Barony Place I/Barony Place II

How can The Summit's HOA and the Board of Directors avoid being sued? It's really simple. Comply with the CC&Rs, By-Laws, and the published Guides, such as the PRM. Act like you really are one of the homeowners. Be friendly and courteous. Be transparent. Stop doing business in secret. Publish reports (Minutes, financial statements, etc.) on time. Stop recognizing "Voting Members" who were not duly-elected by their neighborhoods. Set up a section on the website for Q&A. When a Member or a resident submits a question, post it and answer it. Many others probably have the same questions. Set up a maintenance and/or project log on the website.  How long are those street lights on the Parkway going to be out? How many more weeks will pass before that light pole (by the hole and the traffic cone) on the Parkway between Timber Crest Drive and Autumn Glen Road is finally re-installed? Running a HOA is not rocket-science. But it's not an after-school club, either. ...

Should Members (homeowners) sue the HOA and the Board of Directors? Why would they do that? The current Board and past Boards have allowed homeowners to be recognized as "Voting Members" who have not been duly-elected by their neighborhoods. If a neighborhood doesn't have a duly-elected Voting Member, that neighborhood is not represented in the HOA. More than ninety-six percent (96.9%) of homeowners (Members) are NOT represented by duly-elected Voting Members. Four neighborhoods (20.9% (518/2480) of the HOA) have no Voting Member at all, legitimate or "recognized". The current Board has never staffed the (HOA's) Neighborhood Committee, the Mission of which is to assist neighborhoods in holding Neighborhood Meeting and elected Neighborhood Committees, which then elect their Voting Member. HOA committees have spent months (over the past four years) talking about amending the CC&Rs and the By-Laws. Without duly-elected Voting Members, neither can be amen...

Here is an important question for the Members (homeowners) of The Summit's HOA. For whom does the management company, Town & Country, work? A. the Members (homeowners)? B. the Board of Directors? Town & Country was "hired" by the HOA. It is contracted by the HOA. Its contract started October 1, 2025. It is paid by the HOA. It works for the HOA; i.e., for the Members of the HOA. But it takes directions from the Board of Directors, or maybe just from the Board President (which is the way it should be). The Board, as a whole, should decide what it wants Town & Country to do (or not to do), but it should be the Board President that directs the Property Manager. With that mind,  When will the Minutes of the March 3, 2026 Regular Board Meeting be posted? When will the Minutes of the April 6, 2026 Special Board Meeting be posted? When will the Financial Operating Results be posted for September 2025, October 2025, November 2025, December 2025, January 2026, February ...

Do you know that there is an online Calendar of HOA meetings and events? Go the the HOA's website at www.summithomeowners.com Hover over RESIDENTS. Click on CALENDAR. Select April. You might contact the Property Manager for the HOA or the Board President to ask why the April Calendar is still blank on April 16. I recall hearing 2½ years ago that the communications with the Members was going to get a badly-needed make-over. Will the HOA survive long enough for that to happen?

Got an opinion about yesterday's email regarding the Spring Yard Sale? The office sent out this email "from the Board of Directors" yesterday. Why would it embarrass itself with this type of message? Dear Homeowners, On behalf of the Board of Directors, we would like to inform you that there will not be a Spring yard sale this year. A decision regarding a Fall yard sale will be considered and communicated at a later date. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation. Sincerely, Board of Directors How many homeowners really care about a yard sale? If homeowners want it, shouldn't the homeowners be active on a sub-committee and not place any work burden on the office or board? What was the stupid registration requirement in the past? Why should they "register" it? Last year's yard sale was April 5. Did they really need to announce that there wouldn't be a yard sale? Couldn't they just have remained silent? The wording doesn't make any sense...

The next Board of Directors monthly meeting is currently scheduled for Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Will it be held as scheduled? Questions for Members to ask: Why did the Board remove Jeff Lummel as Vice-President? Why did the Board replace him with Noel Weatherbee? Did anyone on the Board bother to read Art. IV of the By-Law? Section 3. Removal. Any officer may be removed by the Board of Directors whenever in its judgment the best interests of the Association will be served thereby .   How were the interests of the Association served by that action? Was there a personal agenda at play? Will Minutes of the April 6, 2026 Special-Called Board Meeting be published? Will the Vote on any Motion be recorded by name, to show who voted for and who voted against? How much, in total, did the HOA spend on its illegal litigation against Gus Philpott (me) between December 2024 and January 2026? Why haven't six months of Financial Operating Results been published? What happened to $445,336.86 Ca...

