410-641-6029
Vol. 9, No. 9
December 2013 - Early January 2014
www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress GM rebuffs panel offer to help with budget prep In an apparent downturn in relations between the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee and General Manager Bob Thompson, the Ocean Pines Association’s chief executive officer seems to be rebuffing an offer by the panel to assist him and his staff in preparing the Fiscal Year 2014 budget, due for delivery to the board of directors in early January. Committee chair Dennis Hudson told the Progress in a Dec. 9 telephone interview that as of that date Thompson had not invited him and his committee to assist in developing revenue projections for the administration’s draft 2014 budget. ~ Page 8
Board ponies up extra $385,000 for Yacht Club kitchens Conceding that they had little choice but to proceed with the more expensive option even though it will put the project significantly over budget, all but one of the OPA directors agreed to include professionally designed commercial kitchens in the Ocean Pines Association’s new Yacht Club. The expenditure increases the cost of the overall Yacht Club project by $385,000, taking it to just short of $4.8 million. Following a work session to review the design parameters for the two kitchens, one each on the first and second floors, the board on Nov. 20 voted to move forward with purchasing $456,000 worth of restaurant equipment and new range hoods. ~ Page 10
Board guidance calls for hiring of assistant GM
It took a little longer than most years but the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors, during their regular monthly meeting Nov. 20, finally got around to passing Fiscal Year 2014-15 budget guidance, a set of instructions to General Manager Bob Thompson and Controller Art Carmine as they assemble a proposed budget to be presented for review in January and adoption this February. Only Director Marty Clarke opposed the budget guidance as written, which for the most part tracks budget guidance for the past five years. ~ Page 14
THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY
General manager unveils comprehensive ten-year capital improvement plan By TOM STAUSS Publisher he long-awaited comprehensive ten-year capital improvement plan including a so-called rackand-stack of major capital projects finally was distributed by Ocean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson to members of the Board of Directors’ at their Nov. 20 monthly meeting. There was no reaction by the directors and indeed Thompson was not expecting one. As for the OPA members, they were out of luck: No copies, no summary, not even an announcement that the draft – and it is a working draft, nothing more – would be posted on the OPA Web site. By the second week of December, it had not yet been posted.
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If all the projects are funded – and that’s a big if – the OPA would be spending $16,832,060 in today’s dollars for them. That number is very much a rough number, a moving target, subject to change over time as the board changes the project list. The Progress obtained a copy the day after Thompson released it to the board, with Thompson saying he was only doing so because association documents have to be released to OPA members under the Maryland Homeowners Association Act. He gave the distinct impression that he would have preferred not to release it, perhaps with the idea that a delay would give the directors more time to read and digest it, and perhaps before reaction, both positive and negative, would have an opportunity to pick up
energy, some of it no doubt directed at its more controversial components. The draft plan includes a table of proposed projects and their estimated costs projected over ten years. If all the projects are funded – and that’s a big if – the OPA would be spending $16,832,060 in today’s dollars for them. That number in all fairness to Thompson is very much a rough number, a moving target, subject to change over time as the board changes the project list. To Page 18
Thompson proposes new police station, Community Center fitness facility
By TOM STAUSS
Publisher ear two in the draft Capital Improvement Plan distributed to the Board of Directors Nov. 20 calls for proposed projects costing $2.63 million. It’s an ambitious, even aggressive, plan that Ocean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson has come up with for the year after next, Fiscal Year 2015-16. It targets the White Horse Park campus, the Manklin Meadows complex, the Beach Club and Country Club campuses for attention, with the proposal for the White Horse Park campus likely to garner the most attention. There’s a fitness center proposed for the Assateague Room in the new Community Center, with shower facilities replacing the seldom used Community Center kitchen. There’s a new larger police department facility, 3,000 square feet in area, to be appended to the existing 1,700 square foot police station; the old police station would be converted into a meeting space to replace the Assateague Room for smaller events.
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Larger events, such as the OPA annual meeting, would be shifted to the Community Center gym, according to Thompson. The draft CIP estimates $350,000 for a new fitness center and $500,000 for
Yacht Club progress
the new police station addition. Thompson’s draft CIP attempts to justify the larger space for the Ocean Pines Police Department on the basis of To Page 19
The new Yacht Club progressed well during the first and second week of December despite some bad weather Dec. 9 and 10. Second floor wall sheathing was almost complete, as were trusses. Fill dirt for the pavers on the marina side of the building was spread. Roof sheathing passed county inspection, and plumbing rough-in was reported about half done.
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OCEAN PINES
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
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Tax Tip #1 Remember: the tax code constantly changes, so you can’t compare one year to Tax Tip #1 Always look at the coming tax year as a new episode, or a new chapter in a the next. book, and greet it with an open mind. Those changes may represent an opportunity Remember: thetax taxbill. codeItconstantly changes, you with can't acompare oneadvisor year to the next.takes a to reduce your is imperative to so work financial who proactive approach to tax tax planning, than allowing tax piece of the Always look at the coming year as arather new episode, or a newthe chapter in a book, and financial greet it plan to an beopen prepared elsewhere. your tax be ataxpart with mind. Those changesIndeed, may represent an preparation opportunity to should reduce your bill. of It isyour overall financial plan. A good financial advisor, aware of all the year-to-year changes imperative to work with a financial advisor who takes a proactive approach to tax planning, to the tax code, can be your best resource, especially if that advisor offers profesrather allowing the tax piece of the financial plan to be prepared elsewhere. Indeed, sional taxthan preparation.
your tax preparation should be a part of your overall financial plan. A good financial advisor,
Breakfast with Santa
On Dec. 7, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived at the Ocean Pines Community Center to enjoy breakfast with some very excited children and their parents. Carol and Al Kastner of Ocean Pines know the Clauses very well and asked them to have pancakes and sausages cooked by the Kiwanis Kitchen Krew, who have plenty of experience making that breakfast. The Krew posed with Santa & Mrs. Claus for a memento photo. Pictured are Ed Aurand, Ralph Chinn, Lee Brooke, and Dave Landis.
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Tax Tipof#2 aware all the year-to-year changes to the tax code, can be your best resource, especially if CD penalties are deductible. That’s right; if you have been working with thatinterest advisor offers professional tax preparation. a financial advisor, and have decided on employment of a tax-advantaged investment strategy such as tax-free municipal bonds or tax deferrals in annuities or life Tax Tip #2 products, you may be contemplating moving money from a certificate of insurance deposit or other savings accounts. Often, people delay changing the way their dolinterest penalties deductible. That's right; if you have been working with afor financial and larsCD are invested orare stored, because there would be a penalty earlyadvisor, withdrawal. havedon’t decided on employment of aoftax-advantaged strategy such as tax-free municipal tax bill They realize that part that penaltyinvestment would actually lower their income or tax deferrals in annuities or line life insurance products, may withdrawal. be contemplating moving money on bonds the adjusted gross income: 30, penalty foryou early from a certificate of deposit or other savings accounts. Often, people delay changing the way their Tax Tipare #3 dollars invested or stored, because there would be a penalty for early withdrawal. They don’t realize Another overlooked strategy by those who are near the limitline on30, their that part ofcommonly that penalty would actually lower their income tax bill on the adjusted gross income: itemized deductions is prepaying expenses that are deductible. For instance, if, in penalty for early withdrawal. 2013, you were planning on spending approximately $10,000 on deductible expenses—health insurance, property taxes, charitable donations, excise taxes, or other Tax Tip #3 itemized deductions—then you could prepay next year’s charitable contributions, next year’s healthoverlooked insurance, andbyinthose some year’s property taxes. Another commonly strategy whocases, are neareven the limitnext on their itemized deductions is For example, if athat person paid allForofinstance, their 2011 andyou 2012 at the end of prepaying expenses are deductible. if, in 2013, were expenses planning on spending calendar year $10,000 2011, $20,000 of expenses—health paid expensesinsurance, would allow itemizedonations, and take approximately on deductible propertythem taxes,tocharitable greater deductions. Then, in 2012, they would simply claim the standard deducexcise taxes, or other itemized deductions—then you could prepay next year's charitable contributions, tion because they would have no expenses that were on the itemized list. They nextprepaid year's health insurance, andstrategy in some cases, evenanext year's property were in 2012. This leaves smart tax payertaxes. in an every-other-year
posture—one year, double up, file the long form and itemize; the next year, claim For example, if a person paid of their 2011double and 2012up expenses at the endthe of calendar year 2011, standard deductions; the all next year, and itemize; next year, take the $20,000 deduction. of paid expenses allow them to itemize and take greater deductions. Then, in 2012, destandard (Inwould sequence: itemize-standard deduction-itemize-standard they would simply claim the standard deduction because they would have no expenses that were on the duction.) itemized list. with They were prepaid incash 2012. flow This strategy leaves a smart tax this payerisin an an every-other-year For people the proper and circumstances, excellent stratyear, double up, file the longthat form its and10% itemize; next 7.5%. year, claim standard deductions; egyposture—one for tax savings especially now upthefrom the next year, double up and itemize; the next year, take the standard deduction. (In sequence: Tax Tip #4 deduction-itemize-standard deduction.) itemize-standard It is not uncommon for some taxpayers to not be in a tax bracket at all, because they have tax-free tax-deferred Security, and For people withmoney the properincash flow andorcircumstances, this isvehicles, an excellentcollect strategySocial for tax savings have low fixed expenses. those people often still have some IRA monies. People especially now that its 10% up fromYet 7.5%. under the age of 70 not required to take their RMDs are allowed to leave money in IRAs and simply enjoy being at the zero bracket. Those people, however, often could have taken hundreds, even thousands of dolTax #4 of their IRAs or deferred accounts and continued to pay zero tax. If you’re larsTip out working with a proactive financial advisor, they may suggest a “what if” tax return in month of December to determine much atactual income you money are going to be Itthe is not uncommon for some taxpayers to not be in how a tax bracket all, because they have in tax-free reporting. If there are a few hundred dollars or more left that you could earn and or tax-deferred vehicles, collect Social Security, and have low fixed expenses. Yet those people often still still pay some zeroIRA tax,monies. it makes sense to take dollarstofrom IRARMDs and either rolls have People under the age ofthose 70 not required take their are allowed to them leave into a Roth IRA, or simply re-categorize those assets, expose them to the possibility of money in IRAs and simply enjoy being at the zero bracket. taxation, avoid paying the tax, and restore them in any non-IRA.
Those people, however, often could have taken hundreds, even thousands of dollars out of their IRAs Tax Tip #5 or deferred accounts and continued to pay zero tax. If you're working with a proactive financial advisor, For those people with capital gains from sales of stock or from mutual fund distributions, many know that they can offset those gains with a loss, but few actually sit down and do the annual exercise. It is a good idea to meet with a financial advisor or broker to look at your losses. By selling those losing assets, you can offset your other investment gains and end up with an equivalent of no capital gains. Many people would rather not sell their underperforming assets, because they believe they’re about to “come back” and wouldn’t dare wait the 31-day waiting period to repurchase the same asset as an allowable purchase. However, many people don’t realize that an ETF (Exchanged Traded Fund) is in a different asset class than a mutual fund, and many ETFs are comprised of many of the same assets as their mutual fund counterparts. For instance, someone invested in the Vanguard S&P 500 mutual fund could sell that fund at a loss and buy the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF the next day without violating the 31-day rule. There are other nuances to changing asset classes that must be considered, but the point is clear: in December, compare your investment winners and losers and plan accordingly. Information Provided by R. Dennis Hudson
3
4 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
December 2013 - Early January
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OCEAN PINES
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
5
Terry opts out of race for county commissioner
Aquatics panel considers Renosys for Sports Core
The Aquatics Advisory Committee, discussing possible improvements to the Sports Core indoor swimming pool that OPA General Manager Bob Thompson has said he will include in his budget for next year, seems to be backing off of ear lier support of a paver decking surface
OCEAN PINES BRIEFS similar to the one at the new Yacht Club pool. Without actually criticizing the paver option, committee chair Virginia Reister instead talked up the virtues of a rubberized mat surface manufactured by Renosys. She brought samples of the product to the committee’s meeting in early December. Among the advantages: less expensive than pavers and easier on the feet. The committee also discussed of other ways that the cost of the improvements could be reduced. One option would be not to reinstall the thick cantilevered coping around the perimeter of the pool that was removed years ago. The project as currently envisioned includes pool resurfacing and new decking. With the savings from using Renosys over the decking – some leveling of the deck would still be required – along with not doing the new coping, there is some hope among committee members that there may be enough money left over for some other Sports Core pool improvements the committee favors: salt-generated chlorination and a state-
of-the-art ultra-violet (UV) filtering system.
Stachurski says he has right to change his mind
Well aware that his advocacy of reinstating a code of conduct for members of the OPA board directly contradicts the position he had on the issue in 2007, when a short-lived code was abolished, OPA Director Dan Stachurski says he has the right to change his mind in light of changed conditions. Those conditions: Incivility and too much leaking of confidential information. Stachurski says that one of the problems with the code of conduct that was abolished in 2007 was its lack of specificity in defining the activity that could result in a director being removed from the board. Working with his board colleague on the board, Terri Mohr, Stachurski has revised the former code, adding language that makes it crystal clear that revealing confidential information from closed board meetings would be the sort of infraction that could bring an offending director up on charges and, perhaps,
Clarke questions GM on Sports Core easement
OPA Director Marty Clarke in early December was questioning a claim by OPA General Manager Bob Thompson that Worcester County has an easement to install water and sewer mains on the
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expelled from the board. Stachurski said one relatively recent example of an unauthorized leak was disclosure that the board of directors was considering a purchase of the former Pine Shore golf property and had made an offer on it for somewhere around $1.4 million. Ironically, an article published by the Progress on the proposed purchase quoted Stachurski extensively on the matter. Stopping short of confirming the offer directly, which he said he couldn’t do because it would violate long-standing board decorum, he said enough on the record that a reasonable person would have concluded that, in fact, the purchase offer had been tendered. The information was conveyed in a way that no reasonable person could have concluded he had violated the code if it happened to be in force at the time.
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cean Pines Association President Tom Terry has disclosed that he doesn’t intend to run for the Ocean Pines (District 5) seat on the Worcester County Commission next year, after all. The Progress reported in its November edition that Terry was giving serious consideration to making the run, with many people concluding that a formal announcement was more likely than not. Terry told the Progress in an email response to a reporter’s question that he had concluded that he could better serve the interests of Ocean Pines residents and property owners continuing as a member of the OPA Board of Directors. He was reelected to the board this past summer for a three-year term and is currently serving his fourth consecutive year as OPA president.
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OCEAN PINES
December 2013 - Early January 2014
Cathell addresses Kiwanians Worcester County Register of Wills Charlotte Cathell spoke to her fellow Kiwanians at the weekly meeting on Dec. 11 in the Ocean Pines Community Center about the importance of having a will and how she is involved with wills as part of her job. She informed the membership that she has filed to run again in 2014 for re-election. Her office can provide some literature about having a will prepared and why one should have a will.
OCEAN PINES BRIEFS From Page 5 two-acre OPA-owned parcel in front of the library and post office facing Route 589. After the Board of Directors’ Dec. 4 work session, Clarke questioned whether the easements actually existed and that, if so, he wanted Thompson to pro-
duce copies of the plat that indicated that they did. Apparently there are no copies of the Sports Core plat gathering dust the OPA administration building, which seemed to irk the director even more. According to Worcester County Deputy Public Works Director John Ross, the plat does exist and there was language in its approval by the county years ago
designating a right to install public water and sewer lines on the property as needed. He said that before embarking on the project that will allow the Pines Plaza Service Area to connect to the Ocean Pines Service Area, county attorney Sonny Bloxom consulted with OPA attorney Joe Moore, and that both attorneys agreed that the county’s use of the OPA property was appropriate.
No new lights for North Gate bridge
The North Gate of Ocean Pines is looking a bit spiffier thanks to a good cleaning of the bridge and removal of some overgrown vegetation, but the entry lights cannot be replaced until next year. Bob Thompson, OPA general manager, during a Nov. 20 meeting told the board of directors that staff has not had any luck in searching for globes to match those that currently cover the lights in the North Gate bridge. He said a local retired electrical contractor thought he may have a resource for them and helped to look for the globes but also came up empty handed. The former contractor’s recommendation was to use a commercial grade light and cover that will not look at all like the existing globes. Thompson said replacing the globes has been put off until spring. “We’ll have
to go back and come up with a lighting plan,” he said, adding that “We’re gonna have to replace them all.” Because of the age of the fixtures, the replacement project will involve not just new lamp covers but also installing new ballasts. Thompson said an OPA public works crew completed the power-washing of the outbound side of the North Gate bridge on Nov. 12, working through the night so the lane could be reopened in time for the morning commute. “Unfortunately it was one of the coldest nights we’ve had this year,” he said. The inbound side was power-washed earlier and the entire bridge is now “back to brown” instead of a greyish color, Thompson said. Director Dan Stachurski asked if the bridge will be sealed in order to keep it from turning colors again. Thompson said the intention is to leave it natural through the winter and then look at the bridge in the spring to determine if it should be covered with a clear coat sealer.
