadow. (Glen Meadow neighborhood has two Alternates but no Voting Member!); Clynton Barzey's first name is misspelled as Clyton; At the time of the board meeting LaToya Adams was no longer a Voting Member. She had been elected a director; Mary Ann Game's last name is misspelled as Gane; The list of "Voting Members/Alternates Present" may be the attendance list from the Annual Meeting of Voting Members, which had been scheduled to start at 6:00PM. Were all of these actually present at the BOD meeting? The list names the representatives fr...

Would you attend monthly meetings of The Summit's HOA board of directors, if they were live-streamed? What if you could watch from the comfort and convenience of your home? (No, I'm not going to add "safety", because there is nothing unsafe about attending board meetings.) What if you didn't have to drive all the way down to the Brookland Baptist Church Northeast? Or cut short your dinner? Or get a babysitter? What if you work or have other commitments on the first Tuesday of the month? Would you watch an archived recording of the meeting? Do you have a preference? Zoom? Facebook Live? And what if you could submit questions during the meeting that would be asked by an Online Moderator before the end of the meeting? Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Ask away in the Comment box below. Share this blogpost with your neighbors (or any one else). Use the "Share" icon at the top right and lower left of each blogpost.

It looks like newly-elected board member LaToya Adams has been elected by the board as Treasurer of the HOA. Her name is now listed as the Chairperson of the Finance Committee. To date, the office and board members have refused to reveal the names of the new officers of the board, who may have been elected in a private, closed, secret, Organizational Meeting of the board on November 15.  That election should have been held in public at the open board meeting on November 12, but the boards of the HOA have not felt obligated to comply with the CC&Rs or By-Laws in this regard and many others. Now to try to uncover the identities of the President, Vice-President, and Secretary before Tuesday night. It's too bad that LaToya was not duly-elected, either as Treasurer or as a Board member (or even as a Voting Member before that). She might want to talk with her personal attorney about any personal liability or risk she has regarding any of those positions. I continue to wonder what the...

The following is an open letter to the HOA's Board of Directors. In case you are wondering why I am posting it, it is because most Board members and the  office staff do not reply to requests. Come to Tuesday's board meeting on December 3rd and ask for answers to these questions.  If you would like a copy of my marked-up November 12, 2024 Minutes (4 pages), please send your request by email to gusphilpot@aol.com Good  morning , board members, Are you investigating why the Minutes of board meetings are so poorly written every month?  The Summit's HOA is a large business - a South Carolina non-profit corporation. The Minutes should be an accurate reflection of the business of your meetings. They should be prepared in a professional, business-like manner, with few if any mistakes. Any mistakes in a prior month should not recur in future months. Corrections and amendments should be made before Minutes are approved.  The contract with CAMS states, "On-site Staff shal...

Be sure to thank our Neighborhood Committee for placing the Christmas bows out on the mailboxes. It takes time and effort for this to get done. How can you help next time? Contact Tracy, Della or Gwen and offer a little of your time. The next task will be to remove the bows after the holidays.  They also see that Flags are put up (and taken down). If you have ideas for landscaping, let them know. Be involved. It's not just "our" neighborhood. It's your neighborhood!

What is the effect of an illegitimate election of directors by the HOA? If directors are elected by people who are not entitled to vote, have they been "duly-elected"? What is the HOA's responsibility to make certain that the 28 Neighborhoods are properly represented?  The rules for electing the representatives of the homeowners are found in the By-Laws. It is essential - more than "essential" - that the rules be followed.  There is one way, and one way only, for the Neighborhood Representative, a/k/a the Voting Member, to be chosen. No other way is authorized. There is no provision for "getting signatures." There is no provision for allowing someone who might have been elected as a Voting Member in the past, to continue in office without the required Annual Neighborhood Meetings. The person elected as Voting Member has a vital role. He (or she) is the legal representative of the homeowner. He elects directors of the HOA. He votes on behalf of the home...

I suspect very few homeowners bother to read the Minutes of monthly board meetings. These are published on the HOA's website. Sometimes I wonder if the board members even read them before they approve them at the next meeting. The October 1, 2024 Minutes were approved at the November 12th board meeting. I had counted 85 errors in them, and there was not even one correction made before the Minutes were approved. I didn't count the number of errors in the November 12, 2024 Minutes. There are many. Starting at the top of Page 1, the year was omitted from the date! When the directors present at the meeting were listed, only five were listed. The two newly-elected directors, LaToya Adams and Ciara Bates, were not listed, even though they were seated at the beginning of the meeting. In the list of "Voting Members/ Alternates Present", 16 Neighborhoods are listed. The names of three representatives were misspelled. Barony Place was listed as Barony. Glen Meadow neighborhood ...

