Barony Place I/Barony Place II

The HOA has posted temporary signs at the entrances to several neighborhoods, advertising the need for Voting Members. It's about time. For many months four neighborhoods have been without Voting Members: Autumn Glen(49), Indigo Springs(141), Pineclave(33), Waverly Place(264). The number in parentheses is the number of homes in that neighborhood, according to a list* furnished by the office in June 2024.  The total of unrepresented homes injust these four neighborhoods is 487, which is 19.6% of the HOA! Those homeowners have NO representation before the Board, and the Board hasn't exhibited much concern about that. Maywood lost its "Voting Member"  on November 12, 2024, when LaToya Adams was elected to the Board of Directors. Rumor has it that someone is collecting signatures on a form from the office to become Maywood's "Voting Member".  The Neighborhood Committee (of the HOA) has two meetings planned before the end of January. So far, there hasn't ...

Should the Board inform Members how many holidays per year are taken by CAMS office employees? Since the office employees are not HOA employees, technically the HOA doesn't give them any holidays. The holidays are granted by their employer, CAMS. But the office is closed on those holidays. Who pays for the time taken off by CAMS employees? Does the HOA pay? Is that part of the $185,000 in the 2025 Budget for On-Site Staff (Line 6005)? The 2025 list starts with January 1 New Year's Day January 20 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Justin Baldoni has given me a great idea. He is suing  Blake Lively  and  Ryan Reynolds  for $400,000,000 for defamation. Because of the HOA's legal action against me, my reputation in The Summit has been destroyed. I am suffering and can hardly t-t-type. My dog looks at me in a strange way. I can't sleep. Will I be able to cook without burning the bacon? Will my neighbors stop speaking to me (more than they already have, I mean)? Will the members of the BOD continue to shun me? What am I to do? You know, $400MM does have a nice even ring to it. And, after my lawyer takes his cut and retires, I'll still have more than $200MM. Do I apologize now for the huge Special Assessment ($400,000,000/2480=$161,290 per home) or wait until I cash the check? Look at the list of Board Members in the January 2025 Summit Scoop, so that you'll know whom to "thank". What was the Board's vote to file legal action against me? 7-0? 6-1? 5-2? 4-3? Was there a vote? When? If you ...

Anne Munoz is my new role model. She was sued recently. She said, "When you come after me wrongfully, I'm going to make as much noise as possible, and that's what I've done. I'm not backing down." 12News in Phoenix said Munoz "worked tirelessly to understand the case against her, [ sic ] and to get the case dismissed." Munoz said, "I'm not an attorney, but I can read. I can do research, you know?" Munoz' case was different than the one against me. But the principles are similar.  I am absolutely confident that the HOA's case against me will be dismissed or found to be without merit. The HOA is going to spend a lot of your money chasing a ghost. They've already spent more than they should have. The HOA won't spend money to fix the waterfalls or the lights on Summit Parkway. Or the landscaping in Barony Place II and elsewhere in The Summit. The HOA over-spent 11 Line Items in the 2024 Budget by more than $100,000 and neve...

  Remember this great song? There is a new tune at The Summit HOA. It's called "The Price of Silence".  How much will the HOA spend of your money trying to silence me through legal action in a Richland County court? $1,000? $5,000? $10,000? $25,000? $50,000? When will I be silent? When the Board starts complying with the By-Laws! What is it that the HOA (the board of directors) does not want you to know? (Read this blog.) Everything I have said and written about the HOA for 4½ years has, to be best of my knowledge, been true. Nothing has been false. Sending business-oriented, politely-worded emails to board members, office staff, and an attorney is not harassment. It is communication. Does the Board not want you to know that it has allowed the election of Directors by people who are not entitled to vote ? If people who are not entitled to vote, do vote, then those who win the election are not "duly-elected". They do not become Directors of the HOA. And when thos...

