Barony Place I/Barony Place II

A bigger problem for the HOA is that NONE of those on the board is a legitimate board member.  Trapp, Bryant, Holmes, and Potter were "elected" by people who were not eligible to vote. What is it called when people who are not eligible to vote are allowed to vote, anyway? Isn't that called Voter Fraud ? So-called "Voting Members" had not been duly-elected by the neighborhoods. Pollin was appointed in November 2023, but she was not eligible to be appointed to the board. She was not a Member of the Association (homeowner-of-record), and she was not the spouse of a Member. Hill and Weatherbee were not properly appointed, because the board met in an "executive session" that was not a valid executive session. They were appointed in what was actually a private, closed, pre-board meeting. And then, in that same session, they were elected (if that was the process) as Treasurer and Secretary, respectively.  Decisions (appointments, elections,  etc.) are to be...

At last night's HOA Board meeting (8/5/2025), the Board was asked to drop the lawsuit against Gus Philpott (me). A member of the Covenants Committee made the request to the Board. The reason given was that the lawsuit is not permitted by the CC&Rs. This has been my position from the beginning.  Somebody in the room said the board had approved the lawsuit. I don't yet have the name of that person. That person was not telling the truth. The Board of Directors never approved the lawsuit. There is nothing in the Minutes of Board Meetings that mentions the lawsuit or any vote. In fact, they can't approve it, because the Voting Members had never approved it.  See the CC&Rs (Art. XIII, §10 Litigation ). No one on the board had the backbone to make a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Then a Second would have been needed. After discussion, there would have been a vote. Want to bet on the outcome of the vote? My guess is 5-2. The five would be Trapp, Holmes, Pollin, Hill, Weath...

Every month an amount shows up on the monthly financial statement for "SCS Administrative Costs". SCS is part of CAMS. In December 2023 I attended the meeting of the Finance Committee and asked if anyone knew what those costs were? No one did. Line 2330 is on the Balance Sheet, and it seemed to me that Line should be on the Statement of Revenues & Expense. The November 2023 amount on Line 2330 was $26,693.38. It doesn't seem to be a one-time bill; the amount changes every month.  One member of the Committee said she was "uncomfortable" with my attending, and the Committee voted for me to leave the meeting, which I did. I attended the Finance Committee's December 2024 meeting. Before it even started, that same woman raised the objection to my being there, and again I left. As I left, I said, "My first phone call tomorrow morning will be to the FBI to report banking fraud." That got the attention of the CPA-homeowner on the Committee. What has ha...

Does anyone remember this day in November 1973? Trust me. "I'm not a crook."  Has any Member of the HOA been watching the precipitous drop in Reserves in the past 12 months? Has the Board been watching? Has the Finance Committee been watching Has anyone ever heard a motion by the Board to move money out of Reserves? Where did over $400,000 go in 12 months? Source: HOA June 2025 Financial Results Does the Board know? Does the Finance Committee know? The Board never authorizes Treasurer to withdraw funds from Reserves. How does it happen? Are there discussions and decisions in the private, secret, closed, pre-board meetings? Why aren't Minutes of the pre-board meetings published? The Board approves numerous motions at board meetings every month for $40,-$50,-$60,000 without ever identifying what accounts will pay for them. The HOA has had a succession of Treasurers in the past five years, many of whom did not have a financial or money background. Nice people (some of t...

At tonight's board meeting was the recent letter to Danny Trapp from 11 Voting Members read aloud to all gathered? Apparently, the meeting of the Voting Members wasn't "official", because a quorum was not present. A quorum may or may not be 51% of the 28 Neighborhoods. It depends which Section of the By-Laws you read. If it is 51%, then there needed to be 15 there. Which four didn't show up?  Where is the allegiance of the Voting Members? Is it to the homeowners in their respective neighborhoods? Do they make their decisions, based on the benefit to their Members or the Association? Or do they make their decisions based on friendship or some other factor? What did that letter say? What are the five areas about which the Voting Members are definitely not pleased? Just how stern was the letter? There should be a copy of that letter on file in the HOA office. Even though it wasn't an "official" meeting of the Voting Members, 11 of them is a significant ...

