Barony Place I/Barony Place II

 In the last two Summit Scoops (September 2025 and October 2025), Board President Danny Trapp has written about street parking in The Summit.  While he didn't mention me by name, he took a swipe at me with " Please don't allow someone to convince you differently. When the streets were deeded over to Richland County, our standing covenants were also inclusive and enforceable. " I proved to the past-President of the Board that the HOA had no control over Barony Place Circle (in Barony Place II). When the developer deeded Barony Place Circle over to Richland County, the CC&Rs and By-Laws were NOT attached.  Homeowners and residents in Barony Place II stopped receiving parking violation notices. This was also the case, when the last streets in The Summit (lower Barony Place Drive, Lakemont Drive, and Rainey Court (in Lakes at Barony Place)) were deeded to Richland County. The HOA had a golden opportunity to try to attach the CC&Rs and/or By-Laws when the Deed was ...

In a last-minute filing before tomorrow's court date in the HOA's lawsuit against resident Gus Philpott, the HOA's lawyer filed (in documents recorded on October 30, 2025 5:02PM) that "Defendant has asserted no counterclaim..." That is true. No counterclaim has been filed - YET . A counterclaim may cost me $150.00 to file. It will cost the HOA thousands of dollars. The HOA will have to defend against it. Otherwise, I'll win by default. So far, I've held off on filing a counterclaim, because of the cost to you . You, the Members (the homeowners), pay for the actions (errors) of the Board of Directors. If the directors had to pay personally and not use the HOA's piggybank, I would have filed a counterclaim months ago. Just as the HOA has tried to bury me in Motions, I'll return the favor. For the HOA, it wouldn't be a matter of a person spending his week-end typing and formatting his responses and arguments for submission to the Court. For the H...

The Summit's HOA consists of 2,480 properties. The responsibility of the Board of Directors is to manage the HOA in the best interests of those property owners. If an action is taken that is not in the best interests of the Association (the Members), what should happen? Danny Trapp caused a lawsuit to be filed against resident Gus Philpott in the name of the Association , but it was never approved by the Board of Directors. The HOA is spending a lot of money on legal fees to prosecute that lawsuit. If it wasn't approved by the Board of Directors, then it wasn't really filed on behalf of the Association. This issue will be addressed in court on Monday, November 3, 2025, at 2:00PM. What's the brilliant idea? How about a lawsuit in the name of the Association against Danny Trapp? Since he was able to file it without the approval of the Board of Directors, could anyone file a lawsuit in the name of the Association against Danny Trapp? The approval of the Board of Directors...

When the Board of Directors finally woke up and realized that November 11th was Veterans Day and that November 4th was a municipal election day, why didn't it schedule the two most-important HOA meetings of the year for Wednesday, November 5? What is the fixation on Tuesday? The November 18th date is only two weeks before the December 2 Board Meeting. As of October 17th, the November 11th Board Meeting was not on the reservation calendar of Brookland Baptist Church Northeast. Was it ever on that calendar? Who failed? The CAMS property manager? The Town & Country property manager? The Secretary of the Board? The President of the Board? The entire Board of Directors? November 18th is too late in the month for the Annual Meeting of Voting Members and the annual meeting of the Board, including the Organizational Meeting. The 2026 Annual Budget needs to be discussed and considered. After thorough discussion, it needs to be approved. The discussion should be in November. Consideratio...

This afternoon the HOA announced a date-change for the very important meetings of the year. Dear Homeowners, We are writing to inform you of an important update regarding the 2025 Annual Election Board Meeting. Due to the coinciding national elections and the observance of Veterans Day, it has become necessary to reschedule both the date and venue of our meeting. New Date: November 18th, 2025 New Venue: North Springs Park, 1320 Clemson Rd. Columbia SC 29229 Meeting Start Time: 6:30 PM Who do you suppose worded that message? What is " the 2025 Annual Election Board Meeting"? There isn't any such meeting! And the "national elections" and Veterans Day certainly don't coincide! What "national elections" are there in Richland County? This year there are local, municipal elections. Are any on a local ballot? The annual election (of directors) happens at t he Annual Meeting of Voting Members (AMVM), which precedes the 6:30PM Board Meeting. That AMVM is no...

