August 2017 ocean pines progress by Ocean Pines Progress

August 2017

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THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY

Parks, Horn elected; Clarke falls short Trendic position on board strengthened; ouster efforts lose traction By TOM STAUSS Publisher oug Parks and Dr. Colette Horn were elected to the Board of Directors in results announced at the annual meeting of the Ocean Pines Association Aug. 12 at the Ocean Pines Community Center. Parks, an appointed member of the board this past year, was the top vote-getter this summer with 1,912 votes. His victory probably reflects appreciation of his role this past year as a mediator and peace-maker between competing board factions. Elections Committee Chair Steve Tuttle said 3,491 ballots were counted compared to the more than 7400 ballots that were mailed out. Of those counted, 40 were disqualified because the ballots showed votes for three candidates. Only two board seats were contested this summr. Horn, with 1,647 votes, outpolled the third-place finisher, former director Martin D. Clarke, with 1,579 votes. The spread between the two was 68 votes. Nicole Crosariol came in fourth with 1,407. Clarke, who refrained from erecting yard signs or sending mailings

Doug Parks

Colette Horn

to property owners in the way he has in past runs for the board, may have hurt his candidacy by seeming to align himself with a board faction that was determined to oust Director Slobodan Trendic in recent months. He also posted a message on oceanpinesforum.com in which he seemed to suggest that any OPA employee filing a formal complaint against a superior was effectively resigning his or her position. That remark was widely panned by others on the forum. The election of Parks and Horn would appear to end any possibility that Trendic’s chief adversaries on the board, Tom Herrick and Brett Hill, will have the votes to remove Trendic from the board. Horn ran

SUMMER

with the lowkey support of Trendic, and Parks showed no interest in attending a meeting of the board prior to the election in which Trendic’s possible ouster as a director would be discussed. It’s likely the matter won’t even be raised after the new board organizes later this month. Trendic told the Progress after the conclusion of the annual meeting that he doubted the board, in the weeks prior to the scheduled arrival of a new general manager Sept. 11, would be interested in removing Hill as acting general manager. Trendic pushed for that in recent months, with no more success than Hill’s attempts to have Trendic removed as a director. With the election over, and a new general manager arriving soon, there are prospects that the bitter infighting of recent months will recede. In a brief interview with the Progress after the meeting, Horn said her focus the next year would be reviewing and updating board resolutions and to review and draft conflict of interest policies that apTo Page 28

OPA on ‘fire watch’ at Country Club due to renovation snafu

During demolition work on the interior second floor of the Ocean Pines Country Club, a fire suppression company apparently working under the supervision of the Public Works Department, removed the fire suppression system, without the knowledge or permission of the county fire marshal. The fire marshal cut Ocean Pines a break, allowing activities on the lower level to continue uninterrupted so long as a Public Works employee remains on the upper level whenever the building is occupied, on what’s called a fire watch.

~ Page 5

Bailey hired as new general manager, starts Sept. 11

Acting General Manager Brett Hill’s tumultuous year as acting General Manager of the Ocean Pines Association is drawing to a close, with the recent announcement that John Bailey, with more than ten years’ experience managing two other large homeowner associations, has been hired to serve as the OPA’s new general manager. Bailey also has had several years in municipal government. His first official day as the new general manager will be Sept. 11. ~ Page 10

Options to restore adults-only Oasis pool not promising

The days of an adults-only Oasis swimming pool at the Ocean Pines Yacht Club are over, and it doesn’t look they’re coming back anytime soon. Probably never. Officially, the adults-only use policy is suspended, in accordance with a motion passed by the Board of Directors in a special meeting July 9. ~ Page 30

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BJ’s Wholesale Club, in partnership with the Ocean Pines Association, donated $530 to the Worcester County Veterans Memorial at Ocean Pines as a part of its spring 2017 membership offer. BJ’s donated $5 of each membership fee paid as a part of the promotion to the foundation in addition to offering special beneﬁts for new and renewing club members. Denise Sawyer, left, director of marketing and public relations for the Ocean Pines Association, presented a check to Marie Gilmore, president of the Worcester County Veterans Memorial Foundation, on July 11.

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Country Club renovation behind schedule, on ‘fire watch’ costing hundreds per day Board approves emergency design contract, may award ‘not to exceed’ building contract to Willow Construction By Rota L. Knott Contributing Writer hile the proverb says, “fire, water, and government know nothing of mercy,” it seems in Ocean Pines, government knows little of fire and water. It has received mercy in good measure from the Worcester County Fire Marshal. During demolition work on the interior second floor of the Country Club, a Salisbury-based fire suppression company working under the supervision of the Ocean Pines Public Works Department removed the fire suppression system, without the knowledge or permission of the fire marshal. Had the fire marshal’s office been asked to sign off on the removal, permission never would have been given.

The result of the unauthorized removal of the sprinkler equipment could have been closure of the building. Instead, the fire marshal cut Ocean Pines a break, allowing activities on the lower level to continue uninterrupted so long as a Public Works employee remains on the upper level whenever the building is occupied, on what’s called a fire watch. As of Aug. 12, OPA President Dave Stevens said the fire watch remains in effect. Surefire, of Salisbury, the company responsible for removing the sprinkler system as part of the second floor demolition earlier this year, submitted to the fire marshal via email plans for repositioning sprinklers on the upper level of the Country Club on Aug. 9. “Even that’s not the way it’s normally done,” Stevens told the Prog-

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ress. “Normally, hard copies of installation plans have to be submitted, not email copies.” He said the willingness of the fire marshal to review plans not delivered in the normal way is just more proof of how much the county is willing to work with the OPA Stevens had been hoping that the fire marshal would approve the plans no later than the end of the week, Aug. 11, so Surefire could reinstall the sprinklers at its expense as soon as possible thereafter. Acting General Manager Brett Hill, in a late-beaking development Aug. 11, said the fire marshal approved the reinstllation plans earlier in the day. So it appears that reinstallation of the sprinklers could occur the week of Aug. 14, should the OPA decide to pull the trigger on them. But Hill said his preference would to be wait for submission of engineering designs for the second floor project by George, Myles and Buhr, a local engineering firm, before authorizing installation of the sprinklers. “I’ve been told we will have them next week (the week of Aug. 13), in which case our contractor could begin construction right away, and that means sprinklers could be installed by Surefire soon after. But that would require authorization by the Board of Directors,

and Hill declined to predict how the board will react so soon after this summer’s election. Hill said he’s been hearing from GMB that the engineering specs would be ready literally for months, and it hasn’t happened to date. He said that GMB engineers visited the site Aug. 10 and promised a quick turn-around on the engineering specs. Hill’s frustration at the delay was apparent when he updated the directors on the status of the project at the July 28 regular montly board meeting. He presented a motion for approval of an emergency design-build contract for the reconstruction of the Country Club’s upper floor as a way of completing the project faster than having it done in-house by the OPA’s Public Work’s Department. “We were notified last week by the fire marshal that we had violated the terms of our demolition permit that our in-house staff was performing and that they exceeded the scope of the permit. And the building is no longer under fire protection,” he told fellow directors during the July 28 regular monthly meeting of the board. Because of the violation, the fire marshal required the OPA to have Public Works staff on site to monitor the building whenever the building is in use, at a cost of about $500 per day. Failure to adhere to that requirement would have resulted in a fine of $1,000 per day. “We’re just in a bad position,” Hill said. “Any delays are further going to add to the cost of the project” whether the OPA continues using 

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From Page 5

“They’re trying to be a partner with us. Out of respect for who we are.” But, the fire watches were mandatory and any discrepancies would have resulted in a shutdown of the whole building, he said. “At this point we are unable to obtain permits for actual construction on our own,” Hill told the board. It was a very forthright admission that using Public Works staff for the second floor renovation, the plan he announced earlier this year as a way of saving the OPA money over hiring an outside contractor, was not going to work. While Public Works did major renovation work at the Country Club’s lower level this winter, expanding the Tern Grill and redoing the men’s locker room, the staff has yet to complete the renovation of the women’s locker room. Given other maintenance projects and increased summertime work loads, it became evident that Public Works staff would be unable to start work on the second floor of the facility this

summer as Hill had envisioned. “Given that this project is now in its fifth month with virtually no activity outside of demolition that has caused us violations with the county,” he asked to board to allow him to hire Willow Construction to do the work at an estimated cost of $536,500 for both the design and construction of the improvements. Willow was the contractor that did major renovations to the Beach Club this spring prior to the reopening of that amenity in May. Hill later told the Progress that his plan is to amend the Beach Club contract with Willow to allow the company to design and engineer the second floor renovations based on floor plans that were initially released last fall and amended this past winter. Phase two, which has not yet been authorized by the Board of Directors, will be to authorize Willow to proceed with reconstruction in a contract with a cap on construction costs. The OPA had budgeted $417,000 in fiscal year 2018 for the renovations to the Country Club’s second floor to accommodate additional

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meeting space. Another $60,000 was carried over from FY17 for HVAC work. So using Willow for both and construction would result in a budgetary cost overrun of just less than $60,000. The contractor has agreed to have the work completed within a 90-day timeframe after a construction contract is signed. Hill said as soon as the OPA signs a contract for the work, that company would assume the responsibility for the fire watch until the new fire suppression system is installed and functioning. According to Stevens, that plan has been modified so that Surefire reinstalls the sprinkler system as soon as the fire marshal signs off on fire suppression plans. Once the sprinklers are reinstalled, the fire watch will no longer be necessary, Stevens said. Director Slobodan Trendic initially balked at Hill’s motion, saying he has just received information about the problem and the proposed contract, for which there was no scope of work presented. He was stumped as to why the OPA would proceed with

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demolition without having plans for the reconstruction. “It sounds like this project really just wasn’t properly planned,” Trendic said, suggesting the postponement of Hill’s motion to a future meeting. Stevens was opposed to waiting. “If we table it, we’re putting it off to some indefinite time for no definite reason as far as I can tell,” he said, adding that didn’t want to postpone consideration of the motion because the project is already well behind schedule. “We want to get this thing moving,” he said, adding, “It will cost us money for every day that we wait.” Stevens said it’s unfortunate the OPA is in this position, “but we are. And we have a good solution in front of us.” Director Tom Herrick also had concerns about tabling the motion because it would result in project delays. Based on the original timeline for the work, he said the OPA had anticipated being able to hold that July 28 board meeting in the renovated Country Club. Instead,

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the responsibility for the fire watch until the new fire suppression system is installed and functioning. Director Slobodan Trendic initially balked at Hill’s motion, saying he has just received information about the problem and the proposed contract, for which there was no scope of work presented. He was stumped as to why the OPA would proceed with demolition without having plans for the reconstruction. “It sounds like this project really just wasn’t properly planned,” Trendic said, suggesting the postponement of Hill’s motion to a future meeting. Stevens was opposed to waiting. “If we table it, we’re putting it off to some indefinite time for no definite reason as far as I can tell,” he said, adding that he didn’t want to postpone consideration of the motion because the project is already well behind schedule. “We want to get this thing moving,” he said, adding, “It will cost us money for every day that we wait.”

Stevens said it’s unfortunate the OPA is in this position, “but we are. And we have a good solution in front of us.” Director Tom Herrick also had concerns about tabling the motion because it would result in project delays. Based on the original timeline for the work, he said the OPA had anticipated being able to hold that July 28 board meeting in the renovated Country Club. Instead, the project was put off for months with no discernible progress since the demolition several months ago. “We agreed on the project. We’re in an emergency situation. It’s not that much of a difference from the numbers that are being shown to us. We can get it done within a couple months” by adopting the Hill solution, he said. He added that delaying the work means the difference between incurring more costs to maintain the fire watch or generating revenue from food and beverage sales. He said the renovations need to be completed so the upper floor of the County Club can be used for dining events during the winter months.

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Director Cheryl Jacobs said she, too, wanted to move forward with the work, but was not convinced the contractor’s estimate for the work would hold true. “I’m not at all comfortable that this is going to be the final number. We’ve already deviated over $100,000 from what we thought it was going to be. And while I am still in favor, certainly, of going forward and completing this project, it is just turning out to be just what I thought it could very well be – and

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that is once you start tearing the walls apart, doing other things, it’s going to cost more than what we thought it would.” The OPA needs to keep moving forward on the work, Director Pat Supik said. “I guess the dollar amount is high.” She wondered whether “there is any room for ... some negotiation” with the contractor. Jacobs wanted to know if the contractor would commit to its estimatq

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ed price tag. Hill initially said that renegotiation isn’t possible for a design-build contract. Final design, construction specifications, and materials could all affect the pricing. “We don’t have engineering to give them to tell them what exactly they’re building. And that’s part of the process,” he said. Jacobs said then she couldn’t vote for the motion as presented. She asked Hill when a firm contract amount would be available. Herrick suggested the board approve the contract contingent on receipt of a final project budget, but sensing that his motion might fail, Hill then offered an alternative. He suggested that the OPA could hire Willow Construction to complete only the design work at this time. Then based on that design, the company could provide a cost estimate for the actual construction. If its estimate is higher than that proposed budget of $536,500, then the OPA could solicit a request for proposals for the work, Hill said. Supik said that would mean in-

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curring additional costs to get to the next step. “But I don’t know that there’s an alternative to that. I don’t think there is,” she said, adding that the board has to approve whatever action is needed to get to next step in the construction process. “Otherwise the building is just sitting there.” Following extensive discussion, the board voted to approve a not-toexceed contract of $15,000 with Willow Construction for design of the second floor renovation, including a new fire suppression system at the Country Club. Directors also asked that the designs be completed within a week so they could conduct an email vote on whether to proceed with signing the contract for construction as well. The construction contract will include a not-to-exceed provision, Stevens told the Progress. As this edition of the Progress was going to press, Willow had not yet completed the detailed engineering designs for the building. Hill said he and Willow have opted to give GMB a short time window to complete the engineering. Next steps are contingent on when and if GMB delivers.

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Salary comes in under advertised salary range, Trendic confirms By TOM STAUSS Publisher cting General Manager Brett Hill’s tumultuous year as acting General Manager of the Ocean Pines Association is drawing to a close, with the recent announcement that John Bailey, with more than ten years’ experience managing two other large homeowner associations, has been hired to serve as the OPA’s new general manager. Bailey also has had several years in municipal government. His first official day as the new general manager will be Sept. 11, according to a recent OPA press release, but it is assumed that he probably will be seen in and around Ocean Pines before his first official day. Bailey, who sources say will receive an annual salary less than the $150,000 to $170,000 range advertised for the position in various trade publications, most recently has been the general manager of the Skyline Plaza condomnium in Falls Church, Va., in the vicinity of Bailey’s Crossroads. OPA Director Slobodan Trendic told the Progress the contract differs substantially from the one enjoyed by the OPA’s last professional general manager, Bob Thompson, whose six-year contract with the OPA was terminated in August of last year. Because of a nine-month severance clause, Thompson was in effect paid during much of Hill’s unpaid oneyear tenure as acting GM. Trendic said the severance package is much less generous than Thompson’s, In addition, the contract with Bailey does not contain bonus clauses that boosted Thompson’s compensation in his last year as general manager to more than $200,000, a fact that became extremely controversial in last summer’s board election and was a factor in the new board’s decision to terminate Thompson’s contract. Trendic said he thought the more reasonable terms of Bailey’s contract should make it easier for him to assume the mantle of the OPA’s chief executive. He will be stepping in to take over from Hill, who started out with a lot of substantive accomplishments in the first six months or so with a reasonably united board. The

era of good feelings more recently has been nowhere in evidence. Bailey will be moving into an executive position working with a board that lately has been beset with bickering and infighting. In a recent telephone interview with the Progress, Herrick said Bai-

ley will be facing the challenge of dealing with a board that Herrick said had become toxic and dysfunctional. He said he, Hill and Stevens continue to believe that Trendic, who he said has been relentless in his criticism of Hill’s tenure as acting gen-

eral manager, should be removed from the board as a way of avoiding future problems for Bailey, the new general manager. “If Trendic does to him (Bailey) what he’s been doing to Hill of late, we’re not going to be able to keep him as a general manager,” Herrick contended, suggesting that Trendic’s ouster and replacement with a more moderate director will make it possible for Bailey and the board to work together and heal the divisions in Ocean Pines. q

Bailey hired as new general manager, first official day with OPA is Sept. 11

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General manager From Page 11

Trendic not too surprisingly regards Hill as the individual most responsible for the toxic political environment. He predicted a major improvement in OPA governance with Bailey’s arrival, noting that, as part of the GM candidate vetting process leading up to a hiring decision, department heads were asked to rate the candidates. Trendic said that Bailey, the board’s first choice as GM, also was the candidate most preferred by department heads, which he said bodes well for an improvement in employee morale. Hill said claims by Trendic and Jacobs of severe morale problems within the OPA have been exaggerated. “A lot of employees like me,” he said. He acknowledged that he has been willing to change procedures during his tenure, which has been upsetting to some. Bailey also will be facing in his new role as general manager the challenge of dealing with financial

results for the first two months of the 2017-18 fiscal year, May and June, that seem problematic at best. He will be inheriting an operating deficit of $300,720 through June, and a Yacht Club food and beverage operation that lost $115,000 in June. July results will be published the third week or so of August, well before Bailey’s arrival on the job in September, so it’s possible that better results in July will pave the way to improved performance the rest of the fiscal year. Some directors and some candidates for the board this summer have been supportive of either closing down the Yacht Club after the summer season or leasing it to a private restaurateur next year, or both. Bailey perhaps will be asked to weigh in on this potentially contentious issue soon after he arrives in Ocean Pines. According to the condo’s Web site, Bailey has had experience managing a diverse range of amenities, including fitness centers, and outdoor swimming pool, billiards room, party and card rooms, and media rooms. To Page 14

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Seafood • Steak • Pasta Dine In or Carry Out Mon-WedF F Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner $3AO y n 2 Breakfast Served All Day

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APPETIZERS

WINGS Hot, Mild, BBQ or Naked with blue cheese or ranch dressing 10 PIECE $8.02 ~ 20 PIECE $14.86 FRIED SEAFOOD MIX 1 pc. fish chip, clam strips, 3 butterfly shrimp with cocktail sauce $8.25 APPETIZER COMBO 3 mozzarella sticks, 3 jalapeno poppers & 3 chicken tenders with marinara sauce $8.25 CHICKEN TENDERS (5) $6.13 (10) $11.79 with honey mustard or BBQ sauce MOZZARELLA STICKS (6) with side marinara sauce $6.13 JALAPENO POPPERS (6) with side marinara sauce $6.13 ONION RINGS $4.95 CHEESE QUESADILLA with sour cream $5.90 STEAK FRIES French fries, steak, cheddar cheese sauce & pizza cheese $7.08 MEGA FRIES French fries, bacon, cheddar cheese sauce & pizza cheese $7.08 CHEESE FRIES French fries with cheddar cheese sauce $4.01 FRENCH FRIES SM $2.12, LRG $2.83, with GRAVY SM $2.59, LRG $3.30 GARLIC BREAD with side marinara sauce $1.89 6 PC. BUTTERFLY SHRIMP with cocktail sauce $6.13 POPCORN SHRIMP with cocktail sauce $6.13 CLAM STRIPS with cocktail sauce $6.13 STEAMED SHRIMP ½ LB. $7.78, 1 LB. $12.97 HOMEMADE SOUP $3.77

FRESH SALADS

GREEK SALAD Romaine, feta cheese, tomato, cucumber, onions, green peppers & egg $8.96 PHILLY STEAK Iceberg, croutons, tomato, gr. peppers, cucumber, onions, mushroom, egg & cheese blend $9.43 GRILLED OR CRISPY OR BLACKENED OR BUFFALO CHICKEN SALAD Iceberg, croutons, tomato, cucumber, onions, egg, green peppers & cheese blend $8.96 CHEF SALAD Turkey, ham, swiss cheese, iceberg, green peppers, croutons, tomato, cucumber, onions, egg, gr. peppers & cheese blend $8.96 CAESAR SALAD Romaine, croutons, cheese blend & tomato served with garlic bread $6.84 ~ Add grilled or crispy chicken $8.96 • Add grilled shrimp $9.91 COBB SALAD Romaine, tomato, pecan, onions, bacon, egg & bleu cheese $7.78 Add grilled or crispy chicken $9.91 ~ Add grilled shrimp $10.85 SPINACH SALAD Spinach, mushroom, pecan, onions & feta cheese $7.55 Add grilled or crispy chicken $9.67 Add grilled shrimp $10.62 TUNA SALAD OVER SALAD Iceberg, croutons, tomato, cucumber, onions, green peppers, egg & cheese blend $8.96 CHICKEN SALAD OVER SALAD Iceberg, croutons, tomato, cucumber, onions, green peppers, egg & cheese blend $8.49 GARDEN SALAD Iceberg, croutons, tomato, cucumber, onions, green peppers, egg & cheese blend $6.84 TOSSED SALAD Iceberg, croutons, tomato, cucumber, green peppers & onions $3.77

WRAPS ~ $8.49 ~ Served with fries or soup

CHEESE STEAK Steak, American cheese lettuce, tomato, mayo CHICKEN CHEESE STEAK Grilled chicken yellow American cheese, lettuce, tomato & mayo CHICKEN CAESAR Grilled chicken, pizza cheese, romaine lettuce & Caesar dressing BUFFALO CHICKEN Grilled chicken, hot sauce & ranch BBQ CHICKEN Grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato, BBQ sauce CRISPY CHICKEN Breaded chicken, lettuce, tomato & honey mustard dressing SOUTH GATE Grilled chicken, salsa, lettuce FLORENTINE Grilled chicken, spinach, mushroom & feta ITALIAN Ham, capicola, genoa salami, lettuce, tomato, onion, provolone cheese & Italian dressing BLT Bacon, lettuce, tomato & mayo CHICKEN SALAD Chicken salad, lettuce, tomato & mayo TUNA SALAD Tuna salad, lettuce, tomato & mayo SHRIMP SALAD Lettuce & tomato

MELTS ~ $8.96 ~ Served with Fries of Soup

CRAB MELT Fried crab cakes, tomato & provolone cheese on English muffin REUBEN MELT Corned beef, sauerkraut, Russian dressing & Swiss cheese on grilled rye TUNA MELT Tuna salad, tomato & Swiss on grilled rye CHICKEN CORDON BLEU Grilled chicken breast, ham & swiss on a hamburger roll ROAST BEEF MELT Roast beef, cole slaw, thousand island & Swiss cheese on grilled rye TURKEY MELT Turkey, cole slaw, thousand island & Swiss cheese on grilled rye PATTY MELT Hamburger, mushroom, onion & Swiss cheese on grilled rye CRAB CAKE SANDWICH (FRIED) Crab cake, lettuce,tomato on hamburger roll FRENCH DIP Tender roast beef on garlic bread with Swiss cheese & side cup of au jus

COLD SUBS ~ $8.25 ~ Served with Fries or Soup

ROAST BEEF Roast beef, lettuce, tomato & mayo HAM & CHEESE Ham, American cheese, tomato, mayo CHEF’S COLD CUT Ham, turkey, yellow American cheese, lettuce, tomato & mayo DELI LAND CUT Roast beef, turkey, lettuce, tomato, mayo & provolone TURKEY SUB Turkey, lettuce, tomato & mayo ITALIAN COLD CUT Ham, capicola, genoa salami, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato & onion CHICKEN SALAD lettuce & tomato TUNA SALAD lettuce & tomato SHRIMP SALAD lettuce & tomato VEGGIE SUB Lettuce, tomato, onions, sweet peppers, olives & Swiss cheese

HAND-CRAFTED ½ POUND FRESH BURGERS ~ Served with Fries or Soup

HAMBURGER Lettuce & tomato $6.60 CHEESEBURGER Yellow American cheese, lettuce & tomato $7.08 BACON CHEESEBURGER Bacon, yellow American cheese, lettuce & tomato $8.25 DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER Yellow American cheese, lettuce & tomato $8.96 ITALIAN BURGER Marinara sauce & provolone cheese $8.25 GARDEN BURGER Lettuce & burger (no bun) $6.60

Abi’s DINER

DELUXE CHEESEBURGER Mushrooms, sweet peppers, onion & provolone cheese $7.55 REUBEN BURGER Sauerkraut, Russian dressing & Swiss cheese $7.78 GRILLED OR CRISPY CHICKEN SANDWICH Lettuce, tomato & mayo on a hamburger roll $7.31