OPVFD to benefit from OPA, Sam’s Club partnership
Purchase or renew a membership to Sam’s Club via a special partnership with the Ocean Pines Association through Dec. 20 and it will be possible to
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6 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 7
OCEAN PINES OCEAN PINES BRIEFS From Page 6
support the Ocean Pines Volunteer Fire Department. Sam’s Club will donate $5 of each membership fee purchased through the OPA to the OPVFD. Other benefits of the partnership between Sam’s Club and the OPA include a $10 gift card for a new or renewal of a Sam’s Club $45 annual membership fee or a $25 gift card for a new or renewal of a Sam’s Club $100 plus memberships. Members will also receive a free second membership card for a household member.
Twelve months will be added to the current expiration date of a Sam’s membership, regardless of when the membership is due for renewal. The special Sam’s Club membership offer is only available through the OPA, not at local Sam’s Club stores. For information visit www.oceanpines.org.
More services to come for OPA Web site
The Ocean Pines Association’s new Web site has just gone live but already improvements are under consideration. OPA General Manager Bob Thomp-
son said during the Nov. 20 board meeting that he has received extremely favorable feedback regarding the OPA’s recently revamped online portal, but more improvements will come in the future. “It’s an evolving site,” he said. “We’re continuing to add items to it.” In the near future, information about the catering operation, menus and new Yacht Club facility will be added. Ultimately, there are plans to add a membership login area where property owners can manage their accounts including making address changes.
Director Dan Stachurski said he hopes that at some point the OPA can add a secure area on the site where property owners can access and pay their assessment and membership bills. He said implementing a simple electronic billing system may be able to reduce some of the OPA’s mailing expenses as well. Thompson said that is a long term goal. In the meantime, Thompson said if anyone notices typographic errors or other bugs in the new Web site they should contact the OPA so those problems can be corrected.
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OCEAN PINES
OCEAN CITY CELEBRATE ALL YEAR IN THIS SUNNY, BRIGHT RANCHER
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2-level townhome, deeded boat slip. Wood burning fireplace, 1 bedroom, LOFT, 1 & 1/2 bath. 2 decks. Fix and enjoy for $149,900
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3 BR, 1 BATH Rancher on almost half acre fenced yard. A bargain for do-ityourself buyers. $64,900
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8 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
By TOM STAUSS Publisher n an apparent downturn in relations between the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee and General Manager Bob Thompson, the Ocean Pines Association’s chief executive officer seems to be rebuffing an offer by the panel to assist him and his staff in preparing the Fiscal Year 2014-15 budget, due for delivery to the board of directors in early January. Committee chair Dennis Hudson told the Progress in a Dec. 9 telephone interview that as of that date Thompson had not invited him and his committee to assist in developing revenue projections for the administration’s draft budget. Because the holidays were less than two weeks away with no overture from Thompson, Hudson said he has concluded that the general manager doesn’t want his help. A recent phone conversion with the general manager only reinforced that conclusion, Hudson said. He told the Progress that his committee members are upset with the news, and that he is doing everything he can to prevent an irrevocable breach between his committee and Thompson that could result in a return to an adversarial relationship between the panel and the general manager. He said that as a result of Thompson’s apparent decision not to involve
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OCEAN PINES
December 2013 - Early January 2014
Board OKs Collins motion advising general manager to involve committee earlier in budget process Thompson appears to be rebuffing offer by budget panel to assist him and his staff in developing revenue projections for the Fiscal Year 2014-15 budget the committee in drafting the administration budget, the committee would revert to the more traditional practice of reviewing the budget in detail with department heads in a series of meetings after the budget is delivered to the board in early January. He said he has been in touch with OPA President Tom Terry who informed him that the department head meetings will continue. Recently, Terry told the Progress there would be no reason not to continue them, noting that they are helpful for board members who sit in on them as observers. Hudson added that he has emailed proposed dates to Thompson for budget review sessions with department heads
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after first clearing them with Terry. Hudson said he has no reason to believe they would not take place as they did last year. Earlier in his tenure as general manager, Thompson, after relations between the budget committee had descended into acrimony, elected not to allow his department heads to attend budget review meetings out of concern that they will turn into inquisitions. In last year’s budget cycle, when Thompson and Hudson were getting along better, there was no question that department heads would be invited in under more “respectful” conditions. Whether Thompson will be so inclined in this year’s budget cycle remains to be seen given the current downturn in rela-
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tions, but there are indications that Terry, as the OPA president, will prevail on the general manager to cooperate even if his preferences lie elsewhere. Thompson’s decision not to accept the committee’s assistance in developing revenue projections, an area of budgetary preparation in which committee members believe the OPA administrative has fallen short in recent years, runs counter to a sense of the board resolution passed during the directors’ Nov. 20 regular monthly meeting. In a 5-2 vote in which directors Dan Stachurski and Sharyn O’Hare dissented, the directors voted to encourage Thompson to accept the committee’s offer of assistance, action that fell well short of mandating it. It was clear during the meeting that Thompson was reluctant to embrace it and would most likely not involve the committee in the administration’s draft budget preparations, absent a mandate. Stachurski and O’Hare were of the opinion that even the milder “sense of the board” approach went too far in involving an advisory committee in what historically in Ocean Pines has been the sole province of the OPA administration, particularly the general manager and the OPA’s chief financial officer, Controller Art Carmine. Following the meeting, the general manager declined to tell the Progress deTo Page 9
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OCEAN PINES Budget guidance From Page 8 finitively whether he would or wouldn’t involve the committee in budget preparations, saying he would “follow the bylaws” in making the decision. During public discussion, Thompson seemed to suggest that he interprets the bylaws as giving him the responsibility to develop the budget independently of any committee or board involvement. That’s an interpretation that Hudson, in a meeting with the board earlier this year, said is not consistent with language in the bylaws and board resolutions that he said require committee involvement earlier in the process. It would appear that these competing interpretations will not be easily reconciled. Thompson told the board during the Nov. 20 discussion that the issue was one of responsibility, rather than control, and that OPA governing documents give him the responsibility to develop the budget. During discussion, Stachurski framed the issue in much the same way. “It is my understanding that (the initial draft is) the GM’s budget and that advisory committees work for the board,” Stachurski said. “I’m having a problem” with what he said would be the effect of the motion offered by Director Jack Collins. “Why do we do want to change” the timing of the committee’s involvement?” Stachurski asked. “Is it helpful?” In October, Collins offered up a motion tabled by the board that would have mandated earlier involvement by the budget committee in the process. After meeting resistance from his colleagues, especially Stachurski, he came back in November with a watered down version that left the decision with Thompson as to whether the offer of assistance would be accepted. Thompson was not keen on either version of the motion. In response to Stachurski’s question, he said that while he appreciated the intent of Collins’ motion, “it’s my budget to present.” He went on to say that he thought last year’s budget review process went smoothly, and he saw no reason to deviate from what he said was “extensive use” of the committee during the process leading up to the budget’s approval by the board. Terry, the OPA president, tried to guide the general manager into using the committee’s expertise on financial matters without actually mandating it. “It’s a matter of giving you access to the committee so you can have resources prior to January,” Terry said, an attempt to thread the needle that clearly was not persuading Thompson. Director Bill Cordwell, a member of the budget committee before being elected to the board this summer, joined Terry in support of Collins’ “sense of the board motion.” “The problem I had with the original motion (in October) was that it was a mandate,” Cordwell said. “This is just saying” Thompson could involve the
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS committee earlier in the process if he wanted to. Thompson was not buying it and then launched into what may have been his most direct criticism of the board in his three-plus years as OPA general manager. “I hate that you’re putting me in this position,” he said, explaining that he would be forced to choose between not wanting to run afoul of a clear board preference to involve the budget committee in drafting the management’s proposed budget and what he regarded as his responsibility as general manager. “I will be forced to say no (to the committee’s involvement),” he said later in the discussion. “I’ll be against the board and the B&F” if the motion passes, he added. His discomfort did not persuade five of the seven directors.
Crafter of the month
The Pine’eer Craft Club of Ocean Pines has honored Sharon Puser as the December crafter of the month. She creates original American Girl Doll outfits with matching accessories. She is the president of the club, president elect for 2014 and a past treasurer. The Pine’eer Craft and Gift Shop closes for the season on Dec. 15.
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Board ponies up extra $385,000 for professionally designed kitchens at new Yacht Club As expected, directors go along with decision to boost project cost to almost $4.8 million By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer onceding that they had little choice but to proceed with the more expensive option even though it will put the project significantly over budget, all but one of the OPA directors agreed to include professionally designed commercial kitchens in the Ocean Pines Association’s new Yacht Club. The expenditure increases the cost of the overall Yacht Club project by $385,000, taking it to just short of $4.8 million. Following a work session to review the design parameters for the two kitchens, one each on the first and second floors, the board on Nov. 20 voted to move forward with purchasing $456,000 worth of restaurant equipment and new range hoods. Director Sharyn O’Hare made the motion, which was approved by all of the directors with the exception of Marty Clarke, who abstained. In her motion, O’Hare specified that with that approval no other additional funding requests or significant overruns are expected in order to complete the Yacht Club project. Bob Thompson, OPA general manager, said he is willing to subscribe to the latter part of O’Hare’s motion because all of the costs for “what ifs” or questionable items, like the kitchen and underground utilities, have now been addressed. He said the kitchen equipment is the single biggest piece of the project and therefore has the largest impact on the overall budget. “I believe that we have covered everything in detail. I don’t see any surprises coming from this point,” he said. Clarke told the Progress recently that he won-
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ders if that really will prove to be true, suggesting that the budget for landscaping and furniture might prove to have been overly optimistic, resulting in more supplemental funding requests. Professional kitchen consultant Rob Brown of the firm Savoy-Brown recommended installing all new equipment and ventilation hoods. Little of the equipment from the old building was salvageable, according to Brown, and the designer didn’t recommend using any of it in either of the two new kitchens that will be built in the Yacht Club. Adding the professionally designed kitchens puts the project well above original cost estimates that were included in referendum materials sent to OPA members. Those cost estimates at just $151,000 depended heavily on repurposing equipment from the old Yacht Club in both the upstairs kitchen, which will be used for banquets, catering and special events, and the downstairs regular dining kitchen at the new amenity. Additionally the OPA had intended to remove the existing kitchen hood system from the Yacht Club and install it at the new facility. However, because of the complete kitchen redesign, that is no longer possible, adding another $67,000 to the cost of the project. Clarke wanted to know how the OPA plans to cover the additional cost, since the Yacht Club project contingency has already been used. Thompson said the OPA is budgeting $1.1 million annually to be placed in the reserve fund for major capital projects – that’s the so-called five-year finding plan of which the current fiscal year is the fifth year -- including the Yacht Club. Based on that figure, the association had anticipated paying off the project in full by 2018. Instead, part of the 2019 capital reserve funding will now be used to pay for the Yacht Club as well, Thompson told the board.
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10 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
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OCEAN PINES
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
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Board passes revised investment policy on first reading
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Yacht Club kitchen From Page 10 Clarke still declined to vote in favor of the kitchen equipment purchase, saying he had asked for a listing of the proposed equipment in early November but didn’t receive that document until the Nov. 20 meeting. Without knowing “where these numbers come from” he said he would not support the overrun. Director Bob Cordwell favored installing the professional kitchen equipment, saying “We sought help. We paid for help” and the “professional kitchen designer gave us what we need.” Clarke responded that same kitchen designer originally said much of the OPA’s old kitchen equipment could be reused but now says that it cannot. He wanted to know why somebody didn’t ask the county whether or not the equipment could be reused earlier in the Yacht Club inspection process. “How come we didn’t pick up on this equipment being ratty then?” Clarke said. Director Jack Collins said the kitchen designer was responding to conversations with a county inspector, who after closer inspection of the equipment determined that it could not be used because of its age and condition. “Therefore, the
Clarke lone dissenter as board appears to be heading toward somewhat less conservative management of longer term reserve funds cant increase in risk. Clarke disagrees, but so far there is no indication that he has persuaded any other director to his point of view. Jack Collins, a retired banker, so far has not said whether he’s in Clarke’s corner on the issue. Before the draft F-01 is passed on second reading, it is likely the directors will discuss it in more detail, if only to offer assurances to the OPA membership that the board is not investing funds in a way that could result in a loss of invested capital over time. When the board briefly discussed the draft F-01 at its Nov. 20 monthly meeting, Clarke focused not so much on wording in the draft but on a list of potential investments that he said was discussed by the committee earlier this year when the revised resolution was initially presented. Clarke insists that the OPA should not change its current policy of investing only in federally-insured instruments or CDARs. The draft F-01 resolution continues the current practice of investing the shorter term funds in CDARS (Certificates of Deposit Account Registry Services) or in securities guaranteed by the federal government. These funds would continue under the management of the treasurer and controller of the OPA. The longer term investments, in a proposed change in policy, would be managed by a third party, professional investment firm, approved by the
board, that would be required to submit detailed monthly fund performance reports to OPA. Fund performance would be reviewed quarterly by OPA management and the budget and finance committee. According to the draft resolution, the budget and finance committee would be required, at least annually, to review established investment guidelines and procedures and meet with the investment managers or advisors. In addition, at a minimum of every three years, the committee would conduct a competitive selection process for qualified investment managers, including any managers employed at the time who may be interested in managing the fund. The committee would recommend any changes in the investment management firm to the OPA board of directors. As for allowable investment instruments, the draft resolution says they would be subject to a “written agreement appended to these guidelines” that would be developed cooperatively by OPA and the investment managers, with approval by the board. The resolution says the agreement would “detail allowable investments and other appropriate fund governance matters.” Finally, the draft resolution says that any investment gains or losses would be credit or debited to this fund. Earlier in the year, the committee had debated an investment policy reso-
original number goes elsewhere; it goes down the drain,” he said, adding “We are where we are, and we just can’t walk away from a $4.3 million project and let it go fallow.” OPA President Tom Terry said consultants did meet with the county early on when developing the project budget prior to the Yacht Club referendum and, at that time, they were told it would be OK to reuse the existing kitchen equipment. “And now we can’t use the equipment, both because of its condition and we’re being told by the county we can’t use it,” he said. “I don’t like this situation any more than anybody else sitting up here.” With the board’s approval now in hand, Thompson said Savoy-Brown will approach bidders for their lowest and best prices on all of the equipment. All of the equipment that was removed from the old Yacht Club was evaluated for its age and condition. Much of it is 30 years old and some of it, such as a walk-in refrigerator and freezer, literally fell apart when it was moved from where it has sat for decades; the wooden supports and insulation had rotted away. Over the years, the OPA repaired old equipment and did piecemeal upgrades but never a wholesale kitchen
renovation. Some equipment, like stainless steel worktables, sinks and hand sinks as well as some shelving, can be incorporated into the proposed new kitchens. The old dishwasher will be installed upstairs at the new Yacht Club, but a leased dishwasher will be used downstairs. Clarke questioned the lease option, suggesting that by taking that approach rather than an outright purchase, roughly $80,000 or so won’t have to be added to the Yacht Club’s project cost. Thompson also reminded directors during their Dec. 4 work session that they still have not made a decision regarding the color scheme for the interior elements of the new Yacht Club. He presented three proposed interior material and color selections to the board for consideration in November. All very similar in color palette, the materials included options for tile and wood flooring, countertops, paint and carpet. The flooring on the first level of the new Yacht Club will be a grooved ceramic tile, while the second level flooring will be wood. Only the offices and the bridal suite will be carpeted. The countertops and bar tops throughout the Yacht Club will be the Silestone material, Thompson said.