I am on the mailing list for a national HOA organization, and an email this week emphasized the need for Board members to have good people skills. One comment was, " board members really need to act like politicians and remain neutral, calm, and respectful of people.” Another quote was, " “You're a politician, and these are your constituents. Even when they're attacking you, you have to be respectful." How do you feel, when you are communicating with the Board of Directors of The Summit's HOA? Do you feel listened to? Heard? Respected?  If you ask a question, do you get an answer? If you are promised an answer, do you get it? Here's an example in my own experience. On November 24, 2024 William Hill, Safety Committee chairperson, emailed me, "We are not allowed to park in the streets." I emailed him back and asked why not. Twice! No reply either time. Maybe I shouldn't get impatient. It has only been 11+ months. In the last two Summit Scoops...

Consider this image from an email to me today from Judicial Watch. Do you think Voter Fraud is alive and well in Oregon? In its email were these words: "Because dirty voter rolls can mean dirty elections." What about in South Carolina? In Richland County, for example? Let's say, in The Summit. Does The Summit's HOA have clean voter rolls? Who are the voters? The Voting Members (VM) How many should there be: 28 How many are "recognized" by the Board? 24. Four neighborhoods list "Open" in place of a VM's name. But how many VMs were elected in compliance with the By-Laws of the HOA? 1   That "one" is the VM for Barony Place. The other 23? Some of them "got signatures", either recently or at some time in the past. The By-Laws do not permit that method. At least one VM is believed to have inherited the position. Some might have "moved up" when the VM quit, moved, lost interest, or just got tired. If the Property Manager...

How much will it cost The Summit's HOA to terminate its contract with CAMS early? CAMS had a two-year contract with the Association that was to run to January 1, 2026. The HOA terminated the contract three months early, when it kicked CAMS out and put Town & Country Management Company in. Line 6000, the monthly "Management Fee's" [ sic ] to CAMS, was $5,833.33. In addition, there were other costs - large ones, such as labor costs for CAMS employees (Line 6005 ; office and maintenance); SCS Administrative Costs (Line 2330), often $30,000+/month).  When did the Board of Directors vote to terminate the contract with CAMS? Did it? In fact, when did the Board of Directors ever vote (in public) to hire Town & Country? The Minutes of the September 2, 2025 Board Meeting include a report of the Contracts Committee that a contract with Town & Country was signed in August. The Contracts Committee met on August 21, 2025, according to the HOA's August Calendar. The...

The Summit's HOA has a new management company - Town & Country Management Company. Town & Country replaced CAMS on October 1, 2025. Town & Country was (presumably) contracted by The Summit Community Association, Inc. It works for the Association . It does not work for the Board of Directors or for the Board President.  I have copies of the last two contracts with CAMS, but I have not yet seen the contract with Town & Country. One of the services of a good HOA management company is to guide the Board of Directors.  Is Town & Country up-to-speed on the CC&Rs, By-Laws, and published Guides of the Association, such as the Procedures Reference Manual, Modifications Committee Guidelines, etc.? The first crisis it will face is seeing that the Annual Meeting of Voting Members (AMVM) is conducted properly. Will it prevent a fraudulent election of directors next month? Will it advise the BOD and the Nominating Committee how to comply with the By-Laws and the PRM?...

The Nominating Committee apparently has picked five Association Members to promote as its slate for the November election of Directors. Unfortunately, it passed over three excellent applicants. As reported yesterday, it is likely that the Nominating Committee picked, in alphabetical order,  Vernell Butler,  Linda Potter,  Greg Thomas,  Danny Trapp, and  Stephen Van Camp. Although totally qualified to be on the Board, the Nominating Committee is not presenting three other homeowners: Brenda Bryant, Jeff Lummel, and Angelo Turley-Moore. If I could guess a reason why not, it would be because they have been outspoken about how Danny Trapp has been running the HOA as Board President. Why wouldn't the Nominating Committee present ALL of the qualified applicants and let the Voting Members decide?  Here is an easy way to choose between eight candidates. A Prioritizing Grid makes it easy to select the top four. Instead of agonizing over a list of eight, i...

