Barony Place I/Barony Place II

At the November 12, 2024 BOD meeting the (outgoing, although she didn't know it at the time) Treasurer announced that the 2025 Budget would be sent out with the Assessment Notices. That is required in the CC&Rs (Art. X, §2, ¶4). " The Board shall cause a copy of the Common Expense budget and notice of the amount of the Base Assessment to be levied against each Unit for the following year to be delivered to each Owner at least thirty (30) days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year." Who made the decision not to send out the 2025 Budget? It wasn't a Board decision, because there was no Motion or vote at the November or December BOD meeting. Did the CAMS on-site Property Manager object and remind the Board that the HOA was required to send out the 2025 Budget with the Assessment Notices? Did she say, "You don't have a choice. You must send it out!" Shortly after the November 12th BOD meeting, the Board held an Organizational Meeting in a closed, pr...

The Voting Members of The Summit's HOA should hold the Board of Directors responsible for not meeting its fiduciary responsibility regarding the 2025 Budget.  What was that responsibility? To consider and approve a 2025 Budget that would meet the financial requirements of operating the HOA on a solid financial footing. That meant increasing the Annual Assessment by at least 10%. The problem is the lack of legitimate Voting Members, who represent the homeowners in their neighborhoods. A problem within that problem is that the "acting Voting Members", who are "recognized" even though they are not legitimate, don't hold the Board accountable. The Board did not even hear the 2025 Proposed Budget in an open Board Meeting. The Members who attend monthly board meetings did not hear the Finance Committee request a 10% dues increase. The public never heard any discussion of the Budget. The Finance Committee apparently did not refuse to slice-and-dice the budget and h...

The HOA has quietly and without fanfare published the 2025 Approved Budget on the website. To find it, go to www.summithomeowners.com Hover over RESIDENTS Click on DOCUMENTS Click on Annual Budgets Click on 2025 Observe the following: Assessments (Line 4000) did not increase, although expenses have gone up in several important categories; What is Line 4219 Attorney Legal Fees $10,000 in the Revenue portion? Why does the Budget low-ball the amount of interest to be earned at $3,000. The HOA will likely earn $50,000+. Will that money be treated as "extra" money or "unexpected" income? Observe Line 4250 (Late Fee Income $65,000) plus Line 4600 (Fines - Violations $50,000) equal $115,000, which is 9% of the Assessment income total. Line 6020 Contract Landscaping went up 10% to $556,358.* Bad Debt Expense (Line 5020) was reduced to Zero, in order to avoid a deficit budget, after the Board denied a 10% dues increase (in a private meeting). On-Site Staff (Line 6005) incre...

The current CAMS contract with the HOA provides (Art. IV, Section B, Paragraph 10):  "Assisting the Board, appointed Committees, and the ASSOCIATION personnel in the enforcement of the Association Documents. Presumably, "Documents" means the CC&Rs, By-Laws, and the Procedures Reference Manual. This would require that the CAMS employees (on-site Property Manager (a/k/a Community Manager (if you read The Summit Scoop) and Assistant Community Manager) be familiar with the Documents. How are the "Association Documents" enforced? Ex., the provision in the By-Laws (Art. V, §3) that requires every Neighborhood to hold an Annual Neighborhood Meeting, which ends with the election of a Voting Member for the following 12 months? (There is no provision for becoming a Voting Member by "getting signatures" or by inheriting the office or moving up if the Voting Member moves or quits or just hanging onto the position for many years without ever holding a Neighbor...

Back in June the Board approved forensic audits of 2023 financial operations. On June  18, 2024  the Board approved a motion to contract with Becca Brendle, CPA to  conduct a forensic external audit at the price of $3,500. (On the same night it approved a motion to contract for a forensic internal audit by Lettitia Craps (not CPA) for $4,800). The October 1, 2024 Minutes state in the Finance/Projects Report: " Becca Brendle has completed the external audit. She will be at the next BOD Meeting to go over the audit with everyone. "    The "next" board meeting would have been the November 12th meeting. Did Becca Brendle present that 2023 forensic external audit at the November 12th board meeting?  No Did Becca Brendle present that 2023 forensic external audit at the December 3 board meeting?  No Will Becca Brendle present that 2023 forensic external audit at the January 7 board meeting? If she doesn't, will any mention be made that it should have been pre...

