Barony Place I/Barony Place II

The HOA will be unable to hold an election of three directors in November, if there aren't enough Voting Members to make a quorum. Since the Board has failed in its responsibility to populate a Neighborhood Committee (of the HOA) and charge them with carrying out its Mission to assist every neighborhood to elect a local Neighborhood Committee, including a Voting Member, the legitimate Voting Members should get busy right now and work with the neighborhoods that do not have a Voting Member and two Alternates. The Governing Documents require an election.  Past Boards have done an abysmal job of running the Association in compliance with the By-Laws and the CC&Rs. The financial condition of the HOA is prime proof. A professional Management Company is supposed to guide the Board.  Time is running out.

According to sources, Brenda Bryant was removed as President of the HOA last week. The Board made a decision at its pre-board meeting (workshop) to replace her with Noel Weatherbee. The Board is not supposed to make decisions at workshops. Decisions should be made only at Regular Board Meetings or Special Board Meetings. Earlier this year the same group of what I will refer to as "dissident" Directors removed Jeff Lummel as Vice President and replaced him with Noel. Apparently, she thinks she is now the President. Who is Noel Weatherbee? I sent an email to all Board Members on February, 26, 2026. Less than an hour later, I received the following response from Noel.  " 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 so...

The next scheduled Board Meeting will be Tuesday, September 1, 2026. Every Member (homeowner) should print the attachment from last Monday's email blast from the office. Take it to the Board Meeting and demand answers. Is the HOA solvent? Has the 2025 Annual Audit been ordered? (It was due 8/31/2026.) Who is the CPA selected to conduct that Audit? When will it be delivered? Has a Reserve Study been started? What happened to $445,000 (unexplained drop in Cash & Cash Equivalents) in 2025? How many legitimate Voting Members are there? Will there be enough legitimate Voting Members to convene the Annual Meeting of Voting Members and elect three directors to replace those whose terms expire in November?w Who is on the Nominating Committee? Is the Board planning a substantial increase in Annual Assessment or a Special Assessment? (There aren't enough legitimate Voting Members to approve either.) Please forward this post to everyone you know in The Summit. Use the SHARE button a...

For years the Boards of The Summit's HOA blew smoke at the Members (homeowners) and failed to inform them of the worsening financial condition of the HOA. Too many Treasurers just said, "Everything is in good shape."  The Day of Reckoning is rapidly approaching. How can a 2027 Proposed Budget be properly prepared without the 2025 Annual Audit? Has it even been ordered yet? This Audit is due August 31, 2026 (Monday).  The Budget Sub-Committee and the Finance Committee need the 2025 Annual Audit in order to properly construct a proposed budget for 2027. The Board has never reported that it selected an Auditor. WHY NOT? One-third of the homeowners are delinquent on their dues. This means that two-thirds of the Members are carrying the deadbeats. For years I had written that there must be something wrong with the HOA's Collection Policy and its implementation. Never (until 8/24/26) has any Board told Members (homeowners) just how bad the financial situation is. And even t...

Did you go to the Town Hall Meeting in Birch Park last Saturday? Did you read carefully the summary emailed out from Board? Did you understand it? Did you feel the wool being pulled down over your eyes? For the first time (ever?) the Board is disclosing how badly the Association has been managed (by the Boards and the management companies) over many years. The billed Assessments in 2026 totaled $1,388,800 (2480 x $560). The Board estimates only $1,100,381 will be collected! That's 79.2%. Income minus Expenses equals -$47,819 . Except the real shortage is much greater. The Association was paying CAMS close to $500,000 to manage the HOA. How can management expenses be only $150,000? How much will go into Reserves? Anything? The Contribution to Reserves is REQUIRED! Outstanding Delinquent Accounts total $633,658.85. The Boards have been absolutely irresponsible toward Members in letting them reach that level. 843 homes currently have delinquent accounts! That's 34%. It is way past...

Be sure to read the article on the lower portion of Page 4 of the August 2026 Summit Scoop. This is exactly what I've been complaining about for three-four years (maybe longer)! Why is the Board only announcing this now? They may have waited too long this year to have 15 legitimate, bonafide, duly-elected Voting Members in place by November. There could be as few as six legitimate Voting Members now, because only six neighborhoods list three names (a Voting Member and two Alternates) in the listing on the same Page 4.

In just over two months the HOA must elect three directors. Usually, the following Board Meeting dates are announced in the Summit Scoop. However, the August Scoop announces only the September 1st Board Meeting.  The terms of Directors Tanisha Holmes, William Hill and Noel Weatherbee expire in November 2026. The Voting Members, if there are enough of them in November to meet the quorum requirement (15), should look closely at all three to determine whether they merit consideration for re-election.  As of the August Scoop, there does not appear to be a Nominating Committee. Angelo Turley-Moore is listed as the Chair of the Nominating Committee, but no members are named.  The Board is negligent in its duty to populate the Nominating Committee, which is to invite and choose candidates for the three open positions. The Board is also negligent in populating the (HOA's) Neighborhood Committee which, according to its website, is responsible for assisting all the neighborhoods to...