lution that would have been much more specific as to the kinds of investments that would be permitted under a policy change. However, the committee decided not to identify specific investment vehicles in the draft resolution. Clarke told his colleagues that the list nonetheless exists and could become the list of approved investments should the revised F-01 resolution pass. The proposed list of potential investments distributed during the committee’s May 31 meeting included debt obligations of U.S. Corporations – in short, corporate bonds – as well as municipal debt obligations, otherwise known as municipal bonds. Other fixed income securities, such as U.S. Treasury bonds or obligations of other U.S. government agencies, were listed, as were a number cash equivalents ranging from U.S. treasury bills, U.S.-guaranteed agency securities, discount notes, repurchase agreements, money market funds, bankers acceptances, commercial paper, certificates of deposit and time deposits and loan participations. Certain investments were listed as non-permitted, however, including stocks, private placements, short sales, use of options or futures, margin securities, hedge funds, commodities, or any speculation on developments or trends in the market. In addition, the draft policy discussed in late May said that any fixed income securities or cash equivalents under consideration for investment, other than those backed by the U.S. government, must be rated “investment grade” by two rating agencies, Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s, at the time of purchase. Committee members joked that California municipal bonds would probably not be among those chosen for investment. Clarke, who attended the May 31 committee meeting, didn’t find much humor in what the committee was considering at the time. He said the OPA should not make any change in investment policy that increases risk to principal. Another OPA Director, Terri Mohr, then the OPA treasurer and board liaison to the budget committee, was far more supportive of tweaking OPA investment policy. During committee discussion, Clarke alluded to an incident several years ago which prompted the board to adopt the current conservative investment policy limiting investments to those backed by the U.S. government. He said the board adopted the current policy after the OPA lost about $70,000 in principal on one particular investment, a PNC Bank limited security bond. After Clarke had left the meeting, one committee member suggested that the OPA lost money on that investment only because the OPA panic-sold the asset when it showed a loss on paper. Weeks after it had been sold, the asset
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By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Board of Directors in November passed by a 5-1 vote on first reading a revised investment policy resolution that its chief critic, Director Marty Clarke, warns could lead to the Ocean Pines Association investing its reserve funds in riskier instruments that won’t produce significantly more income for the OPA. Draft Resolution F-01, the result of months of deliberations by the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee, does not in itself mandate any particular kinds of longer term investments, leaving that matter to a separate agreement that would be negotiated with a management firm that would manage the OPA’s longer term investments. The draft resolution is a more generalized statement of OPA objectives in establishing guidelines for the investment of operating funds and reserve funds in excess of balances maintained in general OPA checking accounts. The policy resolution distinguishes between OPA funds that are expected to be spent during the current and subsequent fiscal year and funds to be spent three years and beyond. It says that “capital preservation” is the sole investment objective of the short term funds, while longer term funds have a primary goal of “capital preservation” and a secondary goal of “maintaining the purchasing power of these funds.” The latter language implies a willingness to consider investments with higher yields, something the committee in meetings throughout the year has said can be done without any signifi-
12 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
OCEAN PINES
December 2013 - Early January 2014
OPA financial forecast for the rest of the fiscal year ticks up Mid-way into the fiscal year, OPA general manager and controller predict that OPA will produce a $98,998 surplus for the year, almost $20,000 better than original budget projections By TOM STAUSS Publisher projected year-end forecast for the Ocean Pines Association’s current fiscal year released by OPA General Manager Bob Thompson in November, representing his predictions mid-way into the fiscal year, shows an improving financial picture for the association relative to forecasts he made on first quarter financial results. The end-of-year forecast, developed by Thompson and Controller Art Carmine, projects that the OPA will produce a $98,998 surplus for the year, $19,493 better than the approved budget’s projected surplus from last February. The $98,998 projected surplus compares favorably to the $5,063 surplus forecast for the year presented by Thompson at the Sept. 18 Board of Directors’ meeting, based on first quarter (May through July) financial results. High-profile amenity operations remain somewhat troubling in the latest forecasts, led by golf ’s projected loss for the year of $235,000, a slight deterioration from the September forecast, when the loss was only expected to hit
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$212,605. Even so, that’s a considerable improvement over last year, when golf operations were about $500,000 in the red. The approved budget for the year called for a $150,000 loss for the year, and it’s looking as if Billy Casper Golf, the management firm that runs the golf course and Country Club food and beverage operations, will miss that target by something in the order of $100,000. At the same time, the Ocean Pines Yacht Club is now projected to lose only $150,448, more than $40,000 better than the $190,986 loss projected in the first quarter forecast. Yacht Club food and operations have shifted to the Country Club this winter as construction of a new Yacht Club is well under way. Aquatics operations are forecast to lose $179,556 for the year, a slight deterioration from the $174,080 that had been predicted in September. Revenue projections for the department haven’t come in as forecast, and expenses, while less than projected, haven’t quite dropped enough to offset lost revenue. Recreation, which in Thompson’s bythe-numbers graph includes the Recre-
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ation Department, Beach Club parking and marina operations, is projected to produce a $30,114 surplus for the OPA. That’s a significant turn-around from September’s forecast. At the time, Thompson and Carmine were forecasting a $22,062 loss. Another winner in the six-month forecast is the Beach club food and beverage operation, now with an $80,279 projected surplus for the year. At the
first quarter mark, the projected surplus was $68,340. Administration, public works and public safety departments are all projected to produce positive variances to budget for the year, although public works and public safety will produce operating deficits, as they always do. Administration, in contrast, shows not only a $3,730,526 surplus but a $102,757 positive variance to budget.
Investment policy
the proposed list “that is currently paying even one cent more than federally insured CDs in the CDAR program that we are now using.” Clarke said he would rather see OPA reserve funds invested in a non-interest bearing account than in an uninsured 2.6 percent municipal bond. He said the OPA’s “primary fiduciary responsibility for these funds is to protect the capital, not invest it.”
From Page 11 would have bounced back to its previous value if only the OPA had held on to it, the member said. Clarke later told the Progress that, as he recalls it, the asset’s value did not bounce back. He said further that based on a two-year maturity, there is not one uninsured investment instrument on
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14 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
OCEAN PINES
December 2013 - Early January 2014
Board calls for hiring of assistant general manager
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Directors ask general manager to replace previously approved but not hired human resources director with a new position responsible for member relations and communications in addition to oversight over human resource functions. Also included in the budget guidelines: instructions to continue capital expenditure funding at same level as fifth year of five-year funding plan. budget to include a technology position “to meet the needs currently being met by utilizing outside consultants.” That position has been discussed during previous budget cycles, but this is the first year that the board has fully embraced its creation. Similar to language last year, the board guidance says the directors do not direct or propose that the general manager provide raises to staff. That rather grinchlike instruction comes with a caveat, however. “The GM … may propose salary increases that in the aggregate amount do not exceed 3 percent of total employee salaries” and need “to be tied to specific merit increases and not across the board,” the guidelines say. As it has for the past five years, the guidelines say that next year’s budget should continue with capital expenditure funding provided for in the
so-called five-year funding plan. FY 15 would be year six of the plan, an irony that apparently went unnoticed. “FY 2015 represents the first year following the five consecutive years of $26 annual assessment increases to help fund the Association’s major capital projects and this component (currently at $130 of each lot assessment) should be continued at the same level” as FY 2014, the current year, consistent “with the original intent and as communicated to the membership,” the guidelines say. The approved instructions go on to say that the facilities action plan, sometimes called a rack-and-stack by Thompson in his discussions with the board, “should be a cornerstone to capital funding planning.” If the directors actually take that directive seriously rather than as budgetary boilerplate, they will need to dig much deeper into the numbers than
they heretofore have been willing to do. Thompson presented a revised rackand-stack of proposed capital projects over the next ten years during the Nov. 20 meeting as part of a draft Phase Two of a proposed Capital Improvement Plan. It showed projects totaling $16,822,060 in estimated cost. In the same ten-year period, however, the OPA will be raising about $25 million in assessment dollars that, absent a change in policy by future boards, would be allocated to the OPA’s Major Maintenance and Replacement Reserve, or roughly $2.5 million per year in current dollars. The five-year funding plan collects about $1 million in assessment dollars; Thompson has said the number is actually closer to $1.1 million. Funded depreciation, the primary way in which the OPA has raised money for capital projects for many years, collects another $1.5 million annually, or roughly $1.50 for every dollar collected from the so-called five-year plan. Once the OPA begins depreciating the new Yacht Club next year, that $1.5 million in funded depreciation is likely to increase significantly, given construction costs are approaching $5 million. These numbers can be verified by any
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By TOM STAUSS Publisher t took a little longer than most years but the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors, during their regular monthly meeting Nov. 20, finally got around to passing Fiscal Year 2014-15 budget guidance, a set of instructions to General Manager Bob Thompson and Controller Art Carmine as they assemble a proposed budget to be presented for review in January and adoption this February. Only Director Marty Clarke opposed the budget guidance as written, which for the most part tracks budget guidance for the past five years. Perhaps the most notable change in the document is that it calls for General Manager Bob Thompson to include the new position of assistant general manager in his draft budget for next year. The assistant GM would be responsible for member relations and communications in addition to oversight over human resource functions. The board directed Thompson not to fill the previously authorized but unfilled position of human resource director. In a related instruction, the board told Thompson that it would like the
From Page 14 property owner who checks the OPA’s reserve summary on May 1 of every year, when that year’s assessment dollars are allocated to the maintenance and replacement reserve’s two funding streams. During their budget guidance deliberations, the directors took no notice of the substantial excess of projected collections in funded depreciation and the five-year funding component over Thompson’s projected rack-and-stack spending. The excess is more than $8 million. Should the board elect not to build a proposed $3.2 million aquatics center, for instance, the excess in collections over projected spending would soar to $11 million. Among the directors, only Clarke criticized the preservation of the fiveyear funding plan in the budget guidance document. “I didn’t like it five years ago, and I don’t like it now,” Clarke said. Earlier in the discussion, Clarke said the board has never voted to approve a “facilities action plan” or the five-year funding plan, but OPA President Tom Terry disputed that, asserting that the latest draft of a working facilities action plan and associated funding had been approved in 2012. When asked by the Progress to supply the date when that action occurred, Terry responded with an email that ac-
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 15 tually dated the board action ratifying the facilities action plan to a June 22, 2011, board meeting. According to the meeting, in minutes supplied by Terry, Thompson “gave a Power Point presentation which was based on a binder handout that had been distributed for the Board’s review on June 17, 2011. This was followed by a very lengthy discussion. After a 5 minute break, the Board came back and (Director) Les Purcell proposed the motion that was located in the Facilities binder.” Purcell moved that the board approve the general manager’s concept for facility campuses and the “general manager’s priorities for the 0 to 2, 2-5 and 5+ (year) time frames for planning purposes.” Terry said the latter approval constituted the facilities action plan, or rack-and-stack of proposed projects and their costs. As for financing the five-year funding plan, Terry said that occurs each year when the board approves the budget for the coming year. The approved budget guidance for next year also alludes to the IRS matter, for which the directors said the budget should continue to set aside funds in the amount of $16 per lot assessment. In other guidance items, the directors said amenity operations should be “budgeted on a realistic basis and reflect continuing efforts to increase revenues through greater usage, as well as decreasing expenses where feasible.” Once again, the guidance includes language
Board debates funding depreciation of Pines roads By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer s part of a discussion of operating budget guidance for Fiscal Year 2014-15, the Board of Directors during its Nov. 26 regular monthly meeting debated whether the depreciation cost associated with Ocean Pines Association-owned and maintained roads should be funded in the annual spending plan by a portion of the lot assessment. Director Marty Clarke broached the issue, saying depreciation of roads is a real cost, and assessment dollars should be collected for it and used to improve the community’s roads. “We’re still not using the depreciation of roads for roads,” he said. OPA President Tom Terry said there is a line item in the budget for roads depreciation, but that does not necessarily mean that the OPA intends to collect revenue from property owners for that purpose.
He said the OPA has always depreciated the roads, but because revenue was available for roads rehabilitation from another source, the Maryland state gas tax money that was passed through to Worcester County with a portion going on to Ocean Pines, that depreciation expense was never paid for by annual lot assessments. Now, however, the state has significantly reduced the amount of gas tax revenue that it is giving to the county, and, therefore, little money is coming to the OPA from that source, Terry said. Instead, the OPA is earmarking its portion of the local impact revenue generated by slot machines at the Ocean Downs Casino that is passed through to the OPA for roads projects. Still, Terry said that revenue stream can also fluctuate and may not always cover the cost of road work that the association plans for a given budget year. For now, however, General Manager
advocating amenity business plans and increased marketing of the amenities. “Consideration should be given to extending some use of amenities or gift
cards to all residents for use at the amenities through a marketing program with no added cost to the membership,” the document says.
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OCEAN PINES Budget guidance
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16 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
OCEAN PINES
December 2013 - Early January 2014
OPA FINANCES
OPA records fourth straight operating surplus Cumulative positive variance for the year is now almost $35,000 By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association’s financial report for October, half way into the 2014 fiscal year, resulted in another positive operating fund variance, the fourth consecutive month the OPA has performed better than original budget forecasts. October’s operating fund variance
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was a positive $$71,696. Revenues were over budget by $15,979, expenses were under budget by $55,990. According to a financial prepared by OPA Controller Art Carmine and distributed to the Board of Directors in mid-November, the variance to budget through Oct. 31 is a positive $34,722, a significant improvement over the negative variance of $37,248 at the end of September. For the year so far, revenues are under budget by $343,271, which could be considered troubling, but the association has also managed to reduce expenses relative to budget by $386,070. New capital expenditures, those funded out
OPA Net Financial Operations through October 31, 2013
of this year’s annual assessment rather than reserves, are over budget by $8,077. Two of the major amenity operations lost money for the month – aquatics and the Yacht Club – but both of those operations performed better than budget. Golf generated a modest surplus for the month -- $7,115 – but didn’t fare quite so well relative to budget, generating a modest $3,452 negative variance. The Yacht Club’s actual loss of $16,545, reflecting the fact that the old building is no longer in existence, beat budget expectations by $39,532. The OPA is carrying some employees through the transition to a new build-
ing. Aquatics’ loss of $27,634 was better than budget by $10,697. Tennis, marinas, Beach Club parking and Beach Club food and beverage operations are for the most part closed for the season and Carmine’s report shows only minimal financial activity for them. The summary also details cumulative totals for the amenity and assessment departments through October. Amenity departments with operating surpluses through Oct. 31 included tennis ($3,701), marinas ($135,738), Beach Club parking ($375,233), and Beach To Page 18
Road depreciation From Page 15 Bob Thompson said allocating casino funds for roads “has worked for us, and that continues to be the plan.” As a result, the OPA’s Budget and Finance Advisory Committee has recommended simply inserting a line item in the budget designated for roads depreciation should the OPA ever need to collect it from property owners. Terry said that simply means that when the budget is being developed, that line item will be available as a placeholder until such time as the board decides to use it to ensure the source of funding aligns with the expected expenditures on roads projects. Clarke said that roads depreciation totals about $360,000 annually and, if the OPA is collecting it through the annual property assessments, then it should be designated specifically for roads projects. But again Thompson insisted that that the OPA does not fund depreciation on the roads with assessment dollars, despite Clarke’s apparent belief to the contrary. The auditors do track depreciation and “for tracking purposes they assign a number based on expenditures for roads,” Thompson said. Terry said the association discussed the issue with its auditors and has opted not to collect depreciation on the roads. “We do not include it for our members; that doesn’t mean we can’t,” he said, adding, up to this point the board has never made the decision to embed depreciation for the roads in the annual dues. He said the budget guidance document simply recommends adding a line item for roads depreciation revenue as a placeholder in case the board ever decides to collect the funding from property owners. Director Sharyn O’Hare said doing so in next year’s budget would increase assessments by $43 per property to fully fund the $360,000 in depreciation costs. The board ultimately voted 5-1, with Clarke opposed and Teri Mohr absent, to approve the budget guidance document.
OP Progress 9.75x11.5.qxp_Layout 1 11/26/13 10:15 AM Page 1
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18 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Capital plan
OCEAN PINES
December 2013 - Early January 2014
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From Page 1 Even so, the so-called proposed rackand-stack at some point will become board policy. The last time the board approved a similar list was in June of 2011, on a motion by then board member Les Purcell. That 2011 rack-and-stack is very much out-of-date. The plan, which Thompson and Facilities Manager Jerry Aveta have been writing for about a year, is conveniently divided into sections that correspond to time periods in which they envision the OPA would tackle certain projects, subject to referenda when costs exceed 20 percent of the OPA’s annual lot assessment collections. OPA Director Dan Stachurski has suggested that, once the board has had an opportunity to massage the plan, and property owners also have a chance to weigh in, the OPA should be given an opportunity to accept or reject it as a whole, in a referendum. The first time period addressed in the plan is Fiscal 2014-15, called a transition year and which bypasses the plan’s otherwise more bureaucratic review processes which are supposed to kick in later. Thompson indicates that the project expenditures listed in this transition year will be included in the draft Fiscal 2014-15 budget that he will be submitting to the board in early January. The plan includes expenditures estimated at $1,575,000, with about a third of the identified projects aquatics-related and recommended by the Aquatics Advisory Committee. The list includes repair and resurfacing of the Mumford’s Landing adult pool ($50,000), bringing the baby pool at Mumford’s into American with Disability Act (ADA) compliance ($30,000), resurfacing the Swim and Racquet Club pool and pump room repairs ($45,000), a new splash pad for the Swim and Racquet Club to replace the baby pool ($175,000), Sports Core pool repairs, including resurfacing, skimmer repairs, new coping, tile repair ($100,000), and Sports Core deck repairs ($50,000). Also on the list are engineering support for bridge repairs ($20,000) and contracted bridge repair ($150,000) of OPA-owned bridges on Ocean Parkway, near Clubhouse Drive, and another on Clubhouse Drive near the Country Club. The Recreation Advisory Committee has two of its recommended projects on the proposed capital expenditure list for next year -- $65,000 in Community Center gymnasium floor repairs and $175,000 in replacement lighting for the Southside ballfield. The recreation panel, along with the Marine Activities Advisory Committee, have been recommending a replacement boat ramp at White Horse Park for some time, and that’s been funded in the plan at an estimated cost of $225,000. The Tennis Advisory Committee is similarly rewarded for its labors. The plan includes four pickleball courts and two new platform tennis courts for the OPA’s Manklin Meadows tennis complex in South Ocean Pines.
OPA finances From Page 15 Club food and beverage ($98,746). Those with cumulative deficits for the year include aquatics (-$12,128), golf operations (-$30,620) and the Yacht Club (-$44,271). Compared to budget, all amenity departments with the exception of Beach Club parking had negative variances through October. The Beach Club parking positive variance is $16,632. Golf ’s negative variance to budget is $100,590, the Yacht Club’s is $52,768, and aquatics is $23,069. Status of reserves – The reserve summary released as part of the October financials shows that the OPA’s reserve balance stood at $6,114,039, a sig-
nificant decline from $6,721,113 at the end of September. Lot assessment dollars flow into the reserves at the beginning of the new fiscal year in May. The balance in the roads reserve through Oct. 31 was $66,863, virtually unchanged from prior months. The bulkhead and waterways reserve through October stood at $1,028,043, also virtually unchanged from prior months. The golf drainage reserve carries a $578,174 deficit, the future projects reserve is $59,899 in the red, and the operating recovery reserve stands at zero. The major maintenance and replacement reserve remains as the OPA reserve most flush with earmarked assessment dollars.
