Barony Place I/Barony Place II

The next scheduled, Regular monthly Board of Directors meeting will be Tuesday, July 7, 2026. Be ready with your questions. Only four months remain under the next election of directors. After the July meeting, there will be only one meeting (September) before the Annual Meeting of Voting Members. The Board should return to monthly board meetings! There should be 28 legitimate, duly-elected Voting Members. Ask how many there are on July 7th and for which neighborhoods. If there aren't 15 by November, the HOA will again be unable to conduct a bonafide election.  And there will have to be more than 15 legitimate, duly-elected Voting Members, if the Voting Members are to vote on the proposed Amendments to the CC&Rs and the By-Laws. There must be enough legitimate Voting Members to represent 75% of the 2,480 Members. This means the HOA must know how many properties are in each neighborhood. In June 2024 the office told me that there were 2,515 homes, which was 115 (4.6%) more homes...

At the May 5, 2026 monthly Board Meeting, there was a very brief mention of a new Collection Policy of the Association. No details were provided, and none has been distributed to Members. Where can Members read the new Collection Policy? The Board had stopped publishing monthly Financial Operating Results, so it was impossible to know how much the Accounts Receivable (unpaid Assessments and unpaid fines and fees) totaled. Until this week the last Results published were for August 2025. The May 2026 monthly Financial Operating Results report that Line 1205, Accounts Receivable, totals $447,622.09. Has an ageing report been delivered to the Board? The Allowance for Bad Debts (Line 1210) totals $274,895.19. Is that total any better than a guess? Should all of that be written off? Has a Bad Debt analysis been conducted to determine the likelihood of collecting any of it? The HOA (Board) has any obligation to Members to collect past-due Assessments, fines, and fees. Why should Members-in-go...

Imagine my surprise just now (6/30/26 10:40AM) when I found that the Financial Operating Results (FOR) for September, October, November, December 2025 and January, February, March, April, and May 2026 have been published on the HOA's website! Members should be sure to examine some of these. There will a story told there. You'll miss the story, of course, because the FORs do not include one of the most-valuable columns of a financial report. That column is the Percent-of-Change. Be sure to print the May 2026 FOR or save it as a .pdf  Save the other months' FORs, too. There are questions to be asked: Why is there so little money in "Bank Accounts"? Under Investment Accounts, is all of this Reserves? What is the Actual Net Cash Value of the Annuity? What does "unreconciled" mean? Are the Investment Accounts titled "BOD"? Why aren't these in the name of the HOA? What is the interest rate on the CDs? Why is Accounts Receivable (Line 1205) stil...

The Board of Directors missed a real opportunity to explain the proposed amendments to the CC&Rs and the By-Laws to Members of the Association. They could have used the June Summit Scoop to explain the changes that they would like to see made. However, I wonder whether they would have pointed out that a number of the proposed changes are NOT in the best interest of the Members, starting with the very first amendment. Not enough information is provided to Members. Do you want The Summit to look like a trailer park? Increasing storage shed size to 16x16x12 feet and allowing plastic or resin siding and metal roofing could cause housing values to plummet. Imagine such a monstrosity in the yard next door. Allowing vinyl fencing and fence heights of 8 feet is another disaster in the making. And paving over a front yard to increase driveway width to three cars? Crazy! The sleeper in the group is Amendment 10 - Capital Contribution Assessment. Why would you ever allow the Board of Director...

In response to the HOA's email today about Item 1 in the proposed amendments, I have emailed the following Open Letter to the Association's office for the attention of the seven board members. TO: HOA Board Members (Summit Community Association, Inc. (29229)) How is the incompetence associated with this process even possible? Board members, committees, and staff who created this nightmare should be identified to all Members, so that homeowners know exactly who is responsible. You fail to inform Members that a quorum for a VM meeting (51%) cannot amend the CC&Rs or the By-Laws or take many other actions.  You fail to inform Members that they do not vote on amendments to the CC&Rs and By-Laws. Your shed size of 16'x16'x12' is absurd! The Summit will resemble a trailer park, if larger or  plastic/resin sheds are allowed. Property values will plummet. Same with metal roofs, vinyl and 8-foot fences, expanded driveways, artificial turf. The plug should be pulled ...