About three months ago I emailed the HOA's office and suggested correcting the spelling of the last name of the RCSD deputy who is the CAT officer for The Summit. Her last name is spelled Gillespie, not Gillepsie. It hasn't been corrected yet, and I'm sending them another suggestion. The description of "CAT Team Officer" is incorrect. CAT is the abbreviation for Community Action Team, so "CAT Team" is redundant. Maybe it's only at the HOA office that they'd say "Community Action Team Team Officer". The April 2026 Scoop still carries Robert Williamson's name as "On-Site Community Manager". Wasn't his last day at the Summit HOA March 4, 2026, the day after the March Board Meeting? The HOA should have an editor of the Scoop who is a homeowner with fine close-reading and editing skills. Is The Summit's HOA getting its money's worth for the $185,000/year being paid to Town & Country for staff? The office hasn...

The April edition of The Summit Scoop was published today. What a joke! Why not just kill it and save time and money? The first joke was the "Manager's Report" (Page 1), which wasn't a "report" at all.  Why didn't the Manager report why the Minutes of the March 3, 2026 Board Meeting have never been published? Why didn't the Manager report why the Financial Operating Results have not been published for September 2025, October 2025, November 2025, December 2025, January 2026, February 2026? Why didn't the Manager provide details on the 85 violations issued by the Covenants Committee? Were any of these for parking on the streets of The Summit? The second joke was the "President's Report", which also wasn't a "report". Why didn't the President report what actions have been taken by the Board after the last Board Meeting on March 3, 2026? Why didn't she report that the Board removed Jeff Lummel as Vice-President and...

The lists of Voting Members on the HOA's website and in The Summit Scoop are false and deceptive. If the lists are to be correct (and they should be), only Barony Place would be listed. The rules for becoming a Voting Member are spelled out in the By-Laws. Each of the 28 neighborhoods is to hold an Annual Neighborhood Meeting. For the Meeting to convene, there must be a quorum of homeowners present in-person or by proxy. A quorum is 1/3 of the homeowners.  Those homeowners elect a three-member (local) Neighborhood Committee. That Committee then elects one of the three as its chairman, who is referred to as the Voting Member. This is the one and only way to become a Voting Member. "Getting signatures" is not a way to become a bonafide Voting Member; yet Boards of Directors have allowed that for years. Those who got signatures are "recognized" as Voting Members, but they are not. The (HOA's) Neighborhood Committee is charged with assisting the neighborhoods to...

Three of the biggest problems for The Summit's HOA are: no legitimate officers no legitimate directors Far too few legitimate Voting Members Problems (1) and (2) cannot be fixed until Problem (3) is fixed. Problem (3) can be fixed in 60 days, without legal help. The solution? Each neighborhood needs to hold a Neighborhood Meeting. The Meeting needs to be attended by a quorum of homeowners, in-person or by proxy. A quorum is one-third.  At that Meeting the homeowners elect three to a (local) Neighborhood Committee. (Not to be confused with the HOA's Neighborhood Committee.) The Committee serves for one year, until the next year's neighborhood election. Then the three-person (local) Neighborhood Committee elects a chairman. That chairman is the Voting Member. Duly-elected and legitimate. (It's not a lifetime appointment, if the neighborhood never has another Meeting.) The other two members of the (local) Neighborhood Committee are Alternates.  The next step is for the le...

Here are additional tasks that the Board President could assign to the Board V-P. Determine and report to the Board and to Members why Financial Operating Results have not been posted to the HOA's website for September 2025, October, 2025, November 2025, December 2025, January 2026, and February 2026. Determine and report to the Board and to Members why the Minutes of the March 3, 2026 Board Meeting were not published promptly on the website. The Minutes should have been typed up on March 4 and distributed to Board Members that day. If three days were allowed for Board Members to review them and provide corrections, then the Minutes could have been published on Tuesday, March 10. They are not posted as of April 8. Prepare a spreadsheet of legitimate, duly-elected Voting Members, listing Name of each Neighborhood Date of last Neighborhood Meeting Number of properties in the Neighborhood Number of Members required for quorum Number of Members attending in-person and by proxy; Whethe...