Its Oct. 31 balance was $5,657,206, comprised of $5,272,736 in funded depreciation and $384,470 attributable to the five-year funding plan. That was a drop from the $915,972 in this portion of the replacement reserve at the end of September, reflecting expenditures for the new Yacht Club, This reserve will be substantially reduced by the end of the year. Status of balance sheet -- Meanwhile, the OPA has a very healthy balance sheet, reflecting $31.52 million in total assets balanced by the same amount in liabilities and owners’ equity. Current assets include $3,862,273 in operating cash, in addition to investments in CDARs and money markets totaling $5,049,274. Accounts receivable in overdue assessments totaled $1,249,367.
OCEAN PINES Police station From Page 1 a ten percent increase in staffing over the past ten years and a 20 percent increase in the number of arrests, an approximate 54 percent increase in service calls, and an approximate 300 percent increase in mutual aid calls, and an 8 percent increase in certain other offenses. “This increase in the OP Police Department mission requirements has occurred while the workforce occupies approximately the same 1,700 square foot feet of facility space that it has … since 1985,” the plan says. “The current facility has no locker room and officers change into civilian clothes in rest room facilities.” Also cited is one work station shared by three computers and one holding cell equipped with a toilet, along with a temporary holding cell created from former closet space. The temporary holding cell “will hold
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS an individual only long enough for the officers to complete required paper work for in processing,” according to the draft CIP, which compared Ocean Pines police facilities unfavorably to those in other area communities. A 3,000 square foot police station would permit sufficient space for locker rooms, work stations and for holding and processing violators, the draft plan says. The 1,700 space to be vacated by the police would become a board conference center, adequate to host monthly board meetings, the plan says. To justify the need for a new fitness center, the plan said that requests for it “are received on a regular basis from members/guests” at the community center. The plan envisions that it would be a fee-for-use facility with state-of-theart exercise equipment, such as nautilus machines, treadmills, elliptical ma-
chines and free weights. The plan also identifies $120,000 in additional tennis complex spending for FY 2016 and devotes a section to recommending a new combined racquet club facility that would serve the platform tennis, pickleball and conventional tennis communities. The plans suggests consideration should be given to the construction of a new two-story clubhouse that would replace the existing one-story building. The new building would house a pro shop, meeting area, snack bar and wrap-around observation decks and storage. Alternatively, a decision could be made to simply renovate the existing building. “Consideration should be given to provide a sufficient area for banquets, card playing or other functions,” the draft plan says. The $120,000 included in the plan for FY 2016 would cover
the costs of a feasibility study for a new building versus a renovation. The plan envisions $200,000 in Beach Club renovations in FY 2016, with another $200,000 the following year. Golf would receive another generous infusion of OPA resources in FY 2016, according to the plan, with $600,000 in golf course drainage improvements and $225,000 for a new or renovated golf maintenance building. Rounding out the list, there would be $635,000 in community improvements unrelated to recreational amenities, with $85,000 estimated for North Gate bridge improvements, $400,000 in road resurfacing, and $150,000 in computer equipment. In FY 2017, the plan anticipates $2.052 million in capital spending followed by $2.89 million the following year.
Capital plan From Page 18 The remaining proposed projects in the plan in the transition year are listed as OPA staff-generated as opposed to advisory committee recommendations. The list includes a Section 3 storm water management study ($30,000), upgrading and improving the OPA’s computer infrastructure ($125,000), facilities master planning for the Beach Club and Country Club campuses ($75,000), OPA facilities’ baseline assessments ($25,000), engineering support for future capital projects ($25,000) and upgrading fuel lines at the Yacht Club marina. The plan also lists about $238,000 in maintenance projects for next year, including playground improvements ($5,000), ballfield parking ($24,000), basketball courts ($37,500), fences ($75,000, for a total of $74,000 in proposed Parks and Recreation maintenance spending. The $238,000 total includes $40,000 in aquatics projects -- $35,000 for paving the Sports Core parking lot and $5,000 for pump house repairs at the Swim and Racquet Club. Also proposed are sprinklers at the tennis complex ($17,000), fuel pier flotation at the marina ($5,000), a $2000 water heater at the Beach Club and $10,000 for a new entrance sign at the Yacht Club. Next year’s projected spending for golf operations and golf maintenance total $70,000. The proposed list includes $12,500 in ladies lockers, $20,000 for a golf school structure, $4,500 for golf school heaters, $19,000 for golf bunkers, and $14,000 for water pump station repairs. All of these proposed expenditures are subject to review by the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee and the board of directors. Many of them have been previously discussed by Thompson in meetings with the board. [See separate articles on the plan’s details in Fiscal Year 2016 and beyond.]
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December 2013 - Early January 2014
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
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22 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
OCEAN PINES
December 2013 - Early January 2014
Draft CIP asks how OPA should pay for proposed big-ticket expenditures
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ith all the spending for big-ticket capital projects outlined in the draft Capital Improvement Plan recently unveiled by Ocean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson, it probably isn’t premature to pose the question about how it would all be funded. Table 3 in the draft CIP lists proposed projects with an estimated price tag of $16,822,000 in today’s dollars. Buried elsewhere the draft CIP is a hint of what the general manager seems to envision as one possible funding source. “Whether or not funds from the Historic Component of the Replacement Reserve Fund will be required will be determined by the final costs derived for the requirements being addressed and the priority in which these requirements are accomplished,” the draft capital improvement plan says. That cryptic prose won’t mean much to a typical OPA member, who probably hasn’t a clue that the so-called “historic component” of what’s officially known as the Major Maintenance and Replacement Reserve is where most of the money accumulated by the OPA over the years has been earmarked. It is one of two funding streams into the replacement reserve. The other is the so-called five-year plan component. The so-called “historic component” is somewhat of a misnomer. It’s more accurately described as funded depreciation. It collects about $1.5 million every year in new assessment dollars from Ocean Pines property owners, and in that sense there’s really not much that is “historic” about it. Funding depreciation through assessments is the traditional way in which Ocean Pines has built its reserves over the years and funded most, but not all, of its capital
spending. In that sense only, it might be considered “historic.” The other funding stream in the replacement reserve, the so-called five-year funding plan, raises a little more than $1 million per year from property owners, or $130 from every Ocean Pines lot assessment. As shown in the OPA reserve summary published every month in the Progress, funded depreciation has accumulated in the amount of $5.27 million as of Oct. 31 and the five-year-plan component has been drawn down to $384,470. That’s because the five-year-plan funding stream has been designated as the “source” of funds for the new Yacht Club. It will be in deficit very soon, possibly to show up as soon as the November or December reserve summary, as the contractor is paid for work completed at the new facility. While the five-year-plan component will have another cash infusion at the beginning of the next fiscal year on May 1, it now appears that it will remain in deficit until 2019, Thompson told the Board of Directors recently, the result of a cost overrun at the new Yacht Club from higher-than-budgeted costs for kitchen equipment. With all that as a background, it would seem inconceivable that the $16.82 million in projected spending for capital spending over the ten-year life of the CIP could be paid for out of the five-year-funding stream. There simply aren’t enough funds coming in from that source to pay for everything on the CIP wish list. That leaves funded depreciation – the so-called “historic” component – as the only other pot of cash readily available to be spent on major capital expenditures, despite the draft CIP’s suggestion that it is a matter yet to be determined. – Tom Stauss
Big ticket items in the out years …
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he draft Capital Improvement Plan distributed to the Board of Directors Nov. 20 contains some big-ticket funding proposals for the longer term, defined in the CIP as five years from now and beyond, beginning with Fiscal Year 2021. “The long-term improvements designate funds to replace/modernize the Beach Club facility, replace/modernize the Sports Core (pool) facility and replace the twin timber North Gate bridge,” the draft plan states. “All of these initiatives need to be validated in terms of timing and scope.” The rack-and-stack table that is part of the draft CIP includes $3.2 million in Beach Club renovations, $3 million for a new Sports Core aquatics center, and $400,000 for a new North Gate bridge. Another proposed big-ticket project, renovation of the Swim and Racquet Club clubhouse, is proposed for the midterm, in Fiscal Year 2020. The cost estimate for that is $500,000. The plan envisions replacement of the Clubhouse Drive and Ocean Parkway bridges for FY 2020, at a cost of $300,000 each. The proposed aquatics center has only the qualified support of the OPA Aquatics Advisory Committee. The panel has said it should not be funded by OPA lot assessments, but only undertaken as a regional project and financed through volunteer fundraising. The panel has also discussed the aquatics center as a facility that could be realistically considered ten years from now or beyond, which would mean it wouldn’t be part of the ten-year planning process captured by the draft CIP.
OPA still grappling with how to deal with leaf miscreants By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer
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he fall leaf drop may be nearing its end, but the Ocean Pines Association is still struggling with cleaning up the product of Mother Nature’s annual shedding process. During the Nov. 20 Board of Directors meeting, OPA General Manager Bob Thompson called for property owners to be patient while the OPA continues its leaf collection process, including both regular bagged leaf pick up and using a vacuum truck to clear out ditches. “We’re getting a lot of calls about it” he said, adding that employees are “trying to get as much accomplished as possible as quickly as they can. Thompson called for residents to “be courteous to all your neighbors” and not rake leaves from their yard into the ditches or onto the ditch banks where they may block the flow of stormwater. OPA President Tom Terry asked what the instructions are for crews when they find a property where the residents have raked leaves from the yard to the ditch-
General manager say he’s willing to entertain suggestions about how to respond when residents rake yard leaves into the ditches or onto the banks for pick-up es and the “leaves are four feet high.” Thompson said he is still “coming up with our final plan” as to how to address that issue. He said he would prefer not to collect the leaves and to bill the owner in those instances. Meanwhile, he said, the OPA still has to keep the ditches clean. “It’s a sticky wicket,” he added. Thompson said he is willing to entertain suggestions about to how to address the issue of residents raking yard leaves into the ditches or onto the banks for public works to pick up. “If you all want to come up with a different strategy, we’re open (to it),” he said. “We spend a lot of money on leaves.” Director Dan Stachurski suggested that the OPA try to communicate the rules to local landscaping companies because they are sometimes the culprit. “That’s how a lot of that happens,” he said, adding that it is not necessarily
the people who live there that are raking leaves into the ditches but rather “it’s the people who come in to clean up.” OPA President Tom Terry suggested that public works crews maintain a list of problem areas, “so that we at least know where and what we’re talking about.” He added that the association can’t address the problem if it doesn’t know how widespread it is. Both the OPA and Waste Management are providing bagged leaf collections through December. The OPA is also vacuuming leaves from the ditches throughout the community. The OPA is collecting bagged leaves at the roadside from all properties in sections on the opposite days of Waste Management pick-ups. Public Works will also pick- up tree branches tied in bundles of a maximum four-feet long. Waste Management is collecting a
maximum of four bags of leaves for its customers at each pick-up in addition to the regular trash pickup. Waste Management collections are on Tuesdays and Fridays south of the Route 90 bridge and on Mondays and Thursdays north of the bridge. The association is selling biodegradable paper leaf bags to residents at its cost. They can be purchased at the public works and administration offices for $1 each, or residents can buy them at Home Depot or similar stores. Residents can also drop off bagged or bulk leaves and yard debris at the Ocean Pines Public Works Yard, located next to the south fire station and behind the recycling containers, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday until Dec. 21. Leaves in plastic bags must be dumped out on site; those in paper bags can stay bagged. Thompson doesn’t want landscaping companies bringing leaves to the public works yard and the OPA will turn them away. “If you’re getting paid to do it, you’re taking it to the dump.”
OCEAN PINES By ROTA L. KNOTT Editor
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he circle of life in the Ocean Pines Association can be described thusly: The board of directors makes a decision, another board changes it, and yet another board reverts to the original decision. Such will probably be the case with a code of conduct for members of the OPA’s governing body. A code was originally implemented in 2005 and then, just a year and a half later, the board decided to abandon the document. Now, Director Teri Mohr intends to draft a motion to reinstitute the code of conduct at the Dec. 18 regular board meeting. It’s actually a joint effort between Mohr and Director Dan Stachurski to bring back a document that he played a part in eliminating in 2007. Mohr said during a Dec. 4 work session that she believes the OPA needs to have in place a code designed to govern how directors behave and establish reasons for their removal from office. “We used to have it and now we don’t,” she said, adding that “it worked for the years that it was in there.” That latter statement is debatable. In fact, Stachurski was one of a unanimous board of directors that voted to abolish the code precisely because its members felt it had been abused and that only OPA members voting in referendum should have the right to remove directors. Mohr said it is not required that the OPA have a code of conduct, but argued that it’s recommended for homeowners associations to do so by organizations including the for-profit Management Trust. Director Marty Clarke, who was subjected to an ethics inquiry about a year ago at the request of some sitting directors, said the OPA’s bylaws say “exactly the same thing” as the code of conduct being proposed by Mohr. He said the bylaws set provisions for the removal of directors from office, either by petition of OPA members or for cause by an affirmative vote by a super majority of the sitting board. He said Mohr’s proposed document is nearly identical to the one that was voted out by the board in 2007. “This exact document was used against me,” he said. Director Jack Collins wanted to know “What’s the genesis of this? Is there a problem?” He asked why Mohr plans to revisit an issue that has already been debated by previous boards of directors and was ultimately decided in a vote to abolish the code. “If I’m going to consider this and vote on it, I need to know why,” he said. Mohr’s only justification for revisiting the issue was that “It was a
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
OPA board poised to resurrect code of conduct for directors Divisive rules were eliminated by the board in 2007 after just two years on the books, but Directors Mohr and Stachurski are drafting a new document that would define the behavior that could result in a board majority expelling a colleague from office part of our association. It is no longer there.” When pressed by Collins, she ultimately said, “I would like to have it back.” She said she has talked with “others” who want it also and cited Stachurski for helping to put together the information necessary to bring up a motion at the Dec. 18 board meeting. With Mohr and Stachurski already on board, they would only need to bring in two other directors – Sharyn O’Hare and Bill Cordwell are the most likely with OPA President Tom Terry another possibility – to have a majority. Stachurski was not at the Dec, 4 work session, but he was OPA vice president when the code was eliminated in 2007. At that time, he said that the board attempted to define “for cause” in the code of conduct and did not succeed. He also said then that there was no way to decide who enforced the code; instead, he suggested the bylaws should contain provisions for removal of a director from office by property owners. Collins said the code of conduct, when it was in place, was divisive and created conflict within the board. Instead he said there are bylaws in place that govern the board and are designed to “keep us ethical.”
Mohr said she does not feel that the bylaws are specific enough, adding that bylaws only provide “pretty general guidelines” and that she feels it is important to have an actual code of conduct. Collins countered with “I just don’t want to see the board in a straitjacket, that’s all.” He added that a code of conduct can mean different things to different people and said “I’m not poo-pooing the idea, but it really has to be on solid ground if we’re voting on it.” Clarke added that if the board is going to approve a code again, then it should include a requirement for directors to perform due diligence, such as reading contracts before voting to approve. Some members of the audience during the Dec. 4 work session, alleged that Mohr was just bringing up the code of conduct again as part of yet another effort by some board members to oust Clarke. Mohr denied that charge. She said “while history is a great teacher for us, it is not the present” and that the conditions in Ocean Pines and board members are different than those in place during 2007. OPA President Tom Terry said using it to remove a board member should be the last reason to have a code of conduct, not the first. He said it is important to have some
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guidelines for board ethics, but “at this point we can do darn near anything we want to do.” The OPA bylaws simply state that a director can be removed “for cause.” In the 2005-2007 code of conduct the board attempted to define what “cause” would be. Clarke said reimplementation of a code of conduct won’t deter him. “You can go ahead and pass it again; everything I did that you charged me with, I would do it again tomorrow.” The code of conduct was originally approved by the board in 2005 but, in May 2007, Director Ray Unger made a motion, and the board voted unanimously to eliminate the code. At that time, Unger said he proposed elimination of the code because from the day it was implemented by the board it was a vehicle of divisiveness. He said he did not think it was necessary to have in place and should not be used by one group of directors to silence another group or individual director. At that time, Director Tom Sandusky said he, too, saw it as “grounds for divisiveness.” Sandusky took particular issue with a provision of the code of conduct that allowed board members to remove a director from office, saying they are elected by the OPA members and only the members should have the ability to recall them from office. Director Bill Zawacki in 2007 also supported abolishing the code of conduct, saying he believed it had been selectively enforced. He said some directors have leaked confidential information to the press and not been admonished for it. If such infractions are going to be ignored, then it does not make sense to have the code, he said at the time.
Revealing information from closed sessions could trigger action to remove a director
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he proposed code of conduct that the board of directors will be considering and perhaps adopting at its Dec. 18 regular monthly meeting is, with only a few adjustments, the same that a board of directors adopted in 2005 and then abolished about a year and a half later in 2007. The proposed code, which has been posted on the OPA Web site under the board of directors section, covers such topics as candidate endorsements by directors at official board meetings, which are prohibited; confidentiality of privileged information, conflict of interest, courtesy, OPA employment, gratuities, fair dealing, receipt of free food or drink (which are banned), objectivity and violations. New language in the confidentiality section of the code cites an example
of privilege information that a director would be prohibited from disclosing publicly without a board majority vote authorizing it. The new language, proposed by Director Dan Stachurski, cites privileged information “such as that obtained or discussed in closed sessions of the board.” The code sets out a process for handling accusations against a director for violating the code. The process includes an investigation by the OPA general counsel of the alleged violations. The accused director would have the right to question his or her accusers and to be presented with all the evidence against him 15 days prior to a hearing on the charges. According to the posted draft, the accused director will be “presumed inno-
cent until and unless found by majority vote of all non-accused members of the Board to be guilty of the charges made against him or her.” A majority decision to find a director guilty of violating the code does not necessarily remove him from the board. Indeed, if that were the case, the proposed code would violate the OPA bylaws, which specify that only a super majority of the board – five members – can vote to remove a director. Indeed, a new section added by Stachurski seems to recognize the super majority requirement for removing a director. “If removal from the Board is considered appropriate, the vote to approve such action shall be a majority plus one vote,” new language in the draft code says.