CLUBS ~ $8.96 ~ Includes Soup or Fries

Clubs made with lettuce, tomato, mayo & bacon on three pieces of toast

CHEF’S CLUB Turkey, ham & yellow American cheese CHEESEBURGER CLUB • GRILLED CHICKEN CLUB • CHEESE STEAK CLUB TURKEY CLUB • ROAST BEEF CLUB • HAM & SWISS CLUB DELI LAND CLUB Roast beef, turkey & provolone THREE MEAT CLUB Roast beef, turkey, ham CHICKEN SALAD CLUB • TUNA SALAD CLUB

BASKETS ~ $9.67 ~ All baskets served with French fries and one side

FRIED CHICKEN BASKET breast, thigh, wing and leg CLAM STRIP BASKET • FRIED SHRIMP BASKET • CHICKEN TENDER BASKET • BUTTERFLY SHRIMP BASKET • FISH & CHIP BASKET (Pollock)

HOT SUBS~ $8.49

CHEESE STEAK Steak and yellow American cheese CHICKEN CHEESE STEAK Grilled chicken, American CHEESEBURGER SUB Burger & yellow American cheese ITALIAN SAUSAGE Hot Italian sausage, green pepper, onions, marinara sauce & pizza cheese MEATBALL PARMESAN Meatball, marinara & pizza cheese CHICKEN PARMESAN Breaded chicken, marinara sauce & pizza cheese EGGPLANT PARMESAN Breaded eggplant, marinara sauce & pizza cheese STEAK PARMESAN Steak, marinara sauce & pizza cheese SHRIMP PARMESAN Breaded butterfly shrimp, marinara sauce & pizza cheese CRISPY CHICKEN Breaded chicken, cheese sauce, lettuce, tomato FRIED FLOUNDER Fried flounder lettuce & tomato GYRO (BEEF OR CHICKEN) With lettuce, tomato, onions & homemade tzatziki sauce ABI’S CHEESE STEAK Steak, mushrooms, fried onion, sweet peppers & yellow American cheese $8.96 ABI’S CHICKEN CHEESE Grilled chicken, mushrooms, fried onions, sweet peppers & American cheese $8.96

HOT OR COLD SANDWICHES ~ Served with Fries or Soup

August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPEN EVERY DAY 7 AM

410-973-2139

10514 Racetrack Road,Suite H Ocean Pines

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STUFFED CHICKEN BREAST Stuffed with homemade crab stuffing & covered in alfredo sauce $14.86 CHICKEN FLORENTINE Stuffed with spinach and feta cheese and covered in alfredo sauce $12.97 PRIME RIB 8 oz. cooked to serve $12.97 NY STRIP STEAK 8 oz. cooked to serve $12.97 COUNTRY FRIED STEAK Served with white gravy $12.97 HAMBURGER STEAK 12 oz. w/fried onions & gravy $12.50 ABI’S SOUTH STEAK 12 oz. served with fried onion, green pepper, cheddar cheese & BBQ sauce $12.97 STUFFED PORK CHOPS Stuffed with bread stuffing and covered with gravy $12.97 PORK CHOPS (FRIED OR BOILED) Covered with gravy $11.79 VEAL CUTLETS (FRIED) covered with gravy $11.79 ABI’S CHICKEN BREAST Melted 3 cheese (American, provolone, Swiss) and covered with gravy $11.31 LIVER & ONIONS with gravy $11.31 HOT ROAST BEEF PLATTER with gravy $11.31 HOT ROAST TURKEY PLATTER with gravy $11.31 GRILLED CHICKEN BREAST over rice with 1 side $11.31

BREAKFAST

All egg platters come with home fries and toast

1 EGG $4.01 ~ with your choice of breakfast meat $6.13 2 EGGS $4.72 ~ with your choice of breakfast meat $6.84 3 EGGS $5.42 ~ with your choice of breakfast meat $7.55 STEAK & EGG 8 OZ. NY STRIP $11.79 COUNTRY BENEDICT 2 poached eggs, sausage on English muffin topped with country gravy $8.49 CREAMED CHIPPED BEEF over toast or biscuit $7.78 SAUSAGE GRAVY over toast or biscuit $7.78

BREAKFAST SANDWICHES

Made with 2 fried eggs and choice of bread or toast, wheat, white, rye. Bagel add $1.00

Egg & Cheese $2.83 • Sausage, Egg & Cheese $4.95 • Bacon, Egg & Cheese $4.95 Ham, Egg & Cheese $4.95 • Scrapple, Egg & Cheese $4.95

FRENCH TOAST/HOT CAKES

B.L.T. SANDWICH Bacon lettuce, tomato & mayo on two pieces toast $6.37 CORNED BEEF Grilled corned beef on grilled rye $7.78 GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH Yellow American cheese and grilled white bread $5.66 Add tomato bacon or ham for $1.18 extra ROAST BEEF Roast beef, lettuce, tomato & mayo $6.84 HAM & SWISS Ham, Swiss, lettuce, tomato & mayo $6.84 CHEF’S COLD CUT Ham, turkey, yellow American cheese, lettuce, tomato & mayo $6.84 TURKEY Turkey, lettuce, tomato & mayo $6.84 CHICKEN SALAD Lettuce & tomato $6.13 TUNA SALAD Lettuce & tomato $6.84 SHRIMP SALAD Lettuce & tomato $6.84

1SINGLE STACK (1 PIECE) ............................................................................................ $3.77 Add only 2 eggs ................................................................................................................. $4.95 Add only breakfast meat .................................................................................................... $5.90 Add 2 eggs & breakfast meat ............................................................................................ $6.84 SHORT STACK (2 PIECE) ....................................................................................... $5.42 Add only 2 eggs ..................................................................................................................$6.37 Add only breakfast meat .................................................................................................... $7.55 Add 2 eggs & breakfast meat ............................................................................................ $8.49 FULL STACK (3 PIECE) ........................................................................................... $6.13 Add only 2 eggs ................................................................................................................. $7.08 Add only breakfast meat .................................................................................................... $8.25 Add 2 eggs & breakfast meat ............................................................................................. $8.96 ADD TOPPINGS $1.42 (strawberry or blueberry or cherry)

ITALIAN DINNERS

BREAKFAST SIDES

~ Served with garlic bread and salad or soup

SEAFOOD PARADISE Shrimp, scallop & crab meat in alfredo sauce over ziti $15.94 SHRIMP SCALLOP STIR FRY Shrimp, scallops and mix vegetable in teriyaki sauce over rice or linguini $14.86 SHRIMP AFREDO Shrimp in alfredo sauce over linguini $13.92 SHRIMP SCAMPI Shrimp in butter-lemon sauce over linguini $12.97 CHICKEN MARYLAND Chicken & crab meat in butter-lemon sauce over linguini $14.86 CHICKEN STIR FRY Chicken and mix vegetable in teriyaki sauce over choice of rice or linguini $13.92 CHICKEN MARSALA Chicken in mushroom marsala wine sauce over linguini $13.82 CHICKEN ALFREDO Chicken in alfredo sauce over linguini $12.97 CHICKEN SCAMPI Chicken in butter-lemon sauce over linguini $12.27 SHRIMP PARMESAN $13.92 CHICKEN LEONARDO PARMESAN Fried onion, green pepper, mushroom & melted cheese $12.97 PASTA COMBO Ziti, stuffed shells, manicotti, cheese ravioli, meatball & melted cheese $11.79 VEAL PARMESAN $12.50 • CHICKEN PARMESAN $12.50 EGGPLANT PARMESAN $11.79 • HOMEMADE MEAT LASAGNA $10.85 ZITI PARMESAN $9.91 • STUFFED SHELLS PARMESAN $9.91 MANICOTTI PARMESAN $9.91 • CHEESE RAVIOLI PARMESAN $9.91 SPAGHETTI WITH MARINARA $8.96 • SPAGHETTI WITH MUSHROOMS $9.91 SPAGHETTI WITH MEAT SAUCE 10.85 • SPAGHETTI WITH MEAT BALLS $10.85 SPAGHETTI WITH SAUSAGE $10.85 • SPAGHETTI WITH ALFREDO $10.14

ENTRÉE DINNERS

All dinners come with your choice of two sides: side salad, cup of soup, vegetable of the day, French fries, baked or mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, cole slaw, potato salad, beets & applesauce SEAFOOD COMBO (FRIED OR BROILED) Flounder, crab cake, shrimp & scallops $21.93 SEAFOOD DREAM Crab meat, shrimp & scallops broiled with provolone cheese $17.92 SEAFOOD TRIO (FRIED OR BROILED) Flounder, shrimp & scallops $16.98 STUFFED FLOUNDER with homemade crab stuffing $16.98 STUFFED SHRIMP with homemade crab stuffing $16.98 STUFFED SCALLOPS w/homemade crab stuffing $16.98 CRAB CAKE (FRIED OR BROILED) $16.98 SCALLOPS (FRIED OR BROILED) $16.98 FLOUNDER (FRIED OR BROILED) $14.86 SHRIMP (FRIED OR BROILED) $14.86 SURF AND TURF (New York or prime rib) & (crab cake or scallop or shrimp) $18.87

CUP OF CREAM CHIPPED BEEF ..............................................................................$4.95 CUP OF SAUSAGE GRAVY ...................................................................................... $4.95 MEAT CHOICES: bacon, sausage, scrapple, ham, hot Italian sausage or pork roll ............ $2.59 BAGEL ............................................................................................................................... $2.12 WITH CREAM CHEESE $2.59 TOAST: white, wheat, rye, English muffin, biscuit .............................................................. $1.18 HOME FRIES $2.12 • GRITS $2.12

OMELETS

All omelets made with 3 XL eggs, home fries and toast included

CHEESE OMELET .................................................................................................... $6.37 WESTERN OMELET ................................................................................................ $7.55 VEGETABLE OMELET ............................................................................................. $7.55 FLORENTINE OMELET ............................................................................................ $7.55 COUNTRY OMELET ................................................................................................. $7.78 MEAT LOVERS OMELET ......................................................................................... $7.78 CRAB OMELET ...................................................................................................... $10.85 SHRIMP OMELET..................................................................................................... $9.91 SEAFOOD OMELET ............................................................................................... $10.85 ADD MEAT FOR $1.18

BEVERAGES

SODA (free refill) ................................................................................................................$2.12 ICE TEA (free refill) ............................................................................................................ $1.89 CHOCOLATE MILK .......................................................................................................... $2.36 COFFEE (free refill) ............................................................................................................ $1.65 HOT TEA ............................................................................................................................ $1.65 MILK OR JUICE .......................................................................... SMALL $2.12 ~ LARGE $2.59 JUICE CHOICE: orange, apple, grape, cranberry and V8

Kids menu available with adult entrees Like Us

August 2017 2017 August

By TOM TOM STAUSS STAUSS By Publisher Publisher cting General General Manager Manager Brett Brett cting Hill is not prepared to abanHill is not prepared to abandon the the 20 20 percent percent discount discount don available to residents who purchase available to residents who purchase food and and drinks drinks at at the the Ocean Ocean Pines’ Pines’ food restaurant venues, despite indicarestaurant venues, despite indications that that the the policy policy has has not not proprotions duced the revenue increases that duced the revenue increases that he had had hoped hoped they they would would when when the the he discounts were implemented earlier discounts were implemented earlier this year. year. this Hill told the the Progress Progress in in an an Aug. Aug. Hill told 2 telephone interview that the 20 2 telephone interview that the 20 percent discount is an operationpercent discount is an operational matter matter that that aa food food and and beverage beverage al consultant could have looked at had had consultant could have looked at the board been willing to accept his the board been willing to accept his recommended vendor at the board’s recommended vendor at the board’s July 29 29 monthly monthly meeting. meeting. July His recommendation fell by by the the His recommendation fell wayside when three directors – Slowayside when three directors – Slobodan Trendic, Trendic, Cheryl Cheryl Jacobs Jacobs and and bodan Pat Supik – indicated that they Pat Supik – indicated that they weren’t inclined inclined to to hire hire aa West West weren’t Coast-based consultant recommendCoast-based consultant recommended by by Hill. Hill. The The recommendation recommendation was was ed offi cially tabled by Hill after the diofficially tabled by Hill after the directors debated whether his motion rectors debated whether his motion should be be included included on on the the approved approved should

Hill not ready to abandon 20 percent discount policy

Says issue issue will will be be pushed pushed off off to to new new board board or or general general manager manager Says agenda for for the the meeting. meeting. The The motion motion agenda to rescind the agenda item failed, to rescind the agenda item failed, but Hill removed it later by saying but Hill removed it later by saying that it it had had been been tabled. tabled. that Hill told the Progress that since since Hill told the Progress that the board, with Director Doug Parks the board, with Director Doug Parks absent, rejected rejected his his proposal proposal for for aa absent, food and beverage consultant, defood and beverage consultant, aa decision on whether to defer the 20 cision on whether to defer the 20 percent discount policy will have to percent discount policy will have to be pushed off to the new board that be pushed off to the new board that organizes in in August August or or to to the the new new organizes general manager whose fi rst day on general manager whose first day on the job is scheduled for Sept. 11. the job is scheduled for Sept. 11. Hill declined declined to to comment comment on on Hill whether the thinks the 20 percent whether the thinks the 20 percent discounts contributed contributed to to losses losses at at discounts the Ocean Pines Yacht Club and the Ocean Pines Yacht Club and Beach Club Club in in June, June, when when both both ameameBeach nities traditionally make money for nities traditionally make money for the OPA. the OPA. “Let aa consultant consultant with with expertise expertise “Let in food and beverage weigh in,” Hill Hill in food and beverage weigh in,” said, noting that neither he nor anysaid, noting that neither he nor any-

one else else on on the the board board has has experience experience one running restaurants. running restaurants. There is is some some indication indication that that the the There 20 percent discount policy, though 20 percent discount policy, though still on on the the books, books, may may not not be be uniunistill formly applied at all of Ocean Pines formly applied at all of Ocean Pines food and and beverage beverage venues. venues. food Former OPA Director Sharyn Former OPA Director Sharyn O’Hare recently informed the ProgO’Hare recently informed the Progress that she was at the Yacht Club ress that she was at the Yacht Club with a large group of people, perwith a large group of people, perhaps 25 individuals, some or most of haps 25 individuals, some or most of whom were not Ocean Pines properwhom were not Ocean Pines property owners owners or or residents. residents. She She said said she she ty picked up the tab for everyone at the picked up the tab for everyone at the table, with the expectation that she table, with the expectation that she would receive receive a a discount discount for for the the enenwould tire check. tire check. She said said it it didn’t didn’t happen. happen. Only Only She her meal was discounted 20 percent, her meal was discounted 20 percent, she said. said. she Unaware that Hill Hill in in announcannouncUnaware that ing the discount policy this past ing the discount policy this past winter said that the 20 percent diswinter said that the 20 percent dis-

OCEAN PINES PINES OCEAN count would would be be applied applied to to any any check check count presented to to aa property property owner owner or or presented resident, even even if if the the table table included included resident, non-residents, O’Hare O’Hare didn’t didn’t protest protest non-residents, when she she didn’t didn’t receive receive the the discount. discount. when “It would would have have saved saved me me aa good good “It bit of of money,” money,” she she said. said. bit Director Slobodan Slobodan Trendic Trendic told told Director the Progress Progress recently recently that that aa neighneighthe bor of of his his told told him him that that aa bartender bartender bor

 q

14 Ocean Ocean Pines Pines PROGRESS PROGRESS 14

General manager From Page 12

He started his career as a golf professional, which should be useful as he inherits a supervisory role over golf operations in Ocean Pines, earlier this year brought back under in-house management. Bailey was one among about 100 candidates reviewed for the position. Herrick told the Progress recently that he is very pleased with the selection of Bailey as the new general manager, but he expressed regret that the process took as long as it did. Supervising was a private head hunting firm that set up a 90-day timetable for selecting a new GM.

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11022 Nicholas Nicholas Lane, Lane, Suite Suite 11 || Ocean Ocean Pines, Pines, MD MD 21811 21811 11022 P: (410) (410) 208-3440 208-3440 || F: F: (410) (410) 208-3505 208-3505 P: tidewaterpt.com || facebook.com/tidewaterphysicaltherapy facebook.com/tidewaterphysicaltherapy tidewaterpt.com

OCEAN PINES

August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Stevens says alternatives to restore adults-only Oasis pool aren’t promising

Discount policy From Page 14 at the Beach Club refused to give his neighbor the discount off his bar tab, lacing his refusal with profanity when the resident insisted that he was due a discount. Trendic went over to the Beach Club a few days later to confront the bartender, who reportedly declined to confirm or deny the neighbor’s account.

Board votes 7-0 to open Yacht Club aquatics amenity to all ages to investigate various alternatives to the new use policy. It was Tucker who suggested an official suspension of adults-only, as a way of reducing the sting of an abrupt change in use policy but also to give him more time to consider alternatives. Among those options were to convert the pool into a private, members-only amenity. This turned out to be a non-starter, as it would run afoul of the OPA’s status as 401(c)(4) “community welfare” organization under the Internal Revenue Code. This status requires amenities to be open to the public. During the board’s regular monthly meeting July 28, newly installed Ocean Pines Association President Dave Stevens said alternatives based on Tucker’s research “don’t look promising,” all but closing the door on the restoration of adults-only use next year. Not everyone on the board is

ready to throw in the towel, however. Director Slobodan Trendic said that before he will concede that adults-only can’t be restored, he wants the OPA to obtain a second opinion from another attorney, contending that the OPA membership opposed to the elimination of adults-only would be more accepting of a legal opinion delivered by someone other than an individual perceived as “Brett’s lawyer.” He was referring to Acting Geneal Manager Brett Hill. The current board majority has no interest in obtaining a second opinion, satisfied with the work Tucker has done on the subject. Depending on the outcome of this summer’ board election – candidate Colette Horn is on record as skeptical of Tucker’s legal opinion – the second opinion option may or may not gain traction.

Stevens rejected the suggestion, made by some opponents of the new use policy, that Tucker is Hill’s attorney. “He’s a very experienced, qualified attorney who works for the same law firm that has been working for the Parke HOA in Ocean Pines,” Stevens said, pushing back against the idea that Hill was instrumental in the hiring of that law firm. In an action that was not publicly acknowledged at the time, the board last year quietly replaced long-time attorney Joseph Moore with Lerch Early as the OPA’s general counsel, although Moore’s firm still handles assessment collection efforts involving court filings. The decision to eliminate adults-only at the Oasis pool was made on a motion offered by Hill in a closed session July 9 in which Tucker participated via telephone. Hill’s motion said that, “after reviewing concerns raised by residents and legal counsel about whether the prohibiting children from using the adults only Yacht Club pool complies with State and Federal law and Ocean Pines’ tax exempt purposes, the prohibition on children using the Yacht Club pool is temporarily q

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he days of an adults-only Oasis swimming pool at the Ocean Pines Yacht Club are over, and it doesn’t look they’re coming back anytime soon. Probably never. Officially, the adults-only use policy is suspended, in accordance with a motion passed by the Board of Directors in a special meeting July 9. But as a practical matter, the suspension is a defacto decision to open the pool to people of all ages, with little or no likelihood that the adults-only policy will be restored. The board had directed the OPA’s attorney, Jeremy Tucker, from the Bethesda-Md law firm Lerch Early,

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Oasis pool From Page 15 suspended to allow time for further review, effective immediately.” As part of the policy, the Oasis Pool will be designated for lap swimming/exercise use by members from 8 -11 a.m. Monday – Sunday, and 4 – 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Three lap lane dividers will be in place during these times. Sunbathing and other activities on the deck can continue as they have in the past, but the pool has been designated for exercise activities during the lap lane hours, which is designed to discourage kids from playing Marco Polo or cannonballing during those times. The lap lane dividers will be removed during recreational swim periods. This new, reduced lap lane policy has generated some push-back among the aquatics membership, who have voiced the hope that actual use of the pool will allow for at least one lap lane at the Oasis pool seven days a week. The Swim and Racquet Club

and Sports Core pools offer multiple lap lanes during all open operating hours for those desiring lap swimming outside of the designated hours at the Oasis Pool. Swim members may use the Sports Core Pool for lap lanes Monday – Friday, starting at 6 a.m. Two lap lanes are available all day at the Swim and Racquet Club Pool, whenever the pool is open. The Swim & Racquet Club Pool and Sports Core Pool are much wider than the Oasis Pool and can support lap swimming during recreational swim periods. When news emerged in late June and early July that Tucker was researching the “adults-only” policy at the Oasis pool, it seemed evident that he was advising the board that its use policy was running afoul of both federal anti-discrimination law and similar strictures in state law. The only two exceptions to adults-only usage had been family hours on Mondays from 5 p.m. to closing and a Wednesday family fun night that closes the pool at 5 p.m. for an organized pool party called Family Fun Night, jointly run by

the OPA Recreation and Aquatics departments. In late June, Herrick said that Tucker had asked for additional information about operations at the Yacht Club to help him determine whether there would be some way to operate the Yacht Club as adults only legally under the federal Fair Housing Act. Herrick declined to predict what he thought Tucker’s recommendation to the Board of Directors might be, but he seemed to suggest that finding a loophole to allow continued operation of the pool as adults-only would not be an easy task. “He’s asking for more time to research,” Herrick said, and “of course we want to give him all the time he needs to come to a proper conclusion.” But Herrick said if it is determined that the OPA cannot legally continue with the adults-only pool, he would be inclined to vote to open up the Oasis pool seven days a week to family members of all ages. “I spent my career in law enforcement, and so I think complying with the law is important, both individu-

ally and as a community,” he said. He added that “but I’m only one board member, and it takes a majority” to change policy. He declined to predict what a board majority might decide in the face of a clear legal opinion from the association’s attorney. In response to a suggestion that the OPA could decide to operate the pool as a membership-only amenity, Herrick said that would be a problem under a 503(C)(4) corporation under the federal Internal Revenue code that establishes rules for how such organizations operate. Herrick said such “community welfare” organizations must have their facilities open to the public to maintain their tax exempt status, as the OPA discovered to its dismay several years ago in rulings by the U.S. Tax Court and the 4th District U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. The OPA lost that case, which involved taxation of business income unrelated to its core function at the then private Ocean Pines Beach Club. Since that ruling came down, To Page 18

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By TOM STAUSS Publisher ecause of the new family-friendly use policy in place at the Yacht Club’s Oasis pool, the OPA will not be pursuing an application for a beer and wine license at the Swim and Racquet Club pool, Acting General Manager Brett Hill confirmed in early August. He said the with the OPA operating a tiki bar with a valid liquor license adjoining the Oasis pool, he said he and his staff concluded that the county’s liquor licensing board would be unlikely to issue a similar (albeit just wine and beer) at a facility operated by the OPA within several miles of the Yacht Club. Hill said the licensing board

Oasis pool From Page 16

OCEAN PINES

August 2017

the OPA has been careful to make sure its Beach Club parking passes and the Beach Club restaurants are available and open to the public. When the Yacht Club swimming pool first opened to members in the 1970s, officers of the Ocean Pines Association quietly made it an adults-only amenity, only open to those 18 and older. The decision to do so was never made in a public meeting, with a recorded vote. The decision was for the most part accepted by the membership and has remained policy ever since. The rationale in the 1970s for making it an adults-only pool, and keeping it that way these many decades later, is that with four other pools in Ocean Pines, there are plenty of other swimming venues for families with children. That rationale was reflected in a

Hill no longer seeking beer and wine license at Swim and Racquet Club Acting general manager says ‘need is being addressed’ at Yacht Club’s Oasis pool would likely conclude that the Yacht Club’s Oasis pool, now open to family members of all ages, already serves alcohol to parents and others 18 or older and that there is no need to duplicate that service at the Swim and Racquet Club. “The need is already being served,” he said.