Does the HOA have money to spend on a frivolous lawsuit? How much did the HOA spend earlier this year, after Danny Trapp, President of the HOA, found a new lawyer and led the effort to retain the law firm of Turner Padget? Did the Board investigate other firms or just accept Danny's choice? Turner Padget sent me a Cease and Desist Letter on August 28, 2024, accusing me of making false statements about the HOA and of harassing the Association, board members, and representatives. How much did that cost?  The lawyer refused to communicate with me or give me any examples because, he wrote, I am not a member of the Association. That makes sense, does it? Accuse somebody of something and then not tell him what it is? Now they complain that I "have failed to curb (my) behavior". Yesterday a Summons & Complaint was delivered to my door. Danny Trapp signed the VERIFIED COMPAINT [sic]. Did he read it or just sign it? Why didn't he tell them about the typo? Or is that how h...

Did you see this email from the HOA office that was sent yesterday? This communication is being sent to all homeowners within the HOA as an important reminder regarding rental properties. If your property is being used as a rental property, you are responsible for your tenants' actions, including compliance with the Summit's Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&R’s). It is your obligation to inform your tenants of the rules and provide them with a copy of the CC&R’s, specifically those addressing violations. To assist in this matter, a copy of the Summit CC&R’s is attached to this email. Please ensure that your tenants receive this document and are made aware of their responsibilities. Prospective tenants should have the opportunity to review the CC&R’s to ensure they can abide by the governing documents. We appreciate your cooperation in maintaining the integrity and harmony of our community. I suggest that the office (CAMS) send an email to all members ...

The Summit's HOA needs to increase the Annual Assessment by more than 10% ($51.00), but it cannot do so. To increase the dues by more than 10%, a vote by the Voting Members is necessary. This will be impossible, because there aren't enough legitimate Voting Members to make a quorum for a Meeting. Currently, I believe there is only one legitimate Voting Member - Barony Place. The HOA also cannot change the CC&Rs and By-Laws (to amend the requirement for Voting Member) for the same reason. T here aren't enough legitimate Voting Members to make a quorum for a Meeting. (Not to mention, except briefly, that the last elections by "Voting Members" have been fraudulent, resulting in no legitimate directors. The HOA has allowed  people who are not entitled to vote,  to vote for directors.) The HOA is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The Board wants to loosen the requirement to become a Voting Member, so that a homeowner can "get signatures" instead of b...

You be the judge. The case is about bank fraud. Is it fraud or not? A South Carolina non-profit corporation has $1,000,000+ in financial institutions. A recent, past Treasurer opened the largest accounts with a large, national, financial services firm. The current Treasurer maintains accounts.  The Board of Directors may or may not have followed proper business protocol in documenting decisions and authority. In the absence of action at monthly, open, board meetings, I'll say they have not. The Treasurer is a nice person and means no harm. However, the Treasurer is not the legitimate Treasurer of the non-profit corporation. This is because she was not duly-elected by the Board, and that is because all of the members of the board are themselves not legitimate members of the board. This is because all the current directors were elected by persons who were not eligible to vote for them (except one in the November 12, 2024 election (which itself should not have been held)).  Past ...

On January 14, 2025 I was served with papers for a legal action filed against me by The Summit Community Association, Inc. ("HOA"). Your HOA is trying to silence me. The HOA is asking the Richland County Court of Common Pleas to bar me for the following actions. I cite ¶28 in the filing by the HOA's attorney, Ian McVey of Turner Padget. a. Communications with the Board of the Association regarding the affairs of the Association; b. Communications with residents of the Summit regarding the affairs of the Association; c. Communications with the South Carolina Attorney General or other law enforcement agencies regarding the affairs of the Association; d. Social media posts regarding the affairs of the Association; e. Attendance of any meetings of the Membership or Board of the Association; and f. Contact with employees or agents of the Association. Your thoughts and comments are invited. Will you refrain from commenting, because you might be next? I started this blog on July...

Today (January 14, 2025), while I was out delivering meals for Meals on Wheels, a process server showed up at the front door with a Summons for me from the HOA's attorney, Ian McVey at Turner Padget. Attached to the Summons was a VERIFIED COMPAINT  [ sic ] signed by Danny Trapp, President of The Summit Community Association, Inc., filed in the Richland County Court of Common Pleas. I had a good laugh after seeing the typo and reading the legalese where the law firm threw in some 18th Century wording, "FURTHER AFFIANT SAYETH NAUGHT."  I hope the HOA gets a discount on the legal fees for the typo and the archaic language. Turner Padget had sent me a Cease and Desist Letter on August 28, 2024, threatening legal action and accusing me of making false accusations and harassing "the Association, its board members, and representatives." I immediately emailed Attorney McVey to request examples of his accusations. He replied, in part, "...  you’re not a member of th...