24 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
OCEAN PINES
December 2013 - Early January 2014
OPA hears proposal from Salisbury University’s BEACON
By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer
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lanning for future facilities and services to meet the expanding needs of property owners and residents is a challenge for which the Ocean Pines Association may need a helping hand. The board of directors is considering retaining the services of Salisbury University’s BEACON, Business Economic and Community Outreach Network, at a cost of somewhere between $4,000 and $14,000 to help assimilate the data necessary for the OPA to develop a new comprehensive plan. Directors met with BEACON’s director Memo Diriker during a Dec. 4 work session to discuss how that agency can assist the OPA with collecting and evaluating data that will provide a snapshot of current demographics and other conditions in and around Ocean Pines. Diriker said there is already a wealth of data available through varying resourc-
es that his office can use to project how conditions may change over time. “You would be very, very scared if I told you how much we know about anybody in the United States,” Diriker told OPA directors, only partly in jest. Comprehensive Planning Committee member Steve Cohen said the OPA has some data indicating what property owners have said they want in new facilities and services, “but just because they want it doesn’t mean we should provide it.” He said the committee recommended contracting with BEACON, which uses graduate students to complete the data collection and analysis, as a way to more thoroughly investigate all of the potential options. Diriker said the first step in the process is for the board to develop ten key questions that the project should be designed to answer. Based on those questions and the estimated amount of work required to answer them, he can then develop a full proposal and cost estimate for the project. If the OPA signs on as a client, then BEACON will base its work on answering the ten questions based on the available data services, including items like demographics, property transfers, credit card sales and similar
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said. Diriker said the OPA can craft questions related to pressures from external forces such as commercial development. He said “practically every commercial development around here has already hired us to do these predictions.” As a result, he said their knowledge of the Ocean Pines area is extensive. The organization has also performed studies related to golf courses, restaurants and other commercial uses. “By no means is this a forecasting tool,” Diriker said, adding that the study will simply show that if assumptions made by the study are followed through, then certain outcomes are likely. Terry also asked who will ultimately own BEACON’s work if the group is retained by the OPA. Diriker said the data collected in the aggregate is publicly available, but the OPA will own the actual study. Director Sharyn O’Hare wanted to know how long it would take to complete the study. Again, Diriker said that depends largely on what questions the OPA would like to have answered. Generally, his organization takes about 60 days to complete with 90 days being the maximum length of time. BEACON can also provide updates to the study after a few years for a minimal cost of $500 to $1,000.
Directors debate best way to tackle drainage issue Clarke, Mohr, Terry spar over competing approaches to solving problem By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer
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410-208-6700 www.mamadella.com
information. When pressed to describe the type of questions that can be asked, Diriker cited as an example whether or not Ocean Pines should become a municipality. “We are not here to resolve political decisions. We’re here to simply resolve the math of what if ...” he said, adding, “This is not the place to fight opinions. This doesn’t have opinions,” referring to the data collection and evaluation process. OPA President Tom Terry said “what we really are trying to determine is what do our members want” and “how to invest our money” in projects and facilities that the members want and will support. Diriker said BEACON cannot directly provide those answers but “we clarify the jumble of information into simpler trends.” As an example, he cited increasing property assessments, and what sort of impact that would have on the community. Terry said there are factors outside of Ocean Pines boundaries, such as commercial development along Route 589 and legislative changes at the county level, that can have an impact on the OPA’s decision-making process. He asked if those factors are considered as part of BEACON’s work. “We don’t control what happens across 589, but what might happen there can clearly have an impact,” Terry
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n an effort to expedite a study of drainage woes that plague the community, several members of the Ocean Pines Association’s Board of Directors want to appoint a taskforce to help find a solution; other directors say that’s the general manager’s job. During a Dec. 4 work session director Marty Clarke proposed the idea of creating a task force of community members who have expertise in drainage. He acknowledged that he was “clearly stepping on some heels” by even putting the issue on the agenda for the work session. But he said the OPA does have a history of creating taskforces to help address pressing issues, such as construction of a new Yacht Club. “We have talent in Ocean Pines that have been raising their hand to help on this drainage problem since I served on the board the last time,” Clarke said. He suggested a task force that included himself along with Directors Jack Collins and Bob Cordwell.
Director Teri Mohr said that the general manager should be leading the effort to address drainage concerns and added the Bob Thompson has “already done a tremendous amount of work” on the issue. She said she recognizes that there are people in the community who have expertise and want to volunteer their services, but it is not logical to have a task force working separately from staff to look into the same issue. Director Jack Collins said the taskforce would not simply “look into” the drainage problems in Ocean Pines but would find a way to resolve them. He acknowledged that the general manager is already working on the drainage problem but said input from others can be valuable as well. Clarke said that during the next few months the OPA is planning to sign a contract for a drainage engineering study. But there are free resources available, including assistance from Worcester County Commissioner and local surveyor Jim Bunting who thinks the problem can be addressed with the information the OPA already has on the drainage conditions in the community, he added. “We have a general manager who’s
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Study could help the OPA assess trends and possible outcomes in preparation of a new comprehensive plan
OCEAN PINES
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
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Thompson still awaits decision on Yacht Club interior colors By TOM STAUSS Publisher
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f he had been hoping for a definitive decision from the Ocean Pines Association’s Board of Directors on interior colors at the new Yacht Club during the board’s Dec. 4 work session, General Manager Bob Thompson surely came away disappointed. The matter wasn’t resolved at the board’s Nov. 20 regular monthly meeting, either, so perhaps a pattern is emerging. Thompson himself has been reluctant to make the call, but if the clocks continue to tick and the calendar counts down the days without a decision, then the decision might be almost made by default. Thompson presented three proposed interior material and color selections to the board for consideration during the Nov. 5 work session. All very similar in color palette, the materials included options for tile and wood flooring, countertops, paint and carpet. Thompson said then he needed a decision on the interior colors and materials by December. “Here’re your choices. If you don’t like them we’ll go after some others,” he told the board. At the Dec. 4 board work session, dominated by discussion of a proposed code of conduct for directors, Thompson
General manager unwilling to make a recommendation, citing the negativity that descended over his selection of split block as an exterior siding accent material reminded them they had not yet made a decision on the Yacht Club’s interior colors. The proposed code of conduct does not have a section on board inaction or procrastination, and should the directors fail to act during their Dec. 18 regular meeting, then it could well turn out that Thompson will make the decision for them, perhaps giving them a veto option should he make the decision from among the choices presented so far. At the November work session, in response to a question from OPA President Tom Terry, Thompson said that “someone” needs to select the interior materials so the project can move forward. The general manager said he was unwilling to make a recommendation, citing the negativity that descended over his selection of split block as an exterior siding accent material. Although Thompson asked for board input on the materials, several directors said they want someone else to rec-
New Yacht Club displays will feature historical documents, Pines artifacts
Drainage taskforce From Page 24 already working those issues,” Mohr responded. Collins shot back with “so why don’t we just forget about input from outside” of the association. OPA President Tom Terry said the problem with appointing a taskforce is one of “movement, progress and accountability.” He said he does not think that the board should take over the project but that is what will happen if it appoints a task force, particularly with directors as members. “If you make it a board committee, it then becomes board responsibility to oversee,” he said. Instead Terry suggested a task force that would have directors appointed as liaisons and would work with Thompson to find solutions to the drainage problems in Ocean Pines. He plans to draft a proposal reflecting that approach for consideration at the board’s regular monthly meeting in December. Clarke told Terry that he may still make his motion to create a separate task force and “trump you.” Meanwhile, Thompson said he has received four bids from engineering firms to complete mapping of the drainage system in Ocean Pines but has not yet had an opportunity to thoroughly review them and make a recommendation for board approval. “It hasn’t been analyzed because they all came in so differently,” he said.
ommend a specific color and material scheme before they weigh in. Director Dan Stachurski asked Thompson to request renderings or a presentation like a 3D digital display of the materials from the project’s architect. Stachurski said he isn’t willing to try to select materials and colors for the Yacht Club interior until he sees some kind of 3D rendering showing where they will go in a particular room setting. “I’m not going to pick anything up there until I know where it’s going,” he said. “We’re gonna’ get stuck with this.” Thompson said all of the proposed materials are within budget for the Yacht Club project and are durable. “We’re doing quality with this project,” he said. At the November regular meeting of the board, Thompson presented some proposed interior renderings of the Yacht Club. Whatever the color scheme ends up being, on the first level of the
new Yacht Club, the flooring will be a grooved ceramic tile, while the second level flooring will be wood. Under consideration are both light and dark oak and bamboo flooring options. Thompson said the oak flooring is more forgiving when finishing it than bamboo, which can’t be stained. Instead, bamboo is darkened by steaming it, he said. He added that either of the darker colored wood flooring options would require less maintenance because they will not show scuff marks as easily as lighter colored wood. He said the ceramic tile options for the first floor have heavy grooves, so it will not be slippery. “That’s why this tile in particular was selected,” he said, in answer to a concern expressed by Director Sharyn O’Hare. The only portions of the building that will be carpeted are the offices and the bridal suite, he said. Thompson presented different patterned carpets for each of those locations in three different color variations. The countertops and bar tops throughout the Yacht Club will be Silestone. Thompson said it doesn’t stain and is “pretty much indestructible.”
Refinished model boat rescued from the wrecking ball to be encased in glass at the new facility By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer t may not be a DaVinci masterpiece, but a model boat that hung over the bar at the old Yacht Club has historical significance and should be on display in the Ocean Pines Association’s new building along with other artifacts of the early years, the board of directors decided during a Dec. 4 work session. Director Marty Clarke said the model boat was given to Ocean Pines by the community’s early developer, Boise Cascade, and was originally located in the Goose Hangs High in the Yacht Club and later bar areas in the now-gone building. When the old Yacht Club was razed, the model boat fell off of its mounting and was thrown away, no one in the OPA clued in or sensitive to its possible significance. It was rescued from the refuse pile by local resident Mike Hordeman, who restored it at his own cost and is willing to give it back to Ocean Pines for display. Clarke said the restoration has left the boat “better than it was” originally. He said it should be displayed at a suitable location in the new Yacht Club in a case and with an appropriate plaque describing its history and restoration. He also suggested the OPA reimburse the
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resident for the cost of materials needed to restore the model boat. In addition to the model boat, Clarke said there are other artifacts like an old promotional sign rescued by Director Sharyn O’Hare and land transaction documents recently donated to the OPA that need to be on display for all residents to enjoy. In October, Reese F. Cropper, Jr., presented the board of directors with the donation of a series of historical documents that illustrate the early compilation of the properties that now comprise Ocean Pines. The documents are the contracts for the sale of various homes, farms, and even marshlands that make up almost the entire property of Ocean Pines. Those documents were given to Taylor Bank about 30 years ago by Raymond D. Coates Sr., settlement attorney for U.S. Land Corporation and its successors, who held onto them for the first three decades and then turned them over to the bank. U.S. Land Corporation created the initial concept for the Ocean Pines development and then sold it to Maryland Properties Inc., which then sold the project in the 1970s to Boise Cascade. Cropper’s father Reese F. Cropper
Sr., and Taylor Bank worked with the local property owners who sold to Boise Cascade to ensure that they were comfortable with the transactions and compensated for their property. Clarke said he has not even seen those documents, but added that some of them may be worthy of framing and putting on display for all residents of Ocean Pines to see. “Some of these might be frameable,” and the OPA will be “looking to cover walls with pictures” in the new Yacht Club. “I think it’s a good idea,” Director Jack Collins agreed. O’Hare said she, too, was very much in favor of Clarke’s proposed motion, which can’t be approved until the board’s next regular meeting Dec. 18. “I’m very much in favor of supporting this motion,” she said. In addition to an early Ocean Pines sign, O’Hare said she has the first flag that flew over the Worcester County Veterans Memorial and a governor’s citation for the memorial that should be on display somewhere. Other residents may have historical items that they would be willing to put on display at the Yacht Club, too, she said. OPA President Tom Terry said there also should be a discussion about installing a time capsule at the new Yacht Club that would be opened at some date in the future.
26 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
December 2013 - Early January 2014
County close to approving bond issue to include major water, wastewater improvements in Pines
By TOM STAUSS Publisher ssuming all goes well at a scheduled public hearing on Dec. 17 in Snow Hill, the Ocean Pines Water and Wastewater Service Area managed by Worcester County will be that much closer to receiving a $5.3 million cash infusion from a county bond issue for major system upgrades. The public hearing, which is not expected to generate much interest and no controversy, deals with the issue of allowing the OPSA to piggy-back onto the much larger county bond issue related to Pocomoke High School. The Worcester County commissioners, who are holding the hearing, have previously indicated that they are in favor of allowing the OPSA to piggyback onto the bond issue. According to Assistant Public Works Director John Ross, the $5.3 million for the OPSA would include roughly $3 million for pump station overhauls, along with greenhouse repairs, a fix to a broken aerator unit, and 291 blue-tube replacements along the entire length of Ocean Parkway. Ross told the Ocean Pines Water and Wastewater Advisory Committee in a meeting Dec. 10 that the county wants to complete the blue-tube replacements along the parkway prior to resurfacing of Ocean Pines’ primary artery, which he said he understands will be the next major roads project by the Ocean Pines Association. Ross said he did not anticipate debt service of roughly $450,000 per year related to the $5.3 million bond issue resulting in an increase in the annual equivalent dwelling unit charges (EDUs) that ratepayers in Ocean Pines remit to the county in quarterly payments. That’s because in the next several years, other significant debt from the 1980s and later will be totally paid off. The new debt is essentially replacing
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the old debt, he said. The public hearing is set for 10:30 a.m. in the county administration building in downtown Snow Hill. Ross also told the advisory committee that the contractor working to install water and sewer mains along Route 589 and Cathell Road in the commercial area west of Ocean Pines is making good progress. Sewer lines have been extended under Route 589 in the vicinity of Cathell Road and Taylor Bank, he said, making use of an easement on the
southern edge of the adjoining parcel owned by the OPA. The lines will connect what’s been called the Pines Plaza Service Area with the OPSA. Ross told the Progress after the meeting that he has received confirmation that the Sports Core plat on file with the county includes a reference to the easement making it possible to link up the new mains with the Ocean Pines system. Ross said he’s still having difficulty obtaining easements from the McDon-
WORCESTER COUNTY ald’s Corporation and Auto Plus for the installation of lines to those businesses but expects to have been soon so as not to delay the project. The county commissioners recently approved a low bid of $415,569, by A.P. Kroll and Sons for the project and it began shortly thereafter. Eventually, the new lines will serve the Pines Plaza Shopping Center, awaiting a pending sale. But until then, the new public utilities will serve the Route 589 McDonalds, PNC bank, the Re/Max Crossroads building and lawyer’s office, the Ocean 7-Eleven, the Auto Plus business, the 5-L commercial strip, the future site of a new Walgreens Pharmacy, the Hileman Real Estate office and Adkins Co., and possibly other buildings on Cathell Road across from the Pines Plaza. County officials were able to reduce the estimated cost of the project from the earlier $3 million to $500,000, primarily by deciding not to run water and sewer lines as far along Cathell Road as initially envisioned.
School board asked to weigh in on team sports policy
$)3#/6%2 WHY MILLION HOMEOWNERS L By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer
arge high schools are luring student athletes away from neighboring schools or are joining with smaller schools to create single teams in order to gain an unfair advantage on the sports field, and the Worcester County Board of Education is being asked to support a legislative change that will help address that challenge. Jim Newcomb, from the Caroline County Board of Education, during a Nov. 19 school board meeting presented a proposed legislative amendment that would keep those larger high school teams from competing against smaller school teams in sports playoff games.