Last month, the OPA asked for and received a 60-day hearing extension in its quest to obtain a beer and wine license for the Swim and Racquet Club pool. With a hearing before the county’s Liquor Licensing board initially scheduled in May, the OPA requested a 30-day delay in the hearing un-

name change at the Yacht Club this past year to Oasis, as in an amenity free of the laughter, squabbling, and energy of those not yet 18. But that rationale apparently doesn’t hold up to scrutiny under federal anti-discrimination law. Several months ago, the Progress in an editorial questioned the legality of an adults-only swimming venue in the aftermath of an organized community backlash over a proposal by Acting General Manager Brett Hill to shift the popular Wednesday night family fun events – open to all ages – to Sundays. The proposal also called for the adults-only swimming at the Swim and Racquet Club on Sunday afternoon until closing, coupled with the sale of beer and wine at that venue. The Progress editorial suggested that by selfishly protecting the interests of one group of Ocean Pines property owners, the opponents of Hill’s proposed changes were poten-

tially opening up the possibility that the adults-only policy of the Yacht Club pool could come crashing down upon them. More recently, OPA Assistant Treasurer Gene Ringsdorf, a longtime resident of Ocean Pines, weighed in on the matter on oceanpinesforum.com. He wrote, in a reply to a question posted on the forum, that “adult only restrictions for amenities within a 503(C)(4)-designated HOA, whose purpose is to further and promote the community welfare of property owners, may be in violation of the Federal Fair Housing Act provision barring discrimination based on familial status.” Back in the 1970s, when the Yacht Club pool opened, the Federal Fair Housing Act enacted in 1968 barred discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Familial status or age was not part of the law at the time. But that

til the licensing board’s June meeting, the third week of the month. But Hill last month said the OPA “administratively” requested a 60day delay from the June meeting, which means that the OPA’s application to sell beer and wine at the Swim and Racquet Club facility wouldn’t be heard until at least the licensing board’s August meeting, scheduled for the third week of the month. Hill said the request for a hearing in August would be withdrawn and not postponed, as occurred earlier. Because of the timing, it seems unlikely that the OPA would have been able to gear up for beer and wine sales at the amenity this sumq

18 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

changed in 1988, when the law was amended to prohibit discrimination based on familial status and disability. Familial status generally is thought to pertain to the age of family members. In a recent commentary written by forum owner and moderator Joe Reynolds, he cited the opinion of Washington Post housing and legal columnist Benny L. Kass, who flatly said that adults-only pools, with certain exceptions, are illegal under the 1988 Fair Housing Act amendment. One exception could be a swimming pool in a 55-plus community such as the Parke in Ocean Pines. Kass is quoted by Reynolds as saying that an association may obtain an exemption if its membership is at least 80 percent of the units occupied by over-55 adults, and the association’s policies are published to confirm that it qualifies for the exemption.”

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August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Supik advises board on progress updating last year’s reserve study

Swim & Racquet Club From Page 18

mer, had it followed through with the application and a license is granted after a hearing. OPA President Tom Herrick said the decision to delay a request for a hearing on the Swim and Racquet Club license request initially was related to the ongoing research by the OPA’s attorney, Jeremy Tucker, on whether the operation of the Yacht Club Oasis pool as an adults-only venue complies with the federal Fair Housing Act as amended in 1988, when familial status and disability was added to the list of proscribed areas of discrimination. In late spring, the Aquatics Advisory Committee voted to oppose a beer and wine license for the Swim and Racquet Club, taking the position that there was no need for one given a recent board decision not to proceed with adults-only swimming on Sundays at that facility. The OPA’s application for a county beer and wine license for the amenity was postponed from the licensing board’s May meeting because of an error in the facility’s classification.

Stevens to continue to chair group that is working to develop a new capital improvement plan By TOM STAUSS Publisher t’s always risky to read too much into who says what about a particular subject, but it briefly appeared that Dave Stevens may not be chairing the Capital Improvement Plan working group now that he’s no longer on the Board of Directors. Stevens, who was presiding over the board’s July 28 board meeting as a short-term Ocean Pines Association president, was in a position to update the board on the status of the CIP. He didn’t. Instead, one of the committee’s members, OPA Treasurer and Director Pat Supik, did. Stevens retired from the board officially on the date of the annual meeting of the OPA, Aug. 12.

Supik told the board during brief remarks that Stevens had contacted Doug Green of DMA Associates, the company that completed a reserve study of OPA assets last year, to discuss updating the study with current fiscal year projects. That in turn will make it possible for the company to come up with a revised capital improvement plan, in both the short and long terms, she said. The updated CIP in theory at least is supposed to govern funding requests for reserves in 2018-18 budget. Recently, Stevens acknowledged that while the working group met in July to discuss progress in devising a new CIP, a recognizable draft of a new CIP wouldn’t be complete by the time of his retirement from the

board in August. He said he believes it will be done before the OPA administration begins to develop a new budget for 2018-19 late this fall. OPA President Tom Herrick and Acting General Manager Brett Hill previously indicated that they would like Stevens to stay on to complete the job, even when he’s longer a member of the board. Stevens told the Progress he was inclined to accept the invitation, provided the working group continues to make good progress on the task and stays focused. It would appear, however, that neither Herrick nor Hill are in a position to decide who’s to chair the group now that Stevens is off the board. Supik’s remarks about the status of CIP, while consistent with what Stevens has been saying for months about the protracted status, suggested that she might be taking over as chair. In addition to Stevens, the working group includes Herrick, Martin Clarke (a former director who is competing for a new term on the board this summer), Supik, OPA

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Board cuts bulkhead repair contract to single-year award

Reserve study From Page 19

Director of Finance John Viola, and contractor Ted Moroney. Stevens told the Progress in an Aug. 5 interview that as far as he knows, he remains as chair of the working group and will continue in that role after he steps down from the board. “Pat was simply providing the update on the CIP process as part of her role as OPA treasurer,” Stevens said of her comments during the July 28 meeting. Stevens has been working on coming up with a list of capital projects that can be anticipated over the next five to ten years, while he has said that Supik has been making progress in bringing up-to-date last year’s reserve study by DMA Consulting. “With what we’ve already done (board-approved renovations) or will be doing soon, there’s not a whole left to do,” Stevens said. “There’s the buildings around the Country club (golf cart barn, golf maintenance), maybe the North Gate bridge. I can’t think of a lot of big items that need doing.” Once last year’s reserve study is scrubbed of outdated or already completed projects, Stevens said his to-do list can be turned over to DMA, who then can produce an updated report that will constitute a new and improved capital improvement plan, perhaps with an addendum that lists major requirements going forward.

Hi-Tide given award for vinyl installation at $226.70 per linear foot

ithout a long-term replacement plan in place, the Board of Directors was hesitant to approve more than a one-year contract for bulkhead repairs in Ocean Pines during a July 28 meeting. Director Brett Hill, coasting to his finals weeks as acting OPA general manager, presented a proposal to award a three-year contract to Hi-Tide Marine Construction, which submitted the least expensive bid among five responses to a request for proposals. A majority of directors were not willing to commit to a three-year term, opting instead for a shorter contract, with an option to renew.

Hill said the board had previously discussed the bulkhead repair contract but never officially made an award. “This has dragged on too long and we just need to get it moving forward,” he said. Hi-Tide Marine Construction was the low bidder with a base bid of $226.70 per linear food for vinyl bulkhead. That rate is just $1.79 more per linear foot than the OPA has been paying for to its previous contractor, Fisher Marine, for wooden bulkhead replacement. Hi-Tide currently carries contracts with both the State of Maryland and the Town of Ocean City. In making his motion for approval, Hill said that it is in the OPA’s best interest to sign a contract with

“We would have to write that,” Stevens said of his group. Recently, he said that he expected an updated reserve study would be completed by the time he retires from the board in August. He no longer thinks that’s possible, but he said he remains optimistic that it will be completed well before the end of this calendar year. “There may be some judgment calls (on what should appear in an

updated CIP),” he said. The point of updating the reserve study and coming up with a CIP is to help the board decide how much will be needed in annual lot assessments to fund the OPA’s replacement reserves. Stevens said in his opinion it will be less than boards of directors in previous years have collected. Clarke has said the same thing. Supik, not so much.

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the company so it can move forward with its bulkhead repair program as quickly as possible. Director Pat Supik gave a second to the motion. When asked about the project, Hill responded there is no multiyear bulkhead replacement schedule in place at this time. The OPA completed its original 20- to 25-year plan a couple of years ago, and since then has been doing repairs on an as-needed basis. In the meantime, the OPA’s bulkhead and waterways reserves has ballooned to $2.6 million as of June 30, roughly three times what was typically spent in a year of replacement under the old program. Options for a future replacement schedule are being considered as part of a reserve study of association assets. Hill said the bulkhead work schedule for the coming year would largely take place in Wood Duck and Teal Bay sections of Ocean Pines, with repairs made elsewhere on an as needed basis. Director Slobodan Trendic asked about the total cost of the bulkhead repairs and replacement over the three-year life of the proposed contract. Hill said he couldn’t give a total cost because the work was bid on a per foot basis and he doesn’t know how many linear feet will need to be replaced during that three-year timeframe. He said there is not a designated amount per year for the bulkhead contract, but anticipated that work would take place on about 30 lots annually. OPA President Dave Stevens asked for clarification that there is on no cyclical repair and replacement program for the bulkheads. Hill responded, “there is not. A formal program has to be implemented but this (his motion is intended) to be able to get work done this fall.” He anticipated Hi-Tide Marine would begin work within 60 days of contract award. Since the OPA is awaiting the results of a reserve study update and anticipates building a bulkhead program around that document, Director Cheryl Jacobs suggested signing only a one-year contract with HiTide Marine. She said it may be prudent for the OPA to have one-year q

20 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES From Page 20

contract until it has a new 20-year plan in place, after which the OPA could seek longer term contracts for the work.

If the board wanted to do just a single year contract, Hill suggested adding an option to renew for an additional two years at the same cost per linear foot. He said the reserve study has already taken longer to complete than anticipated. He said

he was concerned that waiting for it could cause problems for future years of bulkhead repairs. However, Stevens said that isn’t a concern. He pointed out the bulkhead reserve fund has been replenished over the years by the annu-

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22 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

August 2017

Parks suspends technology task force at request of several panel members Will resume activities after election, director says By TOM STAUSS Publisher echnology working group head Doug Parks, at the request of several of the panel members, suspended the activities of the task force in late July. He said the action was intended to send a clear message that the task force is unhappy because its members believe that its advice has not been welcomed by Acting General Manager Brett Hill. Parks, an appointed Ocean Pines Association director running for

Bulkhead repair From Page 21

proceeds with bulkhead replacement in the future. “It really depends on the conditions of the bulkheads and how much we have to spend,” Stevens said. In the absence of plans for largescale replacement of bulkheads, Stevens supported a one-year contract for repairs as needed. Still, Hill said all of the bulkheads have been replaced based on the OPA original 25-year plan but

election this summer, said the task force’s activities have been suspended until after the election. He told the Progress that on a number of recent occasions Hill has acted on technology matters “without the advice of the task force. “Brett wasn’t an advocate of the working group, and while his decisions may have been reasonable, the task force hasn’t been there to assist in some of them,” he said, indicating that some task force members are miffed because of that. “We will reconvene in mid or late

September, after the arrival of a new general manager,” he added. Whether Parks will continue heading up the task force may in part depend on the election results. One recent decision in which the acting general manager proceeded without task force input involved the purchase of a point of sale system in food and beverage operations, Parks said. “We’d worked with staff on that issue,” Parks said. “Brett had an immediate problem, and felt he needed to act fast to get a new system in. All

now it’s time to start over. He said that replacement project was based on a 25-year life of the wood product and the first bulkheads replaced are now coming due again. Vinyl bulkheading is said to have a lifespan of 50 years. “If we don’t have a lot broken in a given year, we should be proactively going after the ones that would be imminently failing so we don’t have a mid-summer replacement and we’re looking at those aged assets and replacing them in a preventative fashion rather than reactive,” Hill said.

Trendic asked about a performance bond for the contractor’s work. He said the OPA is considering expending a significant amount of money under the contract on a product with a 50-year lifespan so it should require a guarantee of the contractor’s workmanship. Hill said a performance bond is standard for this type of contract. Directors voted unanimously, with Doug Parks absent, to approve a one-year contract with Hi-Tide Marine, with an option to renew for an additional two years, contingent upon receipt of a performance bond.

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he needed to do is to notify us what he was doing and why, and I suspect we would have gone along with it. I suspect he did it for all the right reasons, but we felt excluded” from the final steps in the decision-making process. Another issue in which the committee would have liked the opportunity to weigh in was the purchase of a bar inventory system that again Parks said probably was done at Hill’s behest because of a critical time-sensitive need. “It would have been nice to have notified that he was making this recommendation,” Parks said, acknowledging that that might have been a case of where Hill “couldn’t wait on us.” Perhaps the most egregious example of unilateral decision-making involved a recommendation by Hill, considered in the form of a motion offered by him at the July 28 meeting of the Board of Directors, Parks said. A motion to proceed with the purchase of accounting software to replace the OPA’s antiquated systems failed to garner a majority of votes. The directors decided to delay that decision until a new general manager is on board to help with that decision. “It (the recommendation) to go with a system used by Leggum and Norman (an HOA management firm) didn’t go through,” Parks added, “but not once did Brett mention that we as a task force had been working on this issue for some time. “I had phone calls from members wondering whether it made good sense for us to continue as a task force,” he said, adding that most members believe a suspension of activity will send the right message until sometime after a new general manager arrives. The suspended activity means that the task force won’t be in any real hurry to complete work on drafting a request for proposals (RFP) for a high speed, secure solution to OPA departmental connectivity, presumably involving the installation of fiber optic cable. “We will present our draft RFP to the new GM (sometime after his start date of Sept. 11),” Parks said. “While there are some issues, the occasional outage, there’s nothing that says we have to a solution in place tomorrow.” Despite the official suspension, Parks said the task force is “getting the RFP together.”

Agenda-setting consumes much of July 28 meeting

You know that relations among directors are at a low point when it takes almost a half hour to agree on a meeting agenda that is supposed to be set three days prior to the meeting. That’s what happened at the Board of Directors’ July 28 regular meeting. Director Slobodan Trendic wanted to add to the agenda a motion to remove Brett Hill as the acting general manager. It didn’t happen. Cheryl Jacobs wanted to remove a motion to remove an advisory committee member from the two committees; it failed. She also wanted to remove a motion for approval of new accounting software for consideration. It too failed. Later in the meeting, when the motions were considered, her positions in favor of retaining the committee member and delaying a vote on new software prevailed. Jacobs also wanted to delete a motion to hire a West Coast-based consulting firm to assist the OPA in evaluating policies and practices

August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES BRIEFS in Ocean Pines Association food and beverage venues. The motion survived, but the board later voted against the motion to hire the non-local consulting firm. What was unusual about the extended debate over agenda-setting is that normally the agenda is rubber-stamped early in a board meeting, right after the pledge of allegiance. Debate over particular motions occurs when the issue is brought to the table for discussion.

Trendic questions Stevens’s ascendency to presidency

For the few days prior to the July 28 vote officially naming Dave Stevens as president of the OPA, Director Slobodan Trendic challenged Stevens from stepping up to the presidency in an interim role immediately on the resignation of Tom Herrick. Trendic told his colleagues in email that the OPA bylaws specifically say that a replacement for a president or other officer who re-

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signs must be voted on by the board in a regular or special meeting. Trendic suggested that until that happened, Stevens was not really the OPA president. Stevens told the Progress that while it’s true a replacement doesn’t become “permanent” until an official board vote, it’s typical practice for a vice-president to step up immediately when the president steps down, regardless of what the bylaws say.

Stevens touts efforts to collect delinquencies

Dave Stevens, appointed to the presidency of the OPA in the remaining two weeks of his third three-year term as a director, delivered what he called “pretty good news” in president’s remarks during the July 28 regular meeting. Stevens said the OPA has collected a little more than $84,000 in delinquent assessments and late fees since January of this year. “It will be good for the future if we can continue this,” he said.

The OPA earlier in this board term quietly replaced the venerable law firm of Ocean City/Berlin attorney Joseph Moore with Lerch Early, a Bethesda-based law firm. Initially, assessment collection activity remained with Moore’s firm, but Acting General Manager Brett Hill told the Progress recently that Lerch Early submitted a proposal for collections that promised to collect more revenue sooner than occurred previously at a cost to the OPA that was less than before. Lerch Early has served as the attorneys for the Parke subdivision in Ocean Pines for years, a fact noted by the board in its hiring decision. The board a year ago agreed to prepare a request for proposals for legal representatation and auditing services. In both cases, the board replaced firms with long-standing relationships to the OPA after the RFP process folded. Stout, Causey, and Horning of Sparks, Md., is the new auditing firm. It completed the just released audited financial statement for 2016-17. q

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24 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

August 2017

August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

From Page 25

Janasek advises Hill, Trendic to step down

The July 9 special meeting of the Board of Directors is a day that will GO down in infamy, at least in the eyes of Tom Janasek, a candidate for the Board of Directors a year ago who decided not to run this year. During the Public Comments segment of the July 28 regular monthly board meeting, Janasek unloaded on the board for its behavior during the July 9 special meeting. He called himself astonished by the vitriol exchanged among the directors, calling the board “severely dysfunctional” and an embarrassment to the community. Ouch. He singled out Trendic for criticism, calling him “angry” and accusing him of releasing confidential information to the media. Hill also came in for some criticism by presiding over the Yacht Club food and beverage operation that Janasek called “a debacle from the top down.” He urged the board to consider leasing out the amenity. He said Hill should step down as acting general manager, allowing Aquatics and Recreation Director Colby Phil-

to take over the reins as she did during a recent Hill absence. Janasek said Trendic should step down from the board, calling him the primary cause of all the recent board dissension. Neither Trendic nor Hill accepted Janasek’s suggestions.

Kastner urges board to lease Yacht Club

Jan Kastner, a Pennsylvania-based restaurateur and real estate developer, took to the microphone during the July 28 regular board meeting’s Public Comments segment to urge the board to give serious consideration to leasing out the Yacht Club in a “triple net lease.” Kastner is a part-time Ocean Pines property owner and resident who operates a successful restaurant in space that he leases from a municipality in Pennsylvania. He made a case for leasing out the Yacht Club in a letter published in the Progress in July. Under such a lease, the leasee or tenant is responsible for paying the building’s property taxes, building insurance and the cost of any maintenance or repairs the building may require during the term of the lease. A triple net lease would reduce

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Former director appeals for board to get along

Former OPA Director Sharyn O’Hare appealed to the better angels of those who serve on the Board of Directors, urging them to overcome their differences, learn to compromise and to stop the bickering and in-fighting that hurts the community. In remarks delivered during the July 28 board meeting, she said the recent reporting of board dysfunction in the local media led the prospective buyer of a million dollar property in Ocean Pines to pull out of the deal and invest in a West Ocean City property instead. Board dysfunction has a real cost and can diminish property values, she told the board. O’Hare also appealed to the board and Aquatics Department staff to make children “accommodate older users of the Yacht Club Oasis pool” by avoiding cannonballs and other disruptive activities. In some cases, she said parents are deliberately directing kids to upset older pool pa-

Accounting software purchase delayed

With the new finance director just getting settled in and a new general manager on his way to the Ocean Pines Association, the Board of Directors opted to hold off on replacing its accounting software until the new staff can provide input. Despite pressure from Director Brett Hill, acting general manager, to move forward with approval of the purchase during a July 28 meeting, a majority of directors decided to delay the upgrades. Directors debated even allowing the item to remain on the agenda for discussion, but ultimately agreed to do so, waiting until later during the meeting to officially postpone consideration of the topic.

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trons. She also urged the restoration of at least one lap at the pool seven days a week whenever the pool is open to the public. Current policy, according to Acting General Manager Brett Hill, is to remove the lap lanes, except for designated hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays and early mornings, whenever there are 50 people or more in the pool area.

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Director Cheryl Jacobs said the board had agreed unanimously to not initiate any additional projects until the new general manager arrives. The acting general manager was told to proceed only with projects that had already been approved or were in process. “The clear direction from the board was not to start any new projects, not to make personnel decisions,” she said. Hill argued that the review of accounting software package was a process that started in February. “This is nothing new,” he said. While the board waits to make a decision, Hill said the OPA is paying almost $1,000 a day for a consultant to manage its outdated software system. The consultant is the only one who can operate the system and process and extract data. “So this is something that’s costing the association money every single day that we’re prolonging a decision.” Jacobs said it would be improper to proceed with the decision at that meeting, without the new general manager, finance director, or even the liaison to the Technology Committee that had been involved in the software review. Director Pat Supik agreed, saying the accounting software replacement is needed but the recommendation should come from those who will be using it.

Bad paint job leads to street line re-do

Because of recurring concerns about the poor visibility of lines painted on some streets in the community, the Ocean Pines Association is planning to re-stripe three of its primary roadways. Director Tom Herrick during theJuly 28 board meeting offered a motion to direct the acting general manager to issue a request for proposals inviting bidders to submit proposals for street line painting of Ocean Parkway, Cathell Road Extended, and Yacht Club Drive. Director Pat Supik gave a second to the motion, which was approved unanimously by the board, with one member, Doug Parks, absent. In the spring of 2016, the board of directors approved a contract for street line painting in Ocean Pines. Dissatisfied with the quality of the work performed by the contractor given the job at that time, the board wants it done over by someone else. Herrick said the quality and visibility of the current striping is insuf-

August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

ficient. With no road lighting in the role,” Hill responded. and the cost was low because it was community the old lines are the only Bob Thompson was still general a less experienced and smaller comJu OPINION means to navigate safely, he said. manager at the time and recom- pany. fession reportedly a range “The of 30 to 70 percent as than Clarke point In makingCommentary his motion said he the mended awarding the streetsetsline price was less half the Election within acceptable limits for ACC funding. The OPA Club deficits. C RFP should explore a better quality painting contract to the firm of price of the other bid,” he said. From Page 52 currently funds its replacement reserve at the low end edition of the of application to enhance vis- Straight LineofStriping for $24,570. Hill estimated the cost should of re-doing bypaint the multitude of candidates. the “acceptable” range. be used ibility particularly the most The and contractor re-lined about Thompson the workreportedly at about $50,000. Supik is seen asduring a Thompson cheerleader, For what it’s worth, has Let’s look at someone in the mold of Pete Gomsak, boardlinear recommended 50 percent funding of theSlobodan ACC, to be open.asked An OPA critical weather periods. This shoulda former 189,000 feet of roadways, Director Trendic 30, 2016, member and current assistant OPA treasurer very achieved over ten years; the recommendation is coninclude exploring the advantages of including Ocean Parkway, Cathell if any funding for street line paint-(end aligned with the Terry-Jacobs faction. tained in a document that the board majority won’t statement to c amuch double bead application and op- Road, and Yacht Club Drive. ing was budgeted for fiscal year not performed Both Gomsak and Supik are retired accountants, let him release to the OPA membership. tions of identifi applying various typesthat of OPAThe work included re-lining thelevel2018. He asked from where The funding stateme both are ed with the notion reserves A 50 percent funding still would require a sigpaint including, but to, to roads, striping spaces, and for the work be drawn. Supikform site (under are underfunded, and not bothlimited are wedded the idea nifiparking cant increase in the lot assessment, overwould a number Operational thatuse the of OPA’s levels be tied to some-hash of lines. years, and talking aboutsaid assessment increases is come the an reserve epoxy or hotshould thermoreplacing the funding would from sta appear in depa thing called the annual component cost (ACC), a comnever popular, especially during election season. plastic paints. Although more costHerrick said the contractor was repair and replacement reserves, annual audited putational confection conceived and embraced by the The rationale for keeping the document secret, acly, the extended life cycle and safety recommended by staff at that time not the operating account. accounting profession. cording to Thompson, is that it is a working document August. The un provided may betried worth ex- Supik to run involved in the updating and completion of the OPA’s the “official” o Gomsak andwell Terry to that persuade tra The Yacht C for cost. the board last year, failing to do so, but they suc- ongoing reserve study. ceeded this year. “I believe it is time for this board That’s absurd, because the document itself is com- $76,219; a year Granted, the If anyoneon is the to refocus ouranointed issues candidate that pro-of this particu- plete and has been referenced in one or two board nifi cant, lar faction, it’s Supik in spades. meetings. Property owners paid for that document, Custom-Brick Waterfront Home,3 Bed, 2 Bath,2 Car Garage,but a mote safety and add to making our heftyCeiling, funded Supik has said that, as chairman of the Budget and and it ought to be released immediately. All Appliances, Floored Storage Attic, Cathedral community more attractive,” Finance Advisory Committee, she isHerused to navigating Thompson seems willing to release but he’s Fireplace, Skylights,it, 8 Ceiling Fans, beWalk-In ing) Closet,this Brazil-past y rick toldroiled his fellow through the an in very waters,directors. forging a consensus in a group ing stymied by some of his overseers, who in Vaulted lian board Cherry- Planked Hardwood Flooring, Ceiling, OPA President Stevens with, at times, sharply Dave conflicting views. this instance prefer secrecy over disclosure and Maple trans-Full-Panel Supik Recessed Lighting, Upgraded Cabinets,could had she Other candidates over included the yearsinhave said that parency. Perhaps they fearGranite thatCounter the Thompson recomTops, Ceramic Tile, Black-Top Driveway, Largeindulg asked when those roads most recentl they, like Supik claims now, can end board factionalmendation could become an election issue, adversely Screened Porch, 8X25 Foot Dock, 10,000 Pound Boat Lift, nu Herrick’s motion were last painted. Walking Distance To GolfSupik, Course &who Country ClubSupik On Quietalso s ism and infighting. It continues, despite the best ef- affecting certain candidates, particularly Acting General Brett Cul-De-Sac. IdealOPA For Year-Round Get-A(rather than re forts of those who sayManager they can end it. has been open in her viewpoint that reservesLiving areOr Vacation HillFactional said the completed Way. nities, with the infiwork ghtingwas will probably continue regard- underfunded. last spring, took as with the terless of who isbefore electedhethis year.over It goes What they don’t seem to realize is that by keep- current minorit ritory. It becomes ugly when ghting becomes ing it secret, it could also have the effect of adversely it’s not certain acting general manager forthe theinfi aspersonal, such as when one director says he’s going to affecting certain candidates, particularly Supik, even part of the ma sociation. Hathaway PenFed Realty strongly biased throw a colleague through the wall for the temerity more so than ifBerkshire they had allowed Thompson to release “And they’re worn off already?” Ocean Pines South Gatetheir - 11001 Manklin Meadows Lane, MD 21811 The candida of seeing issues differently. his recommendations, and rationales, toOcean thePines OPA Stevens wanted to ifestimated there Oceanasked. Pines’ He ACC has been at roughly membership. 410-208-3500 • 1-866-666-1727 (Toll Free) continued tenu were alternatives are mean available to reserves are $14 million, which could that OPA Supik also has come under fire from former board mon, Daly, Ray ©2016 BHH Afﬁ LLC. An independently and operated of BHH Afﬁ Berkshire Hathaway HomeThose who l underfunded $10 painted million iflast 100 year percent funding ofliates,member Clarke owned for her publicfranchisee statements toliates, theLLC. effect how the linesby were Services and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc. Equal tions. Perhaps t the ACC is the goal. that the OPA and the Ocean Pines Yacht Club is doing and why the option was selected. Housing Opportunity. tion season. – T Actually, it doesn’t have to be; the accounting pro- well financially. “I wasn’t on the board or in this