"We are not allowe d to park in the str eets." Who says? This is what I was told on November 12, 2024 by  William Hill, chair of the HOA's Safety Committee: When I emailed back to him on November 22 and asked for reference to a Section in the CC&Rs or By-Laws, he did not reply. He also did not reply to my follow-up email on December 21. This morning I emailed Teresa, the on-site property manager, and requested a reply by January 6. Who else believes that street parking is not allowed in The Summit? And why not? I'll give Mr. Hill the benefit of a doubt. Somebody must have told him that street parking is not allowed. Who did? Others have told me that street parking is not allowed by the HOA, but no one has ever seen anything in writing, except for the Parking Violation Notices sent out by the office.

When a HOA has an attorney, who is his boss? Is it the Members (homeowners) of the HOA? Or is it the Board of Directors? Or is it the HOA's President? If the HOA engages (retains) the attorney and pays his legal fees, doesn't he represent the Members of the HOA? If the HOA's President or the Board tells him to do something that is not the best interest of the Members (the HOA), what does he do? Does he say, "That's not right. The correct way to do this is to follow the CC&Rs and the By-Laws." Was the attorney informed last spring that the HOA had no legitimate Voting Members? And, because of that, the HOA had no legitimate Directors? And, because of that, the HOA had no legitimate Officers? And, because of that, there was no one who could legitimately engage his law firm or him to represent the HOA? Did he tell Danny, "I can't represent the Summit Community Association, Inc. You have an attorney. I can't advise you while you have another law f...

When the HOA's Board of Directors takes action detrimental to the Association (or fails to take action that benefits the Association), should the Voting Members step up and say so? This is one more reason that it is critical that there be legitimate Voting Members and not just a bunch of Rubber Stamps. For too long there haven't been legitimate Voting Members. Since May 4th the HOA has had one (1), and only one. Barony Place elected a Voting Member in compliance with the By-Laws. Four other Neighborhoods (19.6% of the homeowners) don't have Voting Members and haven't had for many months. Those four are Autumn Glen,  Indigo Springs, Pineclave, and Waverly Place. A responsible BOD would have fixed that.  Many other Neighborhoods have "Voting Members" who are recognized by the BOD but who are not duly-elected, legitimate Voting Members. Those are the "Voting Members" who "got signatures", or are hangers-on, or who inherited the office. Homeown...

Each month the board of The Summit's HOA holds a pre-board meeting. This is generally one week before the monthly board meeting. This is a meeting of the board, and there should be Minutes of the meeting. At the pre-board meeting, the purpose should be to prepare for the next meeting. Determine what items will be discussed and included on the Agenda. The pre-board meeting is a closed, private meeting not open to Members. Perhaps it should be. No decisions should be made at the pre-board meeting. No votes should be taken. No consensus should be reached for a vote to be taken at an open monthly board meeting. When has that been violated? On May 28, 2024 the board decided to declare the office and adjacent pool off-limits for firearms. This followed former Director Dennis Rybicki's worry that 18-year-olds would start bringing guns to the pool under South Carolina's newly-passed Constitutional-carry law. The board decided and a sign was installed. The decision was never announc...

On November 11, I emailed William Hill, chair of the HOA's Safety Committee, about a vehicle parked in a driveway and blocking the sidewalk in front of a Barony Place II house. I asked whether the Safety Committee addresses such issues.  On November 12, Mr. Hill replied, in part, "We are not allowed to park in the streets." On November 22 I emailed him and asked for information about street parking. I mentioned that I believed he had been misinformed.  When he did not reply, I emailed him again on December 21. I asked to be informed of any HOA restrictions on parking on the County-owned streets in The Summit. Now it's December 29 and he still has not replied. All he has to do is say he was misinformed. It's not his fault that somebody lied to him. He might not tell me who lied. But somebody did lie. I believe there is absolutely nothing in the Governing Documents that prohibits legal parking on streets in The Summit. If there is, all he or anyone on the Board or ...

