Barony Place I/Barony Place II

A shooting killed five at a Toronto condo board meeting on December 18. www.foxnews.com/world/gunman-opens-fire-toronto-condo-board-killing-five-second-such-shooting-a-week Rest assured that that will never happen at a Summit HOA board meeting. Why not? Because board meetings are off-limits for weapons. They are Gun-Free Zones. Everyone knows that a criminal will not enter gun-free zone; right? Does that make you feel better? Safer? Well, at least board members, committee members, contractors and HOA employees cannot be armed, according to the Procedures Reference Manual (Art. II, D, 1)). There doesn't seem to be any prohibition against legally-armed residents or homeowners showing up who could defend board members. Should the PRM be changed? Of course!

Why does the Board of Directors and in particular, the President and Treasurer, tolerate the simple errors that exist in the financial reports? Could it be that they don't even look at the financial reports? Or, if they do, that they don't understand them? Example: On Page 19 on the Minutes of the December 6, 2022 board meeting, there is a chart labeled "OERATING". It is in the section titled "Operating Expenses/Expense Statement". (OPERATING was spelled correctly in the previous month's Minutes.) A line explains "The Association continues to operate in accordance with the approved budget, except for the significant variances this current monthly budget, which are as follows:" For Parkway Lights, it's easy to see that the Variance is wrong. The Actual was $24 less than Budget. The chart is misleading by showing YTD. And last month the same Budget and Actual numbers produced a larger variance. It is impossible to compare YTD numbers when onl...

You won't want to miss the Minutes of the December 6, 2022 HOA board meeting! Do you know where to find them? Go to www.summithomeowners.com . Then hover over RES,IDENTs and click on DOCUMENTS. Then click on Board of Director's Minutes. Then click on December 2022. The first worthless report of the Finance Committee you'll come to reads "The committee researched CD rates for CD's [ sic ] that are maturing. The monies being spent on projects have been previously allocated." That tells you a lot, doesn't it? Continuing scrolling down to Page 19, "Financial Summary and Variance Report" for 10 months (through October 2022). I've been questioning for months why the HOA has so much money in Operating Accounts. How about $634,144.53 ($64,366.46 + $1,001.34 + $323,557.66 + $245,219.07)? No one seems to think there is any problem with earning on 0.01% on $232,038.06 in one Reserves account. Look at Page 20 and the interest rates being earned on large ...

 ... across a sidewalk, fell, smashed your face, broke a wrist or arm, or hurt your shoulder or back, whom would you sue? The homeowner? The HOA? The County? AT&T? In my neighborhood, when AT&T laid cable for a fiber-optic upgrade, it strung a cable across a sidewalk in two places. It didn't tape it down or cover it with any kind of mat. Anyone walking along could easily catch one of the wires with his toe and fall head-first onto the cement sidewalk. On November 20 I emailed the Summit HOA's office and suggested they contact AT&T and request that the wire be secured and pedestrians protected. There was no acknowledgement or reply. Today I emailed the board and asked them to ask the office to take care of it. I also asked if there was a reason that the office had not replied to me. Now, read this response from the HOA: "I don't consider this a risk to the association nor [ sic ] the association's responsibility. If anything, the responsibility is all on...

Twitter reinstated Donald Trump's account after a short survey: "Reinstate former President Trump: Yes or No," the poll simply asked. " On June 6, 2020 I was tossed into Twitter Jail for tweeting to Michael Smerconish during his Saturday show on protests in Spokane and Portland.  What was my offensive tweet? "Stores should be defended. Looters should be shot." The Woke censors at Twitter didn't like it. I won't retract my tweet, so I sit in Twitter Jail. OK, here's my survey: Reinstate Gus Philpott? Yes or No I'll send the results to Elon Musk.

Did you see the FoxNews article about the $2,000,000 gone from a Florida HOA and the arrests of five people? I have urged the Summit's board of directors to conduct a forensic audit of the HOA's financials, but they refuse to do so. I'm not the only one who thinks this would be a good idea. George Reynolds was the long-time Treasurer of the HOA who died in office in February 2021. That event should have triggered a forensic audit. Then, in 2021, the HOA had three treasurers. Reynolds (Jan.-Apr.); Paul Hill (May - Nov.); Vernell Butler (Dec. - present). Three treasurers in one year ought to trigger a forensic audit. I am contacting the District 79 State Representative, Ivory Thigpen, this week to discuss his proposing new legislation that will give the State of South Carolina the authority to investigate HOAs that do not comply with their By-Laws. You can guess who the prime candidate will be for First to be Investigated. Currently, the S.C. Department of Consumer Affairs (D...

All Summit HOA homeowners should examine the 2023 Budget. One of the glaring errors in the 2021 and 2022 Budgets has been fixed - sort of. But it's still not right. Can you spot it? Here goes: Total Assessment Income is $1,262,250. The same as in 2022 and 2021. At first glance, that is as it should be. Dues have not gone up. BUT the number of homes has changed. On April 8, 2022 I learned from the CAMS office that there are 2,480 homes in The Summit. (I had asked because Treasurer Vernell Butler had told the board that there were 2,800 homes.) How much should the dues income be? 2,480 x $510 = $1,264,800. $1,262,250 / $510 = 2,475 homes. Is income from five homes missing? The HOA receives money from fines for Violations. Why are fines in 2023 expected to increase 121% ? Line Item 4600 was increased from $28,000 to $62,000! Grab your wallets, folks! Last year Line Item 6500, $140,000, was under Salaries. I complained that the HOA can't list anything under Salaries, because it doe...