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28 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

August 2017

Forensic audit of food and beverage ops fails to garner board support Directors to wait for ‘deep dive’ by current auditors before considering Trendic proposal By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer lobodan Trendic failed to garner any support from his fellow members of the Board of Directors for his motion to retain a forensic auditor to perform an indepth analysis of the Ocean Pines Association’s finances and records related to the food and beverage operations. Trendic offered his motion during a July 28 board meeting, but when it came time for the vote, only he was in favor. Even his usual ally, Cheryl Jacobs, thought his timing was off. All five directors other than Trendic voted in opposition, saying they want to wait until the regular fiscal year 2017 audit is complete before deciding if any further investigation is necessary. Director Doug Parks

Board election results From Page 1

ply to directors. She said that the latter is necessary because the board is comprised of some members who still work for a living. She said she would be willing to consider a lease option for the Ocean Pines Yacht Club. Trendic is a strong supporter of leasing. Parks, Herrick and Hill have expressed interest in exploring the option. Hill told the Progress recently that he would be willing to consider leasing “as a real estate deal” and that the OPA would have to be willing to give up control of the amenity to a lessee. Parks in brief comments to the Progress said he would continue to focus on improvements to the OPA’s information technology infrastructure as head of the IT working group. Parks took himself out of the running in no uncertain terms for the position of OPA president this coming year. “It’s not that I’m not interested,” he said. “Maybe next year. With my full-time job, I simply don’t have time to be president. It’s a very time-consuming role.” OPA President Dave Stevens, whose term as a director expired with the announcement of the election results, told the Progress that he would be submitting his resig-

was absent from the meeting. Trendic wanted to hire a third-party auditor or a firm with forensic auditing skills to conduct detailed examination of the association’s records and point-of-sale systems related to the food and beverage venues and other operational areas as determined to be necessary. He also called for a halt to disposal of any old Micros OPA-owned POS equipment that has been removed from the clubs. “I further request that the physical inventory of such equipment be checked against the assets list,” he said. Months ago, Trendic said he recommended the board undertake a forensic independent audit because of specific events that transpired and concerns expressed OPA employees, nation as president. As vice-president, Parks could step up as interim president pending an organizational meeting of the new board, tentatively scheduled for Aug. 25. The most likely possibilities to be elected by their colleagues for president next year would appear to be Cheryl Jacobs and Pat Supik, although Trendic suggested that Horn, even as a first-term director, should not be ruled out. Trendic said he was not interested in the presidency. The annual meeting included the usual reports by the OPA counsel, OPA director of finance, accounting firm, general manager and OPA president. [The Progress will publish details of some of these reports in its September edition.] This year, the annual meeting included an interruption by a property owner who, after entering the Assateague Room of the Ocean Pines Community, shouted out that Ocean Pines was flooding while members were talking about French fries. When the sergeant at arms, Lt. Greg Schoepf, attempted to escort the resident from the building, he resisted, pushing the lieutenant in a manner that probably would justify an assault charge. Demonstrating what some observers said was remarkable restraint, Schoepf was able to coax the resident out of the building without further incident.

including allegations of theft. Jacobs didn’t dispute the need for a forensic audit but said the board doesn’t have enough information to make a decision to proceed with it yet. “I think it’s premature at this point,” she told Trendic. Director and OPA Treasurer Pat Supik agreed, and said the OPA’s auditors have been asked to perform an in-depth review of all transactions for FY17 as well as the typical financial statement for the association. “They were being reviewed in depth by the audit firm and we will have a written report on that. We do not have that report yet,” she said, but added that she knows some recommendations from the auditors will be forthcoming. “I can’t support moving forward on anything else until we know the results of that,” she added. Supik pointed out that a forensic audit is generally performed to accumulate information for a criminal trial. “I don’t know that we’re going in that area yet,” she said. Jacobs also wanted to review the auditor’s report before proceeding with another financial review. Director Tom Herrick said he also had concerns with Trendic’s motion. He said the board originally discussed his proposal several months ago and decided to wait until after the results of the current audit were available. He said the initial audit is com-

plete but he had not had time to read that document yet. He added that the board has no idea what a forensic audit may cost, what the scope would be, or how long it would take to complete. “I believe that we did agree to wait. However, whatever you have referring to is not final the report,” Jacobs told Herrick. She reiterated that the auditors “have been asked to do a deep dive” on the association’s transactions for last fiscal year and that work is still in process. Jacobs supported holding onto all of the POS systems until that extended financial review wraps up. Director Brett Hill, who has been serving as acting general manager, said the auditors have inventoried all of the point-of-sale equipment and nothing has been removed. Hill said the board agreed in February to work with the current audit firm to perform an extended financial review. “We need those findings before we can make any decision on where to go as a board,” he said. Trendic took issue with board comments about the additional cost of performing a forensic audit. “Let’s face it. This is not whether you can afford it or not. This is to me a good business practice and anybody that’s been part of the environment that we have experienced for the past several months and some of the things the acting GM has commented on is concerning to me,” he said. He said it is especially concerning since the food and beverage operation is losing so much money. “For us not to proceed with forensic audit for this part of the operation is basically to ignore what we’ve been observing,” he added.

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OPA reserves right to remove negative comments from its social media sites Board adopts policy statement to be posted on Facebook page vide a “long term marketing value to the association,” Hill recommended keeping the pages in place and adopting the proposed usage policy, which will be displayed on the front page of OPA accounts. Director Cheryl Jacobs said the social media policy is long overdue. “We do not want to be in a position of jeopardy with this,” she said. Director Slobodan Trendic was concerned about allowing staff to edit comments posted on social media because that would be subjective. “I’m a little uncomfortable with how is someone within the association going to properly determine under what conditions content posted by someone is inappropriate,” he said, adding that editing a comment borders on censorship. “It puts too much power in the person that’s editing the content and perhaps a potential liability if the person that was being edited does not agree with the action taken by us. That’s where

I have a concern.” Hill said the draft policy was developed and vetted by the OPA’s attorney. While the policy would allow either editing or removal of comments, Facebook does not give the owner of the page the right to edit comments, only to remove them. “In terms of Facebook, which is what this policy is written around, while policy gives us the right to do that, the platform does not. So it would strictly be removal,” he said. Jacobs said the policy specifically states in what circumstances content will be removed. “It does lay out specifics of that. A person who agrees to use it has to agree to those restrictions,” she said. The policy states that the Facebook page is maintained by the OPA and the terms of use constitute a legal contract between the user and association. The Association may permit the posting of comments on the page to facilitate the

dissemination of information related to association business, to promote community relations, to serve as a social networking area for neighbors to meet and communication, and to encourage a constructive discussion related to the operation of the association. It states the OPA and the Board of Directors do not endorse, support, represent or guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of any communications posted on the page or endorse any opinions expressed. The page is a free service to allow the Association to post information about association business and activities and for communication for amongst members. “The Board of Directors believes that the page increases the availability of information, community relations, encourages healthy debate, and makes possible new connections between neighbors.” To curb abuses, the policy prohibits the usual, like nudity, obscene content, exploitation of children, unauthorized use of copyrighted or trademarked material, or a how-to model for illegal activities. q

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer he Ocean Pines Association’s new social media policy won’t allow staff moderating its Facebook page to edit posts by users but it will give them the right to delete any comments they deem inappropriate or offensive. The Board of Directors on July 28 voted unanimously to adopt the social media policy, which discloses that right to users of its pages. Brett Hill, director and acting OPA general manager, said the OPA currently only has a usage policy posted on its websites but needs to put in place a policy related to the social media platforms it uses. He said because the OPA is a public service organization and its Facebook page is managed by the OPA, it needs to disclose it policy for use by the public. “If we want to block people from the page or delete comments that might be negative to the association that has to be disclose,” he said. According to Hill, the OPA had two options: take down its social media pages or implement a policy for use of them. Because social media does pro-

August 2017Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

30 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

August 2017

No ‘second bite of apple’ for directors hoping to remove committee member 13 Gary Miller survives ouster attempt by directors Wood Duck Isle properties offended by his letter critical of the acting general manager By ROTA L. KNOTT from both the Clubs and Aquat- yl Jacobs, Pat Supik, and Slobodan identified forericsemergency Contributing Writer advisory committees for “actions Trendic in opposition. trio of Board members in- detrimental to the association and Section 10 of the OPA bylaws bulkhead replacement tent upon removing a propoutside of the assigned responsibil- states that the board shall ascertain January 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

erty owner from two Ocean immediate ities of an advisory Worm infestation requires action,committee Hill says memPines Association advisory commit- ber.” a holiday in the waterfront differential, tial outlays required in the future, Hill tees were stymied for a second time Director Tom Herrick gave a secan idea advocated by Director Slobodan seemed to be saying that any waterfront when the motion failed to obtain ond to theholiday motion, which was also Trendic in the absence of a new multi- differential would potentially be year bulkhead replacement big mistake. majority support during program. a July 28 asupported by Director Brett Hill. The of original 35-year program is now With Indeed, has not absent, backed off of that Board Director meeting. one he member Director approaching year 40. light of the recently completOPA President Dave Stevens of- view DouginParks, the motion was defeatWith evidence of a worm infesta- ed survey of bulkheading throughout fered a motion to potential remove Gary Mill- Ocean ed in aPines. tie vote, Chertion, and with the of substanButwith otherDirectors directors will be

mittees are functioning and fulfill“If we don’t have a bulkhead plan, ing their assigned responsibilities. how do we justifying taking the money?” All members serve at He thesaid pleasure he asked his colleagues. that if Wood are in such of the Duck boardIsle andbulkheads may be removed by poor board condition because of worms, “let’s the with or without cause at document it” before collecting money any time. that may not be needed. Stevens argued for Miller’s re-

weighing in on the matter once the written report on the condition of the bulkheads is provided to them After Hill made his comments about the “scary proposition” facing the OPA with respect to bulkheads, Trendic continued to insist that Hill needed to present clear, convincing evidence of need before the OPA continued to collect monfrom time to timeowners. whether all comey from waterfront

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

moval from the committees because of alleged bad behavior. He said Miller has used his position to continually publically debate board decisions that did not agree with his advice, to to recruit advocates to vote with him or support a personally held position on a matter that was actively under board consideration, and publicly disparaged the board and management in local media. “These took the form of vitriolic attacks that were devoid of facts and filled with innuendo. They were disguised in the form of questions, presumably to avoid litigation for slander and libel,” Stevens charged Trendic immediately said he was opposed to the motion, calling it essentially retribution against a property owner for exercising his right to publically voice his opinion about the OPA board and management. He said property owners regularly submit letters to the newspapers and speak to members of the media about their concerns, and Miller has that same right. He said the board has no authority to impede on that right and doing so is censorship. “I will not accept that,” said Trendic, who, somewhat ironically, had advocated for Miller’s removal from the Clubs committee last August, soon after a successful campaign for the board opposed by Miller and other like-minded individuals in Ocean Pines who were strong supporters of former General Manager Bob Thompson. Trendic voted for the termination of Thompson’s contract with the OPA shortly after the new board reorganized last August. During the July 28 meeting, Trendic pointed out that many board To Page 32

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Social media From Page 29

It also forbids posts the OPA believes are “for malevolent purposes, including libel, slander, defamation, misrepresentation, or harassment” and “content that may be deemed grossly offensive to the board of directors community, including, but not limited to, blatant expressions of bigotry, prejudice, racism, hatred or profanity.” And, finally, it reserves the right to remove content the board determines is “false or misleading, or had the intent of creating discontent amongst the members of the Association. There are other forums for such communication.” Moderators will monitor the content and remove any content that does not meet the standards.

August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

August 2017

Herrick resigns as OPA president, citing frustration with Trendic Stevens assumes presidency after 6-0 vote; Parks is named vice president By TOM STAUSS Publisher rustration with board dysfunction and particularly what he regards as the “totally inappropriate” actions of Director Slobodan Trendic, and to a lesser extent Cheryl Jacobs, led to a decision by Tom Herrick to resign as the president of the Ocean Pines Association in late July. Herrick, who contrary to some media reporting did not resign from the board, was officially replaced by Vice President Dave Stevens at a regular monthly meeting of the board July 27. Stevens stepped in unofficially when the OPA announced Herrick’s resignation a day earlier. OPA bylaws require a board vote to replace

Committee member From Page 30

members, including himself and Hill have written letters to the newspapers and signed them in their official capacity. He said they have not been punished or removed from the board for doing so. “I think it’s a fundamental freedom of speech and the right to voice ones opinion,” he said. Herrick accused Trendic of changing his position on Miller’s removal as a member of the OPA advisory committees. He said last September Trendic approached him seeking Miller’s dismissal, saying his comments were unprofessional, inappropriate, and reflect negatively on the board. “And now you’re saying it’s OK,” he said, implicitly accusing Trendic of flip-flopping. The board is not attempting to censor a homeowner, Herrick said, but Miller is a committee member and serves at the pleasure of the board. He said he abuses his position on various committees to serve as a platform of his own personal agenda through press and minutes of the meetings. “His continued rants are offensive, defamatory and with a complete lack of civility. He has continued to conduct himself in an unprofessional and inappropriate manner despite the second chance that was afforded to him,” Herrick added. Herrick said Miller is supposed to be helping and advising the board as

a president when a vacancy occurs. Stevens was elected to fill the remaining weeks of Herrick’s term in a 6-0 vote, with director Doug Parks Tom Herrick absent. Stevens announced his resignation as vice-president upon his election as president. Parks was unanimously voted in as the new vice president shortly thereafter. There will be a number of days after the Aug. 12 annual meeting in which it’s possible that there will be no OPA president. Stevens will be officially off the board when results of this year’s board election are cer-

tified and announced at the annual meeting. Parks could be elevated temporarily to president in the days between the annual meeting and the traditional board reorganization meeting that normally occurs within two weeks of the annual meeting. For that to happen, Parks will need to be elected to the board. He’s one of four candidates running this summer for the two seats to be filled. In a telephone interview with the Progress July 31, Herrick said his resignation was intended to send a message to the OPA membership. Herrick said that Trendic had been “relentless” in his efforts to undermine the administration of Acting General Manager Brett Hill and also has been involved in con-

a committee member. “He’s supposed to help the board. But, instead, he is causing problems for it. “I’m totally, totally in favor of this motion,” he added. Jacobs accused directors supporting the motion to remove Miller of attempting to take a “second bite of the apple,” having failed to garner a majority vote on the issue at a previous meeting. A similar motion was originally posed by Hill in a July 9 special meeting. She said it was exactly the same motion, just made by a different director. “It’s unfortunate, I believe, that differences of opinion are characterized as disparagement. People need to have a little bit tougher skins I think so that they can absorb criticism without taking it so personally,” Jacobs told her fellow directors. “This is a very slippery slope in my opinion, one that I am adamantly opposed to.” She said the association has a difficult time getting members to volunteer to serve on committees and yet the board was now trying to remove a “long-standing member of committees who has volunteered many, many hours.” Miller’s suggestions are simply critiques and recommendations for improvements in the association, she said. “There’s nothing wrong with that. As a property owner, he has a right to free speech without fear that there will be retribution for doing so.

“We’ve not had a recommendation from the committee to ask for him to be removed. The committee obviously believes that there is value in having him as a committee member. And I as a board member value his volunteerism to try and improve things in this community,” Jacobs said. Supik also declined to support the motion, saying the board can’t worry about the comments every property owner makes to the media about the association. “I don’t think we should try to control that. We can’t. We can’t control that.” Stevens argued that his motion doesn’t try to stop property owners from making comments or writing letters to the newspapers, however unfair, untrue, or vitriolic they may be. When Miller does so he is implying that it’s coming from those committees on which he sits as a member, Stevens said. Stevens also pointed out that Trendic had previously recommended Miller’s removal from the Clubs Committee. Trendic said his recommendation for Miller’s removal last fall “had to do with his performance on the committee” and as the board liaison to the committee he had a right to recommend action. Since then, he said, “Mr. Miller and I had a gentlemen’s discussion last fall. He understood why I asked for his removal [then], and it was no secret.” Stevens called Miller’s actions “antithetical to the role and respon-

tacts with OPA employees that Herrick said have encouraged certain employees to file human resources complaints against Hill, in Herrick’s view putting the OPA in some legal jeopardy. Herrick also said that Trendic bombarded him with a constant flow of emails. He said that Trendic asked for countless legal opinions from the OPA attorney Jerome Tucker on board or Hill actions that Trendic regarded as improper or simply disagreed with. “It went way beyond what could be expected as normal for a board member,” Herrick said, adding that while he could and did ignore some of them, other Trendic inquiries involved matters that Herrick said deserved at least some sort of response. “I hate to think what all this has cost the OPA in legal expense,” Herrick said, adding that he has spent an inordinate amount of time dealing with email communication from q

32 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

sibility of an advisory committee.” He said it is inappropriate for Miller to make a recommendation to the board, and if the board doesn’t take his recommendation, write letters to the newspapers essentially accusing the acting general manager “in convoluted terms of theft.” He said the letter was “one ‘when did you stop beating you wife?’ question after another.” Trendic said the reason property owners are resorting to writing letters to the newspapers is because the board is failing to act on these issues. Jacobs went a step further and called the motion “revenge.” She said Miller has caused no damage to the advisory committees, which should be the only basis for his removal. “It is simply retaliation and that kind of behavior really needs to stop on this board once and for all,” she said. Herrick said the board doesn’t need a reason to remove advisory committee members. He said they can be removed at any time because they serve at the pleasure of the board. “I don’t think he’s fit to serve on a committee with that type of conduct,” he said. Ultimately, the trio of directors hoping to oust Miller were unable to convince any of the hold-outs to take their side and the vote failed in a 3-3 tie. Parks’s’ absence made the difference.

Herrick resigns From Page 32 Trendic. “It just got to be too much,” he said, adding that he’s felt a “tremendous relief” no longer having to deal with the emails. While he added that he could have endured a few more weeks as president, he wanted to send the message that frustration with Trendic had reached a breaking point. Herrick said his frustration with Trendic involved matters that he said “crossed a line” and has resulted in Herrick and other directors, Hill and Stevens particularly, deciding to take action that could have led to Trendic’s removal from the board. So far, that effort has not resulted in board agreement on a hearing date in which particular charges could be put forward, with Trendic given an opportunity to explain or defend his actions. A motion put forward by Hill for a special meeting July 20 that didn’t

August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS take place contends that Trendic violated attorney-client confidentiality and disclosed confidential information to the press. There was no detailed information included with the published motion in support of it. Herrick said some of his grievances involving Trendic have made it into the public domain, while others have not. By the end of July, three scheduled meeting dates for a public hearing on the possible removal of Trendic came and went with no hearing. The last one had been scheduled for the board’s July 28 meeting. It was derailed when Parks notified his colleagues that a job-related scheduling conflict made it impossible for him to attend the meeting. An earlier scheduled special meeting didn’t occur after Trendic said he couldn’t attend. Trendic said he thought that Parks didn’t want to attend such a meeting because taking sides in a controversial matter would be risky in an election year,

Stevens was attempting to schedule another special meeting on the possible removal of Trendic from the board, this time tentatively called for Aug. 8. If Parks can’t or won’t attend the meeting, Herrick said it wouldn’t take place because five of seven directors need to agree to remove a direct from the board. “I’m tired of playing games with this,” Herrick said, adding that he regretted letting Trendic “off the hook” during a closed meeting in June in which his possible removal from the board was discussed. “He told us he wouldn’t do it again (contact employees) but then he did it again a day or so after promising not to,” Herrick said. The contact occurred after Trendic was told by a neighbor of his that an “Irish” bartender at the Beach Club had, in a profanity-laced exchange, declined to give his neighbor the 20 percent discount off his bar tab that is consistent with a policy announced by Hill earlier this year.

OPA behind budget by $300,000 after first two months of fiscal year Aquatics jumps out to substantial surplus, $150,000 ahead of May of last year By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association has opened up a negative operating fund variance of $300,720 after two months of operation in the 2017-18 fiscal year. The results for June, with a negative operating fund variance of $185,449, were driven by revenues under budget by $136,479 and total expenses over budget by $49,124, and new capital expenditures under budget by $154. The cumulative two-month operating deficit of $300,720 resulted from revenues under budget by $265,632 and total expenses over budget by $19,421 and new capital over budget by $15,667. Director of Finance John Viola provided the financial results. Of four major amenity departments that often bring the most scrutiny, Aquatics and golf operations fared well in June, while the Yacht Club and Beach Club food and beverage operations had perhaps the worst June performances in OPA history.

Aquatics, aided in part by changes in accounting, is more than $200,000 ahead of last year’s performance. In the first two months of the fiscal year, Aquatics had an operating surplus of $345,100, compared to its budget of $332,914, for a $12,914 positive variance so far in 2017-18. A year ago through June, Aquatics was $140,843 in the black. The accounting changes that have boosted Aquatics’ bottom line involve revenues attributed to the sale of $120 debit cards good for use at the Beach Club or all five Ocean Pines pools. For the past two years, the OPA allocated roughly $50,000 of parking pass revenue per year to Aquatics, but this year, as part of the 201718 budget process, the board established two types kinds of pool passes that could be purchased in tandem or separate from the parking passes. Revenue attributable to the sale of these $120 debit cards are allocated to Aquatics as they are sold. Through June, all revenue categories, not just membership, are ahead of budget for the year. Swim class

revenue of $52,655 is $3,655 ahead of budget. Cash fees of $47,767 are $3,767 ahead of budget. Coupon revenues of $23,200 are $2,300 ahead of budget. Facility revenues of $2,613 are ahead of budget by $1,113 through June. Total revenues from all categories are ahead of budget by $21,630 for the year. Golf operations are well ahead of last year’s numbers through June, to a small degree reflecting the fact that this year Tern Grille operations have been removed from the golf summary and are accounted for in a separate department. Even with that, though, this year’s surplus of $79,798 through June compares favorably to last year’s cumulative result of a negative $2,193. That represents a positive year-over-year swing of almost $83,000. Golf operations through June are very close to budget, with a $767 negative variance to budget. On the revenue side, golf through June has generated $305,524, which is $33,303 behind budget but ahead of last years’ cumulative $292,098.