Why isn't the HOA's online Calendar kept up-to-date? The January online calendar shows the board meeting and meetings of the Modifications and Finance Committees. The January calendar in The Summit Scoop shows the board meeting and meetings of the Modifications, Finance, and  Landscaping Committees. What about meetings of all the other committees? Activities, Covenants, Contracts, Neighborhood, Newsletter, Nominating, Safety, Ponds & Lakes, Projects, Youth. And then there the "forgotten" committees: Asset Evaluation, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Budget, Energy, Ad Hoc Committees. The Covenants Committee worked on the draft amendments of the CC&Rs and the By-Laws, and the draft went to the board last week, to replace the submission that got "lost" when certain people left the board. A copy of it should have been file with the office, not just in the possession of a board member! HOA documents belong to the HOA, not to the President or the VP or the Se...

The Finance Committee meets on Tuesday, January 21st, at 5:00PM (according to the HOA's online calendar). Much more work is needed on the 2025 Budget, even though it was approved at the November board meeting. Two new board members voted in favor of it, and they very likely had no idea on what they were voting. The Finance Committee had told the board, in a private, closed meeting  before the November 12th board meeting, that a $50 increase was needed in the Annual Assessment. That would have generated a much-needed $124,000, assuming 100% of the homeowners paid their dues (which is not a good assumption). I'm sure the Committee would have recommended more, but there aren't enough legitimate Voting Members to approve a larger increase.  There is no Bad Debt Expense in the 2025 Budget; the Finance Committee removed $100,000 that was in the 2024 Budget. There is only $3,000 planned for Reserves. That's $1.21 per home. What a joke!  In 2020 $163,965 was in the budget for ...

The holes being dug in yards throughout The Summit are part of a Lumos fiber-optic expansion project. The HOA office provided me with a number for Lumos (855/476-8577 (which is for Sales)) and told me notices may have been distributed in neighborhoods. A Lumos sales representative there transferred me to an office for South Carolina project information, and a helpful customer service rep there said she would have a project engineer call me.  When the engineer calls, I'll ask about the Notice to residents and also will obtain information about how you can complain, if your yard is not restored to its previous condition or if there is any interruption in your utilities or sprinkler system because of the digging.  Watch for an update.

The 2023 Annual Audit was finally released to the Members of the Association on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. It was months late. The Board received it about September 20, 2024. Why did the Board withhold it from the Members for over 100 days??? One of the reasons might be found on Page 10. "Net Operating Income      (385,903)" DOESN'T THAT MEAN THAT THE HOA OPERATED AT A LOSS IN 2023? A $385,903 LOSS. The Net Operating Loss was then mitigated by a "Reserve Transfer Reclassification" of $314,677.  Is that the use of $314,677 from Reserves for Operations? Should a line have been drawn for Operations, and then Reserves addressed?  A public presentation of an Audit should be accompanied by projected slides or large posters with graphs. Most people cannot follow verbal discussions of an audit. It's even harder to follow when it's hard to hear the Auditor. The Board did not release the Audit before the meeting, so interested parties could not prepare their ques...

What's the answer? Yes and No. The HOA can amend the CC&Rs and the By-Laws, according to the documents themselves. The method of amending the CC&Rs and the By-Laws is spelled out in detail. However, the HOA cannot amend the CC&Rs and the By-Laws, if it does not follow the method specifically described in the documents. Therein lies the problem. Legitimate Voting Members are required to amend the CC&Rs and the By-Laws. For years I have complained to the Boards of Directors about whether there are any legitimate Voting Members. I say that, for several (many?) years until May 4, 2024, the HOA did not have any legitimate Voting Members. By that I mean Voting Members who were elected in compliance with the By-Laws. No Board, director, or officer has ever told me that I am wrong.  "Getting signatures" is not an approved or authorized method of becoming a Voting Member. Why is the Board recognizing homeowners who "got signatures" as "Voting Membe...

