Are Voting Members Responsible?

Yesterday I sent this message to all the Voting Members for whom I had email addresses (17). I requested that they forward the message to the seven (7) Voting Members who don't publish their email addresses.

Four Neighborhoods don't have any Voting Member. This means that 19.6% of the property owners in the HOA are not represented at all.

Only one neighborhood (Barony Place) has a legitimate Voting Member who was duly-elected in compliance with the By-Laws. The others are "recognized" by the Board of Directors (who are themselves not duly-elected)

Please read this message. I am speaking words that the full Board and the Voting Members should be hearing from you.


Good morning, Voting Members,

Please forward to Sarah Wilson, Christiane DeSouza, Tommie Glover, Carmen Claud, Chanel Taylor, Cynthia Davis, and Donnie Gantt, whose email addresses are not published.

There is an urgent reason for you to call a Special Meeting of Voting Members before the July 1st Regular Board Meeting.

There is a person on the Board of Directors who was not qualified for the Board in November 2023, when the Board appointed her. Patricia Pollin was appointed to succeed Greg Thomas (2023-2025), when he resigned after being re-elected. (Vernell Butler also resigned from the Board, when he was not re-elected as Treasurer.)

Was Patricia "vetted" by the office manager? Was the vacancy on the Board ever announced? It was quickly and quietly filled after the Regular Meeting in November 2023. 

The qualifications for a board member were (and are):
  • Be a Member of the Association. A Member is an Owner. An Owner is the person whose name is on the Deed recorded with Richland County. 
  • Or be a spouse of a Member.
  • Be in Good Standing.
Patricia was not a Member of the Assn. She was not an Owner. Her name was not on the Deed. The name on the Deed was (and still is) Christopher Alonza Pollin, her late husband, who died 6/24/2021.
Patricia was not the spouse of a Member. She was (and is) the widow of a Member.

I urge you to investigate how it happened that an unqualified person became a candidate and then was appointed. You might ask the office manager about the vetting process. What did she learn and whom did she tell? You might want to ask all the Board members at the time (Trapp, Holmes, Bryant, Potter, Rybicki) if they were told that Pollin was not qualified.

Because Pollin was not qualified under the CC&Rs, she was not eligible to be appointed. She should be removed before the Board votes on candidates to fill the two vacancies that were created by the resignations in May of Ciara Bates and LaToya Adams. Only four directors (Trapp, Holmes, Bryant, Potter) should vote to fill the two vacancies.

If Patricia does not voluntarily step away from the Board, you have the legal authority to remove her.


There are two other matters that merit your attention.

1. Currently, the HOA is violating State law, because it does not have a Secretary and does not have a Treasurer. Those officers should have been elected at the June 3, 2025 Regular Board Meeting.

2. The HOA filed a lawsuit against me on 12/28/2024. This lawsuit is prohibited by the CC&Rs (Art. XIII, §10 Litigation). I believe that 75% of your homeowners did not approve this lawsuit. I believe that 21 Voting Members (75% x 28) did not approve this lawsuit. Further, the Board never voted to approve the lawsuit. The Board never authorized the President (Danny) to engage the HOA's lawyer in this lawsuit.

You might ask, Why did Danny tell the lawyers to file the lawsuit, if the Board and the Voting Members had not approved it?

Should you ask, 1) How much have the lawyers billed so far? and 2) what is the expected total cost for this lawsuit? 

Are you willing to see $40,-$50,000 of the HOA's limited resources spent on this unauthorized lawsuit?

Why should the homeowners, whom you represent, bear the cost of an unauthorized, prohibited lawsuit?

Respectfully,

Gus Philpott
847.971.7083
Resident, Barony Place II


Ask the "Voting Member" for your neighborhood where s/he stands on the above. Does s/he care if the CC&Rs and By-Laws are violated?  What action will your "Voting Member" take right now?

A further question should be asked of the lawyers. "Why did you file a lawsuit against Gus Philpott? Didn't you read the CC&Rs, Art. XIII, §10 Litigation? Didn't you  confirm that the Board had actually approved the lawsuit by following correct procedures?"

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