Herrick said Trendic went to the Beach Club in an attempt to verify his neighbor’s account and in the end was “thrown out of the Beach Club” by staff. “This isn’t something that an individual director should be investigating,” Herrick said. “It’s a management issue. But it’s especially improper because Trendic told us he wouldn’t do this sort of thing again.” Both Trendic and Jacobs have vigorously denied any improper contact with OPA employees. Trendic said OPA by-laws do not preclude contact with employees but only contact in which the director attempts to tell the employee what to do in the performance of their jobs. “I’ve not done that, ever,” he said. He confirmed his visit to the Beach Club to check on a complaint was consistent with his responsibility as a director, suggesting that he questioned whether Hill would have been interested in doing so. He denied that he was thrown out of the Beach Club, however.

Member dues have not increased to the extent hoped for by the Board of Directors when they lowered golf dues this year. Membership revenue through June was $22,471, $8,891 behind budget. Most golf expense categories are well under budget, with the exception of golf maintenance, for the first two months of the fiscal year. June was a particularly solid month for golf, even though operations missed their revenue target by $2,941, Because of savings relative to budget in wages and benefits, and other costs, total expenses for the month were less than budget by $18,693. Net operations for golf of $36,668 were ahead of budget by $15,752. The Tern Grille, the food and beverage operation at the Golf and Country Club, lost $7,103 for the month. The grill operation missed its budget by $9,312 in June and for the first two months of the fiscal year is $15,703 behind budget. The Yacht Club, with a loss of $115,537 for the month, missed its budget by $116,848. For the year through June, the loss is $147,618, with a negative operating variance to budget of $179,197. A year ago, the amenity was only $5,010 in the red. The negative yearover-year swing is about $142,500. q

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34 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

August 2017

June financial results From Page 33

Revenues less than budgeted explain the sharp turn-around in fortunes at the Yacht Club. Total net revenues through June of $209,081 were under budget by $173,993. A year ago through June, total revenues were $271,921, which also indicates less business at the amenity than a year ago. Total expenses of $356,699 through June only exceeded budget by $5,204. But that’s sharply higher than the cumulative number through June last year of $276,931. The Beach Club, a perennial cash cow for the OPA, may lose that status this year. It lost $34,988 in June, missing its budget by $65,184. Through June 31, the loss was $63,977, compared to the budgeted $23,187 surplus. The cumulative negative variance to budget was $87,164. Last year, through June, the Beach Club had generated a $16,919 surplus. That’s an $81,000 negative shift year-over-year. Marina operations and Beach Club parking are performing close to budget for the first two months of the fiscal year. Beach Club parking has generated a $243,016 surplus through June, about $6,000 behind budget. Marina operations are $173,326 in the black, just $2,447 behind budget. All three racquet sports are in surplus for the first two months of the fiscal year but aew slightly behind budget.

Platform tennis is substantially ahead of where it was last year through June, jumping from $7,944 in revenue last year to $$11,986 this year. Platform tennis is behind budget by a scant $326 for the year through June. Pickleball has experienced a drop year-over-year and is substantially behind budget, verifying predictions of club members that new indoor rates for play at the Community Center gymnasium would affect membership. While member dues for pickleball are ahead of budget by $1,251, dues for the first two months of the fiscal year are roughly $2000 less than a year ago. Net operations through June of $2,795 missed budget by $5,317. A year ago through June pickleball had generated a surplus of $9,474. That’s a $6,679 negative year-overyear swing. Tennis operations also are faring worse than a year ago, when the net through June was $18,362. This year, the net surplus is $11,502, which is $4,360 under budget. The negative year-over-year swing is just less than $7,000. Reserve Summary – The OPA through June 30 had a total of $8.562 million in reserves, down from a $9,090,592 balance at the end of May and substantially higher than the April balance of $5,772,309. May is the month when contributions from assessments are allocated to the various reserves.

Trendic, Hill survive board removal efforts Parks unwilling to consider removal of a director during campaign season By TOM STAUSS Publisher

dic remains on the board, with Hill serving out his remaining weeks as oth Acting General Manag- acting general manager in a someer Brett Hill and Director what eclipsed role. “I’m essentially powerless to act Slobodan Trendic in July on anything significant,” Hill told and early August survived efforts the Progress in an early August into remove them from the positions terview. Last month, Hill said he they’ve held since last summer’s voluntarily asked for help from Board of Directors election in which Herrick, Stevens and OPA Treasurthey finished first and second place, er Pat Supik in overseeing departrespectively, after running as a dements. The dispersion of oversight facto ticket with similar objectives. An irony in the failed efforts to authority went unnoticed and unanremove Hill as acting general man- nounced. And it didn’t change Hill’s title, ager and Trendic from the board either. It more or less placed him altogether is that both were deeply in a caretaker role, something that involved in those efforts as antagTrendic said recently should have onists rather than allies. Shortly been his role when he was appointed before several attempts by former acting general manager a year ago President Tom Herrick and his after former General Manager Bob short-term successor, Dave Stevens, Thompson’s contract was terminatto schedule a meeting or hearing in which Trendic’s removal would be ed by the newly reorganized board considered, Trendic offered to resign of directors. But Hill was on a mission of refrom the board if Hill would do the form, and he had a honeymoon of same as acting general manager. roughly six months before he startHill declined – he ignored the ofed to run into sustained flak from fer, according to Trendic – and TrenTrendic and Director Cheryl Jacobs for what they considered his failure DON'T WAIT to consult with the board on what they regarded as matters of policy. SPRAY NOW! Designing effective, environmentally sound weed control programs for Hill and his board allies, Herrick • Enjoy a weed free property all summer long Delmarva property owners for 30 years! 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From Page 34

heads, particularly the resignation of Lynda Huettner as Beach Club manager after some pronounced differences of opinion with Hill over operational matters. Another controversial departure occurred when newly hired Director of Finance Mary Bosack left within a couple of months of Controller Art Carmine’s retirement. Trendic also rose to the defense of advisory committees who he said had been denied representation by OPA department heads during regular meetings, leaving them without the information they needed to act effectively as advisors to the board. Both Trendic and Jacobs jumped on revelations that Hill had installed video cameras with audio recording capability in three locations within the administration building. The video and audio, which Jacobs is said to have seen and listened to, reportedly recorded Hill making disparaging remarks about some OPA department heads. That has never been publicly confirmed, and most of the directors, on the advice of Tucker, the OPA attorney, opted not to view or listen to the recording. Trendic pressed his colleagues to watch the recording and use it as evidence in determining whether Hill should remain as acting GM. Relations between Hill and Trendic took a turn for the worse, if that was even possible, with rumors of complaints of hostile work environments by certain employee in which both Trendic and Jacobs were said to have lent sympathetic ears and, perhaps, more direct assistance in the filing of complaints, which in some cases have gone to the OPA’s law firm of Lerch, Early in Bethesda for review. That, too, frustrated Trendic, who preferred the appointment of a local, more independent HR firm or individual to hear employee complaints. The alleged collusion with employees, which Herrick, Hill and Stevens said placed the Ocean Pines Association in potential legal jeopardy, put Trendic squarely in their crosshairs for removal from the board. While Hill and Herrick engaged in a testy exchange with Jacobs in an infamous July 9 special meeting over allegations she had personally drafted an employee complaint against Hill – an assertion she vehemently denied – Jacobs was never

seriously considered for removal action by the three directors who felt it was justified for Trendic. Herrick, who resigned as OPA president in late July, giving Stevens roughly two weeks at the helm prior to his retirement from the board, told the Progress that Trendic had gone much further than Jacobs in making Herrick’s job as president extremely unpleasant and burdensome, far more than he said it should have been for a volunteer, unpaid position. He said Trendic was relentless in sending emails to him and his colleagues demanding information and legal opinions from the OPA general counsel, Jeremey Tucker, on numerous matters. Herrick said the requests, some of which he said he could not in good conscience ignore, will end up costing the OPA tens of thousands of dollars in unbudgeted legal expense. “Some days there might have been six emails from him. It got to be too much,” Herrick said, adding that he fears that Trendic, if he remains on the board, similarly will make life difficult for the new general manager when he arrives on the job the second week of September. Trendic early this year began a campaign initially of trying to persuade Hill to resign as acting general manager, while remaining as a director. Trendic had suggested an executive council to take over the administrative reins of the OPA while the board, with the help of an outside headhunter firm, went about interviewing candidates for the vacant GM position. When the effort to persuade Hill to voluntarily vacate the acting GM role failed – Hill determined that to bow to pressure would be a tacit admission of wrong-doing – Trendic then pressed for his colleagues to force Hill’s removal, something they were unwilling to do. A final effort by Trendic to persuade his colleagues to remove Hill as acting general manager took place in closed session at the July 9 meeting, in which Hill was asked to leave so the other six directors could consider his situation. Hill admitted to lacing his departure with profanity on his way out of the door. Herrick later apologized to the OPA membership for the tone and content of that meeting’s public session. There was little chance that four of the other six directors would force Hill from the acting GM role. Only Trendic and Jacobs were prepared q

Trendic, Hill removal

August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS to do so. A parallel effort to remove Hill as a director heated up during June. A closed meeting of the board June 19 did not result in a reprimand of or attempt to remove Trendic from the board, despite some indications that Trendic was in trouble with some of his colleagues for discussions with unnamed Ocean Pines Association employees over allegations of hostile working conditions in recent months. A press release issued after the closed meeting, which was drafted jointly by the directors and read like it, did not mention the closed door contentiousness. Instead, the press release emphasized new-found board collaboration on matters that the board discussed openly when they went back into public session following the portion of the meeting that was closed. By then, media and OPA members had been long gone, with no video camera recording the event for subsequent posting on the OPA Web site or airing on Mediacom’s Channel 78. The press release amounted to an exercise in wishful thinking. Herrick told the Progress several days after the closed June 19 meeting that Trendic had agreed not to continue meeting with OPA employees over controversial matters that have made it into the local media in recent months without a lot of specificity. Trendic confirmed that he had made that agreement with the board as a way of easing tensions with some of his colleagues. At the same time, he made clear that he was not admitting that his interactions with staff were in any way improper, despite the contentions of some directors that they were. Despite indications in the press release that the directors had agreed to move on without any action to remove Trendic, that shortterm cease-fire soon failed, in a spectacular way. One precipitating event for the renewed skirmishing occurred when Trendic, a few days after the June 19 meeting, went over to the Ocean Pines Beach Club in Ocean City to investigate allegations that an “Irish bartender” had used profanity and otherwise verbally abused Trendic’s neighbor when he demanded that the bartender reduce his bar tab by 20 percent, consistent with a pricing policy announced by Hill this past winter and still in place. Herrick told the Progress that Trendic, who he said was “thrown

out” of the Beach Club by staff when he went over to investigate the matter, violated his pledge not to meet with employees. Herrick said that Trendic should have sent the complaint to management to deal with, not investigate it himself. According to Trendic, his promise not to consult with employees did not extend to complaints against employees made by property owners. He said he did not have confidence that Hill would deal appropriately with the complaint. He also denied he was thrown out of the Beach Club by staff. The incident precipitated another round of attempts to have Trendic removed from the board. Three separate meetings that were tentatively scheduled or planned to consider his removal never occurred. Herding all seven directors to attend a meeting in the middle of summer proved to be an impossible task. One failed to occur because Trendic was unavailable. A subsequent press release announced that the matter would be rescheduled for the board’s regular meeting July 28. But when the agenda for the meeting was published a few days before that meeting, there was no agenda item for Trendic’s removal. That was because Doug Parks had informed his colleagues that, because of a business-related conflict, he would be unable to attend. As a vote to remove a director requires five of the seven directors to vote affirmatively, Parks’ vote was necessary, as Trendic and Jacobs were presumed to be opposed to removal. Even though Trendic’s possible removal was not on July 28 meeting agenda, a large contingent of supporters were present to urge the board not to remove him. They were also there to urge the board not to oust a member of the Clubs Advisory Committee, Gary Miller. Trendic took to the floor during the Public Comments segment of the meeting to defend his actions, essentially arguing that nothing he has said or done as a director violates his fiduciary responsibilities. “Months ago, I had a choice to make. Do I become a yes man to Brett Hill and to President Tom Herrick and in turn disappoint homeowners that voted for me? My absolute answer was and still is no,” he said. “It all started last September and October when on two occasions, I recommended forming a work group q

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ocean Pines PROGRESS August 2017 hostile work environment. RecentTrendic, Hill removal ly, I requested the Board go into a closed session to discuss these perFrom Page 35 to help the Board evaluate manage- sonnel matters in confidentiality ment options and begin immediate since it involves the names of spesearch for the new general manager. cific employees. Only one director Brett Hill said it was too early and supported my request. This left me he asked for more time [as acting speechless and in disbelief. “A couple of months ago, I tried to GM]. That ‘more time’ turned into ten months of some success and put an end to this distractive situation. I was glad to know that again many controversies. “That did not stop me from apply- the same director had similar coning good governance and represent cerns. “But the Board majority decided the best interests of the community. For example, I challenged Brett not to take my proposed action. And Hill’s decision to install surveillance here we are today facing another cameras in the private offices which controversy created by Brett Hill, a he did without informing this Board. call for my removal from the Board. “My next issue was his decision It is up to you, the homeowners, to to have the same law firm that rep- decide who should really go, me or resents the Association from 150 Brett Hill. “In summary, I thank you for your miles away to also be the go-to for sensitive HR concerns the employ- approval of my conduct as a director. And, I wish to thank you for your onees want to discuss in person. “I have also been questioning his going trust in my ability to promote handling of the food and beverage a good governance of our communivenues that led to many operational ty.” His arguments produced a standproblems. And, I challenged others of Brett Hill’s unilateral decisions ing ovation by those in the audience. In one ironic moment, a former he undertook without informing the OPA director, Bill Cordwell, who Board beforehand. “But most alarming to me has vehemently and at times nastibeen Brett Hill’s treatment of our ly opposed Trendic’s candidacy for valuable staff, massive termina- the board last summer, protesttions, damaging accusations of im- ed against the possibility that the proper behaviors and employees board might now remove him. Since it was not on the meeting resigning and leaving. He even acagenda, removal was not possible, at cused me of wrong-doing. “His controversial remarks re- least not that day. But Stevens made it clear in comsulted in many complaints by employees. The former director of fi- ments to the Progress later that he nance had to resign because of a was not giving up. He tentatively set a meeting for Aug. 7 for another bite very disturbing situation. And on July 9, Herrick himself at the apple, in the hopes that Parks stated publicly that an employee would be able to attend this time. In the weeks leading up to this had filed a written complaint. “Per many employees, Brett Hill’s last-ditch effort to have Trendic remanagement style has created a moved, Stevens seemed confident in

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS his pronouncements that he had the five votes needed if all seven directors were present, but as Aug. 7 approached, he seemed somewhat less confident. By Thursday of the prior week, when no press release or agenda had been released announcing a special meeting, it became clear that Stevens didn’t have the five votes to hold a meeting, let alone five votes to remove Trendic. Herrick said in an email to the Progress that Parks had let it be known that he would be unavailable to attend a meeting in which Trendic’s removal would be considered. In a telephone interview, Parks confirmed his decision not to participate in a vote to remove a director during an election, one in which he personally was participating in as a candidate. He held out the possibility of considering the possibility of considering Trendic’s removal “should I be fortunate enough to be elected to the board” and “should the matter be brought up again after the new board is organized.” He said the burden on a director wanting to remove a colleague is a high one. He said he has not yet heard any convincing evidence that Trendic, in his contacts with various OPA employees, had violated any OPA bylaws or that these contacts amount to placing the OPA in any serious legal jeopardy. At least two other candidates running for the board this summer seem to be unlikely as directors to vote for Trendic’s ouster. Colette Horn has been tacitly supported by Trendic in her campaign, and Marty Clarke, himself a target for a failed effort to remove him from the board several years ago, has said that a director must have done “criminal” or tantamount to criminal to justify his removal. While supporting Hill, Herrick and Stevens in their criticism of Trendic’s conduct, Clarke has stopped short of demanding his removal. The likelihood of Trendic’s possible removal from the board carrying over to the new board thereby seems remote. According to a commentary on oceanpinesforum.com by forum moderator Joe Reynolds, Herrick said Trendic was called on the carpet not for responding to employees who had approached him, but for making unsolicited approaches to employees.

“The fact is (Trendic) was repeatedly bypassing the GM and going directly to staff members” and discussing what Herrick said were “not routine inquires as permitted in the OPA bylaws,” according to Reynolds. Trendic vigorously disputed Herrick’s version of events in a telephone interview with the Progress. He described his interactions with staff as completely innocent, non-controversial and proper. As one example, he said he noticed an individual in Acting General Manager Brett Hill’s outer office working on electronic equipment. Trendic said he asked that individual, who turned out to be an IT specialist hired by Hill, whether he was working to resolve server issues that had been plaguing the OPA’s computer networks for quite some time. “He told he wasn’t and that he wasn’t really trained for that sort of thing,” Trendic said. The director said there is absolutely nothing in the bylaws that preclude that sort of an interaction with an employee. He said the bylaws make it clear that directors can initiate contact with employees but can’t give them orders or instruct them in any way. He said he didn’t, so Herrick was “off-base” for contending the contact violated the bylaws. Trendic said in all the recent controversy involving the board, nothing has risen to the level of any director violating OPA bylaws. The closest thing to a violation may have been Herrick’s failure to appoint a candidate search committee by the required date of Feb. 1, Trendic said, adding he wasn’t that concerned about that since a committee was eventually appointed. Trendic confirmed in response to a question from the Progress that another topic of heated debate during the closed June 19 meeting involved the installation of three surveillance cameras in the administration building by Hill without board approval. Trendic said that Stevens became quite heated in defending Hill’s right to install the cameras, which were subsequently turned off or removed when the presence of camera surveillance in the administration building was covered extensively by the local media in recent months. Trendic has said he was hoping that Hill would voluntarily give up his unpaid, acting role as a way of allowing the OPA to move on, but Hill declined.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Decision on food and beverage consultant delayed, to be pushed to new board, GM Hill proposal to hire West Coast company tabled

Jacobs said that, during a recent special board meeting, the directors voted 5-2 not to hire a West Coastbased consusltnat. “You don’t get two bites at the apple,” she said.

Trendic, the director who originated the proposal to hire a food and beverage consultant, had recommended a retired local resident with restaurant experience to serve in the role, but that idea met considerable resistance from Hill and Herrick. At a special meeting last month, the directors voted to direct Hill to issue a new request for proposal (RFP) for a consultant, in the hopes that a local candidate would emerge from the process. According to Hill, none did. He told the directors during the July 28 meeting that the local resident recommended by Trendic earlier had “declined” to submit a proposal in response to the RFP. Hill’s recommendation was for a West Coast consultant, but Jacobs and Trendic were opposed to that. Herrick said he recalled that Director Pat Supik said she preferred

a local consultant, as a way of avoiding the cost of flying in and housing a consultant. Herrick said that with three directors in opposition to a West Coast consultant, it made sense for Hill to table his motion. Director Doug Parks was not present at the meeting. At the special meeting last month, Parks was skeptical of the proposal for a West Coast consultant, but it’s possible he would have voted for Hill’s recommended vendor if it became clear no local alternative had even bothered to submit a proposal. Unless the board schedules a special meeting and takes action, it would appear that the matter of a consultant will be pushed to the new board and, perhaps, the new general manager, John Bailey, who’s scheduled to begin his new job in Ocean Pines Sept. 11.

That delay now seems to disappoint Hill, who initially was less than enamored with Trendic’s proposal for a consultant. “We definitely need help (in managing food and beverage),” Hill conceded. Herrick in his July 31 interview said he found it somewhat ironic that Trendic, who initially was adamant in the need to hire a consultant, resisted the idea of hiring a West Coast firm. Trendic, during the July 28 meeting, rejected the idea that no Eastern Shore or even East Coast consultant would be willing to advise the OPA “There are plenty of people on the East Coast or Eastern Shore to do the job,” he said. Herrick said the RFP process indicated that isn’t the case, and he said that to “dismiss someone because he was not in the community isn’t helpful.” He went on to say that “constantly postponing” a decision on a consultant delays dealing with an issue that everyone recognizes is a serious one. “We could have a set of recommendations in place even before a new general manager arrives,” Herrick told the Progress.

Stevens defends decision to hire new accounting firm Rebuts new Jacobs, Hill ‘conflict’ allegations By TOM STAUSS Publisher etiring Ocean Pines Association President Dave Stevens, in the closing days of his brief tenure as successor to Tom Herrick, rebutted assertions that the Board of Directors erred in the way it selected a new OPA accounting firm last winter. In a wide-ranging interview with the Progress, Stevens also took issue with claims, including one made by one of his former colleagues on the board, that two directors have conflicts of interest that have not been satisfactorily resolved by recusal or in his view never existed in the first place. With respect to the new accounting firm, Stout, Causey and Horning of Sparks, Md., Stevens said the board followed proper procedure

in selecting the firm from among those that submitted bids after the issuance of a request for proposals. The vote to choose SC&H was unanimous and made in a public session. He said that Director and Acting General Manager Brett Hill, who apparently had used the firm in the past, had no conflict of interest or even the appearance of one. He called assertions of “poor optics” nonsensical. In a recent commentary posted on oceanpinesforum.com, forum moderator Joe Reynolds cited a report in a local weekly newspaper quoting Director Pat Supik to the effect that Hill had used the firm in the past. Supik did not say if Hill informed her and his colleagues of this before the vote on hiring the new CPA

firm, according to Reynolds. “Given the OPA Board of Directors Resolutions also speak to the appearance of a conflict of interest, and the fact that association members knew nothing of this “used the firm in the past” information, perhaps Brett Hill should have been more forthcoming with his fellow board members. Does any relationship go beyond simply ‘using” the firm?’ Were Hill and a firm partner or owner close friends, for example. Did they work on other projects together? Association members do not know. Does the board know? Did the board ask? Did the board know anything of any relationship at the time Brett Hill made a motion to hire this firm he had “used in the past?” “At this point we know that Cheryl Jacobs, the director who secondq

By TOM STAUSS Publisher ith the Board of Directors split over the merits of hiring a food and beverage consultant from the West Coast to review operations at key amenities – the Yacht Club, the Golf and Country Club, and the Beach Club – it appears that a decision on whether to hire a consultant, local or otherwise, will be pushed off to the new board that will take office later in August. At the board’s regular monthly meeting July 28, the directors debated whether a recommendation by Acting General Manager Brett Hill to hire a West Coast-based consulting firm from among the three that submitted bids should be included on the meeting agenda. The directors voted 4-2 to keep the proposal on the agenda, but when the item was brought up during regular order, Hill said it had been tabled during the discussion about the meeting agenda. It hadn’t been, but even so, no discussion ensued on the merits of Hill’s recommendation. OPA Director Tom Herrick, in a July 31 telephone interview with the Progress, said he believed that three directors – Slobodan Trendic, Cheryl Jacobs and Pat Supik – were opposed to hiring a consultant from the West Coast. Three directors – Hill, Herrick and Dave Stevens – were willing to do so, Herrick said. In a somewhat unusual maneuver, Jacobs proposed early in the July 28 meeting to delete Hill’s motion to hire a food and beverage manager from three non-local firms that had submitted proposals from the meeting agenda. Normally, the agenda wouldn’t engender much debate, but in this instance Jacobs, backed by Trendic, wanted the food and beverage consultant motion deleted from consideration.