The job of the Board of Directors is to govern The Summit's HOA in compliance with the CC&Rs, the By-Laws, and the established Guidelines, such as the Procedures Reference Manual. An important part of that job is to represent and protect the interests of the Members (homeowners) of the Association. Sometimes, it might be necessary to step on someone's toes; e.g., the toes of current or past board  members. If that is necessary to protect the interests of the Members, then the Board must do it. When Association funds have been mishandled, somebody must be held accountable. Money can be moved out of Reserves only for specific, authorized purposes. Too much money has been moved around without the required paper trail (Minutes and Resolutions) for withdrawals and purpose!!! Where did $445,000 go from Reserves between 1/31/25 and 1/31/26? Why haven't Financial Operating Results been posted on the HOA's website since August 2025 ? The HOA spent $25,-$30,000 from December ...

On June 19, 2026 the office sent out proposed amendments to the CC&Rs and the By-Laws by email. The email indicated that the proposed amendments were also being sent out by U.S. Mail. Those sent by U.S.Mail have not been delivered to at least one long-time HOA member. Have you received your copy by mail? Did the Board of Directors approve those proposed amendments? Did the Board authorize the office to send out that email over its name? Presumably, it did. Who gave the direction to distribute the proposed amendments? The email doesn't say. When did the Board approve those proposed amendments? On what date? Did they do so on June  2, 2026 at the Regular Monthly Board Meeting, which was held in private ? The June Meeting, if it was held, was in the new cycle of bi-monthly meetings.   No Minutes of that meeting have been distributed. What's the secret? How many Board members were at that meeting? Who voted for approving those proposed amendments? Who voted against? What...

In its June 19th email to all Members (at least, all who have registered email addresses), the Board and the office gave erroneous advice for the return of the "ballots" on proposed amendments to the CC&Rs and the By-Laws. The Board and the Office direct Members to return the "ballots" to the office. This is WRONG . The Governing Documents instruct that such ballots should be returned to the Voting Members. Why should they go to the Voting Members and not to the office? Because it is the Voting Member who votes on amendments to the CC&Rs and the By-Laws, not the Members. Another and more important reason is that the Governing Documents say that is where they should go. The authors of the Governing Documents recognized the power of their words. Were they worried about how a management office or a Board might handle such "ballots"?  The ballots should not go through the office on the way to the Voting Members. The office cannot even publish The Summi...

The Summit's HOA Board of Directors is proposing changes to some of the CC&Rs and the By-Laws. I've been reading and studying the Governing Documents for more than six years. I know them better than most of the Board Members. Amendment 1 -  Voting Structure.  The Board is offering a suggestion to trash the current "Voting Member" structure and replace it with a structure that would allow the Members (2,480 homeowners) to amend the Governing  Documents and to elect Directors. This is a terrible idea.  First, the processes for amending the Governing  Documents and for electing directors are different in major ways. Allowing homeowners to do either would result in ignorant (know the definition) and uninformed voters to make important decisions. Not that Voting Members are necessarily not ignorant or informed. Some of them are neither.  Most of the homeowners wouldn't even bother to vote, so who would make the decisions? The current method is just fine. The...

Which Board Member is responsible for the error in the letter sent out by the HOA with the July 1st dues notice? It's bad enough that the management company made  the error. That never should have happened. But certainly a Board Member should have been responsible for proof-reading the letter/email before it was sent out. The important  part of the email from the office was: Please see the following regarding online payment. The information on your statement is correct, but the cover letter has an incorrect Association ID If you choose to pay through the Association’s bank, Western Alliance Bank, you may use the link below. There is currently no fee for payments made by eCheck; however, there is a fee for debit and credit card payments. https://pay.westernalliancebank.com/home?cmcid=C830BF00 Management Company ID: 7529 Association ID: 174 I recommend that you pay your dues in person at the office. Be sure to get a receipt. Get your Pool fob and HOA ID Card updated.  If yo...

