Barony Place I/Barony Place II

he 2020 Budget for the HOA forecasts a huge amount of money for income from fines and fees. You can see the budget for yourself by going the the HOA website. www.summithomeowners.com On the left side, click on Documents (under Residents) Sign in and then click on Documents again. Click on Annual Budgets, and then click on 2020. On the first page, under Other Income, see Fines - Violations $45,000 Past Due - Late Fees $65,000 The HOA anticipates collecting $110,000 in 2020 for these two accounts. The annual budget for the HOA is $1,299,850. Fines and Late Fees comprise 8.5% of the year's income. How do you feel about that?

In 2019 the Voting Member for Barony Place was Doris Covert, a resident in Barony Place II. Her name appeared in The Summit Scoop each month. The Alternates listed were Billie Jones and Bob Keivit. The last Board meeting that Doris attended was in October 2019. Barony Place was not represented when the election for the Board was held in November 2019. In January 2020 The Scoop showed Billie Jones' name as Voting Member. I wondered how that happened. It turned out that Billie and Doris just switched positions. I read the By-Laws and didn't find any support for that. An Alternate is an Alternate, not a replacement or substitute. Especially when important legal duties are involved. George Reynolds, Assn. Treasurer and Chair of the Voting Members (a role not accepted by some voting members), told me that each had "plenty of signatures". A Voting Member does not serve for Life or until he or she gets tired, moves or dies. The Voting Member is supposed to be chosen every ye...

Will the new Violation Letter scheme for fines take care of this problem? Litter is a daily problem on Barony Place Drive. Like, every day. How do I get a Violation Letter sent to the HOA? And, if they don't remove the litter within 20 days, who sends the second letter and collects the fine? And who pays the fine? I used to pick up litter every morning when I walked the dog. Then I got roughed up by a couple of officers on the board, and I decided that the HOA could just pay to have litter picked up. I stopped picking it up and just emailed the office about cans, beer bottles, bags, fastfood wrappers, drink cups, dog poop, etc. And then those officers threatened me that the office staff felt harassed, so I stopped reporting litter.  Tell me; is this harassment? "Will you please have three pop cans and two beer bottles by the pet-waste station on Barony Place Drive picked up?"

 Be sure to read the front-page article in the September 2020 issue of The Summit Scoop about the new scheme for fines for violations. In the olden days, if you were a bad boy, you got a letter from the HOA office telling you that you had ten days to straighten up. Like, paint your shutters, get your car off the street, put away your recycle barrel. You know, important stuff like that. If you didn't do it, you got a second letter that threatened you with fines. And if you still didn't do it, the dreaded third letter arrived, telling you the clock on your fines had started running (from the date of the second letter, as I recall). We only got two of them. Different violations. One was a daughter's car legally parked on the street in front of the house for three daylight hours.. Now? The HOA will save postage and only send two letters, starting October 1, 2020. BUT the fine is assessed as of the Letter Date!!! You now get 20 days to straighten up. If you do, then you must con...

How should a Neighborhood address a persistent problem of sidewalks blocked by cars and trucks in driveways?  In Barony Place II there are 5-6 sidewalks that are regularly blocked by parked vehicles. Some sidewalks are blocked by vehicles that are too long for the driveway, even if the vehicle is parked up close to the garage door. Other sidewalks are blocked because the car or truck is not too long, but it is parked back from the garage door to the point that it either fully or partially blocks the sidewalk. The best, easiest, fastest and cheapest way to resolve the problem would be just to knock on the neighbor's door, point out the problem, and politely ask the resident to pull the vehicle up very close to the garage door. Unfortunately, it might also be the easiest way to get punched in the nose or have to listen to an impolite response. It's not really a HOA problem, but it could be if the sidewalk is considered HOA property that is covered by the CC&Rs. If it is, then...

There are between 25-30 Neighborhoods in The Summit Community Association - the HOA. Barony Place I and Barony Place II comprise the "Barony Place" Neighborhood, which contains 78 homes. (The Lakes at Barony Place are not part of Barony Place; they have their own neighborhood.) You the homeowner do not elect the directors of the homeowners association. Did you know that? Read down to see how directors are elected. The CC&Rs and the By-Laws provide that the directors of the Association are elected by Voting Members. Who are the Voting Members? Each year, every year, each Neighborhood is supposed to have a Neighborhood Meeting. The Board of Directors has been very lax in enforcing this  Do you know when the last Neighborhood Meeting of Barony Place was? I was told that, in Barony Place, decisions are made at card nights and monthly luncheons. And that, if residents don't show up, it's because they don't care. At the annual meeting of the homeowners a three-memb...

July 28. While walking my dog, I noticed a lot of water flowing from a lawn into the street at a house near my residence. I rang the doorbell to ask if the homeowner knew about it. She said she had called the City. The water was flowing from the grass between the curb and the sidewalk. A week later the water was still running, and there was no evidence of repairs. No disturbance of the grass. No cones from the City Water Dept. August 15. Saturday. I emailed the City Water Dept. to request attention to the repair.  August 18. Tuesday. When there was no evidence of a visit by the City Water Dept., I called them and asked that the repair be escalated. The water continued to flow at a good rate. The operator noted the prior request (from the resident) and combined the two. August 19. Wednesday. A Water Dept. employee must have inspected the leak, because a diagram was spray-painted in the street, pointing toward the leak. August 24. Monday. I called the City Water Dept. again (water st...