Why was the 2023 Annual Audit so late? The HOA's fiscal year ended 12/31/2023. The By-Laws (Art. III, C, §19(g)) state that the Annual Audit should be delivered to Members 120 days after the end of the fiscal year. So, by 5/1/24. The 2023 Annual Audit is dated 9/20/24 and presumably was delivered by the Auditor to the HOA on/about that date. The 2023 Annual Audit was made public at the board meeting on January 7, 2025 and published on the HOA's website on January 8, 2025.  What, exactly, are the reasons for the delays?  Why did the Board delay release of the Audit for over 100 days? Read it carefully. Understand exactly what is meant by "Net Income (Loss)". Bring yur questions to the February 4th BOD meeting and ask them .

The heat got turned up on the Board of Directors at the January 7th board meeting, when the audience complained about inefficiency and inaction.  One area of concern was inaction on changes in the CC&Rs and By-Laws. Apparently the Covenants Committee had worked on a draft of proposed changes and had submitted it to a previous Board. Danny Trapp, HOA President, said they didn't have it. Covenants Committee Chair Jeff Lummel told the Board he would see that they got it again this week. QUESTION - The draft that was submitted to a previous Board became the property of the HOA, not the personal property of any past board member or officer. What happened to it? Why doesn't the current board have it? Is disorganization of the HOA so great that documents don't make it from one board to the next? The past president of the Board, Justin Martin, and past secretary of the board, Greg Thomas, should have turned over everything to the HOA office when their terms-of-office ended. If ...

The HOA's Board of Directors (BOD) should establish a new ad hoc Committee to advise it on its intention to amend the CC&Rs and the By-Laws. The BOD seems to be under the impression that it can conduct a Referendum to amend the CC&R and By-Laws and might combine it with the second-half mailing of the Assessment Notice for the July 1st dues, in order to save postage. A Referendum would have to be mailed to 2,480 property owners (Members). Then each of 28 Voting Members would have to learn from their Neighborhoods if Members were in favor. The purpose of an ad hoc Committee would be to determine whether there are actually enough legitimate Voting Members for that to happen. (Hint: there aren't.) My position for years has been that there were no legitimate Voting Members, because Neighborhoods were not holding Neighborhood Meetings. No [local] Neighborhood Committees were being elected. No Voting Members were be elected by those [local] Neighborhood Committees. "Get...

The reality for the HOA is that dues must be increased. Why did the Board "blink" again for this year (2025)? Dues have not gone up for at least seven years.  The Annual Assessment has been $510.00 since at least 2018. When expenses go up, but dues do not increase , how do those increasing expenses get paid? Every dollar of Income is budgeted. But money is being re-allocated. Important line-items are being short-changed. Why is that happening? To keep from increasing dues. I moved into The Summit in 2018. That year the amount budgeted for Reserves was 2018 $118,907 ($51.03/home) 2019 $133,987 2020 $163,965 2021 $146,155 2022 $91,610 2023 $39,677 2024 $0 2025 $3,000 ($1.21/home) Putting only $3,000 in the budget for Reserves means that much more of the Assessments is being spent on Expenses. Is it fiscally responsible to fail to fund Reserves. Funding Reserves is required. (CC&Rs, Art. X, §2, ¶1 Computatoin of Base Assessment  and §6 Reserve Budget and Capital Contribution...

At the January 7, 2024 BOD meeting more than one homeowner brought up efficiency of the Board and the HOA. Nothing seems to happen between meetings. Summit Parkway lighting is one issue. There are many lights out. It is the HOA's responsibility to maintain lighting, and there is money in the Budget for that. The HOA collects money from you to maintain the lighting. Why are so many lights out for so long? The waterfalls at the Clemson Road entrance are another unfinished project. The on-site Property Manager should be coming up with a vendor who will estimate the complete job. Every month it gets pushed back. Landscaping is another issue. My opinion is that Pinestraw is not landscaping. Plants, bushes and trees are landscaping.  The Board does not use Old Business and New Business on the monthly meeting agenda. When a question or project comes up one month, it gets lost before the next month.  For a while last year it seemed that Finance and Projects were conjoined. They should...