Has the Board ordered the 2025 Annual Audit yet? It is due August 31, 2026 and usually takes 2-3 months to produce. It is needed for the proper preparation of the 2027 Budget, which the Finance Committee and the Budget Sub-Committee should already be working on. If not, why not? On what date was it ordered? Why isn't the selection of the Auditor and the estimated cost reported in Board Minutes? ALL members of the Board are responsible for seeing that this extremely important document is ordered and delivered on time. Last year, the 2024 Annual Audit wasn't even ordered until October 2025. It should have been delivered to the HOA by August 31, 2025. It was delivered to the Association in February 2026 . Why didn't Danny Trapp, then-Board President, see that it was ordered and delivered on time? Who is responsible this year for the failure to order it on time? Linda Potter, Treasurer? Noel Weatherbee, Vice President? Brenda Bryant, President? ALL seven directors, collectively...

The August 2026 Summit Scoop has the name of the new RCSD CAT (Community Action Team) deputy. If you need service from RCSD, you should call the general information number or the dispatcher or 911.  I recommend NOT calling the CAT deputy. He is not the HOA's exclusive law-enforcement officer. If you call the CAT deputy and he is off-duty or not available, any service to you will be delayed. I have urged the HOA not to publish the phone number for the CAT deputy. Only one or two HOA-authorized persons should be contacting the CAT deputy.

The 2025 Annual Audit should be delivered to the Board of Directors by August 31, 2026 (only 22 days from now). It should be discussed at the September 1, 2026 public Board Meeting and posted on the website on September 2. The Audit is needed by the Budget sub-committee and the Finance Committee to prepare the Proposed 2027 Annual Budget correctly. Has an Auditor even been identified yet and contracted to conduct it? The Auditor needs information about the illegal disbursement of Association funds throughout 2025 for payment of legal fees and costs associated with the HOA's litigation against me.  The Auditor should also report on the $445,000 drop in Cash and Cash Equivalents and why the Board of Directors (under then-Board President Danny Trapp) never disclosed expenditures or voted on spending that money.

First, let me say that I like Brenda Bryant, current President of the Board of Directors. She is a nice person. Her job as President has been made very difficult by a certain element on the Board. Secondly, the President's Report in the August 2026 Summit Scoop was a waste of what could be valuable communication space in the community. I dispute that there is growing crime and violence in The Summit. The HOA discontinued publishing the monthly RCSD Crime Report several years ago. (Vernell Butler can probably be thanked for that. He  argued that publishing addresses of crime incidents constituted an invasion of privacy. It does not).  Any problem can be reduced by rigid enforcement of laws and cracking down on parents of minor children who commit criminal acts. More cameras will not solve the problem! Brenda is totally wrong about the "active framework" of Neighborhood Representatives. For many years there were no legitimate Neighborhood Representatives (including Voting M...

I've thought more about the response by the HOA to the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) in regard to my complaint to the DCA. My complaint was about the HOA's failure to provide me with its authority (specific section(s), if any, in the CC&Rs and/or By-Laws) to enforce no parking on the public streets in The Summit. The response was signed by Julie Brickley, property manager for Town & Country until September 30, 2026. However, the Board must have approved it before it was sent to the DCA and probably got a legal opinion for the wording to do the tango around my complaint and avoid a truthful answer. Even though I no longer live in The Summit and have moved out-of-state,  the Board of Directors owes me an apology and an honest answer. I don't expect to get either.  The Board of Directors never apologized for the unlawful lawsuit filed against me, either. Not only was it prohibited by the CC&Rs, it was filed illegally in the name of the Associa...

On June 12th I filed a Complaint with the S.C. Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) about street-parking enforcement by the HOA. The HOA missed the 20-day deadline to respond but, on July 27, Julie Brinkley, property manager for Town & Country, responded. In my complaint I asked the DCA to find out what Section of the Governing Documents allows the HOA to enforce parking on the publicly-owned streets in The Summit, which are not part of the Common Property. The HOA responded, over Julie's signature, as follows: "The Association is governed by the recorded Declaration and any duly adopted rules and regulations regarding parking. The Board administers and enforces the governing documents in good faith and in accordance with its authority." While what Julie wrote is true, it does not address the enforcement of so-called parking "violations" on the streets in The Summit. She answered a question that was not asked. She failed to answer the question that was asked...

Last week the office sent out this email on behalf of the Board of Directors. THE SUMMIT COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC. NOTICE OF EXTENSION OF VOTING DEADLINES FOR PROPOSED AMENDMENTS July 30, 2026 Dear Owners and Voting Members, The Board of Directors of The Summit Community Association has approved an extension of the deadlines related to the proposed amendments distributed on June 19, 2026. This extension has been granted to allow additional participation from homeowners and Voting Members. Please note that the proposed amendments, ballot questions, voting standards, and approval requirements have not changed. Only the deadlines for submitting ballots have been extended. The revised deadlines are as follows: Owner Direction Referendum due: August 31, 2026 Voting Member ballots and certifications due: September 14, 2026 No new ballot is required. Please use the ballot included in the original mailing. If you have already submitted your ballot, no further action is required. If you have ...