December 2016 ocean pines progress by Ocean Pines Progress

Worm infestation in bulkheading concerns OPA GM

December 2016

Waterfront property owners, who thought they might be receiving a one-year holiday on the $450 waterfront differential next year as the Ocean Pines Association works to come up with a new multi-year bulkhead replacement program, might want to step back before thinking up ways to spend the savings. Acting General Manager Brett Hill recently delivered some potentially troublesome news for owners of waterfront property in Ocean Pines whose bulkheads are maintained by the waterfront differential. ~ Page 10

Committee suggests open vote count for OPA elections When two candidates for the Board of Directors last summer called for a vote count open to the membership, successfully using the issue on their way to winning seats on the board, it seemed more or less inevitable that both would press for more transparency in board elections once taking office. Neither candidate, Brett Hill or Slobodan Trendic, has pressed the issue publicly in board meetings since August, but the resignation of the former elections committee and its replacement with an allnew panel suggested that some reforms might be afoot. ~ Page 13

OPA forfeits county funds for bridge repair projects Having let $150,000 in Worcester County funding for the relocation of water and wastewater utilities on the Ocean Parkway and Clubhouse Drive bridges slip away, the Ocean Pines Association now needs to cover the full cost of the project. Director Brett Hill, who took over as acting general manager this summer, said project delays under the former general manager, Bob Thompson, caused the OPA to lose county funding support for the work. ~ Page 17

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A NEW DIRECTION Board pressing forward with major renovations of admin building, Country Club

Yacht Club renaissance?

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer ith construction of new, replacement amenities now apparently off the table, the Board of Directors is turning its attention to repurposing and renovating the Ocean Pines Association’s Country Club and administration building in White Horse Park as part of budget discussions for fiscal year 2017-2018. The estimated cost for both projects combined is roughly $1.2 million, spread out over two fiscal years, this year and 2017-18. During a Nov. 14 work session, Acting General Manager Brett Hill presented a proposal for reconfiguring the administration building within the building’s existing footprint to better accommodate the Ocean Pines Police Department. The draft proposal eliminates two meeting rooms in the building and two administrative offices to create more space for the OPPD. Retained in the reconfigured building are offices for the general manager, finance department, marketing and public relations, and membership. The building’s east-facing side door would become the primary entrance to the administrative departments, while the existing front entrance would open into the OPPD portion of the building. The estimated cost for this renovation is projected at $360,000 or less. The lost meeting space in the administration building is offset by new meeting space in each of three options that Hill presented for a major renovation of the Country Club. All three proposals at the Country Club have an estimated cost of less than $1 million, but each option varies in the extent of renovations. “This wasn’t something we put together last night to make everybody happy today. This was weeks of many, many hours of meetings and discussions to come out with the best possible use,” Hill told his fellow directors. He said all of the staff whose departments would be affected had input on developing the proposals. The first option would create a multipurpose room in large portion of the upstairs that can be used as a banquet facility, and includes a permanent dais and audio visual equipment for board meetings. It expands the Tern Grille, relocates the existing upstairs bar, opens up enclosed decks and adds three separate smaller meeting rooms. A second option would move the golf pro shop and grille to the second floor, adds small meeting rooms on the first floor, and opens up the decks, moves the bar and creates a multipurpose/banquet room on the second floor. That scenario requires inTo Page 25

Hill has a surprise in store for critics

By TOM STAUSS Publisher rospects for the Ocean Pines Yacht Club are on the upswing. The last two months for which financial data is available – September and October – the Yacht Club has experienced its best two months financially in ten years. Both months recorded surpluses, albeit modest ones. Although the amenity is behind budget for the year, the trend is more positive. Acting General Manager Brett Hill thinks it’s possible – by no means assured, but possible – that losses at the amenity will be kept to a minimum over the cooler months, making a break-even result, or close, by the end of the fiscal year on April 30 achievable. If business as usual was the game plan going into the winter, then perhaps his hopes would be overly aggressive. But Hill is about to implement a change in the Yacht Club’s business plan, along with some rather noteworthy repurposing of space, that might help kick-start the Yacht Club and make it more of the community “gathering place” that it was hyped to be in the run-up to the refTo Page 27

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Parents and grandparents will soon have a place to “park” their kids and grandkids as the older folks partake of the Yacht Club’s more adult amenities. Acting General Manager Brett announced at a Dec. 9 Board of Directors meeting that as a result of a private donation, pirate-themed playground equipment will soon be added to the east side of the building. To be named after a late Ocean Pines resident he didn’t identify, the playground will be ready for use in late winter or early spring. To accommodate the equipment, the Ocean Pines Public Works department will remove decking pavers. A rubberized mulch-like material will then be added to the ground to soften the inevita-ble scrapes and bruises that might otherwise occur.

50th anniversary committee forms

A committee of Ocean Pines residents has assembled to help Ocean Pines celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding. A call for volunteers was published in the Ocean Pines Association fall newsletter.