Does The Summit's HOA still have a management  company? The March 2026 Board Minutes have not been posted online. The May 2026 Board Minutes have not been posted online. The June Summit Scoop hasn't been published. No Financial Operating Results have been posted for September, October, November or December 2025 OR for January, February, March, April or May 2026! What doesn't the management company (Town & Country) post these documents? Or the Board of Directors the problem?

The next monthly Board Meeting should be packed with homeowners (Members) who are concerned about last week's email from "SummitHelpDesk" about proposed  Amendments to the CC&Rs and the By-Laws.  Why wasn't the email sent out over the name of the Board President? Who was responsible for creating those proposed amendments? Be sure to print  the attachment with that email. Read it carefully. Study it. Understand it. Underline it. Know what it really means! Take your questions to the July 7th Board Meeting and ASK THEM. Don't just sit there and swallow the pablum that is being force-fed to you. Not one of the proposed Amendments deserves serious consideration. Plus, there aren't enough legitimate Voting Members to approve anything ! You don't really get to "vote" on those amendments. While the attachment is framed as a Ballot, it is not. It is merely your opinion, and it carries no weight with your Voting Member or the HOA. It is the Voting Memb...

You should have received an email from the office today with a series of proposed amendments to the CC&Rs and the By-Laws. Frankly, I'm shocked! Over the past 4-5 years, there has been much talk and many comments. And this is what the Board came up with??? I shall offer specific comments in following blogposts. I suggest that you print the four pages and read them very carefully.  In order to cast an intelligent vote, you need context and much more information. You don't get it in what was sent out today. I have been going to Board Meetings and reading the CC&Rs and the By-Laws for seven years.  Please read my following posts and share them widely throughout The Summit. You can forward this post and others by clicking on the SHARE icon at  the top-right or lower-left of every post. Fill in the email address of the person(s) you'd like to receive the post. FYI, I get no record of who forwards posts or who receives them. I never see an email address or name.

Are all seven Board Members working for the betterment of the Association and the community? If you were a fly on the wall during pre-board and some committee meetings, what would you observe? Is there respectful communication? Is there cooperation (which doesn't have to mean 100% agreement)? Do some board members dislike others? Are there passive-aggressive actions? You know, those fake smiles and head nods, and then back-stabbing? Have any consultants been called in for team-building exercises? "We can't afford that." Well, you cannot afford NOT to do that. Are efforts to solve problems successful? Are there any "bad apples" on the Board? If there are, then the Voting Members should take action and remove those bad apples. It is essential for enough neighborhoods to elect Voting Members in compliance with the By-Laws, so that there can be a legitimate election of directors in November.  The four unrepresented neighborhoods (Autumn Run (80), Indigo Springs ...

 The HOA's Finance Committee met last night (June 16, 2026). You wouldn't know it, though. The HOA's online calendar is completely blank, and the Summit Scoop with the June calendar has not yet been published. The Finance Committee should immediately distribute the Minutes of its June 16, 2026 meeting by email to all Members (homeowners).It won't; but it should. You have the right to inspect the Minutes of that Meeting. Make your request to the office in writing; send it to summithelpdesk@tcgrd.com Because of the importance of the Finance Committee to the fiscal solvency of the HOA, should meetings be streamed, so that Members could know what is going on? Likewise, should HOA Board Meetings be streamed? Then hundreds of Members could know what it going on, not just the 30-40 who show up at Board meetings. Meetings should be recorded and archived, which would allow Members (and residents) to watch them when it is convenient for them .

Every year The Summit's HOA is required to conduct an audit of the previous year's finances. That's why it is called an Annual Audit.      The Annual Audit is to be completed and delivered to the Board by August 31 (PRM, Art. III, §C, ¶2c). It should be posted on the HOA's website. One of the reasons for the August 31st deadline is to have it available to the Budget sub-committee for development of the following year's Proposed Budget. The process fell apart in 2025. The 2024 Annual Audit wasn't even ordered until October 2025; the Board President was Danny Trapp,  and the Board Treasurer was William Hill. It wasn't delivered to the Board until about February 4, 2026 . The 2025 Annual Audit should be underway by now. The auditor should have been selected earlier this year (preferably, in February or March).  The Procedures Reference Manual (PRM) does not spell out how the auditor is selected; it should. The PRM doesn't say by what date the auditor shoul...