Several years ago I suggested to the Board of Directors that the HOA should have its own accountant (CPA). You can guess where that suggestion ended up. Right in the same place with everything else I have suggested. In the round file. In the shredder. The Auditor just gives you the facts. She looks at the books. Were income and expenses allocated correctly? She doesn't advise on operations. She does not opine about whether business was conducted correctly. Only whether the numbers add up. Or down, as the case is with the 2023 Annual Audit, which is now on the HOA's website. The net income sailed right through Zero into the red. And no one spoke up about it during the year. Who was in charge in 2023? Justin Martin was the HOA President. Vernell Butler was the HOA Treasurer. Remember Vernell's Treasurer's Reports? "Everything is in good shape." Justin and Vernell were in charge for ten months of 2023 until the November election of directors. Justin was not re-el...

2023 Annual Audit -  A Net Operating LOSS of $155.61 per home !!! (Page 10) I have to wonder how many of the Board Members and the Finance Committee Members have studied the 2023 Annual Audit that was finally released to Members last night at the January BOD meeting. How many understand what it really says? The Auditor's Report is dated September 20, 2024. The Board would have received it on or about that date. Number of days between September 20 and January 7? 109 days   Did they just glance at it and sigh with relief that the Auditor gave the HOA a "clean" audit? The Board had it for more than three months before they released it!  Why wasn't it released much sooner? Had it been released sooner, Members in the audience could have asked the Auditor important questions. (I'm not allowed to ask questions.) It had to be available to the Finance Committee as they worked on the 2025 Budget. Or did the Board keep it from the Finance Committee? The next-to-last ...

At last night's BOD meeting, the HOA's Auditor presented a short statement about the 2023 Annual Audit.  It was due to Members by April 1, 2024, and it is finally available.  You can find it at https://summithomeowners.com Hover over RESIDENTS Click on DOCUMENTS Click on Annual Audit Click on 2023 The first two pages are boilerplate. They are important, but most readers will skip over them. Look at the preparation date of the Audit: September 20, 2024 This is likely the date it was delivered to the Board.  That is more than three months ago! Why has the Board been sitting on it??? This should be the first question from the audience on February 4, 2025. Danny won't let me ask it, so you should!

There was no report from the HOA's Neighborhood Committee at last night's Board meeting. It may be planning informational meetings later in January. A report should have been made at the BOD meeting, even if the chairman could not attend. One of the problems, it seems, is that there is only a chairman of the committee and there are no members. Check the HOA's website and the January Summit Scoop. This committee of the Association is one of the most important committees. Note that, while it bears the same name, it is different from the (local) Neighborhood Committees of the 28 Communities.  The purpose of the (HOA) Neighborhood Committee is listed on the website and there is information in the PRM.  "Mission: Responsible for helping each community in the Summit to locate and elect a local neighborhood committee that will represent their community at SCA board meetings and thereby allow their Voting member to vote on vital issues that affect the Summit and their local ne...

At last night's BOD meeting, the six board members (Pollin was absent (without explanation)) made a $96,000 decision that could very likely backfire and cost the HOA more. The issue was a pool repair. Treasurer LaToya Adams explained three bids from one piece of paper she had. Her explanation of the provisions and prices was given orally, without any posters or side-by-side comparison of the bids.  If I'm going to spend $96,000, I'm going to compare details side-by-side, not just go by the bid. I would think that should be critical for a board such as The Summit's BOD, which is comprised of a variety of people who have a range of experience in making big-dollar decisions (like, from "none" to "some"). A better presentation would have been to show visuals and say that the Finance Committee considered three bids and the Committee recommends one "for the following reasons". That didn't happen. If one were to ask the board members today why...