Here's another task that the Board President could assign to the Board Vice-President. Investigate the litigation that was filed against resident Gus Philpott in December 2024. Ascertain  by what authority then-Board President Danny Trapp initiated the legal action;  why the Board did not vote to approve it;  whether Trapp knew that the CC&Rs prohibited the litigation;  whether Trapp informed the full Board of the likelihood of success with the litigation;  whether Trapp informed the full Board of the estimated cost of the litigation;  whether Trapp directed that only he (and possibly one other director) were permitted to contact the HOA's lawyer; what source of funds would be used to prosecute the litigation; Whether the full Board was informed of its failure to obtain three of the six restrictions against Philpott that were sought in the February 11, 2025 court hearing; Whether the full Board was informed when Philpott prevailed against the Associatio...

William Hill and Noel Weatherbee are not legitimate, duly-appointed Board Members of The Summit's HOA, and Weatherbee cannot be Vice-President. None of the other directors or officers is a legitimate, duly-elected director or officer. The process of their appointments to the Board was never clear. The Minutes of the July 1, 2025 Board Meeting carry this line on Page 2: " The new board members were introduced: William Hill, Treasurer and Noel Weatherbee, Secretary. " Two vacancies on the Board arose in May 2025, when LaToya Adams and Ciara Bates resigned from the Board. Adams had been Treasurer, and Bates had been Secretary. The HOA had no Treasurer or Secretary for approximately 45 days, even though both officers are required by State law. (Did anyone on the Board move money around during those 45 days? Was it done with Board approval and by Resolution?) How did Hill and Weatherbee come to be appointed? When were they appointed? They should have been appointed at a Regul...

The Association has set a record for updating its stale website. Late Monday afternoon Noel Weatherbee was elected Vice-President of the Board. By today (Wednesday) the Board Members' section of the website has already been updated to show "Vice-President" after her name! How in the world did that happen so quickly? The HOA has not published monthly financial reports since August 2025. The reports for September 2025, October 2025, November 2025, December 2025, January 2026, February 2026 are languishing on someone's hard drive, but there must be no time to publish them on the website for Members to read. The April 2026 Summit Scoop hasn't been published yet (as of April 8). The Minutes of the March 3, 2026 Board Meeting have not been published. The 2026 Approved Budget has never been published. But somebody thought it was so important to add "Vice President" to her name without delay. How did that happen?

When will the Minutes of the April 6, 2026 Special Board of Directors Meeting be available? Will the Minutes include the required Notice of the Meeting? Who was present? Who was absent? Was Jeff Lummel present during the entire discussion or was he excluded? If he was excluded, how was that decided? By Motion and vote? What was the Motion by which Noel Weatherbee was elected to be Vice-President, replacing Jeff? Will the Minutes include details of the discussion?  Who voted in favor? Who vote against? By-Laws, Art. VI, §4(a).  (a)  Inspection by Members and Mortgagees.  The Declaration, By-Laws and Articles of Incorporation, any amendments to the foregoing, the rules and regulations of the Association, the membership register, books of account, and  the minutes of meetings of  the Members,  the Board , and committees  shall be made available for inspection and copying by any  holder, insurer or guarantor of a first Mortgage on a Unit,  M...

Generally, a Vice-President of a HOA doesn't have anything to do. The VP just sits around, waiting for the President not to be available. That won't happen in The Summit's HOA. Board President Brenda Bryant is working hard to be on top of everything. Here's a job that Brenda could assign to Noel Weatherbee, the Board's new VP as of 4/6/26. Give her something to do - to keep her busy - to find out whether she can do something right... Assign this task to her. Find out what happened to $445,336.86 of the HOA's Cash & Cash Equivalents between 1/31/25 and 1/31/26.  Task her with examining and recording every transaction from each of the various cash accounts, including the dates of the transactions, who made them, who authorized them, and on what dates (before the transactions) the Board of Directors approved them. Then trace where the money went. Require her to approach the transactions as if there was a problem with each one and not to just gloss over details ...