For years I have urged the HOA's board of directors to make the website more vibrant, exciting, informative, useful, and interesting. One way would be to create a section on the website about the members of the board. Provide a photo, an interesting, brief bio, the neighborhood in which each member lives, the term-of-office, and contact information (email and phone). So that board members' personal email inboxes don't overflow, the HOA should generate an email address for each board member, using the @summithomeowners.com domain as its server. That  could also become the historical record for all business-oriented emails, with none to be deleted. (This would not be difficult or expensive; there already exists at least one email address: hoa@summithomeowners.com) For officers, the email address could be (ex.) president@summithomeowners.com. The HOA should have a record of all emails sent to (and sent by) board members. An email to all directors could go to directors@summitho...

How can the HOA determine whether a Voting Member is legitimate?  There is one way, and one way only, to become a Voting Member. That way is described in the By-Laws. "Getting signatures" and just holding onto the title for years (without Annual Neighborhood Meetings) is not an approved "way". The officers of the HOA should know. The other three directors of the HOA should know. The on-site Property Manager should know. The chairman of the (HOA's) Neighborhood Committee should know. The attorney for the HOA should know.  The office should have documentation on file from each of the 28 Neighborhoods in the HOA. What should be in the documentation? The name of the Neighborhood. The date of the (most-recent) Neighborhood Meeting. The number of homeowners attending, in-person and by proxy. The number of properties in the Neighborhood. The quorum for a Neighborhood Meeting. A statement as to whether a quorum was present. That an election of a Neighborhood Committee w...

The Summit's HOA is believed to have held an Organization Meeting last Friday, November 15. That meeting was a closed, private, secret, special board meeting, conducted out-of-view of the Members. According to the By-Laws, officers of the HOA are elected by the directors at the Organizational Meeting. According to the PRM (Art. III, Section H (1)), the President is to appoint a chair of the Nominating Committee, with the approval of the Board.  On November 16 I emailed six of the board members and asked who the new officers are and who the Nominating Chair is. There was no reply. On Wednesday, November 20th, I emailed the HOA's on-site Property Manager and asked who the officers are. No reply. Since the Property Manager doesn't reply to me, I can only assume that she has been directly not to do so. Otherwise, the Property Manager would respond to polite, business-related inquiries from a homeowner or resident. Will there be Minutes of that important meeting? Will those Minu...

The Minutes of the November 12, 2024 board meeting have been published. I think the HOA set a record this month; less than two weeks. To find them, go to the HOA's website . Hover over RESIDENTS. Click on DOCUMENTS. Click on Board of Director's Minutes. Click on the month you'd like to examine. After noticing the three errors at the top of the page, I spotted the HUGE error in the listing of the directors who were present.  At this point I wondered who in the world prepared the Minutes this month. Also, who approved them before they left the office. And, did any of the directors review them before they were published? When the meeting was called to order, there were seven directors seated at the front tables. Only five names are listed in the Minutes as "Present". The names of the newly-elected directors, LaToya Adams and Ciara Bates, were omitted! Before the meeting began, board member Patricia Pollin, chair of the Nominating Committee,  announced that LaToya and...

Would you like a free home safety inspection? At the October HOA board meeting Capt. Danny Brown of the Richland County Sheriff's Department explained a valuable service offered to homeowners in Richland County which, of course, includes The Summit. This was worthy of mention in the November Summit Scoop, but that didn't happen. And it didn't even rate a mention in the Minutes of the October board meeting.  Call the non-emergency phone number for RCSD and submit your request for this free service. A deputy will come to your home by appointment and walk around the front and back of your home. with you. The deputy will point out areas where safety can be improved, such as additional night lighting, trimming of bushes in front of windows, etc.  If you have trouble reaching the right person at RCSD, email Capt. Brown at drbrown@rcsd.net or call him at 803.309.5070.

Autumn Run neighborhood is off Barony Place Drive, west of Barony Place II. There are 119*  homes in Autumn Run, and that neighborhood is not only governed by The Summit Community Association, Inc. but also by a sub-HOA managed by MJS, Inc.   On November 20, 2024 a post appeared on NextDoor that mentioned a car had been towed off the street in front of the owner's house, while they awaited a delivery for which the driveway was needed. The homemade "No Parking" sign posted on the Autumn Run bulletin board has no legal effect at all. The streets in Autumn Run are publicly-owned and -maintained by Richland County. Only Richland County can, by ordinance, establish parking restrictions on a County roadway. And then Richland-County-compliant signs have to be posted at designated intervals. There are no No-Parking signs on any of the streets in Autumn Glen. This Schroeder Towing sign applies to only the Guest Parking spaces in Autumn Glen, which also have warning signs posted. T...