 I have complained for months about the slow posting of the monthly financial reports to the HOA's website. I have suggested they should be posted on or before the day of the HOA's monthly board meeting. What happened this month? The June 2025 monthly financial report has been posted by the time of the monthly board meeting! Lately it has been hard to find something good to say about the HOA, but I'm happy to let Members know that they can inspect the monthly financials now. Reports lag by one month. It's the June financial statements that are released at the August board meeting.  I'd like to say thanks to the board and the office staff, but Richland County Circuit Court of Common Pleas Judge Coble won't allow me to - at the HOA's request. For the time-being I am still prohibited from communicating with the Board or the office, and I cannot attend meetings.  But I can say Thanks to the Members who keep me informed.

Do you bother to inspect the Budget when it is proposed for the following year? Do you ever examine the monthly financial reports of the HOA? How much do you think the HOA will collect in fines this year? How much do you think the HOA collected in Fines last year? The Line in the Budget that you'll want to look at is Line 4600 Fines - Violations. Sitting down? In 2024 the HOA collected $57,446.91 in Fines. The amount budgeted in 2024 was $20,000. In 2025 the HOA expects to collect $50,000. As of June 30, 2025 the HOA has collected $38,670. At this pace the HOA will collect $77,340 in the full year, or $27,340 (55%) more than estimated in the Budget. Why are fines running so high? Should the Board just grin and rub their hands together in glee, or should the Board create an ad hoc Committee to examine the Fines category and determine what can be done to reduce the penalties on its Members? If you were the Board President, what would you do? Just smile and spend the money, or invest...

How important is it for the Manager's Report to the Board of Directors to be correct and up-to-date? Apparently, not very. Attached to the July 2025 BOD Minutes is the June Manager's Report. If you read down to "Holiday Bows", you will read, "Jenn will be working with Carolina Pottery to provide a quote for new red bows for the neighborhood entrances for the holidays. "Jenn will meet with someone at Carolina Pottery in May to discuss the bows." The problem?  Jenn left her employment with the HOA in May.  Why isn't the June Manager's Report accurate?

Will the HOA provide a true Agenda for tonight's Board of Directors (BOD) meeting? No, this is not a joke. Have you ever seen a true Agenda at a meeting? If six years, I haven't. If you have lived in The Summit for 10-15-20 years, have you ever seen an individualized Agenda for a board meeting? Only a boiler-plate form is used. The date gets changed, and that's it. The HOA doesn't even really use an agenda. There is a form, but it is never modified from month-to-month to reflect what is to be covered at a meeting. Categories of "Old Business" and "New Business" are not used. This is one of the reasons that old business slips through the cracks and seldom gets addressed and resolved in a timely manner. When there is a new Secretary, will she propose any improvements? The agenda for the November annual meeting never includes Announcement of Election Results (of the Annual Meeting of Voting Members), Election of Officers, Appointment of Nominating Commi...

A big question for the Members (homeowners) of The Summit's HOA should be "Whom Does the HOA's Lawyer Represent?" Does the lawyer represent the HOA? the Board of Directors? the President of the Board? The Minutes of the May 7, 2024 BOD meeting read, in part, "2. Linda Potter made a motion to hire [ sic ] Turner Padget firm [ sic ]   as our new attorney. Discussion was had [ sic ], Dennis (Rybicki) 2nd [ sic ] the motion, all in favor, none opposed." (That short sentence is definitely not a literary masterpiece.) I'd say that is pretty clear that Turner Padget was "hired" (retained) to represent the HOA. The law firm is not the attorney for the Board. It is not the President's law firm. It is the law firm for the Association . And it should represent the Association ! It should represent the 2,480 Members whose money pays them. So, when Danny went to them and asked them to send a Cease & Desist Letter to Gus Philpott (me) in August, they...