Is it important for HOA's Voting Members, Directors, and Officers to be legitimate? Is it really necessary even to ask this question? I'm not an attorney. What follows is my opinion. What should the HOA do? It (its directors) should confirm what follows. The By-Laws provide the sole method by which a Voting Member is chosen. It's right there in plain sight - Art. V, Section 3. If a Neighborhood does not follow the By-Laws, then it does not have a legitimate Voting Member. If it doesn't have a legitimate, duly-elected Voting Member, there is no representative to attend the Annual Meeting of Voting Members or to vote for Directors. If ineligible homeowners vote anyway for directors, then those "elected" directors are not legitimate. The election was a fraud. And if those illegitimate directors then "elect" officers, those officers are not legitimate. Then, if those directors and officers make decisions about buying services, spending money, and managin...

This year's delay in release of the (2023) Annual Report is reminiscent of the battle last year to examine the 2022 Annual Audit. In late summer 2023 I held a Power-of-Attorney for a homeowner and, when the 2022 Annual Audit was way past-due, I submitted a written request to inspect it. After some time had passed, I received a letter from the HOA's attorney at the time (McCabe, Trotter & Beverly, P.C.), granting me access to the 2022 Annual Audit but informing me that I would have to pay up-to-$265 for a copy of it. My guess was the HOA's Property Manager (not Teresa) or the then-President of the HOA, Justin Martin, was trying to keep me from seeing the 2022 Annual Audit. After considerable back-and-forth with the attorney (who, I am sure, charged the HOA for every minute), they finally understood my request was to "inspect" the Audit, not to receive a copy of it. Then the property manager told me I could inspect it by appointment at the office, but I would ha...

The following email has been sent to LaToya Adams, the Treasurer of the Summit's HOA. Good afternoon, LaToya, I realize you are new to the Board and to the position as Treasurer. T he 2023 Annual Audit has never been released to the Members or published on the HOA's website. According to the By-Laws (Art. III, §19(g)), it should have been distributed to Members by May 1, 2024. Will you please explain to Members in the January Summit Scoop and at the January 7, 2025 monthly board meeting when the 2023 Annual Audit will be available and the reason for the delay? The Minutes of the October 1, 2024 BOD meeting contain this statement in the Finance Committee's report. "Becca Brendle has completed the external audit. She will be at the next BOD Meeting to go over the audit with everyone." The "next" meeting would have been the November 12th board meeting. Ms. Brendle was not at the November 12 or at the December 3 BOD meeting, and her report was not mentioned....

Have you looked at the Minutes for the December 3, 2024 Board meeting yet?  Was Director Linda Potter (former Treasurer) present? In addition to naming the Directors who were present, those who were absent should be identified. This is just a good business practice. Twelve Voting Members are listed. But how many of them are "legitimate" Voting Members? More than one? "Legitimate" means duly-elected by their homeowners in a Neighborhood Meeting within approximately the past 12 months. I can name five on the list who are not. How can the Board of Directors tolerate homeowners who claim to be "Voting Members" but who clearly are not? A huge problem, of course, is that no one on the Board was legitimately elected as a Director, because there have not been quorums of legitimate Voting Members at the Annual Meetings of Voting Members for several years. Why didn't the Board correct the many errors in the Minutes of the November 12th board meeting before votin...