The proposal would change the rules for the Maryland State Secondary Schools Athletic Association, which is charged by state law with overseeing high school sports activities. Newcomb said it is common for student athletes to transfer to a different high school if their home school does not offer the sport they want to play. However, now larger schools are building teams by enticing significant numbers of students to transfer, resulting in the majority of a team’s players actually coming from a completely different home school. Additionally, Newcomb said a problem has arisen with multiple schools combining their students to build a sin-
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gle team, which should then compete in a different population classification than each school would separately. High schools are currently classified as 1A with 682 or fewer students, 2A with 949 to 683 students, 3A with students of 1,243 to 950 students and 4A with more than 1,243 students. That system is designed to make sure that the sports teams of schools of similar sizes compete against each other. Newcomb said that when schools combine students to form a single sports team, their total population should be considered in order to determine the team’s classification, but it is not. For example, he said currently students from a 1A school and a 2A school can form a single team but compete at the 1A level. “Is that true parity and competition?� Newcomb asked. Board member Bob Hulburd said it is not fair that children who have grown up in a town are losing spots on the high school sports team to outsiders who are transferring in order to play. “That’s a point that I’m sensitive to,� he said. Newcomb agreed and said “What kind of message is that sending to our kids?� He said when a school is too small to field a team, its students should be allowed to transfer to another school to play sports. He said that the proposed legislative change would have limited to no impact on Worcester County’s high schools. Currently, Stephen Decatur High School has its own football team, but students from Pocomoke and Snow Hill high schools are combined into a single football team. Because the combined population of the south county high schools would still fall below 682 students, they would not be subject to the proposed change. Board member Sara Thompson asked To Page 28
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
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By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer
C
WORCESTER COUNTY
December 2013 - Early January 2014
ommon Core instructional standards are generating controversy across the county and that includes Worcester County. Critics believe it’s a top-down imposition of federal standards on the states and local school systems, apparently unaware that Common Core began as a state initiative that only later was embraced by the U.S. Department of Education. Critics have been petitioning the board of education for meetings and have found other ways to make their objections known, but there is no indication that any of the criticisms are resonating with elected school board members or school administrators in the county.
Worcester schools revise curriculum to incorporate Common Core standards New instructional focus is on teaching students critical thinking and argument in language arts The opposite appears to be the case, in fact. The consensus viewpoint appears to be that once Common Core is fully understood by parents, it will be embraced as an improvement over old ways of teaching and learning. During a Nov. 19 Board of Education
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meeting, Principal Tom Davis and English teacher Jack Cleveland from Snow Hill High School discussed some of the changes in practice that are being made as a result of Common Core. “I think we’ve always had to teach to rigorous standards,” Cleveland, who
teaches ninth and tenth grade English classes, said. He likened transitioning to Common Core standard to a road trip. “You’re still embarking in the same way. You’re just arriving at a different place,” he said. When asked by school board members about the reaction from students and parents to the changes in curriculum, Davis said he has not received feedback from them that they “have issues” with Common Core. He said that is largely because it has been an “easy blend” with state requirements because they were already so rigorous. Cleveland said his students are now conscious every day that they are working toward Common Core compliance. “When they start to get it and the light bulb comes on, I think they really appreciate that we’re not spoon feeding them the answers,” he added. However, Davis said when it comes time for assessments, he thinks there will be some evidence of current high school students struggling with the new Common Core standards, simply because they involve somewhat different instructional methods than what they are used to. But as younger students come up through the school system, those assessment scores should improve, he said. “It’s not a complete change,” Davis said, adding that there are shifts in instructional methods being made in English language arts classes and math classes to comply with Common Core requirements. In the area of English language arts, four cornerstone elements have be implemented by the Maryland State Department of Education: building knowledge through content rich nonfiction; reading, writing and speaking grounded in text-based evidence; regular practice with complex text and its academic language; and disciplined literacy standards in reading and writing. “Everything is kinda shifting down to younger (students) and it’s because of the rigor and I think it’s because of the global economy and we want to be competitive with everybody,” Davis said. Davis said research shows that the content of current college and workplace texts offers several challenges to students because of their complexity. Current kindergarten to grade 12 curq
28 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
Sports policy From Page 26 about the issue of tuition for students transferring to play sports. Newcomb said that does not seem to be a barrier for families who want their children to play sports somewhere other than at their home school. In Caroline County, he said residents paid out of county tuition of $11,000 to go to a neighboring school to play against their home school. They drove by two high schools to go to another high school in a different county just to play baseball. The Worcester County school board plans to discuss the proposed legislative change during an upcoming meeting.
WORCESTER COUNTY
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
When Grace builds your home Kettle drive
Each year at Christmas the Salvation Army holds its Kettle Drive to raise funds and each year the Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines - Ocean City volunteers to help man the collection points at the Berlin Wal-Mart on Route 50. Pictured is Kiwanian Reverend David Herr, who is the pastor of three nearby Methodist churches of the Nanticoke Charge as well as the human and spiritual affairs chair for the Kiwanis Club. The club’s chair for the bell ringer volunteers is Lynn McAllorum who makes sure the posts are manned by both Kiwanians and members of the Stephen Decatur High School Key Club, Kiwanis at the high school level.
Common Core From Page 28 riculums favor a narrative form of text that “tells a story” over expository text that focuses on providing information or describing a process or concept. At the elementary school level, Common Core standards require an even balance between information text and literary reading. In middle and high school English classes, a greater emphasis will be placed on literary nonfiction. At both levels a majority of the informational text will be embedded in the literacy standards associated with history/social studies, science and technical studies classes. Teachers will help students develop the skills that proficient readers use to make sense of complicated text, Davis said. Those skills include making inferences, analyzing characters and content, comparing and contrasting. Answering text dependent questions is another important part of Common Core standards, Davis said. Students are required to use evidence to support well-defined claims, present careful analysis and provide clear information. Students will no longer be answering questions using only prior knowledge or past experiences. He said the goal is to prevent students from answers questions “by giving their opinion or reflecting on their experience” but instead requiring them to analyze and support their answers using the text. “Basically what they want the students to do is deconstruct the text, to break it down,” he said. “We may be a little guilty of asking students to answer a question sharing their experience,” Cleveland said, adding that to address the new requirements “I’m pushing students to go back and read, reread, read again...” School board member Jonathan Cook asked how Cleveland is dealing with the balance between storytelling and fact-finding in his classes. “It’s a matter of asking them to go
back into the text and cite their evidence. Where do they see these things taking place that they are trying to articulate?” he said of teaching the students to think critically. Cleveland said it’s important that students receive encouragement to keep working toward finding the answers to questions within the text. “It’s OK to not get it right away. It’s OK to make a mistake,” he said. The goal is not to make students provide verbose answers to question like in a legal document, but rather just to have them respond in a much more structured way, Davis said. Board member Sara Thompson asked if teachers will be able to use the same pieces of classic literature. “I think so,” Cleveland said, adding that “some of those stories and plays are moving down” to lower grade levels than where traditionally they’d been taught. Compare and contrast strategies and fostering inductive learning will take on a new focus within the instructional shifts associated with the Common Core. Students will have to use information from multiple sources and examine a variety of perspectives in order to find patterns and make logical conclusions, he said. In the area of writing, the focus will be on argument rather than the persuasion. Students will have to critically consider multiple points of view and cite text to convince the audience of the merit of their claim. Board member Bob Hulburd said instruction is not limited to just the textbook anymore. The skills to be able to think critically will open a world of opportunity for students, he said, but added that at the same he doesn’t want to see the schools pull back on their creative writing instruction. Vocabulary is another key focus, according to Davis. To foster an improved understanding and retention of academic vocabulary, the Common Core standards place a special emphasis on “general academic” and “domain specific” words and phrases.
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WORCESTER COUNTY
December 2013 - Early January 2014
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The Ocean Pines Volunteer Fire Department held its annual installation and awards dinner Dec. 7. Pictured are the OPVFD officers as they were sworn in by Worcester County Fire Marshall Jeff McMahon. The 2014 officers are: Line Officers: Chief Rich Angelo, 1st Assistant Chief Steve Grunewald, Captains Ed McNeill and Harvey Booth, Fire Lieutenant Vinny Tomaselli, EMS Lieutenant Corey Dietrich, Fire Police Captain Ron Thorwart, Fire Police Lieutenants Jack Panuska and Ralph Decker, Deputy Chief Bill Bounds, Lieutenants Eric Budd, David Collins, and Jamie Englishman. Administrative Officers: President Dan Healy, Vice-President Ron Thorwart, Board Members David Deal, Neil Gottesman, and Jack Panuska. The event was opened by President Healy who welcomed all and introduced OPVFD member Father Glenn Duffy who gave the invocation. Chief Angelo followed with a brief report about the services provided year to date. Fire calls made 179 and EMS/Ambulance calls 1332 for a total of 1511 calls year to date. There were many service awards for the members, including Fire Awards - Top Responders: #1 Michael Allen, #2 Robert Gilbert, #3 Dan Healy. EMS Award - Top Responder: Barbara Ross. EMS Award - EMS Driver Top Responder: Ron Thorwart. Fire Police Awards - Top Responders: #1 Barry Gusst, #2 Ralph Decker, #3 Ed Wolpin. Cadet Award - Top Responder: Jonathan Bush. There were awards for years of service recognizing five years, 10 years and 15 years and Life members were recognized. Paramedic of the Year: Glenn Shockley and the Chief Passwater Participation Award: Dale Shord.
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The Worcester County Commissioners on Dec. 3 unveiled a new nameplate for the World War II Monument located on the lawn at the courthouse in Snow Hill. The unveiling is to honor Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Clyde Jackson Rawson who gave his life defending the United States at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, aboard the USS Arizona. He was the first Worcester County resident to die in World War II. His name was omitted from the World War II monument during its initial installation. Local attorney Pete Wimbrow was the first to recognize that Rawson’s name had been omitted in error from the World War II Monument, for championing its rightful addition and for providing the commissioners with additional information about Rawson’s life.
The Worcester County Sheriff ’s Office is implementing a new initiative to combat crimes against children by partnering with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The ICAC Task Force was created to help federal, state and local law enforcement agencies enhance their investigative responses to offenders who use the Internet, online communication systems, or computer technology to sexually exploit children. The Program is funded by the United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention. “The ICAC Program is a national network of 61 coordinated task forces representing over 3,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies,” Sheriff Reggie Mason said, “…and we join these agencies who are actively engaged in proactive, forensic investigations, and criminal prosecutions.” The new system employs a meta data crawler to search for potential child pornography being disseminated in Worcester County and the surrounding area. If evidence is located, further investigation is required to identify violators and make criminal arrests. “This new tool furthers the mission of Worcester County’s Child Advocacy Center,” Worcester County State’s Attorney Beau Oglesby said. “It allows law enforcement to take a proactive stand against those who prey upon our most vulnerable population…our children.” In 2009, the first Child Advocacy Center was opened in Worcester County and staffed by a Worcester County Sheriff ’s detective, an assistant state’s attorney, and the Maryland Department of Social Services. It has provided a safe environment for the victims of child abuse to be interviewed and for a coordinated effort to take place which minimizes potential trauma to victims of abuse.
Public meeting set on flood map changes
The Worcester County Commissioners have scheduled a public meeting on To page 32
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
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32 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
December 2013 - Early January 2014
WORCESTER COUNTY
COUNTY BRIEFS From Page 30 Thursday, Jan. 16, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the government center in Snow Hill on revised flood insurance rate maps that have removed significant portions of land in the county from the floodplain. County staff has met with representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Maryland Department of the Environment, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA mapping contractor to discuss the mapping changes and what they mean for local residents. The county’s public hearing is for all properties in the county, including those located within municipal boundaries. Individual property owners will not be notified about the changes to the maps because that would entail sending out more than 26,000 notices to those who own land located in the current 100 and 500 year floodplains. However, Ed Tudor, county director of development review and planning, said that there will be mapping classification changes to almost all of those properties, albeit minor in many cases, including lots in Ocean Pines. Tudor said FEMA hired a contractor to complete the flood studies using new datum and best available technology to determine base flood elevations. The result for Worcester County is that across the board these elevations are decreasing, which will result in a large number of properties being removed from the floodplain and the coastal high hazard flood area designations. That means those properties will no longer be required to carry flood insurance. Tudor cautioned, however, that it would not be wise for property owners to drop their flood insurance based on the new maps, particularly in areas that are known to regularly flood. He also said that the study does not account for sea level rise or include any data relative to damage from Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. One possible benefit to those who own properties that are no longer included on the maps is the potential to obtain flood insurance at a lower rate because the maps now indicate a reduced risk of flooding, Tudor said. The county staff has already reviewed the new maps and submitted technical corrections, such as revising street names or adding missing roads and streams. The county is required to adopt a new or amended floodplain ordinance that meets the National Flood Insurance Program minimum requirements or face suspension from that program. Adoption of that ordinance must occur within six months of the final letter of determination regarding the mapping for the county. In order to have that ordinance in place by the July 7, 2014 deadline, the county needs to adopt its ordinance in January.
County revises policy on service area surcharges
Customers in service areas that receive water and wastewater via a con-
Decorating for the holidays On Dec. 2, Ocean Pines Garden Club members and friends made swags and other floral and greenery arrangements to decorate the entrances of each neighborhood in Ocean Pines. Top, left to right:: Suzanne Brooke and friend; Carol Rotella. Below: incoming Garden Club President Gail Jankowski and outgoing President Barbara Ferger. tractual arrangement with another service area will no longer have to pay a surcharge for their utilities. The Worcester County Commissioners during a Nov. 19 meeting agreed to alter the county’s policy of charging 50 percent more for operations and maintenance to customers in those contractually served areas, such as Pennington Commons, which receives water and wastewater through the Ocean Pines Service Area. Jennifer Swanton, the county’s assistant finance officer, reviewed the policy and recommended revising it to eliminate the provision that allows for a surcharge of 150 percent of the operations and maintenance to the area served by contract even if that service area paid an equity contribution to buy into the primary system. Swanton said that since the inception and implementation of the equity contribution in 2004 the county has collected enough data to support a revised policy to provide for equal payment of operations and maintenance charges where a service area has made an equity contribution. In the OPSA the net impact of the proposed policy change would be a loss of about $36,000 in revenue. She said that funding could be recouped in the service area from anticipated incoming commercial customers who will make an equity contribution to that service area. The commissioners voted unanimously to adopt a resolution revising the policy, which will become effective on Jan. 1.
LIFE STYLES
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
Hunting for Christmas gifts comes early for Ocean Pines’ youngest shoppers ‘Reindeer Lane’ offers opportunity to learn a holiday custom that will last a lifetime By SUSAN CANFORA Contributing Writer hen Emma Vandivier sat with Santa Claus at the Ocean Pines Association’s pancake breakfast in early December, the threeyear-old had a great idea – asking for a fire truck for Mommy. Her father, Carl, laughed. “I think that’s what she wants,” he said, referring to his little girl, after the talkative blond had waved goodbye to a white-gloved Santa and Mrs. Claus and headed for Reindeer Lane Kids’ Christmas Shop. There, volunteer elf Carol Ludwig helped her find heart-shaped candles for her mother, Kasha, who was tending to 13-month-old Lara, and a snow brush for her father. Emma also chose a little change purse from a table of items and held it up for Ludwig to see. “It’s real leather,” the three-year-old said, making Ludwig chuckle as she took the girl’s items to the table to be wrapped and bagged by the team of Vicki Magin, Zainab Mirza and a pleasant couple known as The Huettners. Reindeer Lane, in a room down the hall from the breakfast on Saturday, Dec. 7, was lined with tables of gifts. There, children selected presents for their brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents. For seven-year-old Kendall Whittington of Hagerstown and her five-year-old sister, Maddy, that meant finding Dallas Cowboys items for their father, Scott, and jewelry and lotion for their mother, Catie. “Santa Claus was real nice. I asked him for a remote,” Kendall said. Maddy wanted Legos. Three-year-old Justin Mancuso spotted a keychain with little pliers attached for his grandfather, picked it up, turned around and handed it to him. “No, no. Don’t show him. Not yet,” his grandmother, Joan Gadomski of Ocean Pines, told him. “He shops like a real man. Just pick it out and hand it to you and get it done,” his grandfather said, as little Justin, of Dundalk, cute in burgundy pants, a plaid shirt and gray sweater, spotted a bell for his mother, Holly Mancuso. “We need something else that makes noise,” his grandmother deadpanned. “Reindeer Lane was a huge success,” said Magin, who works in the OPA recreation department.