38 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

August 2017

Conflict allegations From Page 37

ed Hill’s motion, was not aware of any relationship, and director Trendic says he was not aware of any relationship. The other five board members have not responded to requests for an answer to what they knew prior to voting on this motion,” Reynolds sad. “This may not be a conflict of interest, and there is nothing inherently wrong in recommending a company, but the optics are yet again terrible and impact faith and trust in OPA’s management, whether the board wants to recognize this or not. Brett Hill did not just vote for this firm. He was the acting General Manager who went looking for CPA firms. He made the motion to hire that particular firm out of probably hundreds or thousands of CPA firms between Ocean Pines and Monkton, a hour or so north of Baltimore near the Maryland state line. “The board may be blind to the optics, but association members are not,” he concluded. Stevens said hiring an accounting firm that had previous dealings with a board member does not raise either the actuality or appearance of conflict of interest. He dismissed concerns about “terrible optics” as nonsensical and part of a relentless, unfair campaign in Ocean Pines to attack and demean Hill. “Even if there had been a relationship in the past, there isn’t one now,” Stevens said, adding that there wasn’t one at the time of the vote. He said it was a non-issue then and now and that Reynolds is simply “stirring the pot, as he sometimes likes to do.” But even if there had been some sort of working relationship between Hill and the company at the time of the vote, Stevens said his response would be, “So what. Reynolds couples being wrong with not having a point. What exactly does he want us to do about it this many months after the board voted unanimously?” While generally supportive of Hill’s tenure as acting general manager, Stevens did take issue with a recent allegation by Hill that Jacobs, with whom Hill has had a contentious relationship in recent months, might have a conflict of interest or potential conflict in a matter of technology upgrades under consideration by the OPA. Hill, who sent out an email about the possible conflict to all his col-

leagues, including Jacobs, in late July, alleged that an individual with whom Jacobs has a possible “spousal relationship” is a partner in one of the firms that responded to a request for information about ways to introduce or improve high-speed Internet connectivity among OPA departments. Hill told the Progress that he believes the company will submit a proposal for high speed connectivity because it was one of the companies that responded to an earlier request for information. Hill said he understands that Jacobs shares an Ocean Pines home with a partner in AI Net, a Laurel, Md., Internet service provider and/ or installer of fiber optic cable. While stopping short of accusing Jacobs of a conflict, Hill said that Jacobs’ situation is somewhat akin to his own. Because Hill’s fiber optic company is interested in submitting a proposal in partnership with an Internet service provider, Think Big Networks, to provide high-speed connectivity to OPA departments, he has been criticized on oceanpinesforum.com and in published letters in the local media for a potential or actual conflict of interest. Jacobs, as an OPA director, raised the issue of Hill’s potential conflict publicly at a board meeting last fall. Hill has recused himself from meetings and future votes on the high speed Internet issues. “If I have or potentially had a conflict because of my association with a company that is interested in laying fiber optic in Ocean Pines, then so does Cheryl,” Hill said. “In this day and age, with LGBT issues and new definitions of family relationships, you don’t have to be married to have a spousal-like relationship.” Stevens said that after Hill sent out the email on Jacobs’ alleged conflict, she sent back an email to her colleagues denying that she had one. She did not provide details about her living situation or attempt to explain why no conflict existed, he recalled. “No reason she should have,” Stevens said. “I don’t think she has a conflict any more than I think Brett did or does,” Stevens said. “If it turns her housemate is a partner in a company that submits a proposal in response to an RFP, then I’m sure she would do the right thing and recuse herself.” But because the OPA hasn’t even gotten around to posting the RFP, he

Trendic thwarted on hiring a temporary HR consultant OPA relying on division of Bethesda law firm to handle employee complaints By TOM STAUSS Publisher irector Slobodan Trendic’s efforts to hire a local human resources professional to fill in temporarily pending the arrival of a paid, professional general manager in September has foundered. A Board of Directors majority appears to have accepted a recommendation by Acting General Manager Brett Hill, supported by OPA President Dave Stevens and former president Tom Herrick, and apparently OPA Treasurer Pat Supik, to rely on a division of the OPA’s law firm, Lerch Early of Bethesda, to handle HR matters before a more permanent solution can be found. It’s not clear that the arrival of a new general manager as scheduled Sept. 11 will change the board consensus in favor of Lerch Early. That will depend in part whether Trendic renews his effort to hire a local, more independent firm. At a highly contentious special meeting of the board July 9, Trendic renewed his effort to persuade a board majority to hire locally, but he was rebuffed by Hill, who said that Lerch Early had recommended against that, instead recommending that the OPA continue with the arrangement already in place. That arrangement has a division of Lerch Early providing HR services as needed, with Hill telling his colleagues that an HR specialist within the firm was showing up in Ocean Pines once a week to deal with HR matters. After the board took a brief intermission, Trendic told reporters that the recommendation by Lerch Early not to hire locally constituted a classic conflict of interest situation. “They were recommending against hiring a local firm so a division of their law firm or some sort of affiliated company could provide the service,” Trendic said, adding “this should not be happening.” He vowed to continue fighting the decision. He also said that as the law firm most likely to defend the OPA in any litigation filed against the OPA should not be evaluating employee complaints in the early phases. He said this arranagement will discourage some employees from coming forward with complaints for fear that they will not be considered fairly and objectively. “The feeling will be that Lerch Early is Brett’s lawyer,” he said.

said to him the allegation of a conflict is a non-issue. He said it’s not a certainty that the firm at issue, AI Net, will submit a proposal in response to RFP that has not yet been issued. Director Doug Parks, who is heading up the OPA’s technology working group that is drafting the RFP, agreed with Stevens that at present Jacobs has no conflict of interest. “She said didn’t in her response to us, and I have no reason to doubt it,” he said. Parks said that he “would be remiss if I was not at least aware of a potential conflict. I’m sure if AI Net is one of the companies that submits a proposal to us, then the matter

would be handled professionally by everyone concerned. We would want to make sure it (the RFP process) is done properly and ethically.” Should it turn out that AI Net submits a proposal and that one of its principals or a partnering entity has some sort of relationship with Jacobs, Parks said it would be handled, in much the way that Hill’s potential conflict was handled last fall. “She would recuse herself under those circumstances,” he said. Parks said that it would be unfortunate if potential conflicts of interest, fully disclosed, result in reputable companies with worthy proposals deciding not to submit them the technology working group.

2016-17 AUDIT REPORT

August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPA records $39,048 surplus for 2016-17 One-time transfer from zeroed-out operating recovery reserve offsets what otherwise would have been a $370,000 loss for the year By TOM STAUSS Publisher

he Ocean Pines Association generated an operating surplus of $39,048 in Fiscal Year 2017-18, verifying a comment made by a candidate for the Board of Directors, Martin D. Clarke, this summer that the reported loss in the fiscal year that ended this past April 30 would turn out to be a surplus. According to the just released audited financial statement for 2017-18, a one-time transfer of $408,587 from the operating recovery reserve – board action that in effect zeroed it out – more than covered what otherwise would have been an operating deficit of $369,539. Clarke had said that he was told by former OPA Controller Art Carmine earlier this year that the transfer from the deficit recovery reserve into general operating revenues would happen and would wipe out the operating deficit that would otherwise occur. Because of that action, Clarke said it would not be necessary to offset the loss in next year’s assessment, as has been publicly advocated at both the June and July board meetings by OPA Treasurer and Director Pat Supik. In commenting on what at the time was still an unpublished audited report, Supik during the July 29 board meeting said the OPA had generated a $370,000 loss last year, making no mention of the deficit recovery reserve transfer that offset it. At the Aug. 12 OPA annual meeting, neither the OPA auditing firm nor Director of Finance John Viola referenced the one-time transfer. A statement of revenues and expenses and changes in fund balances contained on Page 5 of the audited financial statements showed the bottom line before and after the one-time transfer. Supik told her colleagues during the July 29 meeting that the $370,000 operating loss could be taken out of reserves or added to next year’s assessment, an assertion that generated rumbles of discontent within the room. Adding $370,000 to the expense column of next year’s budget is the equivalent of about $44 in the lot assessment. Supik repeated what she had said in the June meeting, that she preferred to recover the $370,000 loss in next year’s assessment. Clarke, who came up short in his election bid, won’t be able to argue his position as a director. He has said there is no compelling reason or accounting principle that say any losses have to be collected in a subsequent year. He has said that the operating recovery reserve never should have been created in the first place and that he fully supports the board action this past year zeroing it out. Reserves are established to save for future capital expenditures, not to offset prior year operating losses, he said. If prior years losses must be accounted for in a new budget year, the easiest way to do so is to offset the loss with a reduction in the reserves,

Clarke said, in direct opposition to Supik. Clarke said he opposed any attempt to add the $370,000 to the assessment next year in part because the audited financial statement proves no loss actually occurred. In addition to net revenue over expenses line of $39,048 after the one-time charge, this schedule notes cumulative “fund balances” of a negative $363,650 at the end of 2016-17, an improvement over negative fund balances of $402,688 at the beginning of the fiscal year. The improvement is attributable to the $39,048 operating surplus. There is no explanation given as to why undefined negative “fund balances” from prior years are co-mingled with 2016-17 operating results in this particular schedule. The co-mingling could create the impression that, by carrying negative fund balances, the

OPA is in poor financial condition or lost money last year. In fact, at the end of last year, according to the audit report, the OPA had total reserve funds of $5,436,363, a much more compelling indicator of the OPA’s financial health than fund balances that reflect operating losses and surpluses over a period of years. With new assessment dollars flowing into OPA coffers at the May 1 start of the 2017-18 fiscal year, total OPA reserves currently are in excess of $8 million, which most people probably would regard as an enviable financial condition and indicative of the OPA’s relative financial health. It will drop down close to $5.2 million by the end of this fiscal year, according to Viola. As OPA treasurer, Supik’s viewpoint will probably be influential in the drafting of the 2018-19 budget.

Audit reports deviates from unofficial April results By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association’s audited financial results for 2017-18 show some significant differences from the unofficial, unaudited results for the year as recorded in the April 30 financial report. The audit report, this year prepared by the Stout, Causey and Horning accounting firm of Sparks, Md., does not refer to the unofficial results. The audit report was completed and posted on-line on the OPA Web site in early August. OPA Director of Finance John Viola, in an email response to a Progress inquiry, said “the differences are mainly due to post-closing entries by Ocean Pines, and information received after we closed the unaudited financials from golf operations.” The most significant change from the April 30, 2017, and the official August results occurs under general administration, which grew from $4,956,129 in April to $5,194,993 in the audit report. That’s a $238,864 difference, an increase of almost 5 percent. “The main difference is the classification of Casino Funds, which is broken out in the audited financials but netted in the unaudited financials. This was handled the same way last year,” Viola said. The Progress sent back another inquiry to Viola asking for an explanation about why “breaking out” casino funds – which are sent on a monthly basis to the OPA from the state of Maryland – would add to the bottom line in general administration. His response was that the auditors assigned $300,000 in casino funds to general administration, then backed them out and placed them in the roads reserve. Offsetting the casino funds was a $40,000 deduction for bad debts and $7000 adjustments each for insurance, legal and an IT consultant. Golf operations were shown with a $181,789 loss at the end of April, but that had grown to a $213,753 loss in the August report, a jump of $31,964, a 17.58 percent increase. Viola said the difference is “information received from golf operations after we closed the unaudited financials.” He later clarified that additional golf-related invoices were received after the April financials closed. Aquatics had a reported $18,045 loss at the end of the April, but the audit reports shows it actually lost $23,941, a $5,896 difference. That’s an increase of 32.67 percent. Unlike the current fiscal year, in which her salary is split among various departments, none of Aquatics Director Colby Phillips’s salary in 2016-17 was allocated to the recreation department, despite the fact that she took on additional management responsibilities for that department in November of last year. Had her salary been split among various departments which she oversees – Beach Club parking in addition to the Recreation department – Aquatics would have been very close to break-even last year. Viola told the Progress that he didn’t know why her salary was not allocated to the various departments she began overseeing last year. “I was not here at the time,” he said. All other departments were adjusted in the August official results over April, but in relatively minor dollars amounts. The Yacht Club generated a $230,689 loss according to the audit report, compared to $228,684 in the April financials. With depreciation, the loss was $435,751. Golf operational losses, including depreciation, were $654,888. Funding depreciation costs OPA property owners about $1.7 million per year. Golf’s share of that is more than $400,000, roughly 25 percent of the total amount collected in funded depreciation.

40 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

August 2017

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OPINION

August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

COMMENTARY

Hill’s creative thinking vs. Country Club snafu

midst all the sound, fury and media hype over board in-fighting, and orchestrated outrage over advisory committee membership, and the usual election-season caterwauling, it’s possible to have missed the most consequential news of the non-fake variety arising out of the Board of Directors’ July 28 regular meeting. That was the low-key disclosure by Acting General Manager Brett Hill that the second floor renovation of the Country Club, originally scheduled to begin this past spring by the Ocean Pines Public Works Department, has progressed no further than the recent demolition of the upper level contents, including, unfortunately, the critical fire suppression system (i.c. sprinklers). The result is that the building has been on a $500-perday fire watch ordered by the Worcester County fire marshal, who could have shut the entire building down instead of cutting the OPA a break. The fire watch option requires a member of the Public Works staff to be in the building whenever at least one other person is there, potentially in harm’s way because sprinklers that should have remained on the upper level were removed without notice to or approval of the fire marshal. Hill didn’t throw anyone under the bus during the July 28 meeting, but he later told the Progress that the blame for this embarrassing snafu could be spread around. OPA President Dave Stevens placed most of the blame on the company hired to handle the fire suppression system, telling the Progress in a telephone interview that the company was told to leave the sprinklers in place, or at least functioning to an acceptable degree. According to Stevens, the company didn’t follow instructions. He wasn’t particularly charitable, suggesting that the company should have known better because it’s in the business of installing and maintaining sprinklers and should understand the regulatory environment in which it plies its trade. Another tip-off that the company needed to be vigilant involved an earlier run-in with the fire marshal that shut down the downstairs Tern Grille for a few days because the company failed to file the necessary paperwork. “Mistakes were made,” Stevens said, with considerable restraint, and it appears that the company that committed the unforced error will reinstall the sprinklers at its expense, thereby giving the building the necessary fire protection and removing its “fire watch” status. That’s a positive development, as far as it goes, but what was even more disturbing was Hill’s implicit admission that

his original plan to have the Public Works department do the upper level renovation had failed. Here, too, Hill could have thrown the entire department under the bus for failure to perform, but he stopped well short of that. In fairness to Public Works, the company hired to complete engineer specs for the project, George, Miles and Buhr, hadn’t delivered its product to the OPA by the due date in June. It still hadn’t delivered as of Aug. 11, but Hill is hopeful the OPA will have it in hand the week of Aug. 14. We’ll see soon enough. In hindsight, always 20-20, the better play would have been to bid out the renovation in the usual way. Hill wanted to save the OPA money, a commendable motivation, and Public Works had done an excellent job with improvements to the lower levels of the Country Club over the cooler months. So it was worth a try. Perhaps a clue that the upper floor project might have been too much for Public Works to handle over the busy summer months is the fact that the women’s locker room on the Country Club’s lower level remains incomplete to this day. Whatever the precise reasons for the various snafus and however one wishes to parcel out responsibility, what truly matters is the way forward. Hill, during the July 28 board meeting, laid out a reasonable solution and the board accepted it, at least in broad outline if not in all the particulars. Fortified by the OPA’s solid experience with Willow Construction in the successful renovation of the Beach Club this past winter – a significant accomplishment of Hill and the board for which they deserve recognition – Hill proposed amending the contract with Willow to include the Country Club’s second floor renovation. Under a design-build approach that the board found to be acceptable in theory, Willow was given the go-ahead to complete engineering drawings for the renovation. In a subsequent development, Willow recommended that Hill give GMB a little more time to complete the engineering specs. He did so. If the company delivers, Hill is still prepared to award the construction contract to Willow, subject to board approval. Stevens and Hill were authorized to negotiate with Willow for the renovation, with a ceiling that will cap the OPA’s construction at an acceptable level, most likely somewhere in the $500,000s. To a degree at least, this cost cap compensates for the fact that the renovation and the agreement with Willow Construction amounts to sole-source contracting, not the

LETTER Dutch denies he threatened board candidate Colette Horn

In response to a recent article in a local weekly: The claim by Dr. Colette Horn that she had been threatened by me is not true. I approached Dr. Horn in a very pleasant manner at the South Gate restaurant. First, she was alone at the bar without her husband. She was not eating her dinner. I told her she was never at the board meetings, and how could she criticize the board in the newspaper without attending board meetings?

I always say “don’t criticize your neighbors until you’ve walked in their shoes.” When she began running for the board, she said “everything is wrong with the board.” I have worked hard (to help elect) five board members, and all of them have done a good job – above all Tom Herrick. We don’t need a “Dr. Phil” on the board. If Dr. Horn can’t stand the heat, she shouldn’t get in the kitchen. Remember, we have freedom of speech. Roelof”Dutch” Oosteveen Ocean Pines

“best practice” that the OPA prefers. But both Hill and Stevens insist that Willow will be asked to post RFPs for individual project components, and in this way they suggest that the OPA is keeping within the spirit of its preferred bid procedures. At the same time – and this is the key ingredient in Hill’s practical solution – work on the renovation can begin forthwith. To revert to a more traditional RFP process would add a couple of months to the process, delaying the completion of this vital project well beyond its original occupancy date of late summer. In the end, adding a couple of months to the process wouldn’t save the OPA much money, either; it might even result in bids well in excess what Willow might be willing to do in the here and now. To complete the upper level renovation as envisioned in plans unveiled last fall at a cost less than $600,000 seems reasonable. To be sure, it will be significantly less costly than an expensive tear-down and replacement of the entire building that prior boards and the previous general manager had preferred. Had a professional, full-time general manager been on hand to oversee the project, it’s possible these embarrassing snafus would not have occurred. Then again, who really knows. It’s possible that no one alive could have forced GMB to complete the engineering specs according to Hill’s June timetable. But what matters most is not litigating what went wrong but coming up with a reasonable solution to deal with the situation as it is, not how we might wish it would be. There’s every reason to believe the board is pulling together to solve the problem the OPA faces.

The Ocean Pines Progress, a journal of news and commentary, is published monthly throughout the year. It is circulated in Ocean Pines, Berlin, Ocean City, and Captain’s Cove, Va. Letters and other editorial submissions: Please submit via email only. Letters should be original and exclusive to the Progress. Include phone number for verification. 127 Nottingham Lane Ocean Pines, MD 21811

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42 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPINION

August 2017

Board dysfunction should fade with new GM LIFE IN THE LIFE INPINES THE PINES

An excursion through the curious cul-de-sacs An excursion through theby-ways curious and by-ways and cul-de-sacs of Worcester County’s most densely populated community. of Worcester County’s most densely populated community. By TOM STAUSS/ By TOM Publisher STAUSS/Publisher former board with Thompson, as well they should have been. When the time came to decide a new course for the OPA, they both voted to terminate his contract. While both Hill and Trendic wanted to serve in the role of interim general manager, that was not feasible, and a board majority, with Trendic going along, bestowed the acting position on the younger, healthier Hill. Both ran on a platform calling for greater transparency in board elections, specifically the counting of ballots in an open meeting of the Ocean Pines Elections Committee. Even if they later diverged on a key detail – whether the election results should be announced immediately following the counting (Trendic) or a day later at the annual meeting of the association (Hill) – they agreed on the basic premise. With Trendic no longer having a reason to pepper the OPA president with that or that objection to something Hill did or didn’t do, or the manner in which he went about it, perhaps Hill and Tom Herrick, who served most of this past year as OPA president, will back off of their

ill-conceived attempts to remove Trendic as an OPA board member. They may continue to harbor reservations about Trendic’s continued presence as a director and his actions this past year. But they had objections to certain similar actions which they say were taken by another director, Cheryl Jacobs, and neither made any effort at all to remove her from the board, apparently deciding that her actions, similarly involving her interactions with OPA employees in raising “hostile workplace” complaints against Hill, did not rise to the level of justifying removal. Such interactions, which may or may not increase the OPA’s exposure to potential legal liability, do not seem to be explicitly precluded by the OPA bylaws. Only if a director attempts to tell an OPA employee what to do could such interactions be construed to violate explicit prohibitions. Absent that, neither Trendic nor Jacobs seem to have conducted themselves in a way to justify removal, even if their activities arguably increased risk to the OPA in

some discernible way. Presumably the OPA carries enough liability insurance to protect itself from most claims that could materialize from employee or former employee complaints, should any actually be litigated. Any benevolent workplace environment ought to allow employees the right to make complaints about their superiors and have them adjudicated in a fair, objective manner. Directors who assist in that endeavor should not face reprisals. It takes a five-person super-majority to remove a director, a very high burden. Only three directors – Hill, Herrick and former director Dave Stevens – were sure bets on a vote to remove Trendic. Director Doug Parks refused to attend any meeting of the board in which the matter might be voted on, and it’s difficult to imagine another director, Pat Supik, from voting to remove a director whose vote total last summer exceeded hers. Parks did the OPA a service by refusing to join the effort to remove Trendic. He was similarly reluctant to join Trendic’s efforts to have Hill removed as acting general manager. Both efforts were doomed to fail at the outset. Both never should have progressed to the point that they became festering distractions that, to some degree, have over-shadowed q

t may be too much to ask of a new general manager, but Job One of John Bailey when he arrives on the scene next month to take the reins of the Ocean Pines Association may well be taming the dysfunction of the Board of Directors. It may not be as difficult a chore as it seems by a quick perusing of some local media headlines, chock full with board intrigue, a supposed plunge in employee morale, and the high octane matter of whether a particular individual serves on this or that advisory committee. Given the lack of interest of most Ocean Pines residents in serving on advisory committees, the issue of who does or doesn’t scarcely rates as a footnote. Simply by replacing the undeservedly demonized Brett Hill as general manager, Bailey will serve to lower the temperature of recent board interactions. Once Hill returns to the task to which he was elected a year ago, that of an OPA director, he no longer will be the lightening rod and the convenient punching bag for those who probably never voted for him in the first place. With Hill no longer the acting general manager, areas of friction between him and Director Slobodan Trendic should naturally dissipate. Trendic insists that he never intended for his differences with Hill to become as toxic as they became on a personal level. That they did can’t be undone, but perhaps these capable, determined and at times hubristic directors can find common ground once Hill’s management style is no longer a front-burner issue, or even an issue at all. Perhaps after a private meeting, with some self-reflection and insight and the proverbial burying of the hatchet, they can move on and work together for the betterment of Ocean Pines. We would all benefit if they could somehow manage that. Recall that, only a year ago, both ran for the board as a defacto slate. Those voting for one had no difficulty voting for the other, and Hill and Trendic were the top vote getters, in that order. While neither explicitly called for the removal of the former general, Bob Thompson, in their campaigns for the board, neither were they shy in pointing out their differences with him. Both were appalled at the overly generous employment contract negotiated by the

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CAPTAIN’S COVE

August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Proposed changes to Cove WORCESTER COUNTY organizational documents reduced from 12 to four