Last Saturday (November 16) I emailed the board  members to inquire who the new officers are. The board was scheduled to hold an Organizational Meeting on November 15.  The election of officers should have happened at the November 12 open, monthly, Regular Board Meeting. Instead, the board planned to elect officers in a closed, private, secret, Special Board Meeting that probably won't have any Minutes published for Members to examine. I was hoping to receive a reply, so that homeowners and residents in The Summit would know who will head up the HOA for the next 12 months. Here is what I wrote: Good morning, board members, Will one of you (perhaps the Secretary?) please let me know the outcome of yesterday's Organizational Meeting?  I'll appreciate your reply, so that I can announce the officers on the blog I write for the Barony Place Neighborhood and other readers in the Summit. Who was elected as President? VP? Secretary? Treasurer? Who was appointed as chair of the No...

Is parking allowed on the streets in The Summit or not? Opinions vary. Mine, based on the By-Laws, is that parking on the streets is fully legal, because the roads are public roadways, owned by and maintained by Richland County. I got into it with the former president of the HOA, Justin Martin, who insisted that the HOA controlled parking on the streets in The Summit. When I asked about written evidence or proof, he said he didn't have to prove anything to me. I requested the Deed for Barony Place Circle from the County Recorder of Deeds office. After waiting for two years I filed a FOIA Request and received it within a week. The Deed contains no restriction on parking and no reference to the CC&Rs or By-Laws. Recently I was informed by one committee chairman that " We are not allowed to park in the streets." I asked for an opportunity to discuss that with him. He hasn't responded. A long-time and active HOA member told me,  " I am not aware of anything in th...

Has anyone within the boundaries of The Summit's HOA received a Parking Violation Notice and threat of fine? The HOA stopped issuing such Notices in Barony Place II, after I proved they had no authority over Barony Place Circle. I believe the HOA has no jurisdiction over ANY public roadway in The Summit. If you have received a Parking Violation Notice or "Courtesy Letter", please get in touch with me.

There are numerous committees of the HOA. The most active ones are: Activities Contracts Covenants Finance * Landscape Modifications * Neighborhood Newsletter Nominating Ponds & Lakes Projects Safety Youth * Only these committees are shown on the HOA's online calendar for meetings in November 2024. Are the rest just not having meetings or is it the case that no one is keeping the Calendar up-to-date? The Neighbor Committee (of the HOA) is a vital committee. Its job is to help the neighborhoods hold their Annual Neighborhood Meetings. Instead, it seems to be supporting the scheme of allowing homeowners to "get signatures" to become Voting Members. The result is that they become illegitimate "Voting Members"! The Procedures Reference Manual (PRM) lists the following committees as Standing Committees. There should be a chair and members. New Construction Asset Evaluation Neighbors Helping Neighbors The PRM lists these as "Other Committees": Budget Ene...

If you are looking for information about the Safety Committee, you should be able to find it on the Summit HOA's website, www.summithomeowners.com On the homepage, scroll down a little and click on Neighborhood News. Then scroll down to Safety Information   Please click  HERE    Click  HERE   for information on Neighbors app. Click on the first HERE and that's where you ought to be able to find up-to-date information. Unfortunately, you'll see the latest information as of March 5, 2020. OK, that's only 4½ years ago. They are busy at the office. If you'd like to see something newer, contact William Hill, chair of the Safety Committee. His email is listed on the website's Committee listing as sirwilliam1229@msn.com  He has a HOA cell phone; call the office for the number. You might also be interested in the RCSD Crime Reports for our area. From the homepage, click on Public Service Announcements. Click on the link for the "most recent" Crime Report ...

As of the 9/30/2024 financial statements, the report states "The Summit financials are currently in good shape and operating under by $166,228.87." The word "currently" could worry some, and "under (what?)" needs clarification. I presume the writer intended to say "under budget". However, reviewing the variances on Page 1 and adding the over-budget condition of $8,812.14 in Legal and Professional Fees (GL-6500), the picture may not be as rosy. Assuming the HOA will not "rob Peter to pay Paul", where is the over-budget spending coming out of? The 2024 Budget was stretched, and it even started the year with a $27,000 deficit. There was no "grease" in the Budget. Every category was leaned out just to get it down to a $27,000 deficit. Over-Budget (YTD 9/30/24) $      27,000 Deficit $   3,842.67 Electricity/Lighting Repair $   1,048.77 Pool Maintenance Contract $ 35,010.00 Irrigation Contract $ 17,815.00 On-Site Staff $ 26,970.00 ...