The HOA's Nominating Committee stacked the deck by not putting three highly-qualified Members on the slate to be presented to the Voting Members in the election for directors. The presumptive chairperson of the Nominating Committee, Board VP Tanisha Holmes, has never been officially named as the chairperson. To be so named, Board President Danny Trapp should have nominated her at an open, public, Regular Board Meeting, and the Board of Directors should have approved that nomination. The nomination and approval should have been recorded in the official Minutes of that Board Meeting. The last time a chairperson's name appeared in the Summit Scoop for the Nominating Committee was in the December 2024 edition. Holmes' name first appeared as Nominating Committee chairperson in the Summit Scoop in the September 2025 edition. The Minutes of the August 5, 2025 Board Meeting contain no report of the Nominating Committee. The Minutes of the September 2, 2025 Board Meeting also contai...

Rumor has it that the following homeowners are slated as candidates by the Nominating Committee for the four seats on the Board of Directors, when the Voting Members meet in November to elect four directors. Names are listed in alphabetical order, by last name. Vernell Butler Linda Potter Greg Thomas Danny Trapp Stephen Van Camp Although totally qualified to be on the Board, the Nominating Committee is not presenting three homeowners: Brenda Bryant Jeff Lummel Angelo Turley-Moore Please read carefully the criteria for candidates, as stated in the Mission for the Nominating Committee.  Nominating Mission: Provides quality candidates to hold office on the Board. Candidates will be of the highest caliber, selected for interpersonal skills, dedication to the betterment of our Association and community, and free of any personal agenda.  (Source: HOA website) Do you think that the Nominating Committee made their choices after studying the Mission Statement? Or does it even know that...

Back on February 2, 2021 the Voting Members voted on a Referendum pertaining to  annexing Richland County Parcel R23100-01-02* ; sheds; above-ground pools; portable basketball goals; and garage sales.  Above-ground pools were not approved. It has come to light recently (see the Minutes of the October 7, 2025 Board Meeting) that CAMS did not file the proper paperwork with Richland County. That Referendum must be redone. Did CAMS have a valid reason for not filing the paperwork? Was the "paperwork" Amendments to the By-Laws or CC&Rs? Voting Members would have first been required to determine whether their respective property owners were in favor of (or opposed to) the questions in the Referendum. Then Voting Members would have had to vote on the Referendum. According to the February 2021 Summit Scoop, they voted on February 2, 2021. What if CAMS knew there were no legitimate Voting Members and decided not to file fraudulent documents? Could that have been the reason CAMS d...

Supposedly, Danny Trapp formed an ad hoc committee to review the proposed changes to the CC&Rs and the By-Laws. But did he, really? Every committee of the HOA should be formed and approved by the Board of Directors. There is no mention of activity by this ad hoc Committee in any set of Minutes of Board Meetings, and no members have ever been announced. That committee is not listed on the HOA's website or in the Summer Scoop. An ad hoc Committee should have a specific purpose and a limited scope of authority and time. It should get its work done and make a full report to the full Board, in public. From sources it appears the members of this committee may be Danny Trapp (Board President), Tanisha Holmes, (Board Vice President), Patricia Pollin ( not a legitimate, duly-appointed Board member), and one other. But few seem to really know who the fourth person is. It was suggested to me that it might be Randdi Trapp (Danny's wife), so I emailed her. She had called and emailed ...

How does the Budget for the HOA get put together? There are rules for the Budget preparation in the Covenants and in the Procedures Reference Manual (PRM). You might find interesting reading in the PRM at Art. III, §C, ¶4(a-l) (Page 17). The proposed budget is supposed to be built from the bottom up; i.e., the Expense Budget is developed first. Allowances should be made for new items and for changes (often, increases) in existing items.  An appropriate, suitable, or reasonable Contribution is to be included for Reserves.  Once the amount to operate the HOA (the Expense Budget) is known, then the Budget sub-committee and the Finance Committee know how much the HOA needs to collect. That amount, divided by 2,480, becomes the Assessment for the following year for each property. And that's when the Board panics and says, "No way!" That's what must have happened in the Fall of 2024, because the Board rejected a dues increase. They did that in private, where the Members nev...