The Association suffered a real loss yesterday, when the Board of Directors met in a Special-Called Board Meeting. The purpose for which the Special Board Meeting was called was to consider removing Jeff Lummel as Vice-President.  I don't know yet who was there, but there must have been a quorum of four directors. That's the minimum needed for a Board Meeting. Jeff wasn't voted out as Vice-President; that is not an action that the Board takes. What must have taken place was a vote to elect Noel Weatherbee as Vice-President. The new Vice-President of the Board of Directors is Noel Weatherbee. She was the Board Secretary from July 1, 2025 to December 1, 2025. She was not elected as an officer at the officer-election meeting on December 1, 2025. Jeff is the one Board Member with a solid business background and the right attitude about how the HOA should be run. He is calm, thoughtful, inquisitive, polite, and respectful of the Governing Documents as written, and of people. I...

I get 25-50 political text messages (spam) every day. I report them as Spam. Then the senders just use a different calling number for the same text. I emailed Joe Wilson a couple of weeks ago. A female staffer sent me a form letter that they can't do anything. This morning I called Joe Wilson's West Columbia office. The male staffer couldn't get my address correct in four tries. I asked for a specific reply from Joe Wilson, not a form letter saying they can't do anything. Of course, Joe Wilson can do something. He and Congress can direct the FCC to formulate new rules that protect us. I asked for a reply that informs me what he will do. And, if he won't do anything, then he can tell me that.

Today is the 7th of April. Where is The April Summit Scoop? Why haven't the Minutes of the March 3, 2026 Board Meeting been posted? Who is responsible for publication of the Minutes?  The Town & Country Property Manager?  The Board Secretary?  The Board President?  Will the purpose and outcome of the April 6th, 4:00PM, Special-Called Board Meeting be disclosed promptly to Members (homeowners)? The Board held a Special Board Meeting yesterday at 4:00PM. Why did it meet in a Special-Called Meeting yesterday, if a Regular Meeting will be held tonight? Didn't the Board hold a pre-board meeting just a week ago, on March 31? Will it hold a Regular Board Meeting tonight? Where? Open to Members?  The Board of Directors should create three ad hoc Committees: Investigate the 2024 purchase of a $126,352 annuity as an "investment"; Investigate the shrinkage of $445,000+ in Cash & Cash Equivalents between 1/31/25 and 1/31/26; Investigate the total cost to the Associ...

Listed in Important Numbers in the March 2026 Summit Scoop is Schroeder's Towing and its phone number. Why is a towing company listed in the HOA's Important Numbers list? How many times has the HOA called Schroeder's Towing? How many cars have been towed? Why have any cars been towing? What's the deal?  Can Schroeder's Towing just prowl the HOA and snag cars whenever it chooses? Or must the Property Manager or an authorized official of the HOA call them? Is there any financial benefit to the HOA, when a car is towed? Any incentive? Kickback? Bonus? Payment of any type? Is such a payment prohibited in the deal? Are any cars being towed from streets in The Summit? Or only from Common Properties of the Association? Birch Park? The office parking lot? Should the Board be more transparent about the deal with Schroeder Towing? Should the deal be posted on The Summit's website?

On the calendars of many of us, today is April 6. Why is the April 2026 online Calendar of the Association completely blank? Why aren't the various Committee meeting dates already on the Calendar? Why isn't the Special Board Meeting at 4:00PM today on the Calendar? Should the monthly Regular Board Meeting be on the Calendar for April 7, but with a note "Canceled"?

Are there any "watchers"? When in 2024 was the $126,351.61 moved from cash Reserves of the HOA to a premium payment on the annuity on a board Member? Shouldn't there have been a Board discussion and vote at a monthly, open, Regular Board Meeting? Shouldn't the decision have been recorded in the Minutes? The cash surrender value of the annuity on December 31, 2024 was $121,440 ( down 4% from the premium). Did the HOA make a good "investment"? That $126,351.61 had been earning 5.65% in a CD at South Carolina Federal Credit Union with a maturity date of December 16, 2028. It's on the July 31, 2024 monthly Financial Operating Results on Line 1088. The label "unreconciled" is NOT there. HOWEVER, the next month's Financial Operating Results (for August 31, 2024) show the word "unreconciled" on Line 1088. The amount is the same, $126,351.61.  Was the annuity purchased in August 2024? What does "unreconciled" mean? According t...