Do you know what a SLAPP is? S trategic L awsuit A gainst P ublic P articipation What's that? SLAPP is what you fear if you speak out against the establishment; e.g., government, a school board, a city council, a county council, even a lowly HOA board of directors. According to Google AI, SLAPP is "A SLAPP suit, or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, is a lawsuit intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense.  These lawsuits are often filed by powerful individuals or entities against those who speak out on issues of public interest.  The goal is not necessarily to win the case, but to harass the defendant with legal expenses and time, thus chilling their speech and discouraging others from speaking out. " Google "SLAPP" and read more.  I first heard the term "chilling effect" in a county Elections Commission hearing in northern Illinois in about 2010. A "chilling effect" wou...

Your HOA's Board of Directors will meet tomorrow night, Tuesday, August 5th, 6:30PM at the Brookland Baptist Church Northeast *, 1203 Summit Parkway.  This board meeting is far more important than the National Night Out scheduled for the same evening. If you are a Member (homeowner), there are certain issues you might want to ask about: Why are there three people on the Board who are not legitimate board members? Why is the HOA engaged in a lawsuit that is prohibited by the CC&Rs? Why is the HOA paying out legal fees for a lawsuit that the BOD never voted to approve? When will the HOA have a legitimate Treasurer and Secretary? When will the 2023 External Forensic Audit and the 2023 Internal Forensic Audit be released to Members? When will the 2024 Annual Audit be released to the Members? Why is there only one legitimate Voting Member out of 28 neighborhoods? Will the HOA have a bonafide Annual Meeting of Voting Members this November with a quorum of legitimate, duly-electe...

When the HOA spends thousands of dollars on something that is not only not approved by the Board, but which violates the CC&Rs, is a financial crime being committed? The Summit's HOA may be (probably is) paying invoices from the law firm of Turner Padget for filing and prosecuting a lawsuit against Gus Philpott (me).    The lawsuit was filed on December 30, 2024, and the first bills probably were received by the HOA in January. There were three in-person hearings: February 11, March 20, and July 24. Motions, Responses, and Notices are not cheap to prepare and send. The important part of all this is that the CC&Rs prohibit this lawsuit; the Board never approved the lawsuit; the Board never authorized Danny Trapp, HOA President, to engage the attorneys to file it; somebody is approving payments to Turner Padget; the Treasurers (LaToya Adams, William Hill) oversee the funds of the HOA and are allowing disbursements; the members of the Board are not objecting to the unauth...

At the July 24th court hearing on the HOA's Motion for Contempt (against me), the two attorneys presented a fresh batch of print-outs of articles on this blog. I say "fresh", because they had included approximately 19 posts with their Motion.  The new batch consisted of 20 print-outs from May 30th to July 10th. Did Danny Trapp select them? Did the lawyers select them, or was the duty assigned to someone in their office? I wonder whether the lawyers read each one. If the lawyers actually did read them, they should have called Danny Trapp into their office, shut the door, closed the blinds, and demanded, "What the (expletive-deleted) is going on with that HOA? Is this all true? He's writing it. Why isn't it true?" So now, about 40 blogposts are part of the case. Why is the HOA submitting these posts? They are damaging to its case. Many of the posts support what I have been saying for years. Not one of them has anything to do with the HOA's claim that I...

Do the directors of the Association have a fiduciary responsibility and obligation to do what is best for the Association (2,480 Members)?  What are the legal consequences and repercussions for failing to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities? On April 29th who (Summit homeowner) described the February 4, 2025 Board Meeting to Gus Philpott as "chaotic"? At the August 5, 2025 Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors, will six directors vote to remove Danny Trapp from the Board presidency? Would a vote to remove him be 2-5 or 6-1? Is Danny Trapp responsible for the commencement and prosecution of the lawsuit against Gus Philpott? It is prohibited by the CC&Rs (Art. XIII, §10) without advance approval of 75% of the Voting Members. How many Voting Members got approval of 75% of their homeowners? (Hint: none) What percent of the Voting Members approved the lawsuit? (Hint: 0%) Why didn't the Board vote on filing the lawsuit? Why didn't the Board authorize Danny Tra...