In the Minutes for the October 7, 2025 Board of Directors Meeting was this report of the Modifications Committee: - September: 14 modifications; October: 7 modifications. - Metal roofing requests denied per governing documents. - Motion to approve 2026 HOA Budget - Approved The abbreviated reports are nice but, when they are not clear or complete, they are not informative or acceptable. What does the first line mean? Modifications. Forms 201 submitted? approved? denied? inspected? It is impossible to know. Most importantly, what does the third line mean? The Modifications Committee has nothing to do with the 2026 HOA Budget. If someone on the Modifications Committee (Tanisha Holmes (Board VP), William Hill (Board Treas.), Stan Haines) made a motion to approve the 2026 HOA Budget, it was a meaningless gesture. And why aren't there more homeowners on this committee? It is the Finance Committee that is involved with the Proposed Budget for 2026, not the Modifications Committee. What ...

Here's why you should go to Board Meetings and read the Minutes of Board Meetings! The Minutes of the October 7, 2025 Board Meeting contain this report of the Safety Committee. It reads, in part: Schroder [ sic ] Towing* contacted regarding parking enforcement at Birch Park and both pools. Management company to handle violations (e.g., illegal parking, expired tags) Warnings will precede any towing actions. What does the HOA mean by "illegal" parking? Why is the HOA involved in "expired tags"? * If you want your vehicle back, it's "Schroeder" Towing. Phone 803/772-7930. This company has a rating of 4.6/5.0 out of 1,913 reviews.  Autumn Run has, in my opinion, a questionable towing policy. Warning signs are posted at the entrance. Are cars being towed off the public streets there? The HOAs (The Summit's HOA and a secondary HOA (MJS)) have no authority over street parking. The streets are County-owned and -maintained. Example of unenforceable No-...

The following email was sent out from the HOA office on October 24, 2025 at 5:37PM in the name of Tanisha Holmes, Board Vice President. It likely went only to Voting Members. The message says Tanisha is the chairperson of the Nominating Committee (but the Minutes of the October 7, 2025 Board Meeting do not list her as a member of the Nominating Committee). No Minutes of any Board Meeting reflect that appointment. The bold wording is in the original. My comments are in red italics .  Message from the Nominating Committee Chairperson The election for new members of the Board of Directors will be held  prior to the Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday, [ sic ] November 11th, at 6:00 p.m.  (30 minutes before the Board meeting) at  Brookland Baptist Church .  Three positions  are open for election. November 11th is a Tuesday . There are FOUR positions open.   Serving on the Board of Directors is an excellent way to become more involved in the life of Th...

Of the many significant problems facing the HOA, why did the new Property Manager, Robert Williamson, send out an email blast to Members about parking and basketball hoops? His October 23rd email led off with,  " During recent community compliance inspections, it has been observed that a number of properties are not adhering to the Association’s parking and exterior appearance regulations. Specifically, there has been an increasing trend of vehicles being improperly parked and basketball goals remaining visible when not in use."   Robert assumed the Property Manager role on October 1st. In just three weeks, he has had time to recognize an "increasing trend". What a miracle! What is an "improperly parked" vehicle? Surely, that wouldn't mean a vehicle legally parked on a County-owned roadway in The Summit, would it? Or does he mean one parked in a driveway blocking a public sidewalk? There are many of those, including right here in Barony Place II and at...

An Open Letter to All Voting Members: According to the By-Laws of the Summit's HOA, Voting Members are the representatives of the property owners (homeowners) in the Association. Do you, the Voting Members, know what the Board of Directors is doing (and not doing)? Starting with Board Meetings - the Board has been meeting at many times other than the Regular Monthly Meetings on the first Tuesday of the month. How many of those "extra" meetings have there been since January 1, 2025? You should obtain the dates for every meeting of the board and inspect the Minutes of every meeting. Why haven't ALL Board Members been informed of ALL of those meetings, and why haven't ALL been invited to every meeting? Who has not been invited or attended? Why are some Board Members being excluded from Board Meetings? What is being discussed at meetings from which certain board members are excluded? Voting Members should appoint five-to-seven clear-headed, unbiased Voting Members to ...