The Ocean Pines couple that led the effort to celebrate Ocean Pines 20th and 25th anniversaries, Mike and Kathy Sabini, have volunteered to chair the 50th anniversary committee, with a total of 18 individuals already stepping up to serve. Ocean Pines was established in 1968, when Boise Cascade Home and Land Corporation began lot sales in a way that might get the salesman in trouble today with licensing boards. The Sabanis appeared before the Board of Directors at a Dec. 5 work session to describe their efforts so far. Mike Sabini said the committee would need some front money for signs and logo redesign adapted from the one used for the 25th anniversary. He did not have a budget number to give to the board. “The whole year will be one big party,” he said. There would also appear to be plenty of time to plan the events during calendar year 2017. Director Slobodan Trendic, already the board’s liaison to the Communications Advisory Committee, volunteered to serve as the board’s liaison to the anniversary committee. He was planning to attend a committee meeting on Dec. 7 to get a feel for what kind of support the

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OCEAN PINES BRIEFS From Page 4 panel will need to plan for and conduct anniversary events. Acting General Manager Brett Hill suggested the board appoint a liaison, adding that he believes newly appointed Marketing and Public Relations Director Denise Sawyer will be involved in promoting anniversary events.

New concrete median, signs Near North Gate

Route 589 improvements

Crews under the supervision of the State Highway Administration were working to install a concrete median and signage on Route 589, in the vicinity of the North Gate bridge and the adjoining medical complex, in early December. The improvements are designed to improve traffic ﬂow in and out of the medical center campus. way that runs 4.65 miles from Route 50 at Grays Corner north to US 113 and MD 575 in Showell. Route 589 provides access to Ocean Pines and Ocean Downs, a harness racing venue with a slot machine casino. The first portion of the state highway was constructed in 1935.

OPA in the black after one third of fiscal year

OPA is in the black for the first four months of the fiscal year 2016-17 but is

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behind budget, OPA Director and Treasurer Pat Supik disclosed in a report delivered during the Dec. 9 meeting of the directors. The OPA has a net operating surplus of $3.7 million, on revenue of $9.6 million and expenses of $5.9 million, through Oct. 31. Revenue is $297,000 behind budget while expenses are under budget by $221,000, for a net negative variance of $76,000. The reserve balance as of Oct. 31 is $7.8 million.

For the current fiscal year, 97.1 percent of assessments have been collected, with write-offs year to date of $74,000. Assessment receivables as of Oct. 31 are $1.2 million. Of those, $268,000 is for the current year, with $172,000 more than one-year old and $157,000 two years old. Arrearages three years and older total $586,000. Capital spending so far this year is $1.25 million, with a positive variance of $137,000.

Ocean Pines residents will soon notice new traffic signage and a concrete road median along Route 589 near the north gate entrance. Construction workers, hired by a Salisbury-based contracting and construction management firm on Delmarva, began pouring concrete Dec. 8. According to the Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA), the Delmarva Health Pavilion complex currently has right-in, right-out access to Route 589. At the completion of the road work, the complex will have right-in, right-out; left-in, but no left-out access to Route 589. Weather permitting, crews will conduct road surface marking along Route 589 near the Ocean Pines north gate entrance next week. The project should be completed within the next 30 days, according to MDSHA. Maryland Route 589 is a state high-

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6 Ocean Pines PROGRESS December 2016 lights on the basketball courts behind OCEAN PINES BRIEFS the administration building in White From Page 5

Jacobs makes 2017-18 budget suggestions

Groomed by the previous Board of Directors for the Ocean Pines Association presidency, Director Cheryl Jacobs had those hopes dashed by an election that didn’t turn the way her supporters had hoped. She’s not lost her voice, though, and she still is in a position to advocate for her opinions, if she doesn’t necessarily have the votes to make them happen. At the Nov. 14 meeting to discuss the 2017-18 OPA budget now well under way in the draft stage, she was unable to disguise her disappointment that the board was clearly moving in the direction of renovating, rather than replacing, the Country Club. Had Brett Hill and Slobodan Trendic not been elected to the board this summer, she might have been in far better position to advocate for replacement. But it was not to be. During a meeting dominated by Hill’s proposals for renovating the Country Club and the administration building, she managed to introduce two ideas that she hopes will be considered during the 2016-17 budget review process in January and February. One suggestion, which she has suggested previously, is for the addition of

Horse Park. The other is for the OPA to lease a vacant former pharmacy space inside the Pennington Station commercial center at the Ocean Pines South Gate. She suggested that the space be used for an OPA-run fitness center, if the board opts not to use the second floor of the Country Club for that purpose. There was no reaction from other directors to her suggestions.

Ocean Pines Police offer home monitoring

While some Ocean Pines residents are packing up and heading out of town for the holiday season, officers with the Ocean Pines police department are keeping a watchful eye on unoccupied homes. Residential security checks are provided by the police department on a weekly basis for homes that will be vacant for 30 days or longer. This security check program runs year-round, but it’s in the winter when a large amount of homes are vacant in the area. ‘Snowbirds’ who fly south, to rid themselves of the frigid temperatures, are encouraged to request this service. Officers, who are assigned to sectors, monitor the home at random. The property’s perimeter will be surveyed by the Ocean Pines officer and any changes since their last visit will be reported to

OCEAN PINES the home owner immediately. Ocean Pines residents can apply for free residence checks by completing a resident check form online.