The Summit's HOA is a South Carolina non-profit corporation. But is it a charity? Absolutely not! There are 2,480 properties that are assessed dues. The annual dues are $510. The HOA should be collecting $1,264,800 each year. Every year. But how much is the HOA really collecting? It's hard to know, because the HOA is on the accrual method of accounting. The financial statements assume all money is being collected. We know ... It. Is. Not. In 2024 $100,000 was set aside for Bad Debt Expense (Line 5020).  What amount is set aside in the 2025 Budget? $0.00. Nothing. Zilch. Nada .  Why Nothing? So that the Budget could be balanced! If $100,000 were entered for Line 5020, then the Budget would be unbalanced, and there would be a $100,000 Deficit. Was it the Board's hope that no one would notice the removal of Line 5020? Is it deceitful? The HOA will not collect 100% of the dues. Everyone knows that. In fact, earlier in 2024 the HOA wrote off $100,000+ in Accounts Receivable. The...

How many homes are there in The Summit's HOA? The quick answer is 2,480. That's the number of homes (properties) on which the Annual Assessment is based. This is easy to calculate. The annual Assessment total is $1,264,800. Dividing that by the $510 annual assessment, there are 2,480 homes (properties). Some properties no longer  have homes on them, due to fires, but the owners should be coughing up their $255 every year. But how many homes are there in each of the 28 Neighborhoods? A list from the HOA's office last June indicated 2,526 homes. It was a typewritten sheet with numbers for 27 of the 28 neighborhoods. No number was provided for Chapelwood. I added the numbers, and the total was 2,526. That total (without Chapelwood) was 46 more than the number of homes being assessed (2,480). When I asked the office how many homes were in Chapelwood, I was told "69". Adding that to 2,526, the total became 2,595. That is 115 more than the 2,480 being assessed. When I ...

Will the entire year of 2024 pass without the 2023 Annual Audit's being released? Or will the BOD release it between now and December 31? What can you do? Email hoa@summithomeowners.com today. Request it to be provided within five days. Let me know if you have any luck. The 2023 Annual Audit was due about May 1, 2024. Why isn't the Board of Directors releasing the 2023 Annual Audit? Why aren't Board Members demanding release of the 2023 Annual Audit? Why aren't Finance Committee members demanding it? Why aren't Voting Members demanding it? Why aren't Members (homeowners) demanding it? By-Laws, Art. III,  C. Powers and Duties,  §19  Accounts and Reports  The following management standards of performance will be followed unless the Board by resolution specifically determines otherwise:  (g) an annual report consisting of at least the following shall be distributed to all Members within one hundred twenty (120) days after the close of the fiscal year : (1) ...

Here's what HOA President Danny Trapp had to say about a dues increase in the December Summit Scoop, Page 1. "The budget for 2025 has been finalized and recommended approval by the board. Thanks to those on Finance who worked to develop our budget. This budget does not include any increases, although there are the few that suggested an increase. The near future may require a modest increase, but the present outlook indicates the opposite. Considerations will always be inclusive of everybody's ability to afford an increase." What he didn't say was that the original 2025 Budget contained higher numbers and that the Finance Committee had recommended a 10% increase. Notice how he disrespects "the few who suggested an increase." Those "few" were the honest ones who knew an increase was needed! The true "present outlook" demands an increase now.  When some members of the board, which lacked a critical seventh director before November 12th,...

Have you looked at the 2025 Budget for The Summit's HOA? Probably not, because it wasn't mailed out to you with the 2025 Assessment Notice.* On-Site Management is $35,000 higher. Contract Maintenance (landscaping) is $50,578 higher. Legal is $5,000 higher. Management fees (to CAMS) increased $2,240 over the contract amount (and $19,740 over the 2024 amount) Bad Debt Expense of $100,000 was cut out completely. Reserves will get only $3,000 (compared with $163,965 in 2020). Nothing was budgeted for Reserves in 2024. Since the dues didn't go up (again), where will that money come from? *  At the November 12th board meeting, then-Treasurer Linda Potter stated that the 2025 Budget would be sent out with the January assessment notices.  The Budget was not mailed out with the dues notice. The CC&Rs (Art. X, §2, ¶4) state, " The Board shall  [ emphasis added ] cause a copy of the Common Expense budget and notice of the amount of the Base Assessment to be levied against eac...