If you wish to email one or more directors of The Summit's HOA, you will find email addresses on the HOA's website. Until recently, email addresses were posted for all seven directors.  Go to https://summithomeowners.com   Click on BOARD MEMBERS. Hover over the underlined name of a director. The email address will pop up in the lower-left corner of your screen. Tanisha Holmes' name is no longer underlined. Why isn't her email address shown? Who determines whether a director's email address is published? Isn't that a Board decision? Are all of the other six directors willing to receive email communications from residents of The Summit? What happens when a resident emails a director (board member)? Does the director read that email? Does the director reply? The HOA office suggests that emails be sent to the office at summithelpdesk@tcgrd.com   What happens to emails sent to that address? Are they read? Does some unnamed Town & Country employee reply? Are they...

Click to Enlarge   Here is the top portion of the 2026 budget, as posted on the HOA's website. Want to see it for yourself? Go to https://summithomeowners.com   Hover over RESIDENTS. Click on  DOCUMENTS. Click on Annual Budgets. Click on 2026. The first thing you'll notice is the heading above the right column, where it reads Finance Proposed 2026 Budget . The second thing you'll notice is the date on the page of the "Finance Proposed 2026 Budget". That date is June 30, 2025. Had the Finance Committee even started work on the 2026 Budget by June 30th? My guess is that it certainly wasn't done with the budget! Today is June 16, 2026. You would expect to find the "2026 Approved Budget" on the HOA's website. Instead, you see the "2026 Proposed Budget". WHY? There are some possible reasons. 1. Carelessness. No one discerned the importance of publishing the Approved Budget, not the Proposed Budget. 2. Inattention. Didn't anyone (Board Me...

One of the best HOA newsletters I receive is The Governance Ledger , from Common Interest Advisors, LLC.  The latest edition leads off with, It is supposed to be a financial plan. Yet every year, thousands of condominium and homeowners associations approve budgets that bear little resemblance to what actually happens. Twelve months later, expenses exceed the budget, reserves are underfunded, assessments increase, and owners are told that nobody could have seen it coming. In many cases, somebody should have. The problem is not that boards fail to approve budgets. The problem is that many associations treat budgeting as a compliance exercise rather than a financial management tool. A budget should help directors answer a simple question: Where will we likely end the year, and what should we do about it today? Doesn't this accurately describe how The Summit's HOA operates? Every month the Board approves thousands of dollars in expenses, without informing Members whether those are ...

A Voting Member is the legal representative of the homeowners in his/her neighborhood. How many (few) of them really care about those homeowners? If they did care, they would be demanding answers from the Board of Directors and informing the homeowners in their neighborhoods of answers to the following questions: Q. Why haven't  Minutes been posted for Board Meetings on March 3, April 7, May 5, and when they will be posted for the June 2 Board Meeting? Q. Why haven't Financial Operating Results been posted for September, October, November, December 2025 and for January, February, March, April, and May 2026? Q. What is a realistic estimate for repairs to the Indigo Lake dam? Is the money available? Q. Why hasn't the Board provided details of the $126,352 Annuity purchased in 2024 as an "investment" of Reserve funds and how a CD got cashed in without a recorded Board vote? Q. Why hasn't the Board revealed how much money was wasted suing Gus Philpott (me) illegal...

At the May 2026 Board Meeting it was mentioned that no Reserve Study had ever been done by The Summit's HOA. Keep that in mind as you read the following post, which was copied in part from a Facebook post associated with the HOA Reform Leaders National Group. How smart is going on a long road trip in a gasoline powered vehicle and not knowing the capacity of the fuel tank and not having a fuel gage [ sic ] with a Full display? Taking such a road trip, is like living in an HOA community with a Reserve Study that omits a Full Funding alternative as a benchmark so Percent Funded can be determined. According to reserve experts, if the reserves’ amount is less than seventy percent (70%) of a Fully Funded Balance (FFB), an owners’ association is at risk of a special assessment. A practical owner-friendly guide: 0% to 30% funded : high-risk zone. 30% to 70% funded : moderate-risk zone. 70% to 100% funded : stronger reserve position. 100% funded : at or near Full Funding benchmark At the p...