LIFE IN THE PINES From Page 42

40 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

July - Early August 2014 what has been a very positive year the performance matters program in- tion project and the completion of the on the same SES property for slightly for the board and the OPA. School board Showell Elementary School feasibility more at $37.4 million. Parks’ vote total last summer was stead. From Page 40 Zanich and Henderson gave brief study. Overall, after including design and well down in the pack. There would The plan outlines the challenges fac- management fees, playground equipties and to have a health and wellness overview of the program, how it is used, have been somethingwho unseemly committee site coordinator oversees and the benefits of an assessment data ing the schools system, including popu- ment, movable equipment, portable lation growth, aging buildings, technol- classrooms, phasing of the renovations about two directors – one of whom system. this committee. More controversial won’tand gochanging to referendum advice legal counsel The performance matters platforms items ogy needs, program on needs. andofadditions, technology costs and misIn the was area appointed of staff wellness, the pol(Parks) -- voting to link student and educator data. The A major renovation and addition or cellaneous costs like inspection fees, it icy states that the Worcester County remove a director who had outpolled By TOM STAUSS proval to the membership in a pack- severable from covenants in place public school system will promote staff data is used to drive the decisions made replacement school project at SES has will be less expensive by about $4 milthem, thereby overturning the senti- Publisher throughout the Cove. age, with a single up or down vote. health and wellness by providing a va- by teachers, administrators, board mem- been prioritized in both the school sys- lion to build a new school than renovate ments of the voters in last summer’s t could have been a presentation Lauer said is language in Jeanne S. Lauer, managing partbers and parents to improve student tem’s educational facilities master plan and expand thethere old one. riety of organized programs for staff, and educator performance. The ner and for thethe capital improvement program cost of keeping the election. to enrich and improve their learning that generated heat and controcovenants in force incurrent other buildsecInman and Strickler law the The designed canbut be used teacher observafor many years.a few questions here tions ing but renovating it and adding on was nutritional, physical, mental Thankfully, it never got and thatemofar. system versy, whenforan attorney for firm, that aren’t clear whether “you fielded tion and evaluation. In May, the school board voted to $44.8 million while the total estimattional well-being. Attempts by Stevens as OPA pres- the Inman and Strickler law firm of and there about the surviving pro- can just cut out one section.” “We believe that in using data we can move forward with planning for the ed cost of building a new SES was just The Board of Education during its ident to arrange for a hearing to Virginia Beach appeared before the posals. She said there would need to be June 17 meeting also heard an update better meet the needs of every student. construction of a new Showell Elemen- $40.9 million. remove Trendic failed simply beCaptain’s Cove association’s Board unanimous affected propHearn and Lauer explained why It is part of our success in helping our tary School, based on the results of the Finally, consent during of the meeting the on the performance matters program. students be successful fordiscuss life.” Zanich Showellof School feasibility had study.been The erty school board to approved the fiscal year cause Parks County was notPublic interested in of Directors July 27 to pro- some owners effect that change the proposals Worcester Schools said. changes to the Cove’s govern- dropped board accepted recommendationof of and 2014-2015 operating for Worcesuses a variety of types data to create attending, telling theofProgress that posed she called that budget “an impossible on thethe recommendation The school board also adopted an upthe architectural and engineering team ter County Public Schools. its master plan, goals, and instructional he didn’t think such a divisive issue ing documents, at had the feel of the Cove attorneys. burden.” dated educational facilities master plan, led by Becker Morgan Group to proceed The budget includes funding for salprograms. should be addressed in the heat of a anti-climax and relative tranquility. She said one option to work One proposed changed had been “Over the years we have discovered which is required annually to be sub- with the design of a replacement school ary step increases for eligible employcampaign. His be judgment was task. sound. Thattowas more conthat impediment be cost to allow 2000 affimrative to around the because Marylandthe Department of to at an anticipated cost of aboutvotes $37 milees, a longevity step, a .5could percent that this could an arduous It mitted Planning byproposed July 1. changes had al- change lion. It may haveanbeen a factor inburden his vote of living local allowance, a 3 percent government for increase a spedeed restructions in Sec- petition had become overwhelming to troversial The been 2014-2015 Planout is presented in tions The determined thatsecthe cial for ordinance bus contractors andseverability. an 8 percent our teachers. We searched forthe a way to ready totals this summer. He led pack. stripped of the proto allow 14consultant through 18 to allow the five sections: goals, standards and guideconstruction costs were comparable for increase in insurance rates. The budsupport our teachers in the use of this With the 2017 election now his- posed list of changes to the organiz- tions to be sold in bulk to farmers Hearn said that the “impossidata,” Coordinator of Instruction Steph- lines; community analysis; enrollment renovating and expanding the existing get also includes major expenditures of tory, and Stevens no longer on the ing documents. or developers by stripping out the ble burden” would also apply to a anie Zanich and Data Specialist Rebecca projections; inventory and evaluation of school versus building a completely new $354,000 to replace gymnasium floors at board, Hill and Herrick must realize From the original list of 12 sugtiered assessment long-standing covenants school facilities; and facility needs analfacility. Becauserestrictive of the extensive nature proposed Berlin Intermediate, PocomokestrucMiddle Henderson said in their written report ysis. All changes, five sections have been revised governing that of the renovations and expansion that ture only four survive, that the recommend these sections. and Snow Hillattorneys Middle schools, $144,000 to thetrying board. to remove Trendic would gested to reflect current information, be required, cost of that to replace gymnasium at Steschool started using be The a waste of system time. Continuing witha Cove President Tim Hearnincluding noted. would including in ableachers referendum. Hearn said thethe proposal was opa against updates on the successful bidding phase tion was estimated at $36.8 million. On phen Decatur High School and $200,000 program called Edusoft but quickly disthe last board’s solid progress is the Those proposed changes may be non-starter because these cove“You would have to change the covered it was not robust enough. Using and start of construction for the Snow the other hand, the consultants said a in non-recurring costs for student techwiser play. presented to the membership for apnants are “sacrosanct” and are unHill High School renovation and addi- brand new school could be constructed nology. Race to the Top funding, it purchased

44 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

CAPTAIN’S COVE

August 2017

Amendments From Page 43

organizing documents,” Hearn said, implying that 2000 affirmative votes to achieve this would be difficult. Also unlikely for inclusion in a referendum is a change in the Cove’s ability to fine property owners for repeated infractions of restrictive covenants or the rules that govern them. Existing covenants allow the Cove association to levy fines of $10 per day up to a 90 days. Hearn said any increase was unlikely. Hearn said the attorneys had verified that remaining items to be included in a referendum could be bundled for a combined “yes or no” vote and the Cove association board has the right to levy a special assessment. He said that the attorneys are developing language concerning accessory structures on adjoining lots as well as proposed language requiring the installation of bulkheading by canal-front owners and the definition of waterfront in the covenants. New playground – Also at the July 27 board meeting, Director Pat

Perino and Facilities Manager Rob Girard updated the board and residents on ongoing efforts to replace the somewhat dated playground equipment at the Town Center. Perino said that she and Girard agree that the best place for a new playground is in Cove Commons. Hearn suggested that the playground working group contact a consulting firm in Berlin to help develop specs for the new amenity. Girard said that in addition to new playground equipment, the board should consider funding a 25x30-foot dance floor for when bands perform, and also should consider adding a picnic area, including charcoal grills for cook-outs. Traffic study – Traffic Group executive Betty Tustin and an engineering associate told the board at the July 27 meeting that her firm is recommending the installation of traffic humps in five Cove locations as a solution to a recently completed traffic study. She said that in the locations that would benefit from speed humps, traffic that exceeded the posted speed limit by at least ten miles per hour were to close to or even in ex-

cess of 30 percent of recorded trips. Locations where speed humps could be installed include Captain’s Corridor at Wheelhouse Drive, Seahorse Drive, Meridian Drive, Dolphin Drive and Navigator Drive. Each location would have two humps installed roughly 300 feet in either direction of the intersection, as a way of better of “calming” traffic. In addition, the traffic consultants are recommending signage throughout the Cove reminding drivers of the posted speed limit. Hearn reminded the board and residents that there’s money in the budget for traffic calming devices. The humps are expected to cost in the neighborhood of $25,000 to $30,000. Girard was directed to facilitate installation of the speed humps this year. New roads – As part of a formal hearing of a complaint by resident John Ward, the board at the July 27 meeting reaffirmed the policy of accepting a loan from an anonymous Cove resident for the construction of new roads in the Cove. The Cove is currently complet-

ing new roads in Section 1, and next year the plan is to embark on a phased installation of new roads in Sections 12 and 13, a process that could take three or four years. The anonymous lender is funding two loans, one for $150,000 and a second one for $225,000. Additional loans might be made available as needed, depending on the timetable established for new road construction The Cove is servicing the debt at a six percent annual rate. Ward said that instead of paying the investor six percent, the board should simply fund new road construction out of reserves as an alternative to borrowing. Ward previously has argued that the Cove’s restrictive covenants prohibit the board from using Cove resources to build roads, which he has said is the responsibility of the developer-declarant. The new complaint suggests that he may no longer believe this, or at least isn’t making that claim the basis of his new complaint. Hearn recently said that the funding mechanism for new road conTo Page 46

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August 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

4243 Captain’s Corridor, 302-381-6910 (cell) 302-381-6910 (cell) 302-381-6910 (cell) For23356 AVirtual Virtual Tour23356 ofCaptain’s Captain’s Cove, PleaseVisit VisitShore VA. Captain’s Cove -- Hidden HiddenGreenbackville, Treasure on Virginia’s Eastern Greenbackville, VA. Greenbackville, VA. 23356 For A Tour of Cove, Please Captain’s Cove -Treasure on Virginia’s Eastern Shore Sho For A Virtual Tour of Captain’s Cove, Please Visit 888-241-9590 (office) 888-241-9590 (office) 888-241-9590 (office) My Web site at captainscoveproperties.com Captain’s Cove -- Hidden Treasure on Virginia’s Eastern MyMyWeb Websitesiteatatcaptainscoveproperties.com captainscoveproperties.com 3102 Meridian Dr. • $176,500 Doubloon Drive• $171,900 176 Yardarm Drive • $129,900 candhwelsh@aol.com 37 Doubloon Dr. • $194,900 candhwelsh@aol.com candhwelsh@aol.com 3102 Meridian Dr. • $176,500 Doubloon Drive• $171,900 176 Yardarm Drive • $129,900 37 Doubloon Dr. • $194,900 3102 Meridian Dr. • $176,500 Doubloon Drive• $171,900 4243 Captain’s 176 Yardarm Drive • $129,900 37 Doubloon Dr. • $194,900 NEW CONSTRUCTION Corridor, NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTION 4243 Captain’s Corridor, NEW CONSTRUCTION 302-381-6910 (cell) (cell) NEW CONSTRUCTION4243 Captain’s Corridor, NEW CONSTRUCTION 302-381-6910 302-381-6910 (cell) Greenbackville, VA. 23356 Captain’s Cove --Treasure Hidden Treasure on Virginia’s Eastern Shore Captain’s Cove -Hidden onHidden Virginia’s Eastern Shore Captain’s Cove -Treasure on Virginia’s Eastern Sh Greenbackville, VA. 23356 888-241-9590 (office) Greenbackville, VA. 23356 888-241-9590 (office) 888-241-9590 (office)

Cindy Welsh Welsh Cindy Cindy Welsh

NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTIO

candhwelsh@aol.com Meridian Dr.3102 • $176,500 Doubloon Yardarm Drive176 • $129,900 3102Drive• Meridian Dr.3102 • $176,500 Doubloon Drive• $171,900 Drive• $171,900 darm Drive176 • $129,900 Doubloon Dr. •37 $194,900 37 Doubloon •37$194,900 Meridian Dr. •Dr. $176,500 Doubloon $171,900 Yardarm Drive • $129,900 Doubloon Dr. • $194,900 candhwelsh@aol.com

candhwelsh@aol.com

3BR/2 BA 1288 sq ft., Sea Robin Model, 3BR/2BA 1496 sq ft. HardwoodNEW Floors, CONSTRUCTION 3 BR/2 BA 1349 sq ft., Golf Course, Pond Views, 722 sq ft., Unfinished Bonus Area, NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTION 3BR/2 BA 1288Screen sq ft.,NEW Sea Robin Model,CONSTRUCTION 3BR/2BA 1496 sq ft.Screen Hardwood 3 BR/2 BA 1349 sqScreen ft., Golf Course, Pond Views, Laundry Area, PorchFloors, CONSTRUCTIO CONSTRUCTION 722 sq ft., Unfinished Bonus Porch Porch Screen Porch,NEW Loft Area, CONSTRUCTION

Captain’s Cove Cove ------ Hidden Hidden Treasure on Virginia’s Eastern Shore Captain’s on Virginia’s Eastern Shore Hidden Treasure Treasure on Virginia’s Eastern Shore WATERFRONT

3BR/2BA 1496 sq ft. Hardwood Floors, Laundry Area, Screen Porch Screen 3BR/2 Porch BA 1288 sq ft., Sea Robin Model,

3 BR/2 BA 1349 sq ft., Golf Course, Pond Views,Screen Porch,722 Screen Porch Loftsq ft., Unfinished Bonus Area,

Area, Screen Porch Screen Porch 2470 Buccaneer Blvd •Laundry $215,000 37453 Beam Court • $209,500 Screen Porch, Loft 3251 Salty Way • $335,000 Screen Porch 3505 Blackbeard Ct. • $399,900 2470 Buccaneer Blvd • $215,000 37453 Beam Court • $209,500 3251 Salty Way • $335,000 3505 Blackbeard Ct. • $399,900 2470 Buccaneer Blvd • $215,000WATERFRONT 37453 Beam Court • $209,500 3251 Salty Way • $335,000DIRECT BAYFRONT 3505 Blackbeard Ct. • $399,90 GOLF COURSE

GOLF COURSE

DIRECT BAYFRONT

COURSE Doubloon Drive• $171,900 WATERFRONT 3102 Meridian Dr. • $176,500 176 Yardarm DriveGOLF • $129,900 37 Doubloon Dr. • $194,900 DIRECT BAYFRONT 3102 Meridian Dr. • $176,500 Doubloon Drive• $171,900 176 Yardarm Drive • $129,900 37 Doubloon Dr. Rd. • $194,900 193 Davy Jones Blvd.• $145,700 2185 Yardarm Dr. • $154,000 37267 Dolphin Dr.• $154,900 1332 Blackbeard • $315,900 BA 1288 sq ft., Sea Robin 3BR/2BA 1496 sq ft. Hardwood Floors, BR/2 BA 1349 sq Views, ft., Golf Course, Pond BA 1288 sq ft., 3BR/2 Sea Robin Model, 3BR/2BA Hardwood Floors, 3 BR/2 BA 1349 ft.,3Golf Course, Pond 722 sq ft.,CONSTRUCTION Unfinished Bonus 722sqViews, sqft.,ft.,Golf Unfinished Bonus Area, NEW CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTION 3BR/2 BA Model, 1288 1496 sq ft.,sq Seaft.Robin Model, 3BR/2BA 1496 sq ft. sq Hardwood Floors, 3 BR/2 BA 1349 Course, NEW Pond Views, 722 sqArea, ft., Unfinished Bonus Area NEW CONSTRUCTION Laundry Area, Screen Porch Laundry Area, Screen Porch NEW CONSTRUCTION Screen Porch Screen Porch ScreenNEW Porch CONSTRUCTION Screen Porch NEW CONSTRUCTION Screen Porch, Loft Screen Porch, Loft NEW CONSTRUCTION Laundry Area, Screen Porch Screen Porch Screen Porch Screen Porch, Loft NEW CONSTRUCTION PENDING NEW LISTING NEW CONSTRUCTION 2470 Buccaneer Blvd • $215,000 37453 Beam Court • $209,500 3251 Salty Way • $335,000 3505 Blackbeard Ct. • $399,900 2470 Buccaneer Blvd • $215,000 Beam Court • $209,500 3251 Salty Way • $335,000 3505 Blackbeard Ct. • $399,900 2470 Buccaneer Blvd • $215,000 37453 Beam Court • $209,500 3251 Salty Way • $335,000 3505 Blackbeard Ct. • $399,9

3 BR 2.5 BA sunroom, 2015 sq ft., 2 sheds, 3BR/2.5 BA • 2167 sq. ft., 168’ bulkhead, 4BR/2.5BA • 2072 sq.ft., Sunroom, 3 BR/2 BA 1680 sq ft., New Construction, GOLF COURSE F COURSE WATERFRONT WATERFRONT DIRECT BAYFRONT DIRECT GOLF COURSE 3 BRSunroom, WATERFRONT 2.5 BA sunroom, 2015Room, sq ft., 2Deck sheds, 3BR/2.5 BA •Boat 2167 sq.2 ft., 168’ bulkhead, 4BR/2.5BA •Concrete 2072 sq.ft., 3 BR/2 BA 1680Granite sq ft., Counter New Construction, BAYFRONT Three Season Pier, Lift, CarDIRECT garage Bamboo Floors, tops, Screen BAYFRONT Dr. Sunroom,

3 BR 2.5 BA sunroom, 2 sheds,Floors, Granite BA • 2167 sq. ft., 168’ bulkhead 4BR/2.5BA • 2072 sq.ft., Sunroom, 3 BR/2 BA tops, 1680Screen sq ft., New Construction, Sunroom, Three Season Room, Deck 2015 sq ft.,Bamboo Pier, Boat Lift,3BR/2.5 2 Car garage Counter Concrete Dr. Sunroom, Three Season Room, Deck Pier, Boat Lift, 2 Car garage Bamboo Floors, Granite Counter tops, Screen Concrete Dr. 3BR/2 BA 1288 sq ft., Sea Robin Model, 3BR/2BA 1496 sq ft. Hardwood Floors, 3 BR/2 BA 1349 sq ft., Golf Course, Pond Views, 722 sq ft., Unfinished Bonus Area, WATERFRONT 3BR/2 BA 1288Screen sq ft.,Porch Sea Robin Model, 3BR/2BA 1496 Area, sq ft. Screen Hardwood Floors, 3 BR/2 1/467 BA 1349 sqScreen ft., Cleared, Golf Course, PondApproved Views, $1,500 Mostly Septic $3,000 Wooded, Septic Approved 7224/2104 sq ft.,Screen Unfinished Bonus Laundry Porch Porch Porch, Loft Area, 3BR/2 BA 1288 sq ft., Sea Robin Model, WATERFRONT 1542 sqScreen ft., Rancher, 3BR/24/2104 BAScreen 1687 sq ft.,Loft Construction BR/2 Mostly BAScreen 1349 sq ft., Septic Hardwood, Laundry Area, Porch Split Floor $1,500 31/467 Cleared, Approved Wooded, Septic Approved Screen Porch LOTSPorch WATERFRONT 3BR/2BA Porch, $4000$3,000 5/2562 Wooded, Septic Approved