For several years I have been ragging on the Boards of Directors about the illegitimacy of the Voting Members. Before May 4, 2024 I asserted there were NO legitimate Voting Members. That's because the 28 Neighborhoods in The Summit were not having Annual Neighborhood Meetings. On May 4th the Barony Place Neighborhood of 78  homeowners held a Neighborhood Meeting. Ten (or so) homeowners were present, and 21 homeowners were represented by proxy. Three homeowners were elected to the Neighborhood Committee, and one of them became the legitimate Voting Member. Where did those 21 proxies come from? I spent a week on the phone calling the homeowners.  The HOA has one Voting Member. Where have the existing, recognized "Voting Members" come from? A umber of them claim to have held the office for years. Who knows how they even got it in the first year?  At least one "inherited" the office when her husband died. Some "moved up" from Alternate when the "Votin...

When the HOA mailed out the January 1st dues notices, why didn't it include the 2025 Budget? The CC&Rs (Art. X, §2, ¶4 ) require it (the Common Expense budget). At the November 12th BOD meeting then-Treasurer Linda Patton stated, "All homeowners will receive the budget when the assessments go out in December." Three days later newly-elected Director LaToya Adams was elected by the Board as Treasurer. Why did the BOD fail to send it out? Who made the decision to omit it? Could there be homeowners in the community who would look at the budget carefully and ask why dues weren't being increased? Why is there no allowance for bad debts (unpaid dues)? Does the HOA expect a miracle to happen in 2025? Will every homeowner pay his dues as billed? Only $3,000 is planned for Reserves. Nothing went into Reserves in 2024. In 2020 $163,195 was budgeted for Reserves. Would a homeowner notice that many expenses had gone up, although the dues had not? Would he wonder where the HOA...

There were several procedural errors at the November 12, 2024 regular board meeting. But does the Board care? When the meeting started at 6:30PM, there were two new faces at the board table. Ciara Bates and LaToya Adams had just been elected to the Board minutes earlier in the Annual Meeting of Voting Members. It wasn't a bonafide meeting of Voting Members, because there couldn't have been a quorum of legitimate Voting Members, and it wasn't a valid election for the same reason. Ciara and LaToya were seated and no one bothered to introduce them! Before the meeting started, Patricia Pollin, chair of the Nominating Committee, had made an announcement of the results of the election. But that was before the meeting started. And later the Minutes of the meeting did not even record Ciara and LaToya as being present!!! And that omission wasn't corrected at the Dec. 3rd board meeting, before the Minutes were approved. The next procedural error was the failure to elect officers....

Why did the Finance Committee estimate only $5,000 in interest earnings for 2025? That appears to be 90% low. According to the PRM (Art. III, §C, ¶4 (e)), "The Annual Budget is to reflect historical and projected income and expenses." The 2025 Approved Budget (Line 4700) includes $5,000 as the interest expected in 2025. A typewritten sheet was included with the October 31, 2024 Financial Overview Report (distributed at the December 3, 2024 monthly board meeting that showed the HOA's money in the banks and at Edward Jones.  All it showed were account balances, interest rates, and CD expiration dates. Anytime I see a typewritten sheet of numbers and not an Excel document, I make the calculations. See below: It looks to me like a reasonable estimate of interest earnings is 2025 is $52,347. (This assumes 4% on the Money Market funds at Edward Jones.) Why is the HOA estimating only $5,000 for Line 4700? If the HOA earns $52,347, where will that money be spent?

Is $117,480-$402,765 missing? There is a major problem in the October 31, 2024 financial report of the HOA.  Shouldn't Board members and Finance Committee members have examined that report before the December 3rd meeting? Who looks at the monthly reports carefully to make certain they are correct? Why didn't any Board member question the on-site Property Manager at the December 3rd BOD meeting? If they had, would she have had the answer(s)? I was hoping the Finance Committee would see the problem with numbers from the October 31, 2024 monthly financial report. But they didn't want to hear about problems. The column on the left is from a typewritten sheet that was part of the Financial Overview Report for October 2024. The numbers on the typewritten sheet were not totaled, and one account appears to have been erroneously listed twice. $116,140.36 was listed in both Reserves and in Operating Expense. (Could there be two accounts with identical balances?) The column on the rig...