Why haven't the Minutes of the March 3, 2026 Board of Directors Meeting been published? Maybe nobody reads them. Do the Board Members even read them? One important announcement was made at the March meeting. The Board President announced that board meetings would be held every other month, not every month as they have been for more than 10 years. There wasn't any discussion or vote. It was just announced. So, when did they discuss and decide to meet bi-monthly? And why? Elsewhere on this blog, I have enumerated many reasons for the Board to continue to meet monthly. The Board should reveal the details of the annuity that the HOA purchased in 2024 for $126,352. The Board should explain why the monthly financial statements for most of 2025 failed to list that annuity as an investment. The Board should explain why 5.5% is a better return than 5.65%. The Board should explain why paying a commission to continue Reserve funds was a good idea. The Board should explain why subjecting t...

If you prefer to email a board member directly, rather than through the office email address, you can find their email addresses right on the HOA's website. From the homepage of the HOA's website, click on BOARD MEMBERS. Then hover over the board member's name and read the email address that pops up at the bottom left. The email address begins after "mailto:" However, use caution when doing so. If you happen to write to the "wrong" board member, you might just receive this message back: "I did not give permission for you to have my email address. You are hereby put on notice with this email that you are not welcome to have any further contact with me. This includes personal contact, telephone contact, mail contact, electronic contact (including but not limited to email, text messages, or social media), and third-party contact. "Additionally, you are also put on notice that you are not welcome on any property I own or lease.   "Should you c...

The bid to perform the 2024 Annual Audit was approved by the Board on October 7, 2025. The bid was $7,039, about $3,000 higher than the previous year's fee by a different, local auditor. The 2024 Annual Audit was completed and dated February 4, 2026 (the day after the February 2026 Board Meeting). The 2024 Annual Audit was received on or before February 24, 2026, according to the Town & Country Property Manager's Report included with the Minutes of the March 3, 2026 Board Meeting. Why didn't the Board Treasurer mention receipt of the 2024 Annual Audit at the March 3, 2026 Board Meeting? The HOA's procedures for the Annual Audit are found in the Procedures Reference Manual (Art. III, §C,  ¶2a-j). The Annual Audit was due by August 31, 2025 (¶2c), but it hadn't even been ordered yet from L. Douglas Johnson, CPA yet. Why not? Danny Trapp was Board President. William Hill was Board Treasurer. CAMS was the property management company. Why wasn't the 2024 Annual...

It's way past time for the Board of Directors (the majority; i.e. the four officers) to stop being nice. It's time to address the elephant in the room. It's time for a "State of the HOA" address by the President of the HOA. This should be in-person and on ZOOM, so that many Members (homeowners) can view it. It should be recorded and archived on the HOA's website. The HOA is a business. It is a South Carolina non-profit corporation. It has Covenants and By-Laws. It has published Guidelines for conducting business. It is a corporation, not a charity or an after-school club. Where did $445,000 go between 1/31/2025 and 1/31/2026? What's the whole story behind the $126,352 annuity purchased in 2024, and who is the Annuitant? Ninety percent (90%) of Accounts Receivable may be uncollectible, according to the 2024 Annual Audit. How bad is the current status of Reserves? Th Indigo Dam repair is likely to impact remaining Reserves severely. The HOA may have to incre...

The just-released 2024 Annual Audit must be giving heartburn to at least some of the Directors of the HOA. The "new" Board majority (since November 18, 2025) must be outraged by the mess in which it finds itself. If they don't step up and tell the truth, they could find themselves embroiled in the mess and, quite likely, culpable and liable. The situation with the annuity is worse than I thought. From the monthly financials released for October 2025 and December 2025, I made an assumption that the annuity had been purchased by the HOA late in 2025. Now I know that I was wrong. From the 2024 Annual Audit, just published on the HOA's website, it is now clear that the annuity was purchased in 2024, not in 2025! The Auditor, L. Douglas Johnson, CPA, had this to say about the annuity: "Note 8. Cash Surrender Value of Annuity   "The Association purchased a single premium deferred annuity (SPDA) in 2024 for a lump-sum payment of $126,352.  The SPDA earns a fixed ...