Why does the Board think that "getting signatures" is a legitimate method of selecting a Voting Member? Who came up with that scheme? How many years ago did that start? A board member emailed me last February,  " Over the years, it became increasingly difficult to recruit homeowners willing to act as Neighborhood Voting Members, let alone attend an annual meeting to elect such positions. I can not [ sic ] give you an exact date, but a previous board decided to allow VMs to be "elected" through collecting signatures which serve, in essence, as a written vote."   Collecting signatures is not being elected, even if you put it in quotation marks. That looks nice, but the By-Laws don't allow it. Since the By-Laws don't allow it, the Board cannot allow it.  Whoever drafted the By-Laws anticipated the problem. A quorum for a Neighborhood Meeting can be met by homeowners attending in-person or by proxy. That's what got us a quorum in Barony Place. Abou...

Is the HOA's board of directors interviewing HOA management companies? The term of the current contact with CAMS began January 1, 2024 and runs for 24 months (until January 1, 2026). If either party intends to terminate the contract during the Term, it must send written notice to the other party not less than 90 days before January 1, 2026. A previous board could have replaced CAMS on January 1, 2024. The Contract is poorly constructed, which resulted in confusion of the board in late 2023. They could have just allowed the contract to terminate on January 1, 2024. There are obvious problems of continuity of services to members, billing, records, etc. The current board faces the same problems. If they do nothing, the contract will expire. No written notice to CAMS   is required. Has the HOA protected itself in terms of ownership of accounting records? Years ago I recommended that all HOA communications be on its own server, not on CAMS' server.  Is at least one director contact...

In addition to the requirements in the HOA's Governing Documents that the expense budget is to be mailed with the (January) Assessment Notice, there is a provision in the CAMS contract about this. Art. IV, reads, in part,  "Subject to the direction of the Board, the Management Company's functions, duties, responsibilities, and authority may include the following: "§A, ¶4, Preparation of an annual letter to members of the ASSOCIATION enclosing the adopted budget ..." Did the Board of Directors, or one or more of its officers, direct CAMS to send the Assessment Notices in mid-December without the 2025 Budget?

Back in February 2024 one member of the Board used the word "receivership" in an email to me. Should the Board of Directors, and especially the President and the Treasurer, be concerned about the possibility that they could lose control over all of the HOA's cash assets ($1,396,652, as of 11/30/24)? What if the banks and Edward Jones froze the assets? What if they closed the accounts? Would this create a financial hardship for the HOA? Are there reasons why this might happen? And for how long might they freeze the funds?  I can think of one very good reason. The SCA does not have legitimate directors or officers, and they won't have legitimate directors anytime soon. There are seven people who are acting as if they are directors, but are they? I'm not sure what to call them: impostors? impersonators? usurpers? pretenders? They are not directors, because they were not duly-elected by eligible, legitimate Voting Members in compliance with the By-Laws. They were ele...

How bad is the delinquent account problem for The Summit's HOA? Why did former Treasurer Vernell Butler stop publishing aging information on delinquent accounts after July 2023?  Why didn't board members object? Accounts Receivable (6/30/23) were $432,483.29. The Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts was $454,495.41, which is $22,012.12 higher than the Accounts Receivable . How could that be??? Have you ever heard delinquent accounts discussed at a monthly meeting of the board of directors? Is that because the directors don't under money? As of 3/31/24 Line 1200 (Accounts Receivable) was $498,657.27 Line 1300 (Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts) was $397,279.10 As of 4/30/24 Line 1200 (Accounts Receivable) was $379,739.45 Line 1300 (Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts) was $299,167.13 As of 11/30/24 Line 1200 (Accounts Receivable) was $436,446.71 Line 1300 (Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts) was $299,167.13 Do you think there is even one board member who ever inspe...

The December 2024 Summit Scoop includes a letter from the President of the HOA, Danny Trapp. It reads, in part, "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." Let's break this down. Is it true that the budget does not include any increases? Yes and no. In a closed, private, board meeting certain members of the board (then, an even number of six, due to a six-month vacancy on the board) indicated they would not approve a dues increase. But the budget does include increases. Landscaping (Line 6020) went up $50,578, and On-Site Staff (Line 6005) went up $35,000. Why was that done in private, instead of in a public monthly board meeting as required in the Governing Documents? Is it true that Finance Committee (8 or 9 members, depending on wh...