Check out the June 2026 Calendar on the HOA's website. Today is June 14. Go to www.summithomeowners.com Hover over RESIDENTS Click on CALENDAR Right!  Completely blank. Is anyone else asking, "Why?" By the way, where is the June 2026 Summit Scoop?

WARNING Landscaping expenditures have basically been paused in The Summit, while the Board waits to find out how much the repairs for the Indigo Lake Dam will cost.  The diagnosis of the full problem and the estimated cost of total repairs has taken months, if not more than a year. Preliminary estimates may be in the range of $100,-$300,000. (You can't see the Reserve totals, because the HOA is no longer publishing monthly Financial Operating Results on its website.) The Board has acknowledged that a complete Reserve Study has never been done. This Board bears the brunt of blame, when the blame belongs across many years to past Boards.  Why haven't Treasurers been waving a big, red flag? Why haven't Finance Committees been kicking up a storm? Read this paragraph from the Procedures Reference Manual, popularly known as the PRM, which has been ignored by Boards for years. One of the Standing Committees of the HOA is (supposed to be) the Asset Evaluation Committee, which is de...

Rumor has it that there may now be 7-8 neighborhoods with legitimate, duly-elected Voting Members. Why hasn't the HOA announced this? Which neighborhoods now have legitimate, three-member Neighborhood Committees and a legitimate Voting Member? That homeowner (Member) would have been  elected as a Voting Member in the past 12 months by a three-member Neighborhood Committee at a properly-convened Neighborhood Meeting with a quorum present in-person or by proxy. Here's the list as I know it: 1.  Barony Place 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 

On May 23rd I sent this email to the Voting Members (the one legitimate VM and the other "recognized" VMs): Does it seem strange to you that the Board of Directors is finally waking up to what I have been claiming for years? They know what you don't - that The Summit's HOA is in a very precarious financial state. Reserves are insufficient to meet future needs. The Indigo Dam repairs could result in a large Special Assessment. The Board cannot seek a large Assessment because there is only one legitimate, duly-elected Voting Member; she represents 3% (78/2480) of the HOA. If you were not elected as a Voting Member in the past 12 months by a three-member Neighborhood Committee at a properly-convened Neighborhood Meeting with a quorum present in-person or by proxy, then you are not a legitimate, duly-elected Voting Member. Sorry. No matter how good a job you are doing as a "recognized" Voting Member. There is only one way to become a Voting Member. It's rig...

The HOA office announced this morning that the Myrtle Pool is closed, due to finding "human feces" in it. The pool is being cleaned and treated with chemicals, and it will re-open tomorrow at 10:00AM. OK, how do they know it was "human feces"?  Will it be tested? Whose DNA will be found? Will RCSD investigate? Will the person responsible be identified and prosecuted? What do the pool cameras show? Is the recording good enough to identify the culprit? Once again, no one from the office "signed" the email. 

When a South Carolina non-profit corporation stops publishing its monthly Financial Operating Results, could there be a dark reason for its decision? The last time that The Summit's HOA published its monthly Financial Operating Results online was for the month of August 2025. Danny Trapp was Board President then. William Hill was Board Treasurer then. The HOA elected four directors on November 18, 2025, and that resulted in a power shift on the Board. On December 1st the HOA elected a new leadership team of officers. Brenda Bryant was elected Board President. Linda Potter was elected Board Treasurer. The HOA has not published Financial Operating Results online for September 2025 October 2025 November 2025 December  2025 January 2026 February 2026 March 2026 April 2026 May 2026 Apparently, I am the only community member who is complaining about the HOA's failure to do so. Town & Country Management Company took over HOA books on October 1, 2025. It is responsible for publish...