The 2024 Annual Audit has finally been posted. To view it, go to the HOA's website: www.summithomeowners.com Hover over RESIDENTS, then click on DOCUMENTS. Click on Annual Audits . Click on 2024 . It was due by August 31, 2025, but work by the CPA in Greensboro, N.C. wasn't even approved by the (old) Board until October 7, 2025. Very important information is in the 2024 Annual Audit about the annuity purchased by the HOA. According to the CPA, the annuity was actually purchased in 2024, not in 2025.  More information to follow about the annuity AND the declining financial situation in 2024, which is the year of the audit.  Members don't really know what the financial condition of the HOA is. What does the Board know that Members don't know? The Reserve situation declined through 2025 and now, in 2026, is about to worsen. The best thing the "new" Board can do is be totally honest with the Members. The "old" Boards brought the current situation on by...

This afternoon the office emailed most Members and some residents about the rising costs of vandalism. Unfortunately, no details were provided. Why didn't the message give even one example of vandalism or a few? Why no examples of cost of damage? How effective have the cameras been, after the HOA spent thousands of dollars on them? Plus no one on the Board took responsibility for the announcement by including the name of the officer or director responsible for the message. The Budget is already so tight that it doesn't even squeak. There is no wiggle room for increased expenses. Most budgets provide a little "grease" for unexpected expenses. Not the HOA's 2026 Proposed Budget. I have previously expressed my opinion that the $50.00 annual increase in the 2026 Assessment was insufficient. It wasn't enough, but it was just under the 10% increase that the Board could levy without Voting Member approval. Today's message warns of "increased assessments or a...

Was there a pre-board meeting on March 31st? Pre-board meetings (workshops) are usually held one week prior to the monthly Board Meeting. There should be Minutes of that meeting (and all other pre-board meetings). Good luck in ever getting to see them! Will there be a monthly Board Meeting on the first Tuesday of April, which is April 7th? If so, where will it be held? Will it be held at the North Springs Park Community Center? Somewhere else? Will it be open to Members and residents? To what degree of Transparency are Members entitled? Are they entitled to know what the Board of Directors is doing on their behalf? The Directors are stewards of the Members' money. Speaking of money, what do the left-overs of Team Danny have to say about the $445,000+ drop in Cash between 1/31/25 and 1/31/26? The Treasurers (LaToya Adams, William Hill, and Linda Potter) should know exactly where that money went! Will they just hum a verse of "Don't Worry, Be Happy"? And what do they ha...

With this question, I am asking, "How Many Legitimate Voting Members Are There?" I know of only one (1). Barony Place held Neighborhood Meetings (with a quorum present) in May 2024 and May 2025. A Neighborhood Meeting can be official only if a quorum is present in-person or by proxy. Absolutely no one has challenged me on the point of legitimate Voting Members; i.e., one who was elected by a neighborhood's (local) Neighborhood Committee. The HOA "recognizes" others as "Voting Members", but they have not been duly-elected . Many of them have "gotten signatures", which is a method not approved in the By-Laws. Some have just stuck around for years; one inherited the position when a spouse died. It is critical that a Voting Member be elected in compliance with the Governing Documents. A Voting Member is your legal representative and can jack up your assessment and can do other things, such as elect directors, that affect your ownership of your ho...

On February 12 the Board President emailed me, writing in part, " I am requesting you not contact me with suggestions or comments on how to run the Association." That was after I had requested a meeting with the board, and she responded by saying that they were unanimous that "no settlement will be offered". I hadn't asked for a settlement; I had requested a meeting ! She was polite in her message (which some other board members have not been), and so I have not contacted her again. But who is helping her run the Association? Any of the other Board Members? The hired Property Manager? Any of the Voting Members? Anybody? The Board of Directors has seven directors. It is the Board that is responsible for running the Association, not one person. If there are failures, they are of the Board , not of one person. The Association (HOA) has big issues. If you have read recent articles here, you know what they are. Failure to publish the 2024 Annual Audit; Recovering t...