I invite the HOA's Board of Directors and the on-site Property Manager to engage in an open dialogue with me and any interested homeowners (Members of the HOA) regarding the legitimacy of "Voting Members" who claim that office without having held a legitimate Neighborhood Meeting in the past 12 months (or so). There is one way, and one way only, to be become a legitimate Voting Member. That way is stated is the By-Laws. Why does the HOA permit homeowners to vote who are not eligible to vote for directors? Is this Classic Voter Fraud? Did the HOA convene an Annual Meeting of Voting Members on November 12, 2024 without a quorum of legitimate Voting Members? If directors are not duly-elected by legitimate Voting Members, isn't it correct that they are, in fact, not [legitimate] Directors of the HOA? Let's do this at a board meeting, with observation of Robert's Rules of Order for decorum and the By-Laws as the reference. Or at a Special Board Meeting, open to the...

The Approved Budget for 2024 (Line 6400) includes $5,000 for Accounting - Tax for the year. What is included in that category? The cost of the 2023 Annual Audit should be in that amount. How much was estimated for that? $4,000? Isn't Becca Brendle, CPA, doing the 2023 Annual Audit? Where is it? It was due about 5/1/24. In June 2024 the Board approved an external forensic audit by Becca Brendle, CPA for $3,500, and the Board approved an internal forensic audit by Lettitia Craps (not a CPA) for $4,800. Neither has been released to the Members yet. It looks to me like there has already been $12,300 spent in accounting expenses (and tax, if any) for 2024, against a budgeted amount of $5,000. Where is the extra money coming from? The Approved Budget for 2024 (Line 6500) includes $15,000 for Legal and Professional Fees for the year. What is included in that category, beyond legal fees? As on 9/30/2024 the HOA has paid $20,062.14 for Legal and Professional Fees. How much of that was for l...

On Page 1 of the monthly Financial Statements of the HOAs you can see the categories of the budget that are over-spent. Let's look at each one, using the latest (September 2024) as an example. The YTD (Year-to-Date) amount is for nine months, not the full year. Line GL-5010 Electricity/Lighting Repair. Over-budget $3,842.67 (47%). New light poles, securing light poles, dawn to dusk lights at the office. (Not dusk-to-dawn?) Line GL-5040 Pool Maintenance Contract. Over-budget $1,048.77, because yearly fee for pool fob system had not been budgeted for. Line GL-5111 Irrigation Contract. Over-budget $35,010.00 (62%). A Note explains "The 2024 budget is $75,000, and the monthly contracted cost is $10,140." Thus, the yearly amount is  $121,680 ). How did that happen??? Why the subterfuge of mixing the annual budget amount with the monthly contracted amount? Line GL-6005 On-Site Staff. Over-budget $17,815.31 (16%). See the Note. "The board is aware as to the reason..." ...

Every month the HOA's financials are published on the HOA's website . Do you ever look at them? Do you understand them? There are many times I have wondered whether all the board members understand them. Or even review them! There are never any comments from board members at board meetings. And seldom from anyone in the audience. Where can you view the financials? Go to the HOA's website. Hover over RESIDENTS. Click on DOCUMENTS. Click on Financial Operating Results. Looking at the results for September 2024, the first important page for your attention is Page 1. Examine the category of Operating Expenses. These are significant variances (over-spending) from the Approved 2024 Budget. Note that 2024 began with a $27,000 Deficit (which is not allowed in the rules and regulations of the HOA, as stated in the PRM). If the year started with a deficit and all these categories are over-budget, where is the money coming from? Are you misled by the minus-sign in the columns for MTD%...

It is expected that the HOA Board will hold a private, closed, secret, Special Board Meeting today to elect officers. This meeting should be in public, but it's not. Whom will they choose as President?   If they choose Danny Trapp again, the Board will be in for another year of dysfunction, chaos, and disorder.  Is there anyone else on the board (Bryant, Holmes, Potter, Pollin, or one of the new directors, Bates or Adams) who has the skill and expertise to lead a board of a non-profit corporation and get things done right? The very first order of business should be to establish bonafide Voting Members for 27 Neighborhoods, so that the homeowners are properly represented. Barony Place has the only legitimate Voting Member, and that's as of May 4, 2024. They must do away with the charade of "getting signatures" to become a Voting Member. That is not allowed in the By-Laws. They must do away with allowing homeowners to claim to role of Voting Member without holding Annua...