The Minutes of the October 7, 2025 Board of Directors Meeting have been published. If you missed the meeting (or even if you were there), you may want to read the Minutes and try to figure out what really happened. A few questions came to mind: Three people (Pollin, Hill, Weatherbee) are listed as Directors, but none was duly-appointed . No "Neighborhood Concerns" are reported. Didn't anyone in the audience ask any questions; e.g.,  When will the 2024 Annual Audit be posted? Where are the 2023 forensic internal and external audits? Why doesn't the HOA have a legitimate Secretary and Treasurer, as required by State law? Why hasn't anything been done about the illegal lawsuit filed against Gus Philpott in December 2024? (It's illegal, because the CC&Rs prohibit it. It was filed in the name of the Association, BUT the Board never approved it or authorized Danny Trapp to file it.) How much as the HOA paid in illegal disbursements on that lawsuit? Nominating C...

Which applicants for the Board of Directors were not accepted as candidates for election? The Nominating Committee met last Saturday to interview all the candidates. One of the qualifications for a candidate is "free from any personal agenda".  Paragraph 10 of the Procedures Reference Manual (Art. III, §H) reads "The Nominating Committee may decide not to nominate a Candidate (should read Applicant ) if there is a conflict of interest, if the candidate has a personal agenda, has lied on their application or other reasons." That should have eliminated two of the candidates. But did it? Danny Trapp clearly has a personal agenda. He filed a lawsuit against a resident who has been outspoken about numerous violations by the Board of the CC&Rs, By-Laws, and the PRM. Danny filed the lawsuit in violation of the CC&Rs and without the approval of the Board of Directors. He also sought a Temporary Restraining Order against that resident in the name of the HOA but witho...

Why didn't any Voting Members show up yesterday, when the Nominating Committee met to interview applicants for the Board? As I wrote just three days ago, "Voting Members are encouraged to attend the interview session." This is stated in the Procedures Reference Manual (PRM) (Art. III, §H, ¶8). Did the Board Vice-President and Nominating Committee chairperson, Tanisha Holmes, tell Voting Members that they could not attend? On what authority would she say that? The PRM was approved by the Board. That's the way it is. The Nominating Committee chairperson has no authority to change that unilaterally or to disregard it. Did Tanisha ask Danny Trapp about his "personal agenda" as an applicant?  Will the Nominating Committee take into consideration that he filed a lawsuit in the name of the Association without the approval of the BOD , costing the HOA thousands of dollars in legal fees? Will the Nominating Committee take into consideration that that lawsuit is proh...

Three times now, a board member has used the cops. I wanted to go to Magistrate's Court on Thursday, September 18, to observe a trial, but I had a time-conflict. A board member had filed a complaint against a Voting Member. I heard that case got tossed by the judge. If I get the details, they'll be here. If I were the Voting Member, I'd be asking RCSD to investigate whether the complainant had filed a false police report. After the September 2nd Board Meeting, one of the new board members (not a legitimate director, because the appointment process was faulty) sicced the cops on a person (a Voting Member) who had been at the meeting. That went nowhere. But a report must have been filed, and a deputy showed up at the homeowner's door. I had a personal experience with Vernell Butler, former director and prior Treasurer.  On July 14, 2022 I arrived at a board meeting at the same time as Vernell. At the outside door to the church, Vernell blocked my path and said, "You...

The Board of Directors has recently held many meetings other than the monthly Board Meeting at the Church. What are they doing at those meetings? Are these pre-board meetings or workshops? Or are these Special Meetings? Is business being conducted? Are decisions being made? Since nothing is ever announced after these meetings, have decisions been made but not announced to the Members (homeowners) ? Some of the Board Members have not even been given Notice of these Meetings. If a Board Member is not given Notice or does not agree with the action taken, she should refuse to sign any Waiver of Notice, consent to hold the meeting, or the Minutes of the meeting. That should invalidate any decision made by the others. Two sections in the By-Laws control this. "Minority" board members (currently, two of the seven) may be able to control the majority (five) of the board. The following Sections are from the By-Laws, Art. III, B. Meetings : Section 11. Waiver of Notice . The transactio...