Do rules matter to anyone (besides Gus Philpott (me))? Claim: The Summit's HOA does not have a legitimate Board of Directors. Therefore, it has no officers. There are no President, Secretary, and Treasurer, as required by state law. Why not? There weren't enough legitimate and eligible Voting Members to convene the 2024 Annual Meeting of Voting Members, at which three Directors were supposed to be elected. The election should not have been held. There weren't enough legitimate and eligible Voting Members to convene the 2023 Annual Meeting of Voting Members, at which four Directors were supposed to be elected. The election should not have been held. A director was appointed in November 2023 to fill a vacancy on the Board. She was not eligible to be appointed as a director, because she was not a Member (homeowner-of-record on the Deed) and she was not the spouse of a Member (she was the widow of a Member). Plus she was appointed by directors who themselves were not legitima...

The August Summit Scoop, miraculously published on August 1st, carries this "reminder" on Page 1. "The Board of Directors would like to remind homeowners that the annual association dues will increase by $50 for the 2026 calendar year. We appreciate your continued support and understanding as we work to maintain and enhance our community."  The statement isn't even correct, because a recent Summit Scoot reported that dues would increase $25 on January 1 and another $25 on July 1. If you review the Minutes of Board Meetings for the past four months, you will not find any month in which there was discussion by the Board or a vote to increase the Annual Assessment. So how can there be a "reminder" of a dues increase? The Board has never approved an increase! The Board knew last October (2024) that a dues increase was needed. But the Board failed to comply with the PRM, when it (or one of the members) decided at the private, closed, pre-board meeting at th...

On Saturday, July 26, 2025, I closed my Next Door account. I closed it because because I was tired of reading illiterate and erroneous comments by low-information users of Next Door who responded to comments I made, trying to help others understand better whatever the topic was. I know that the date of that closure was Saturday, July 26th, and I can prove it. The closure had nothing to do with anything I have ever written about The Summit's HOA. I have no idea whether any of my previous posts remain visible on Next Door. If they do, that's fine with me. I cannot check, because my account is closed. If my posts are gone, it's because that's how Next Door handles closed account. I did not close the account to delete any of my posts about The Summit's HOA. I stand by every word I have ever written or spoken about The Summit's HOA.

This morning I discovered an error in a blogpost I had written on July 13, 2025? The headline for that post was " May Legal Expenses $13,643.41". In May the HOA spent $8,269.92 on legal/professional fees (Line 6500), which brought the YTD total to $13,024.69.  Corrections have been made within that post. Line 4219 is located in the Income section of monthly financial statements. I was thrown off by the $5,373.49 amount for May 2025 and initially, but incorrectly, understood that to be an Expense. It is Income in May. That resulted in a five-month Year-To-Date total for Line 4219 (Income) as $1,362.22. Strange ... how could the HOA receive $5,373.49 income in May but only have a net income of $1362.22 at the end of May. What was going on? In March 2025 Line 4219 is shown as -$4,964.74. A negative Income is an expense or expenditure (or adjustment). What was paid out in March (Line 4219) that totaled $4,964.74?  Did anyone on the Board or on the Finance Committee question that...

A homeowner replaced an interior door in her condo, and her HOA began fining her $500/day. Does this sound abusive to you? Read this article about the owner of a condo in her Shadow Ridge at Oak Park condo in California. This is just one abuse by one HOA in the USA. Another abuse? When a HOA files a lawsuit against a resident that is specifically prohibited in the CC&Rs. Especially when the Board of Directors of the HOA never approved the lawsuit. And when the Board of Directors never authorized the President of the HOA, Danny Trapp, to file the lawsuit.  In this case, the Board of Directors couldn't even have voted on a Motion to approve the lawsuit (if one had been made, which is wasn't), because it had not first obtained the approval of 75% of the Voting Members (of The Summit's HOA). How does such an abuse happen?  It happens when all Board members are not committed to complying with the CC&Rs and the By-Laws. And when six Board members allow the President of t...