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“This endeavor was made possible through donations by Ocean Pines social clubs. We were pleased to see how much thought and caring went with the kids picking out gifts for parents and grandparents,” she said. As little Justin shopped, Santa was pulling a little boy onto his lap. “We saw you in New York,” the boy told him. “You did? I am all over the place,” said Santa, who later reported multiple requests for American Girl dolls, Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles this year. “There have been a lot of nice children here today. Good kids. One little boy asked for a Robot Puppy Zoomer,” Santa said. At the arts and crafts table, fouryear-old Nathan Baskerville of Ocean Pines was concentrating on making a necklace for his mother. “My favorite colors are red and green,” he said, threading a red heart charm on a green strip of ribbon. Those have always been his favorite colors, his mother, Angie, said, and it’s fitting since he was born Dec. 26 and is a Christmas baby. “I am four years old. I’m not a baby,” Nathan protested. Behind him, two-year-old Leah Schlesinger, visiting her grandparents, Janice and Kevin Newlin in the Pines, was smiling and bouncing in her little
Maddy, left, and Kendall Whittington, of Hagerstown, consider a bright red T-shirt for their father at the Ocean Pines Parks and Recreation second annual Reindeer Lane Kids’ Christmas Shop. Three-year-old Emma Vandivier is pleased with her selections. Volunteer elf Carol Ludwig assists her. boots waiting to see Santa. “Mickey. I love Mickey and Minnie and the reindeer,” she said with the innocent glee of a toddler, then headed for Mrs. Claus, who was handing out candy canes and little gift bags. Guests arriving for breakfast brought canned goods and new toys for needy families in the Pines and for Believe in Tomorrow. Ten families were selected, and as many as possible will be assisted, said Sonya To Page 36
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34 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
CAPTAIN’S COVE
December 2013 - Early January 2014
Cove still in search of elusive lender for roads construction Two more conversations with banks are scheduled before next board meeting Jan. 16 identified source of debt servicing – a developer-dedicated $50,000 per year to defray interest – hasn’t been able to sway potential lenders. The banks aren’t saying never, Silfee said, but are looking for more evidence that the Cove association, after years of declining reserves as former boards used them for operating purposes as a way of avoiding assessment increases, is returning to more fiscally prudent management. In other cases, the Cove’s geographical location on the Maryland-Virginia border, south of Girdletree and Stockston in Southern Worcester County, has been a factor in the rejections, Silfee said. The Cove association’s balance sheet is dramatically improved year-over-year, but even with about a $1 million in cash on hand there’s still a ways to go to demonstrate a sustained track record to skeptical bankers. Cove President Tim Hearn said he, too, is confident that the line of credit will be forthcoming; he said it’s a matter of when, not if. The delays in securing the loan so far hasn’t affected timing of road construction, because the POA is still awaiting approval of
By TOM STAUSS Publisher Captain’s Cove board member Jim Silfee says it’s been a thankless, uphill slog trying to secure financing – a line of credit of $1 million – so the Cove property owners association can complete road construction throughout Sections 1 through 14. Most of Sections 1 through 11 are served by tar-and-chip roads, but there a few gaps here and there, and Sections 12 and 13 have none. Trees and underbrush have been cleared in anticipation of new roads at some point in the future, so it’s not as if it will be necessary to bulldoze virgin woodlands to make new roads possible. At the POA’s annual meeting in November, Silfee said he’d been in touch with about five local banks to pitch the line of credit, only to be handed one rejection after another. Since then, he’s been in touch with a similar number of banks with the same outcome. “I will keep at it,” Silfee said in some recent email to the Progress, offering assurances that in time the effort would pay off with a line of credit. So far, the fact that the Cove POA has an
road engineering documents by Accomack County, an arduous task that apparently is the largest such project ever reviewed by county regulators. Approval of the engineering documents can happen anytime, he said. “There’s only one person doing it (reviewing the docs) so it’s understandable that it’s taken this long,” Hearn said. The process could have been expedited by submitting the plans in sections, but he said the decision was made to do all of them at the same time in order to give the POA maximum flexibility once the review is complete and the engineering is approved. Hearn said that banks would be willing to do the deal in a heartbeat if developer interests would be willing to guarantee interest payments, but Hearn said that so far, he and his business partners who are the successor developers in the Cove have not been willing to do that. “It really is the (Cove Association) that is borrowing the money, not the developers,” he said. “We believe the Cove finances are strong enough now to warrant the line of credit, and they will only improve over time as we improve our collection efforts (of delinquent annual
assessments). Until such time as the line of credit is secured and the engineering documents are in the hand, the POA is biding its time in developing a comprehensive schedule for road construction in the areas of the Cove without them. The topic is likely to be discussed at the scheduled Jan. 16 board of directors meeting. Silfee said that he has two more “conversations/meetings” with banks before the board meeting, so perhaps he will have some good news to report at that time. Hearn said the Captain’s Cove Utility Co. still intends to install water and sewer mains along the streets scheduled for paving, with the caveat that in Virginia any such proposal has to be cleared with the state’s corporation commission because any such project has implications for the D rates paid for water CEwastewater REDbyUand treatment services Cove residents. Hearn said installing sewer mains actually works for the benefit of existing customers because the costs of providing the service can be spread t
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LIFESTYLES
December 2013 - Early January 2014
Friday, Dec. 13 Pine Tones Chorus Christmas Concert, Atlantic United Methodist Church, Baltimore Avenue and 4th Street, Ocean City, 7:30 p.m. Free admission. “Traditions of Christmas,” a festive musical concert featuring selections such as “O Holy Night,” Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” the theme song from Babes in Toyland and “Christmas Gifts” from the musical A Wonderful Life. A special arrangement of “Jingle Bells Through the Ages” includes visits from the Andrews Sisters in boogiewoogie and an Elvis-style solo in hard rock. Refreshments after the concert. Saturday, Dec. 14 The 6th Annual Swim with Santa, Sports Core indoor pool, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. $6 for adults and children and nonswimmers $3. Attendees are encouraged to bring can goods or an unwrapped toy for the Worcester County Sheriff ’s Department Christmas for the Needy Program. Holiday music, candy canes, and arts and crafts. 410-641-5255 Ocean Pines Anglers Club monthly meeting, 9:30 a.m., Ocean Pines Library. Featuring professional bass angler Jim Short, whose accomplishments since the year 2000 include 42 top-ten finishes, 11 Angler of the Year awards and qualifying for the national championship six times. Canned goods or donations will be accepted to help support Diakonia. “Meet Me at Market” event series, Ocean Pines Farmers Market, White Horse Park, 10:30 a.m. Featuring local speakers, craftsman, chefs and artisans. The first in this series begins with Ami Reist from Little Miss Lovely, who will be offering a holiday wreathmaking workshop at the pavilion. Cost $15 per wreath, including a variety of fresh evergreens and wreath forms. Participants are asked to bring sharp
HAPPENINGS scissors, clipping shears, any dried elements they would like added to the wreath and ribbon to make a bow. 410641-7717 ext. 3006. Saturday, Dec. 14 and Sunday, Dec. 15 Pine’eer Craft and Gift Shop, final weekend of the season, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., White Horse Park. Handcrafted items made by members of the Pine’eer Craft Club for sale. Thursday, Dec. 19 Worcester County Tea Party Christmas Party, 7 p.m., Assateague Room, Ocean Pines Community Center, free admission. Carols and hot chocolate. Bring an easy appetizer or dessert to share with the group. 443-614-7214 or email WCTTPATRIOTS@gmail.com. Thursday, Jan. 2 Women’s Club of Ocean Pines 40th Birthday Celebration, 10 a.m., Ocean Pines Community Center. Membership open to women who live in Ocean Pines; dues $10. The club raises funds during the membership year for scholarships and community donations. For more information, contact Pat Addy, 410-208-0171. Saturday, Jan. 4 Baby bazaar and kids’ flea market, Ocean Pines Community Center, 8 a.m.-noon. Opportunity to turn pre-loved maternity, baby, and kid’s (toddler to preteen) items into cash while providing a hand-me-down heaven for new mamas. Vendors may sell clothes, handmade items, children’s furniture, toys, video games, equipment such as strollers and swings, and more. Vendor
space is $15 for Ocean Pines residents and $20 for nonresidents. Spaces include an 8-foot table and chair. 410-641-7052. Saturday, Jan. 11 Star Charities Annual Beef & Beer bash, 5:30 p.m., Ocean Pines Community Center, $26 per person. All-you-can-eat buffet catered by Monty Jones’ Lazy River Saloon. Live entertainment including a surprise emcee, two live bands and Sharon & Charles Sorrentino. Benefits the Home of the Brave in Berlin. For tickets, contact Barbara Mazzei at 410-2080430, Mary Evans at 410-596-5498, Anna Foultz at 410-641-7667 or Joan Gentile at 443-465-2400. Friday, Jan. 31 Spaghetti dinner and silent auction, with Celtic Music by Gypsy Wind, Holy Trinity Cathedral, 11021 Worcester Highway, Berlin. Snow date Feb. 7. Take-out from 5- 5:45 p.m. Cost $15 per person. Sit-down dinner at 6 p.m. Cost $20 per person -- $8 for children under 10. Preview silent auction items at http://tresarroyos-mdas.com/auction. html. Ongoing Pine’eer Craft Club, White Horse Park, Ocean Pines, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Handcrafted home decor, jewelry, and fashion accessories, created by members of the Pine’eer Craft Club. Suicide Grievers Support Group, 3rd Wednesday every month, 6 p.m., Worcester County Health Department, Healthway Drive, Berlin, adjacent to Atlantic General Hospital. Open to anyone who has lost a friend or loved one to suicide. Free of charge. Quiet listening, caring people, no judgment. 410-629-0164. The Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines - Ocean City meets weekly at 8 a.m. on
Wednesdays in the Ocean Pines Community Center. Doors open 7 a.m. October through April. Sanctioned duplicate bridge games, Ocean Pines Community Center, Sundays 1 p.m., Mondays noon, Tuesdays 10 a.m. Partners guaranteed. $5, special games $6. Third Sunday of every month is Swiss teams (no partner guaranteed for teams). Felicia Daly, 410-208-1272; Pat Kanz, 410-641-8071 The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 12-05, meets the first Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the U.S.C.G. Station, Ocean City. Visitors and new members are welcome. Dennis Kalinowski, 410-208-4147. Web site http://a0541205.uscgaux.info. Life after loss support group, second and fourth Tuesday of each month at the Community Church at Ocean Pines, 11227 Race Track Road, Berlin, 11 a.m. Help in coping with any type of loss. 410-641-5433. Worcester County Democratic Club meeting, fourth Thursday of each month, 7 p.m., Marlin Room of Ocean Pines Community Center. No December meeting. Club membership is not required. All those interested in Democratic platforms and agendas are welcome. Republican Women of Worcester County, fourth Thursday of each month, 11 a.m. meeting (doors open at 10:30), lunch at noon, local restaurants. For information, call membership chair Barbara Loffler at 410208-0890. January through June, and again September and October. Dinner meeting in November.
Reindeer Lane From Page 33 Bounds, director of the OPA recreation department. She was pleased with the assortment of canned and dry goods, piled with dolls, a skateboard and stuffed animals, including a Winnie the Pooh bear holding a fleece blanket. Another collection will be taken at Swim with Santa on Dec. 14 at the Sports Core indoor swimming pool. “The turnout today is great. The kids love Santa and Mrs. Claus. This is the second year for Reindeer Lane. We started it last year. The kids love it, and they’re having fun making arts and crafts,” Bounds said. “The Kiwanis members are cooking for us. The kids love it. It’s been fabulous.”
Captain’s Cove
To Page 36
From Page 34 over more users, thereby reducing the cost for them. Marina Club pool reopens -Repairs and improvements to the Indoor Pool at the Marina Club were nearing completion the second week of December. The Cove administration Cove announced plans to reopen the pool on Thursday, Dec. 12. In addition to the plaster work done to the pool, two tile swim lanes were added, as well as removable lane markers to assist members with lap swimming. The following pool hours are currently in effect for the winter months: Monday, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Wednesday, closed; Thursday through Sunday, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
OPINION
December 2013 - Early January 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
37
COMMENTARY
Proposed ‘rack and stack’ needs substantial revision If indeed the OPA decides
to go into the fitness center business, locations other than the Assateague Room ought to be considered. that use the kitchen on board with this? More explanation is needed before anyone salutes this particular flagpole. If indeed the OPA decides to go into the fitness center business, locations other than the Assateague Room ought to be considered. There’s the aforementioned kitchen space; if indeed it is so expendable, then perhaps it could be equipped with a few donated Stairmasters and the like from the hundreds of homeowners who, for whatever reason, no longer use their homebased equipment. The large meeting space located off the gym in the Community and little used sections of the Country club second floor are also possibilities. Before dedicating the large Assateague Room in the Community Center for an activity with no demonstrated constituency, or track record, the more prudent course might be to start off slowly, moving to a larger space once demand and interest is established. Are expanded facilities for the police department really necessary? At near or close to build out, Ocean Pines is not likely to experience a population surge anytime in the foreseeable future; it’s not likely that it will be necessary to expand the police force anytime soon. Thompson mentioned that officers are forced to change from street clothes into uniforms and back in the one bathroom at the police station, as if officers are not perfectly capable of changing at home, assuming that changing at the office is so inconvenient. One holding cell (of two present) is a converted utility closet; somehow the police force has managed with such a configuration since the 1980s. The draft CIP estimates $350,000 for a new fitness center and $500,000 for a new police station addition. Both of these items seem to fall into the category of wants, rather than needs, and could easily be deleted from the draft rack-and-stack without any measurable adverse consequences for Ocean Pines. Their inclusion has the effect of padding the rack-and-stack, as if to justify the collection of lot assessments from OPA members to pay for them. During the November board meeting, Thompson didn’t mention one big-ticket item that’s included in the draft CIP but shouldn’t be: a $3 million aquatics center, funding for which is spread over two years, FY 2021 and 22. Presumably inclusion in the plan means the OPA will be collecting funds from OPA members to pay for it only seven short years now. Another item that may be of even greater interest is a renovated Country Club in the near term – Fiscal 2017 and 2018 – for an estimated cost of $3.2 million. Together with $1.2 million in new golf drainage, and $225,000 for a new maintenance building, it’s clear that Ocean Pines’ most expensive amenity to operate – the golf course and the adjoining Country Club – are a top priority for the general manager and facilities manager Jerry Aveta, who did much of the work drafting it. That’s fine, as far as it goes, but it’s by no means certain that Ocean Pines property owners should be hit up for major capital expenditures related to golf
with a membership tally well below 200. Granted, there are golfers in Ocean Pines who don’t prepay annual memberships but who, from time to time, play the Ocean Pines golf course. But their loyalties are divided, understandably, given the wealth of golf courses available for play in the immediate vicinity of Ocean Pines. It’s hard to imagine too many of these non-members mourning if, for some reason, the Ocean Pines golf course were to close and be converted into a park open to everyone in Ocean Pines. Those committed to the Ocean Pines golf course remaining as an Ocean Pines are members, pure and simple. Many of those who aren’t members have loyalties as fickle as a golf swing prone to producing wicked hooks and slices. As OPA Director Dan Stachurski remarked almost in passing earlier this year, a poll of OPA members would probably yield overwhelming sentiment in favor closing the golf course. He didn’t mean to suggest that he favored that outcome – on the contrary, he does not – but instead was trying to make the point that the OPA hasn’t done a very good job of explaining the golf course’s value as measured in lot values throughout Ocean Pines. With all due respect to Stachurski, better public relations are not likely to change too many minds about the Ocean Pines golf course, at least among the OPA membership. Better course conditions help the cause, to be sure, but anyone looking for the proverbial panacea in the existing membership structure is not likely to be rewarded anytime soon. The jury’s still out on whether outside package play or retail non-member golf will come to the rescue of golf’s bottom line, but so far the evidence is sketchy. It always seems like it’s the next quarter before we have the definitive word on outside play. A moving target, so it seems. The point here is if the OPA continues to generate golf deficits running into the hundreds of thousands of each year, it’s hard to imagine there will much support for substantial capital spending on the golf course and Country club among OPA members. At some point, they’re going to run out of patience when it comes to financing the pastime of a dwindling core of diehard golfers, many of whom are – let’s not sugarcoat it – demographically challenged. All it will take is some disgruntled property owner with time on his hands to force the issue by launching a petition drive that asks some simple questions: Should the OPA continue to operate a golf course, relying on all property owners to finance capital expenditures and subsidize operating losses? Should the OPA lease out or sell the golf course? If a lease or sale proves to be infeasible, should the OPA close the course and convert it into a park? See how it easy it would be to craft a referendum to decide the golf course’s fate? All it would take is someone or a small group of people willing to do the spade work. Leasing out the golf course to private operators, or selling it to members, or other equity groups, is the way other communities have handled the issue, so that non-golfers are not subsidizing an activity (both operating expenses and capital expenditures) which holds no interest for them. Some communities have closed their courses for lack of interest or financing, the least desirable of the options in Ocean Pines but not inconceivable. The Budget and Finance Advisory Committee has offered a referendum proposal with respect to golf in Ocean Pines, finding little support for it, even from the director, Marty Clarke, often receptive to out-of-the-box think-
q
T
he proposed “rack-and-stack” of future capital improvement projects in Ocean Pines submitted to the board of directors in November by Ocean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson meets both the letter and spirit of the motion offered by Director Dan Stachurski in November of 2012. It’s always nice to lead with something positive, especially during the festive and joyful Christmas season. While the motion calling on Thompson to deliver a so-called “rack and stack” to the board by this past June was late by five months, in Ocean Pines (as it is in many places) late is always better than never. Even so, there’s nothing in the draft list of future capital projects that readily explain why it took so long to produce it, as much of it is a rehash from the rack-andstack last approved by the board in June of 2011. As for the changes from the previous update to the latest one, there are a few noteworthy ones, but there’s no evidence of heavy-lifting or deep thinking that can explain why the original deadline passed without a rackand-stack. Please forgive the churlish observation that the list probably was available for distribution as soon as this past summer, but for reasons of his own the general manager decided to release it much closer to the beginning of the new budget cycle. As the draft rack and stack was not discussed in public by the board either in November or at the board’s work session in early December, it now appears that it won’t receive the thorough airing – perhaps even a town meeting dedicated to it – prior to the completion of the administration’s draft budget in late December or early January. In fairness to Thompson, he did, during the November board meeting, go into some detail on those items from the CIP that he hopes to fund in the near-term (Fiscal 2016, the year after next, and beyond). There’s a fitness center proposed for the Assateague Room in the new Community Center, with shower facilities replacing the seldom used Community Center kitchen. There’s a new larger police department facility, to be appended to the existing smaller facility; the old police department quarters would be converted into a meeting space to replace the Assateague Room for smaller events. Larger events, such as the OPA annual meeting, would be shifted to the Community Center gym, according to Thompson. Mind you, these are only proposals; the directors have not yet weighed in on them, at least publicly. One question that needs to be addressed before all others: Should the OPA even be in the fitness center business, when such existing businesses are already readily available in the Ocean Pines commercial district? It’s one thing to continue to operate business amenities that have been established for decades (the Yacht Club restaurant, the golf course), or in which there is no meaningful or evident competition (swimming pools). But it’s quite another to launch new amenity businesses that compete with private enterprise. The business rationale for the idea, according to the CIP, is that some users of the Community Center ask about the availability of fitness equipment from time to time. That’s simply not good enough Then there was the disclosure that the Community Center kitchen could be replaced with showers for the fitness center; the operators of most such facilities assume their clients can shower at home. Moreover, there is something disturbing about the judgment that an amenity supplied in the new Community Center because of an early demonstrated need can be so easily replaced with something else. Are local civic groups
38 Ocean Pines PROGRESS
OPINION
December 2013 - Early
COMMENTARY
Funding proposals for next year make lots of sense
W
hile OPA General Manager Bob Thompson’s proposed rack-and-stack of proposed capital expenditures is in need of some major revamping in Fiscal Years 2016 and beyond – see the editorial elsewhere on this page for details – his suggestions for next year (FY 2015) make a great deal of sense. Totaling about $1.5 million in estimated cost, these capital items for the most part will be financed out of the OPA’s accumulated reserve funds, thereby not necessitating any increase in next year’s lot assessments. Many of the proposed expenditures involve repairing and refurbishing OPA swimming pools, in one case bringing the Mumford’s Landing pool into compliance with the federal ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). The OPA’s Aquatics Advisory Committee is fully behind these proposals and, indeed, to some degree is responsible for helping develop them in close cooperation with Thompson and the OPA’s facilities manager, Jerry Aveta. Hours of work spent in developing a comprehensive five-year plan for the pools has paid off; Thompson kept his promise to the aquatics committee and deserves a shout-out for doing so. One proposal that probably can’t be funded out of reserves because of arcane OPA accounting rules is a proposed splash pad for the Swim and Racquet Club pool, suggested as a replacement for the ADA non-compliant baby pool there. This would be a new amenity and probably (but not absolutely for certain) would be classified as new capital, generally funded out of that year’s lot assessment rather than accumulated reserve funds. It remains to be seen whether the board will fund this new amenity in next
CIP needs revisions From Page 37 ing. Clarke’s has said the committee’s suggested threeto-five-year timeframe to explore the golf course issue is much too long: He thinks the lease or sale options should be seriously explored in the here-and-now. He doesn’t want to see the golf course closed. That’s more or less the unanimous point of view of sitting directors. They appear to be content to let the status quo ride for as long as possible. Before allocating millions of dollars for a new Country Club and a resumption of golf drainage projects – that’s all we need, the course torn up again in a year or so – the board ought to give serious consideration to exploring these other options, and not just giving lip service to it, but really seriously and substantively and aggressively exploring options, including action to require public solicitation of RFPs (request for proposals). Given the huge expenditures on the course thus far -- rebuilding most of the golf holes most prone to flooding, replacing the greens – it may be that private groups will materialize willing to take over the course. But first the OPA must extend the invitation and mean it. Agreements can always be crafted with reversion clauses should lease or purchases not work as the participants’ intended or to incentivize the new course operators to offer meaningful discounts to OPA members. Something would have to be carved out to protect the interests of the handful of lifetime members who have stepped up to supply funds for green reconstruction over the past year or so.