The Board of Directors has never explained the HOA's purchase of an annuity in 2024. The annuity was purchased as an "investment", using $126,352 of Reserve funds. No Board action was ever disclosed in Minutes of a Regular Board Meeting. Did the Board ever authorize the termination of a CD at South Carolina Federal Credit Union? Who cashed it in? Was there ever a Resolution by the Board to do so? What does "Unreconciled" mean in the Financial Operating Results for Line 1088? Did the Board ever discuss and approve (by vote) the subsequent purchase of the annuity? What company funds the annuity? Who is the Annuitant? According to the 2024 Annual Audit (dated February 4, 2026), the Annuitant is a current board member. That means the Annuitant is Brenda Bryant, Tanisha Holmes, or Linda Potter. Which board member is the Annuitant? See Page 8 of the Audit. The HOA is likely to need those funds to pay costs associated with repairs to the Indigo Lake dam. What is the Ne...

Why won't The Summit's HOA Office answer a simple question? " Will you please inform me what section of the Governing Documents applies to parking on the Streets in The Summit, which are public streets, owned and maintained by Richland County? " I emailed this question to Julie Brickley, Property Manager, on May 7, 2026, and requested a reply by May 14th. Julie had mentioned "street parking" at least three times at the May 5th Board Meeting. No acknowledgement; no reply. I've been asking this question for about seven years. Justin Martin, former Board President, refused to answer it, even after I presented a copy of the Deed transferring Barony Place Circle (in Barony Place II) to Richland County. William Hill emailed me on November 12, 2024, that "We are not allowed to park in the streets." He did not reply to two follow-up emails from me when I asked why not. He was the Safety Committee Chairman then and now sits on the Board of Directors. On...

Why hasn't the June Summit Scoop been published? Today is June 10th. Why haven't the Minutes of the March 2026, April 2026, and May 2026 Board of Directors Meetings been published on the website? Why haven't the Financial Operating Results been published for September 2025? October 2025? November 2025? December 2025? January 2026? February 2026? March 2026? April 2026? May 2026? Why hasn't the 2026 Proposed Budget been approved and the 2026 Approved Budget been published on the website? When will the HOA announce which neighborhoods now have legitimate, duly-elected Voting Members, following recent bonafide Neighborhood Meetings and elections? How will the Board of Directors correct the 2025 election of directors, which did not comply with the By-Laws of the HOA?  Directors were elected by people ("recognized" Voting Members) who were not entitled to vote. This was admitted in the January 2026 Board Minutes, where the final paragraph reads, New Business  A Boa...

Yesterday at 11:11AM the HOA's office sent out an email with the Subject "Activities Announcement". Someone in the office quickly realized she had neglected to fill in any information about the Announcement or attach the notice. Perhaps someone called the office. At 11:23AM the office sent a second email with this message and an attachment: " Please disregard the previous message and see the attached flyer regarding tonight's meeting. Our system sent the previous message out prematurely." Was this true? " Our system sent the previous message out prematurely." The office (nobody takes responsibility for office emails by "signing" them) attempted to blame "Our system". I think it's much more likely that an employee in the office hit Send on the first email without attaching the notice from the Activities Committee or including any message in the mail. Do they think readers of the emails from the HOA are stupid? Why not just ad...

Is The Summit's HOA operating without an approved Budget? If you look at "Annual Budgets" on the HOA's website (under Documents), you'll find one listed for 2026. BUT it is the Proposed Budget 2026! The November 18, 2025 BOD Minutes state that the 2026 Budget was available at the check-in table and would be mailed to homeowners. When was it approved?  Not at the October 7, 2025 BOD Meeting. Not at the September 2, 2025 BOD Meeting. Was it ever approved by the Board of Directors? If not, The Summit's HOA is operating without an approved Budget for 2026.  Is this proper for a South Carolina Non-Profit Corporation? Danny Trapp was the Board President until November 18, 2025. Until December 1, 2025 William Hill was the Board Treasurer. Tanisha Holmes was the Board Vice-President. Noel Weatherbee was the Board Secretary. Ask them when the 2026 Proposed Budget was actually approved by Board vote.