GOLF COURSE COURSE LOTS LOTS GOLF GOLF COURSE LOTS

11/58 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 9/185 Cleared Screen Porch, Hardwood Floors Plan, Oversized GarageSystem $1,500 $1,500 1/467 Mostly Septic Approved starting soon. New•Bulkhead Upgraded Kitchen, 1 Car garageCleared, $3,000 4/2104 Wooded, Septic Appro LOTS 2470 Buccaneer Blvd • $215,000 37453 Beam Court • $209,500 325111/58 SaltyWooded, Way • $335,000 3505 Blackbeard Ct. $399,900 $4000 5/2562 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 2/377 Cleared, Secondary $1,500 Septic Approved $3,000 9/185 Cleared $4000 11/97 Wooded, Septic LOTS $2,000 24702/377 Buccaneer Blvd • $215,000 37453 Beam Court • $209,500 3251 Salty Way • $335,000 3505 Blackbeard Ct. • Approved $399,900 $4000 5/2562 Wooded, Septic Approved $1,500 4/2231 Wooded $3,000 3/1727 Wooded Cleared, Secondary System $1,500 11/58 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 9/185 Cleared REDUCED $4000 11/97 Wooded, Septic Approved 32015 BR 2.5 sunroom, sq ft., 2sunroom, sheds, • 2167 sq. ft., 168’ bulkhead, 3 Sunroom, BR 2.5 • BA2072 sunroom, sq BA ft., Cleared, 2 $2,000 sheds, 2015 3BR/2.5 BA sq • 2167 sq.3BR/2.5 ft.,DIRECT 168’BA bulkhead, 4BR/2.5BA • 2072$34,000 sq.ft., 3New BR/2 BA 1680 sq ft., New Construction, .5BA • 2072 sq.ft., Sunroom, 3 BR/2 BA Secondary 1680 sq ft.,ft., Construction, GOLF COURSE 3/1400 WATERFRONT $4,000 2/350 Approved 3Septic BR 2.5 BA 2015 sq 24/2231 sheds, 3BR/2.5 BA • 2167 sq. ft., 168’ bulkhe 2/377 Cleared, System BAYFRONT $1,500 Wooded $3,000 3/1727 Wooded 4BR/2.5BA sq.ft., Sunroom, 3 BR/2 BA 1680 ft., New Construction, $4000 1/806 Wooded $4000 11/97 Wooded, Septic Approved REDUCED GOLF COURSE $1,500 5/41 Wooded, Septic Approved Sunroom, Three Season Room, Deck Pier, Boat Lift, 2 Car garage 3/1642 Cleared, Septic Approved WATERFRONT $34,000 3/1400 Sunroom, Three Season Room,Cleared, Deck Pier, Boat Lift, 2$3,000 Car garage Cleared, Water Bamboo Floors, Granite Counter tops, Screen Concrete Dr. 82’ Bamboo Floors, Granite Counter tops, Screen $4,000 2/350 Septic Approved Concrete Dr. DIRECT BAYFRONT $1,500 4/2231 Wooded $3,000 3/1727 Wooded Sunroom, Three Season Room, Deck Pier, Boat Lift, 2 Car garage Bamboo Floors, Granite Counter tops, Screen $4000 1/806 Wooded Concrete Dr.3/1400 REDUCED $5,000 2/134 Wooded, Approved 5/41 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 3/1642 Cleared, Septic Approved Cleared, 82’ Water $34,000 $4,000 Septic 2/350 Cleared, Septic$1,500 Approved frontage $4000 11/27 Wooded WATERFRONT LOTS $4000 1/806 Wooded $1,500 5/2455 Wooded, Approved7/181 $3,000 4/2088 Wooded Cleared $1,500Septic 5/41$2,000 Wooded, Septic Approved $5,000 2/134 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 3/1642 Cleared, Septic Appro Cleared, 82’ Water frontage $4000 11/27 Wooded $1,500 5/2455 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 4/2088 Wooded $6,000 2/206 Cleared, Septic Approved $5,000 2/134 Wooded, Septic Approved frontage $4000 11/27W&S Wooded $1,600 9/123 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,200 1/477 Wooded, WATERFRONT REDUCED WATERFRONT REDUCED BAY VIEWS $2,000 7/268 Cleared $1,500 5/2455 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 4/2088 Wooded $6,000$5,000 2/206 Cleared, Approved WATERFRONT 2/134Septic Wooded, Septic Approved 1/467 Mostly Cleared, Septic Approved $3,000 4/2104 Wooded, Septic Approved $1,500 1/467 Mostly$1,500 Cleared, Septic Approved $3,000 4/2104 Wooded, Septic Approved $1,500 1/467 Mostly Cleared, Septic Approved $3,000 4/2104 Wooded, Septic App $1,600 9/123 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,200 1/477 Wooded, W&S REDUCED BAY VIEWS $6,000 2/125 Cleared, Septic Approved $6,000 2/206 Cleared, Septic Approved LOTS REDUCED LOTSBAY LOTS $1,600 5/24 Wooded $3,400 9/127 Wooded, Septic Approved $4000 5/2562 Wooded, Septic Approved $4000 5/2562 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 10/119 Mostly Cleared $1,600 9/123 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,200 1/477 Wooded, W&SApprove VIEWS $6,000 2/125Septic Wooded, Septic Approved $1,500 11/58 Wooded, Septic Approved $4000 5/2562 Wooded, Septic $6,000 2/125 Cleared, Approved $3,000 9/185 Cleared $1,500 11/58 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 9/185 Cleared $1,500 11/58 Wooded, Septic$3,400 Approved $3,000 9/185 Cleared $1,600 5/24 Wooded 9/127 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 2/377 Secondary SystemSeptic $2,000 2/377 Cleared, Secondary System $6,000 2/150Cleared, Wooded, Septic Approved $6,000 2/125 Cleared, Approved $2,000 2/377 Cleared, Secondary System $1,850 3/1776 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 7/169 Wooded, Septic Approved $4000 11/97 Wooded, Septic Approved $4000 11/97 Wooded, Septic Approved $1,600 5/24 Wooded $2,000 1/1081 Wooded $3,400 9/127 Wooded, Septic Approv $4000 11/97 Septic Approved $9,000 2/2252015 Cleared, Septic Approved $1,500 4/2231 Wooded $3,000 3/1727 Wooded $1,500 Wooded $3,000 3/1727 Wooded $6,000 2/150 Septic Approved 3 BR 2.5 BAWooded, sunroom, sq ft., 24/2231 sheds, 3BR/2.5 BA • 2167 sq.$3,000 ft., Septic 168’Wooded, bulkhead, 4BR/2.5BA • 2072$34,000 sq.ft., 3/1400 Sunroom, 3 BR/2 BA 1680 sq ft., Septic New Construction, $1,500 4/2231 Wooded $62,000 1/921 3/1727 Wooded $55,000 1/1196 $1,850 3/1776 Wooded, Approved REDUCED $3,500 7/169 Wooded, Approved CED $48,500 1/1195 $54,000 1/921 Cleared, $34,000 3/1400 $4,000 2/350 Cleared, Septic Approved $4,000 2/350 Septic Approved $12,000 2/394 Cleared, Septic Approved REDUCED $6,000 2/150 Wooded, Septic Approved $34,000 3/1400 $4000 1/806 Wooded $2,000 11/17 Wooded, Septic Approved 3 BR 2.5 BA sunroom, 20152/350 sq ft., 2Cleared, sheds, 3BR/2.5 BA •Boat 2167 sq. bulkhead, $4000 1/806 Wooded $3,500 4/2139 Wooded, Septic Approved $4,000 Septic Approved 4BR/2.5BA •Concrete 2072 sq.ft., Sunroom, 3 BR/2 BA 1680Granite sq ft., New Construction, Cleared canal w/40’ Cleared canal Sunroom, Three Season Room, Deck Pier, Lift, 2ft., Car168’ garage $62,000 1/921 $1,850 3/1776 Wooded, Septic Approved $55,000 $3,500 7/169 Wooded, Septic Approv Bamboo Floors, Counter tops, Screen $2,250 3/1810 Wooded, Septic Approved Dr. $4000 1/806 Wooded $1,500 5/41 Wooded, Septic Approved $14,000 2/188 Cleared, Septic Approved $3,000 3/1642 Cleared, Septic Approved $1,500 5/41 Wooded, Septic Approved Cleared, 82’ Water $3,000 3/1642 Cleared, Septic Approved Cleared, Cleared, Cleared, 82’1/1196 Water $12,000 2/394Three Cleared, Septic Approved $1,500 5/41 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 3/1642 Cleared, Septic Appr Cleared, 82’ Water $2,000 11/17 Wooded, Septic Approved Bulkhead $3,500 4/2139 Wooded, Septic Approved w/75’ Bulkhead Cleared canal w/40’ Wooded, Sunroom, Season Room, Deck Pier, Boat Lift, 2 Car garage $62,000 1/921 Cleared canalConcrete $55,000 1/1196 Bamboo Floors, Granite Counter tops, Screen Dr. $5,000 2/134 Wooded, Septic Approved $5,000 2/134 Septic Approved $15,000 2/185 Cleared frontage $4000 11/27 Wooded 60’ Bulkhead frontage 40’ Bulkhead $4000 11/27 Wooded $12,000 2/394 Cleared, Septic Approved $2,000 6/17 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 4/2261 Wooded $5,000 2/134 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 11/17 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 4/2139 Wooded, Septic Appro frontage $4000 11/27 Wooded $3,200 1/477 Wooded, W&S Bulkhead Cleared canal w/40’ w/75’ Bulkhead Cleared canal $1,500 5/2455 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 4/2088 Wooded $16,000 2/364 Cleared, Septic Approved $1,500 5/2455 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 4/2088 Wooded $15,000 2/185 Cleared $1,500 5/2455 Wooded, Septic$3,500 Approved $3,000 4/2088 Wooded $2,000 6/17 Wooded, Septic Approved 4/2261 Wooded Bulkhead w/75’ Bulkhead BAY VIEWS CANAL VIEW $6,000 2/206 Cleared, Septic Approved $6,000 2/206 Cleared, Septic Approved $17,500 3/325 Cleared, Septic Approved $2,000 11/101 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 7/136Septic Wooded $15,000 2/185 Cleared WATERFRONT $2,000 6/17 Wooded, Septic Approved $6,000 2/206 Cleared, Septic Approved $3,500 4/2261 Wooded $2,400 9/127 Wooded, Approved $1,600 9/123 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,200 1/477 Wooded, W&S $1,600 9/123 Wooded, Septic Approved REDUCED $19,900 2/372 Cleared, Septic Approved $3,200 1/477 Wooded, W&S ED BAY VIEWS BAY VIEWS $1,500 1/467 Mostly Cleared, Septic Approved $3,000 4/2104 Wooded, Septic Approved BAY VIEWS CANAL VIEW $1,600 9/123 Wooded, Septic$3,500 Approved $3,200 1/477 Wooded, W&S REDUCED $17,500 3/325 Cleared, Septic Approved $1,500 BAY VIEWS $2,000 11/101 Wooded, Septic Approved 7/136 Wooded WATERFRONT 1/467 Mostly Cleared, Septic Approved $3,000 4/2104 Wooded, Septic Approved BAY VIEWS $6,000 2/125 Cleared, Septic Approved CANAL VIEW $2,000 4/2284 Wooded $6,000 2/125 Cleared, Septic Approved $4,000 6/24 Wooded, Septic Approved LOTS $17,500 3/325 Cleared, Septic Approved $2,000 11/101 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 7/136 Wooded $4000 5/2562 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,500 6/40 Wooded, Septic Approved $6,000 2/125 Cleared, Septic Approved $1,600 5/24 Wooded $3,400 9/127 Wooded, Septic Approved $1,600 5/24 Wooded $3,400 9/127 Wooded, Septic Approved $1,500 11/58 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 9/185 Cleared $1,600 5/24 Wooded $3,400 9/127 Wooded, Septic Appr $2,000 4/2284 WoodedSeptic Approved $4000$3,000 $4,000 6/24 Wooded, Septic Approved LOTS 5/2562 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 2/377 Cleared, Secondary System $1,500 11/58 Wooded, 9/185 Cleared $2,000 11/77 Wooded $4,000 5/2411 Wooded, Septic Approved $6,000Septic 2/150Approved Wooded, Septic Approved $6,000 2/150 Wooded, $4000 11/97 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 4/2284 Wooded $4,000 6/24 Wooded, Septic Approve $2,500 4/2165 Wooded $2,000 2/377 Cleared, Secondary System $6,000 2/150 Wooded, Septic Approved $1,850 3/1776 Wooded, Septic Approved $64,999 3/1414 $65,000 3/1283 $3,500 7/169 Wooded, Septic Approved $1,850 3/1776 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 7/169 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 2/377 Cleared, Secondary System $1,500 4/2231 Wooded $3,000 3/1727 Wooded $1,850 3/1776 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 7/169 Wooded, Septic Appr $2,000 11/77 Wooded $4,000 5/2411 Wooded, Septic Approved $4000 11/97 Wooded, Septic Approved REDUCED $55,000 3/1283 $62,000 1/921 $55,000 1/1196 $34,000 3/1400 $62,000 1/921 /1196 $64,999 3/1414 $65,000 3/1283 Cleared, canal, Cleared, 60’ $4,000 2/350 Cleared, Septic Approved $1,500 4/2231 Wooded $3,000 3/1727 Wooded $2,500 6/40 Wooded, Septic Approved $4,000 5/82 Wooded $62,000 1/921 $55,000 1/1196 $4000 1/806 Wooded $12,000 2/394 Cleared, Septic Approved $2,000 11/77 Wooded $12,000 2/394 Cleared, Septic Approved $4,000 5/2411 Wooded, Septic Appro $2,500 4/2162 Wooded $4,000 2/350 Cleared, Septic Approved REDUCED $2,000 11/17 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 4/2139 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 11/17 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 4/2139 Wooded, Septic Approved $12,000 2/394 Cleared, Septic Approved Cleared canal w/40’ Cleared canal Cleared canal w/40’ $34,000 3/1400 $1,500 5/41 Wooded, Septic Approved Cleared, canal $3,000 3/1642 Cleared, Septic Approved $64,999 3/1414 $65,000 3/1283 $4,000 2/350 Cleared, Septic Approved Cleared, 82’ Water Cleared, canal, Cleared, 60’ 60’ Bulkhead Bulkhead $2,000 11/17 Wooded, Septic1/806 Approved $3,500 4/2139 Wooded, Septic App Cleared canal w/40’ $2,500 6/40 Wooded, SepticApproved Approved Cleared canal $4,000 5/82 Wooded $4000 Wooded Bulkhead w/75’ Bulkhead Bulkhead khead $1,500 5/41 Wooded, Septic $3,000 3/1642 Cleared, Septic Approved $5,000 2/134 Wooded, Septic Approved $1. 1/1252 Wooded, W& S $2,000 Cleared, 82’ Water $2,500 4/2165 Wooded 60’ Bulkhead $4,000 5/2553 Wooded Cleared, canal, Cleared, 60’ frontage $4000 11/27 Wooded 60’ Bulkhead Bulkhead Bulkhead $2,500 6/40 Wooded, Septic Approved w/75’ Bulkhead $4,000 5/82 Wooded $15,000 2/185 Cleared $15,000 2/185 Cleared $2,500 4/2271 Wooded $5,000 2/134 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 6/17 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 4/2261 Wooded 6/17 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 4/2261 Wooded $1. 10/10 Wooded $1,500 5/2455 Wooded, Septic Approved $15,000 2/185 Cleared $3,000 4/2088 $5,000 2/134 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 6/17 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 4/2261 Wooded $1. 1/1252 Wooded, W & S frontage $2,500 4/2165 Wooded $4000 11/27 Wooded $4,000 5/2553 Wooded 60’ Bulkhead Bulkhead NEW BULKHEAD $1,500 5/2455 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 4/2088 Wooded $1. 10/10 Wooded $2,500 4/2162 Wooded $4,900 1/1091 Wooded W&S $6,000 2/206 Cleared, Septic Approved BAY VIEWS $1. 1/1252 Wooded, W & S CANAL VIEW BAY VIEWS $2,500 4/2165 Wooded EW $4,000 5/2553 Wooded $17,500 3/325 Cleared, Septic Approved $2,500 1/1159 Wooded, W&S $6,000 2/206 Cleared, Septic Approved $17,500 3/325 Cleared, Septic Approved $2,000 11/101 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 7/136 Wooded $2,000 11/101 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 7/136 Wooded BAY VIEWS CANAL VIEW $1. 3/1747 Wooded $1,600 9/123 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,200 1/477 Wooded, W&S REDUCED BAY BULKHEAD VIEWS NEW $17,500 Cleared, Septic Approved BAY VIEWS $2,000 11/101 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 7/136 Wooded $1. 10/10 Wooded $6,000 2/206 Cleared, Septic3/325 Approved $2,500 4/2162 Wooded $4,900 1/1091 Wooded W&S $1,600 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,200 1/477 Wooded, W&S REDUCED $1. 3/1747 Wooded $2,5009/123 4/2271 Wooded BAY VIEWS $4,900 1/1055 Wooded W&S NEW BULKHEAD BAY VIEWS $6,000 2/125 Cleared, Septic Approved $1. Wooded 10/10 Wooded $2,500 4/2162 Wooded $4,900 1/1091 Wooded W&S $2,500 8/24 Cleared, Septic Approved $2,000 4/2284 Wooded $4,000 6/24 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 4/2284 Wooded $4,000 6/24 Wooded, Septic Approved $1. 1/1078 $1,600 5/24 Wooded $3,400 9/127 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 4/2284 Wooded $4,000 6/24 Wooded, Septic Appro $1. 3/1747 Wooded $2,500 4/2271 Wooded $4,900 1/1055 Wooded W&S $6,000 2/125 Cleared, Septic Approved BAY VIEWS $1,600 5/24 Wooded $69,990 3/1336 $70,000 1/1170 $3,400 9/127 Wooded, Septic Approved $250 10/140 Wooded $2,500 5/2427 Wooded $5,000 1/1159 Wooded, W&S $1. 3/1747 Wooded $2,500 4/2271 Wooded $4,900 1/1055 Wooded W&S $6,000 2/150Wooded Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 8/48 Cleared $2,000 11/77 Wooded $4,000 5/2411 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 11/77 Wooded $4,000 5/2411 Wooded, Septic Approved $1,850 3/1776 Wooded, Septic Approved $250 10/140 Wooded $3,500 7/169 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,000 11/77 Wooded $4,000 5/2411 Wooded, Septic App $69,990 3/1336 $70,000 1/1170 Cleared, 60’ Cleared, 35’ Water $64,999 3/1414 $65,000 3/1283 $250 10/140 $2,500 5/2427 WoodedSeptic Approved /1414 $65,000 $5,000 1/1159 Wooded, W&SApproved $55,0003/1283 1/1197 $59,999 3/1414 $6,000 2/150 Septic Approved $64,9991/921 3/1414 $65,000 3/1283 Wooded, $62,000 $1,850 3/1776 Wooded, $55,000 1/1196 $3,500 7/169 Wooded, Septic $3001/1170 10/128 Wooded $2,750 7/172 Wooded $5,000 4/1879 Wooded $69,990 3/1336 $250 10/140 Wooded Cleared, 60’ Cleared, 35’ $2,500 5/2427 Wooded Bulkhead frontage $5,000 1/1159 Wooded, W&S Cleared, canal, Cleared, 60’Water $70,000 canal, Cleared, 60’ $12,000 2/394 Cleared, Septic Approved Cleared, Cleared, $2,500 6/40 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 4/2104 Wooded, Septic Approved $4,000 5/82 Wooded $2,500 6/40 Wooded, Septic Approved $4,000 5/82 Wooded $2,000 11/17 Wooded, Septic Approved Cleared, canal, Cleared, 60’ $300 10/128 Wooded 4/2139 Wooded, Septic Cleared canal w/40’ $62,000 1/921 Cleared canal $55,000 1/1196 $2,500 6/40 Wooded, Septic $3,500 Approved $4,000 5/82Approved Wooded $300 10/128 $2,750 7/172 Wooded $5,000 4/1879 Wooded Cleared, 60’ Cleared, 35’ Water Wooded Bulkhead frontage 60’ Bulkhead Bulkhead $12,000 2/394 Cleared, SepticApproved Approved $2,000 head Bulkhead 40’ Bulkhead 60’ Bulkhead Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 4/2139 Septic Approved $400 3/1743 Wooded, Septic $3,00011/17 8/48Wooded, Cleared Bulkhead 60’ Bulkhead Bulkhead Cleared canal w/40’ $6,000 11/87Wooded, Wooded, Secondary System w/75’ Bulkhead Cleared canal NEW BULKHEAD BAYFRONT $300 10/128 Wooded $2,750 7/172 Wooded $5,000 4/1879 $1. 1/1252 Wooded, W & S $2,500 4/2165 Wooded Bulkhead frontage $1. 1/1252 Wooded, W & S $15,000 2/185 Cleared $4,000 5/2553 Wooded $3,000 3/1642 Cleared, Septic Approved $2,500 4/2165 Wooded $4,000 5/2553 Wooded $2,000 6/17 Septic Approved $3,500 4/2261 $1,000 4/2238 Wooded, Septic Approved $1. 1/1252 Wooded, W & S 4/2165 Wooded $4,000 5/2553Wooded Wooded Bulkhead w/75’ $400 3/1743 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,0006/17 8/48Wooded, Cleared$2,500 $6,0004/2261 11/87 Wooded Wooded, Secondary System NEWBulkhead BULKHEAD BAYFRONT $15,000 2/185 Cleared $2,000 Septic Approved $3,500 $1,000 4/2238 Wooded, Septic Approved $400 3/1743 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 8/48 Cleared $6,000 11/87 Wooded, Secondary NEW BULKHEAD NEW BAY VIEWS CANAL VIEW $1. 10/10 Wooded $2,500 4/2162 Wooded $1.BULKHEAD 10/10 WoodedBAYFRONT $4,900 1/1091 Wooded W&S $2,500 4/2162 Wooded $3,000 1/868 Wooded, W&S $4,900 1/1091 Wooded W&S $17,500 3/325 Cleared, Septic Approved NEW BULKHEAD $2,000 11/101 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 7/136 Wooded $1,000 4/2088 Wooded $1. 10/10 Wooded $2,500 4/2162 Wooded $4,900 1/1091 Wooded W&S Sys $1,000 4/2238 Wooded, Septic Approved BAY VIEWS BAY VIEW VIEWS CANAL IEWS $17,500 3/325 Cleared, Septic Approved $2,000 11/101 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,500 7/136 Wooded BAY VIEWS $1,000 4/2238 Wooded, Septic Approved $75,000 1/1045 $128,000 3/1303 Wooded $2,500 4/2284 4/2271 Wooded $1. 3/1747 Wooded$1. 3/1747 $4,900 1/1055 Wooded W&S1/1055 $2,500 4/2271 Wooded $3,000 1/1122 Wooded, W&S $4,900 1/1055 Wooded W&S $2,000 $4,000 6/24 Wooded, Septic Approved $1,500 4/2284 Wooded $1. 3/1747 Wooded $2,500 4/2271 Wooded $4,900 Wooded W&S $75,000 1/1045 Wooded, New $128,000 50’ New3/1303 Bulk$2,000 4/2284 Wooded $4,000 6/24 Wooded, Septic Approved $69,990 3/1336 $70,000 1/1170 3/1336 $70,000 1/1170 $250 10/140 Wooded $2,500 5/2427 Wooded $250 10/140 Wooded $5,000 1/1159 Wooded, W&S $2,500 5/2427 Wooded $75,000 1/1045 $5,000 1/1159 Wooded, W&S $3,500 7/169 Wooded, Septic Approved $128,000 3/1303 Wooded, New Bulkhead $2,000 11/77 Wooded $65,000 1/1170 $4,000 5/2411 Septic Approved 50’ New Bulkhead, 75’ Pier $65,000 1/1045 $1,500 1/467 Mostly Cleared, $69,990 3/1336 $70,000 1/1170 ©2016 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently owned and operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire HathawayW&S $250 10/140 Wooded $2,500 5/2427 Wooded $5,000 1/1159 Wooded, $64,999 3/1414 $65,000 3/1283 Cleared, Cleared, 35’ Water , 60’ Cleared, 35’60’ Water 60’ Wooded, New $2,000 11/77 $4,000 5/2411 Wooded, Approved 50’ New BulkBulkhead Cleared, 35’ Water Housing HomeServices symbolLLC. are registered service marks HomeServices ofWooded America, Inc. Equal head, 75’ Pier Cleared, 60’ Wooded Cleared, 35’ Water New Bulkhead ©2016 BHH Affiliates, An independently ownedofand operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Opportunity. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices andSeptic the Berkshire Hathaway $64,999 3/1414 $65,000 3/1283 $300 10/128 Wooded $2,750 7/172 Wooded Cleared, canal, Cleared, 60’ $300 10/128 $5,000 4/1879 Wooded $2,750 7/172 Wooded $5,000 4/1879 Wooded $3,500 7/136 $4,000 Wooded, Septic Approved $2,500 6/40 Septic Approved Wooded Bulkhead frontage ead frontage Approved $300 10/128 Wooded $2,750 7/172 Wooded Bulkhead $5,000 4/1879 Wooded head, 75’ PierSeptic Equal Housing HomeServices symbol©2016 are registered service marks HomeServices ofWooded, America, Inc. frontage BHH Affiliates, LLC. Anofindependently owned and operated franchisee ofOpportunity. BHH Affiliates, LLC.5/82 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire H Bulkhead frontage Cleared, canal, Cleared, 60’ 60’ Bulkhead Bulkhead $2,500 6/40 Wooded, Septic Approved $4,000 5/82 Wooded Equal Housing Opportunity. HomeServices symbol are Cleared registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc. $400 3/1743 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 8/48 Cleared $400 3/1743 Wooded, Septic Approved $6,000 11/87 Wooded, Secondary System $3,000 8/48 $6,000 11/87 Wooded, Secondary System NEW BULKHEAD BAYFRONT $4,000 6/24 Wooded, Septic Approved $1. 1/1252 Wooded, W & S LKHEAD BAYFRONT $2,500 4/2165 Wooded $4,000 5/2553 Wooded 60’ Bulkhead Bulkhead $1,500 11/58 Septic $400Wooded, 3/1743 Wooded, SepticApproved Approved $3,000 8/48 Cleared $6,000 11/87 Wooded, Secondary S NEW BULKHEAD BAYFRONT $1. 1/1252 Wooded, W &Septic S Approved $2,500 4/2165 Wooded $4,000 5/2553 Wooded BAYFRONT $1,000 4/2238 Wooded, NEW BULKHEAD $1,000 4/2238 Wooded, Septic Approved $4,000 5/82 Wooded $1. 10/10 Wooded $2,500 4/2162 Wooded $4,900 1/1091 Wooded W&S $1,000 4/2238 Wooded, Septic Approved $1500 3/1727 Wooded NEW BULKHEAD BAY VIEWS $1. 10/10 Wooded $2,500 4/2162 Wooded $4,900 1/1091 Wooded W&S $1. 3/1747 Wooded $4,500 7/122 $4,900 Cleared, Septic $2,500 4/2271 Wooded 1/1055 WoodedApproved W&S BAY VIEWS $75,000 1/1045 1/1045 $1950 9/185 Cleared $128,000 $128,000 3/1303 $75,0003/1303 1/1045 $128,000 3/1303 $1. 3/1747 Wooded $2,500 4/2271 Wooded $4,900 1/1055 Wooded W&S Wooded, New New 50’ New 3/1314 Bulk50’ New 3/1336 Bulk$100,000 Wooded, New $69,990 $70,000 1/1170 50’ New Bulk$250 10/140 Wooded $2,500 5/2427 Wooded $4,900 1/1055 Wooded, W&S $5,000 1/1159 Wooded, W&S $2,000 11/17 Wooded, Septic Approved Bulkhead ead head, 75’ Pier head, 75’ Pier ©2016 BHH LLC. Anand independently owned and operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and W&S the Berkshire Hathaway ©2016 BHH Affiliates,$250 LLC. An independently owned operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC.and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway Cleared, $69,990 3/1336 $70,000 1/1170 Bulkhead 10/140 Wooded $2,500 5/2427 Wooded Cleared, 60’ Cleared, 35’ Water head, 75’ PierAffiliates, $5,000 1/1159 Wooded, ©2016 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently owned operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway Housing Opportunity. HomeServices symbolmarks are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc. Equal$5,000 Equal Housing HomeServices are registered service ofWooded HomeServices ofare America, Inc.service 10/128 Wooded $2,750 7/172 Wooded 4/1879 Wooded $5,000 4/1879 Wooded HomeServices and the Berkshire 50’ Bulkhead Cleared, 60’ Cleared, 35’ Watersymbol$300 Housing Opportunity. HomeServices symbol registered marks of Opportunity. HomeServices of America, Inc. Equal $2,000 7/172 Bulkhead frontage $300 10/128 Wooded $2,750 7/172 Wooded $5,000 4/1879 Wooded Bulkhead frontage $400 3/1743 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 8/48 Cleared 11/87 Secondary Wooded, Secondary System $6,000 11/87 $6,000 Wooded, System NEW BULKHEAD BAYFRONT $2,000 11/77 Wooded BAYFRONT $400 3/1743 Wooded, Septic Approved $3,000 8/48 Cleared $6,000 11/87 Wooded, Secondary System NEW BULKHEAD BAYFRONT $1,000$2,000 4/2238 Wooded, Septic Approved $10,000 3/1623 Cleared, W&S 3/1836 Wooded $1,000 4/2238 Wooded, Septic Approved

GOLF COURSE LOTS GOLFLOTS COURSE GOLF COURSE GOLFLOTS COURSE LOTS GOLF COURSE COURSE LOTS LOTS GOLF INTERIOR LOTS INTERIORLOTS LOTS INTERIOR INTERIOR LOTS

INTERIOR LOTS INTERIOR LOTS INTERIOR LOTS INTERIOR LOTS LOTS INTERIOR

$75,000 1/1045 $75,000 1/1045 Wooded, New $100,000 3/1315 Wooded, New Bulkhead Cleared, Bulkhead 50’ Bulkhead

$128,000 3/1303 $128,000 50’ New3/1303 Bulk$121,500 3/1303 50’ New75’ Bulkhead, Pier Cleared, 50’ New head, 75’75’ PierPier, Bulkhead,

$2,000 2/90 Wooded

$11,000 1/1258 Cleared W&S

©2016 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently owned and operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway Equal Housing Opportunity. HomeServices symbolLLC. are registered service marks HomeServices of America, Inc.® Affiliates, ©2016 BHH Affiliates, An independently ownedofand operated franchisee of BHH LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity. ©2017 BHH Afﬁliates, LLC. An independently owned and operated franchisee of BHH Afﬁliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.

46 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

CAPTAIN’S COVE

August 2017

New roads From Page 44

struction is spelled out in the 2012 settlement agreement between the Cove POA and the developer. He also said the restrictive covenants were amended in 2002 to add street improvements as a Cove POA responsibility. Hearn has said that Ward “ig-

nores” the 2002 amendment when he cites the covenants. Ward, who clearly expected the board to reject his complaint about the source of funding for new roads, said he would appeal the board’s ruling to Virginia’s ombudsman for homeowner associations. He later told the Progress that he is talking to local legislators to urge them to introduce legislation in the

Virginia legislature that would prohibit declarant/developers to control homeowner associations decades after original development occurred. He said he would also ask that developers that own lots that can be voted in association elections be required to pay assessments if they want to cast ballots in elections to an HOA’s board of directors. If they don’t pay assessments,

then they shouldn’t be allowed to participate in HOA governance, Ward said. “There should be some kind of time limit on it,” he said. “The situation we have in the Cove shouldn’t be tolerated. No new development has occured here in years. If you count roads, those have been funded by property owners, not the developers. But they control everything.”

Building Captain’s Cove One Home at a Time! FEATURED HOMES

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J&A Builders specializes in spec home sales and new home construction. All of our models are “stick built” and feature a first floor master suite with standard appliance package, and Low-E windows. These are a few of our models we can build on your lot. Prices DO NOT include the cost of clearing a lot OR the lot. Homes are of similar design and may have upgrades. Prices good for Captain’s Cove, Greenbackville, Va. Only. MHBR #4790

CINDY WELSH - REALTOR

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Pen Fed Realty 4323 Captain’s Corridor • PO Box 28 Greenbackville, VA. 23356 302-381-6910 (cell) • 757-854-1604 (office) 757-854-1606 (fax) • Email: candhwelsh@aol.com ©2017 BHH Afﬁliates, LLC. An independently owned and operated franchisee of BHH Afﬁliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.

August 2017Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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Ocean Pines PROGRESS August 2017

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