year’s budget. Splash pads are popping up everywhere, though, and are popular with age groups beyond those that use baby pools. It’s possible separate memberships or user fees could be established to help defray the capital costs associated with building the plumbing infrastructure and water features. In the meantime, it appears that the baby pool at the Swim and Racquet Club pool, in need of ADA improvements, will be the only baby pool open for use next summer, assuming, of course, that the board of directors provides the necessary financing. The rack-and-stack identifies the long-delayed improvements at the Sports Core pool as a top priority. Pool resurfacing and deck repairs are the antidotes to less-than-optimal cosmetic conditions at the OPA’s only indoor swimming pool. There’s no reason why a community with the wealth and funding base of Ocean Pines should continue to tolerate substandard conditions. Cracked and stained pool surfaces do not shout out First Class and indeed have been tolerated for years by pool users who perhaps have come to believe that the OPA simply doesn’t care enough to maintain its amenity assets in a timely fashion.
Elsewhere in the Thompson’s rack-and-stack are other proposed expenditures for projects that have been long overdue. Southside ballfield lighting has been allowed to fall into disrepair, making night games and a lot of league play there impractical; the cost of new lighting has been estimated at $175,000. While some sort of corporate fund-raising might be considered for some of these funds, these lights were installed by the OPA years ago and the ultimate responsibility for maintaining OPA-owned assets resides with the OPA. New lighting is a top priority of the OPA’s Recreation Advisory Committee, and it should be a board priority, as well. The draft rack-and-stack also includes $225,000 for a new boat ramp at White Horse Park, a priority of the OPA’s Marine Activities Advisory Committee, and it, too, deserves funding. Similarly, the OPA Tennis Advisory Committee has produced a thoughtful, well-designed five year plan for improvements at the OPA’s Manklin Meadows tennis complex, including new pickleball courts. Like the proposed new splash pad at the Swim and Racquet Club, new pickle ball courts probably will be considered new capital, to be funded out of current year lot assessments, but the money ought to be found for a sport that is ascending in popularity. Presumably, Thompson will include all of the projects contained in the rack-and-stack’s 2015 fiscal year in his draft budget, to be unveiled in early January. Given the OPA’s solid funding base and healthy state of reserves, there’s no reason for the board to be stingy with these proposed capital projects for FY 2015. All have been discussed for some time at the board level; there are no surprises here. – Tom Stauss
Before signing off on the rack-and-stack’s proposed funding for the Country Club and golf drainage, the board of directors should have a meaningful dialog with the Ocean Pines community. Town meetings, surveys, and a formal referendum should be part of the process. Stachurski has previously suggested that he believes there should be a referendum on the proposed rack-and-stack before it is adopted formally by the board. He’s right. In his last year as a director who recently has become a part-time homeowner with a home in Florida, it remains to be seen how aggressive he will be in pushing for a referendum on the proposed rackand-stack before his term expires. Many directors fade into lame-duck status in their final year as energy and commitment sag. Let’s hope that Stachurski has enough spark left to push this one to a natural conclusion. This draft planning document is very much a Thompson document, and the general manager emphasizes that it is a work in progress, subject to change. It is indeed, and it needs to be changed rather significantly before it becomes the basis for future capital spending in Ocean Pines, especially in Fiscal Year 2016 and beyond. It is very much a Thompson product because it’s difficult to imagine anyone in Ocean Pines (other than the general manager) who thinks OPA members should be mandated to contribute annual assessments for a new aquatics center, let alone one to be built only seven years from now. The OPA’s own aquatics advisory committee has looked at the idea, concluding that, done right, an aquatics center would cost much more than $3.2 million. But the committee also has conclud-
ed that any new aquatics center should be financed not by OPA members but by regional players, such as the Mid-Delmarva YMCA, and those individuals who want to contribute towards it. If indeed there is a need for such a facility in Northern Worcester County – and there’s no evidence to suggest there’s any demand for it – then it ought to be financed in much the way that Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin was financed – through a massive voluntary fund drive spearheaded by a volunteer infused with drive and ambition. OPA members should not be asked to pay for it directly through their lot assessments; Ocean Pines’ contribution might be to donate land for it. But a $3.2 million estimate and the new aquatics center should be removed forthwith from the draft CIP. If Thompson wants to defend its inclusion, he’s welcome to do so; it is, after all, the role of the general manager to push the envelope and promote new ideas. But his is not the final word, nor should it be; he himself would say that these kinds of decisions are best left to the board of directors and ultimately the OPA membership. There’s nothing in the CIP that’s set in stone. It’s intended as a working document and really will never be “finished” in any meaningful sense. The take-away from what’s been proposed thus far is that it just a rough draft – and it should not be codified as an “official” funding planning document until a rather extensive consultation with the Ocean Pines community has first transpired, ending with a referendum in which everyone with an opinion can weigh in. – Tom Stauss
Given the OPA’s solid funding base and healthy state of reserves, there’s no reason for the board to be stingy with these proposed capital projects for FY 2015.
OPINION
December 2013 - Early January 2014 OPINION
Ocean Pines PROGRESS
39
Proposed board code of conduct is unneeded and divisive “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.”-- Edmund Burke “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” -- George Santayana “While history is a great teacher for us, it is not the present.” -- Terri Mohr, Ocean Pines Association director
J
ust when it seemed possible that the OPA’s Board of Directors could act with a semblance of harmony and cohesion with a generous allowance for legitimate differences of opinion, two directors have decided to fix what isn’t broke. The defect that the proposed resurrection of a previously failed “code of conduct” would remedy is incivility on the board – incivility that to the casual observer is little more than the expected give-and-take among decision-makers, occasionally inflected with heat and emotion. The proposed conduct code is likely to have the opposite effect from what its proponents purportedly intend, that is, it’s more likely to increase incivility, public squabbling or divisiveness, call it what you will, should it be adopted and then applied against a supposed offender. Another purpose of the code is to rein in or otherwise prevent certain directors from disclosing supposedly confidential information that the directors or the OPA administration prefer to keep from the OPA membership. One such recent example is the disclosure, blamed on Director Marty Clarke, of the board’s offer to purchase the former Pine Shore golf course just north of Ocean Pines. In that example, there was no good reason to hide that information from the membership to begin with, especially after the offer of purchase was floated. Clarke, and other directors who confirmed the offer, albeit indirectly, were acting in the best interest of property owners by “leaking” that information. OPA members, after all, are the ones would who have been paying for the purchase had it occurred. While on occasion there may be good reason to keep details of a real estate transaction under wraps, in this case there was no evidence of a bidding war for the property. Whether its proponents are willing to admit the obvious or not, the proposed resurrection of the conduct code is very much targeted at Clarke, the director most likely to run afoul of his colleagues by intemperate remarks and occasional barbs directed at the general manager. If it’s possible to find fault with Bob Thompson, Clarke seldom has missed the opportunity to do so. The impression left is that if there was a board vote to
closed and discussed. That left Mohr as the director defending the proposed conduct code. When DiAn excursion through the curious cul-de-sacs rector Jack Collins repeatedly asked her An excursion through theby-ways curious and by-ways and cul-de-sacs to explain the “genesis” of her efforts, of Worcester County’s County’s most densely community. of Worcester mostpopulated densely populated community. what prompted her to seek to resurrect By TOM STAUSS/ By TOM Publisher STAUSS/Publisher the code, she really couldn’t, or rather she declined to do so, which gives rise to all sorts of conspiracy theories – or relieve Thompson of his administrative their advocates by releasing details pub- simple speculation -- as to what really duties, it would be Clarke leading the licly, and then waging a very public cam- is behind it. The speculation from here is that lonely charge. As Thompson continues paign to have those charges dismissed. to have the solid support of a board He’d lawyer up, might countersue if he Thompson is involved behind the scenes is losing patience with OPINION majority, it’s a charge that would lead thought he’d been defamed, would me- – that he really Clarke’s constant sniping, even if connowhere. The general manager would thodically dissect and rebut each and veyed in more dulcet and less provocahave to mess up big time for that sup- every charge leveled against him. port to dissipate. It would be great theater, but the tive language. If so, Thompson enters More recently, Clarke seems to have whole episode would make the OPA dangerous territory indeed if he believes been more restrained, at least in public, board look very, very bad. Incivility that it’s appropriate for a general manalmost as if he was taking the advice of and devisiveness would rule. The OPA ager to engage in any quiet lobbying activity which conceivably could affect the some of his colleagues to rein himself in. would be the recipient of lot of of nega-the The Ocean Pines Progress, a ajournal An excursion through curious and cul-de-sacs An excursion through theby-ways curious by-ways and cul-de composition of the board that oversees If indeed that is the case – and Director tive a is board majority newspress, and for commentary, published ofwhich Worcester County’s most densely populated community. of Worcester County’s most densely populated comm him. Dan Stachurski told the Progress that would be largely responsible monthly throughout the year.even It while is Publisher By TOM STAUSS/ Publisher By TOM STAUSS/ Publicly, at least, he no doubt will he has noticed a change in demeanor in itcirculated blamed the messenger. in Ocean Pines, Berlin, West have the good sense to stay out of it. Clarke in public board meetings – then That’s happened previously Ocean City,what Snow Hill, Ocean City and When reminded of the adage that resurrecting the conduct code seems a when Clarke’s alleged misdeeds resultCapain’s Cove,Va. those who don’t learn from history are poor way to encourage more of the same. ed in trumped up charges against him. Letters and other editorial submissions: doomed to repeat it, Mohr served up her If quiet persuasion has been having a Resurrecting theemail code inWe a do way Please submit via only. notthat own competing kernel of wisdom. positive effect, why reintroduce a more better codifies and defines the elusive accept faxes or submissions that require “While history is a great teacher for blunt instrument? “cause” for which a director can be reretyping. Letters should be original and us, it is not the present,” she said. Terri Mohr, one of the directors who moved will not make it any easier or exclusive to the Progress. Include phone Oh dear. Turbulence ahead. has said she will introduce a motion to more likely for a board to remove Clarke restore the conduct code at the board’s or any future director who runs afoul of Dec. 18 regular monthly meeting, re- the prevailing majority bloc. 127 cently rejected the suggestion that she When theNottingham code was lastLane, in effect, from intended to use the code as a way of 2005 to mid-2007, the code Ocean Pines, MDwas invoked, trying to remove Clarke from the board. and utterly failed to remove the offend“You’re wrong,” she told Pines resident, ing director at the time. The experience PUBLISHER/EDITOR The Ocean Pines Progress, a journal of PUBLISHER/EDITOR The Ocean Pines Progress, a journal of Joe Reynolds, at the board’s Dec. 4 work was so unpleasant for everyone involved Tom Stauss news and commentary, is published Tom Stauss news and commentary, is published session, a response that strained credu- that it was abolished at the earliest optstauss1@mchsi.com monthly throughoutthethe is monthly throughout year.year. It is Itcircutstauss1@mchsi.com lity, but which possibly is literally true. portunity. circulated in Ocean Pines, Berlin, West 410-641-6029 lated in Ocean Pines, Berlin, Ocean City, It could be that sometime in the future, Moreover, resurrecting the code is 410-641-6029 Ocean City, Snow and Captain’s Cove,Hill, Va.Ocean City and the code will be invoked against Clarke unnecessaryAdvertising because certain behaviors Advertising Capain’s Cove, Va. Letters and other submissions should be given a pretext, real or contrived, but that supposedly justify a director’s reLetters other editorial sent viaand email only. We dosubmissions: not accept ART DIRECTOR there is no “current” pretext to do so. moval are already contained in OPA byPlease submit via email only. We do not faxes or other submissions that require DIRECTOR Giving Mohr the benefit of the doubt, laws. A ART conduct code is thereby redunRota Knott accept faxes or submissions require retyping. Letters should be that original and it is probably safer to say that one pur- dant. Directors already supposed to Hugh are Dougherty exclusive to the Progress. Include phone retyping. Letters should be original and pose of the resurrected conduct code is keep certain matters confidential and to CONTRIBUTING number for exclusive toverification. the Progress. Include phone that it could be used to rein Clarke in, engage in civil discourse. WRITERS CONTRIBUTING WRITER not so much to remove him from the The bylaws specify a means by which Knott 127 Nottingham Lane, Rota Knott board as to modify his behavior. OPA property owners can petition to reGinny Reister Ocean Pines, MD. 21811 Inkwellmedia@comcast.net If that’s the case, lots of luck: He’s al- move a director, and that is the process 127 Nottingham Lane, ready said, publicly, that if he had to do that, in 2007, the then board of directors 443-880-1348 Ocean Pines, MD PUBLISHER/EDITOR it over again, nothing he said or did that said should be the primary means for Tom Stauss got him in trouble with his colleagues doing so. Indeed, during the discussion tstauss1@mchsi.com PUBLISHER/EDITOR PUBLISHER/EDITOR previously would change. which led to the abolishment of the con410-641-6029 Tom If, during the board’s Dec. 18 meet- duct code in 2007, Stachurski said memTomStauss Stauss tstauss1@mchsi.com ing, the conduct code is resurrected by ber petition is the only way a director tstauss1@mchsi.com ADVERTISING a 4-3 or 5-2 vote, the “reining in” is less should be removed. 410-641-6029 Tom Stauss 410-641-6029 likely to occur than a demonstration by He was right then, but seems perAdvertising Advertising Clarke that he remains his own man suaded now that he wasn’t – that the inART DIRECTOR and is not going to let a board majority terests of civility and confidentiality and Knott ART Rota DIRECTOR muzzle him. It is reasonable to suppose decorum require the ability of the board ARTRota DIRECTOR Knott that he would do so in a way that his to remove an offending director. He has CONTRIBUTING Hugh Dougherty fingerprints would not be easily found; the right to change his mind, of course, WRITERS CONTRIBUTING there always would be plausible deni- but in so doing he really needs to do Rota Knott WRITERS CONTRIBUTING ability for a leaked nugget of vital con- make a more compelling case in public Ginny ReisterWRITER fidential information. as to what has changed in the six years Rota Knott Susan Knott Canfora So it would be up to OPA general that this issue was last considered. Ginny Reister Inkwellmedia@comcast.net counsel to “investigate” and “prove” This he hasn’t done, at least so far, PROOFREADING 443-880-1348 charges leveled against Clarke, who, if having been absent from the board’s Joanne Williams past is prologue, would not be adverse work session in early December when to belittling the charges and shaming the pending matter was initially dis-
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