How does the HOA thank past Board Members? Or does it? Dennis Rybicki was appointed to the Board after Paul Hill died in April 2022. Paul had just been re-elected to the board in the previous November (2021), and his two-year term was 2021-2023. When Dennis was appointed by the Board (Justin Martin, President) to succeed Hill in mid-2022, he should have been appointed to serve the remainder of Hill's term, which was to end in November 2023. However, Martin told Dennis that he would have to run for election in November 2022. That was likely because there was an undeclared vacancy on the board. George Reynolds had died in April 2021, shortly after having been re-elected in November 2020 to a 2020-2022 term of office.  Martin and the Board should have filled that vacancy by appointment of a successor, but Martin left that director's seat empty for 18 months. Dennis did not protest too vigorously, because he wanted to serve on the Board. Dennis did run for election in November 202...

Why won't the HOA answer a simple question from me? Is there a HOA rule or regulation that prohibits blocking sidewalks? I'm a resident (but not a homeowner). I have lived in The Summit for almost seven years. Why must I request that "the homeowner" ask the office? For two weeks a work van has been parked in the neighborhood, blocking a sidewalk. Before that it was parked in the cul-de-sac. This is either a HOA matter or it's not. Either way, it's a violation of State law that RCSD can handle. But a simple, friendly letter from the HOA could probably handle it, if this type of parking violates the By-Laws, PRM, or another rule or regulation of the HOA. I asked William Hill, the new chair of the Safety Committee, about it. He explained that parking is a problem because "We are not allowed to park in the streets." That is incorrect, of course. I've already proven to a past Board that vehicles can be parked in the streets; streets are County propert...

At the November 12th board meeting the Treasurer announced that the 2025 Budget had been received and it was balanced. There will be no increase in the annual Assessment (currently $510/year (payable $255 semi-annually)). Why wasn't the Proposed Budget presented in public to the board at this meeting by the Budget Committee? What's the Budget Committee? If you read the PRM (Art. II, §C, ¶1)), you (and the Board) will learn that it is a sub-committee of the Finance Committee that is responsible for establishing a balanced annual budget. It is to present the Proposed Budget to the Finance Committee and to the Board for approval. It is the Budget Committee that presents the Budget to the Board! The Budget Committee is to include members from the general community. That's you . Did you hearing anything Tuesday night from the Budget Committee? I didn't, either. Art. III §C ¶4 in the PRM describes how the Proposed Budget is to be prepared. The expenses of the HOA are devel...

Was last night's Annual Meeting of Voting Members legitimate? Had all those "Voting Members" or "Alternates" been duly-elected in the past 12 months (or so) by their respective Neighborhoods? Did each Neighborhood conduct a legitimate Neighborhood Meeting, with a quorum (one-third of the homeowners) present in-person or by proxy? Did those homeowners elect a three-member Neighborhood Committee? Did each three-member Neighborhood Committee elect a Chairman, who became the Neighborhood Representative (Voting Member) for the next 12 months? Did the Neighborhood Committee provide the proper documentation to the office? Did the Acting Secretary for last night's Voting Members' Annual Meeting inspect the validity of each attendee's eligibility to attend and vote? Did the Presiding Officer last night deny entrance to all those so-called "Voting Members" who "got signatures" to become "Voting Members"? Was entrance denied to all...

What in the world is going on with the HOA office? At 1:50PM Teresa Rigon, the on-site property manager, emailed the followin as an automatic out-of-office response: " Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office on Wednesday, November 13th at noon and will return on Monday, November 18th.  For immediate assistance please contact Keyona Williams at keyonaw@camsmgt.com, otherwise I will respond to your email upon my return. " At 3:44PM Teresa sent out this message:  " The Summit office will be closed for the remainder of today and will remain closed on Thursday, November 14th, and Friday, November 15th due to staffing issues.   We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding. " This state of operational readiness is not acceptable, on any level. CAMS should have temporary workers immediately available to cover for their employees.  The office is supposed to be OPEN!

Since May 2021, after the HOA's long-time treasurer, George Reynolds, died, I recommended to the Board that it conduct a forensic audit on the books.  My suggestion was not personal to George. I believe that anytime there is turn-over in a non-profit corporation's treasurer position after a long-time treasurer dies or leaves, an in-depth audit should be done. The Board, of course, did nothing. George's successor was Paul Hill. He died in April 2022. I again recommended a forensic audit. Nothing was done. Vernell Butler became the next Treasurer. He quit suddenly in November 2023, after he was not re-elect as Treasurer. He also quit the Board.  In December 2023 the Treasurer's Report includes, "A forensics audit will be administered to make sure all monies are correctly accounted for." In May 2024 the Board considered, and tabled, a Motion to hire two auditors. In June 2024 the Board approved a Motion to contract Becca Brendle, CPA, to conduct an external (fore...