I attempted to visit the Finance Committee at 5:00PM. I was immediately made unwelcome by Vicki, who told me it was a committee meeting and I wasn't a member. I reminded her that she had pulled the same stunt a year ago (December 2023) and that she herself was not a member then or now . Her name has never appeared on the Finance Committee members' list. Then Brent weighed in with his 2¢ worth. If his looks could kill, the EMTs would have carried me out in a body bag! I explained that I had information that I thought would be helpful to the Committee. Vicki presumed to make the decision for the Committee, usurping LaToya Adams' position as Chair of the Committee.  I requested that discussion about my presence be delayed until the meeting started. LaToya invited me to put it in writing to her. She hasn't answered any other email I've sent to the Board, including her. I'll save my time. Then LaToya asked me to leave. As I left the meeting room, I told them that my ...

Did you receive your January dues notice in the mail yesterday. What was in the envelope? Your bill? A cover letter? Copy of the Budget? Oh, you didn't get a copy of the Budget? If I recall correctly, at the November 12th board meeting a statement was made that a copy of the budget would accompany the dues notice.  The CC&Rs (Art. X, Section 2, Paragraph 4) read, in part, "The Board shall cause a copy of the Common Expense budget and notice of the amount of the Base Assessment to be levied against each Unit for the following year to be delivered to each Owner at least thirty (30) days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year..." So, why wasn't there any copy of the Budget in that envelope? And why was the envelope delivered on December 16, instead of December 1? Will the HOA now have to mail the budget out to every homeowner? In a new envelope with a new stamp, and new per-piece billing by CAMS? Notice that the sentence in the CC&Rs begins with "The Boar...

  Here's a photo of the recent, beautiful landscaping job done on the islands on Barony Place Circle. Each year Barony Place II homeowners contribute $24,480 to the coffers of te HOA. In the 3½ years since the ice-storm that's more than $85,000. What did they get? Pinestraw! The homeowners don't need to pay extra for more landscaping. They've already paid several times over for the landscaping that should have been done to restore the beauty of the neighborhood and the entrance. Where was their money for landscaping spent? Why has the Board of Directors been dragging its feet on spending money in this neighborhood? If 20-30 Barony Place II homeowners showed up at the January 7th board meeting, and kept going back every month, maybe there would be some action here.

Is a resident entitled to the same courtesy as a homeowner? At the December 3rd board meeting, Danny Trapp, HOA President, wouldn't talk to me because I'm not a homeowner. Patricia Pollin barged into a conversation I was having with another board member, ignoring me and embarrassing her fellow board member. She told me  to talk to the HOA's lawyer.  On September 6, 2024, the HOA's attorne y emailed me:  " Mr. Philpott, as I explained in my letter, you’re not a member of the association, and therefore I have no obligation to respond to you.    "As you were advised in my letter, please stop harassing the employees of the Association and its management company, its directors, board members and me. " The lawyer, on behalf of the HOA, had threatened me with legal action. When I asked him for de tails, he sent that reply (above). So, he can accuse me of wrongdoing but not tell me what he thinks I've done wrong. Teresa, the on-site Property M anager, won...

Add these numbers:  $1549.74                                     +  $1092.50 What do you get?      $________  If you got $5030.10, wouldn't you say to yourself, "That's not right"? On December 10, 2024 I sent an email to six members of the Finance Committee and the other five members of the Board. Not one of them replied! Here is the email I sent: Recently I noticed that Line 6500 - Legal/Professional Fees is omitted from the Variances on Page 1 of the monthly financial reports.  This category is $8,903.62 over-budget (71%).  It is the fifth-largest variance. Shouldn't it be included? The monthly reports from February 2024 contain significant errors. The "Y-T-D Actual" number for the total of January plus February is not correct. All the following Y-T-D Actual totals are incorrect. May I suggest that you determine who added $1,549.74 and $1,092.50 and got $5,...