OPPD notices uptick in Pines’ drunk driving

The Ocean Pines police department has issued a warning after seeing an increase in the blood-alcohol level of drivers who have been arrested for driving while intoxicated. “Recently, in three arrests that were made: one was two-and-a-half times the legal limit, the other was two times the legal limit and a third was at the legal limit,” said David Massey, Chief of Ocean Pines police department. Police chief Massey believes holiday parties, this time of the year, are to blame. In every state, it’s illegal to drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 percent or more. But officers in Ocean Pines are now seeing cases that involve a BAC of .15 percent, which is alarming. Drivers with a BAC of .15 percent suffer from gross motor impairment, lack of physical control, blurred vision and major loss of balance, police said. “That’s not typical,” said Police Chief Massey. “We are seeing an uptick in the amount of blood-alcohol. So, I think we need to warn our citizens that when they are partying at Christmas time to

have a designated driver or use a local cab service.” Officers will be assisting Maryland State Police with a sobriety checkpoint. The goal is to reduce the number of impaired drivers on Worcester County roadways.

New playground vote deferred

Although some Ocean Pines Association directors were prepared to move immediately to accept a bid for new playground equipment at the Manklin Meadows recreation complex in South Ocean Pines, in the end they accepted a recommendation by OPA President Tom Herrick to delay a decision until the board’s regular meeting in January. During the board’s Dec. 5 work session, Herrick said he wanted to give the OPA’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee an opportunity to review the bids and offer their recommendations on what’s best for Ocean Pines families. Directors Dave Stevens and Slobodan Trendic said they were ready to proceed after Acting General Manager Brett Hill said it would take 90 days after a vote to install the new equipment, which will replace the old equipment removed last month from the site for safety reasons. Hill said if the equipment could be voted on by the January meeting, it will still allow the new equipment to be available for use before Memorial Day.

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OPA rapidly filling vacancies in top executive positions Hill hires new marketing, IT, and finance directors; recreation director duties split among three individuals By TOM STAUSS Publisher cting General Manager Brett Hill has filled three executive positions in recent weeks, one the result of an unexpected vacancy, another from a retirement, and the other the long-budgeted but never-filled position of information technology director. The unexpected vacancy occurred with the resignation in late November of Teresa Travatello, the OPA’s marketing and public relations director since the days of Tom Olson, the general manager who preceded Bob Thompson’s six-year tenure. She has been replaced by Denise Sawyer, who had held a similar role with WRDE, an NBC broadcast affiliate in Lewes, Del., whose first official day on the job was Dec. 5. She was an executive producer, reporter and fill-in anchor at the station. Hill introduced her to the board and those attending the Board of Directors’ Dec. 5 work session. Travatello is leaving for a new job in Northern Virginia. Hill commended her for her many years of service to Ocean Pines. She conceived and implemented

the year-round weekend farmer’s market in White Horse Park. She was also responsible for a Web site redesign a few years ago. Also introduced by Hill during the work session was Paul Fazzalaro, who will be the OPA’s in-house IT director. He will be involved in helping a board-appointed task force select and implement a long-awaited upgrade to the OPA’s IT and related infrastructure, from computers to telephones and audio-visual equipment. He will be assuming the internal computer tech support functions that Travatello handled informally. Fazzalaro was last employed by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services as IT director. Hill also announced that he has hired a new director of finance to replace retiring Controller Art Carmine. Mary Bozack will assume her new role in January, with Carmine staying on during a transition through the conclusion of the 2017-18 budget cycle. There will be roughly eight weeks of overlap, Hill said. Bozack is a chief financial officer of a large IT organization in Pennsylvania.

A fourth vacancy, one created by the recent resignation of veteran recreation department director Sonia Bounds, has not been filled. Her duties have been divided among three individuals. Colby Phillips, the

aquatics director, has taken on new duties as recreation department administrator, handling budgetary issues, responsibilities she took on before Bounds had resigned. To Page 8

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Vacancies From Page 7 Debbie Donahue and Katie Goetzinger are sharing program supervisor roles under the restructuring, handling many of the same duties they had under Bounds although perhaps with less direct oversight. In confirming the restructuring, Hill said that Phillips has not been named director of Parks and Recreation and that the aquatics and parks and recreation departments have not been combined. As it took board action some years ago to split the two departments, it probably would take board action to recombine them under a single director. Even when both departments were managed by a single director, they were accounted for separately in OPA financial statements. Giving budgeting and administrative responsibilities to Phillips and supervisory roles to Donahue and Goetzinger, while not replacing Bounds, means the department overall will be saving money in the current fiscal year and next year. Bounds’s departure ends a couple of weeks of awkwardness in which Bounds’s status was somewhat in doubt. An account in a local weekly in early November suggested that she had resigned or been fired by Hill, but that report was inaccurate at the time the account was published. She later resigned, after a trip to Dis-

ney World with her family. Tom Herrick, Ocean Pines Association president, said at the time that he thought it was “very unfortunate” that the local weekly reported – inaccurately, he said – that Bounds was no longer employed by the OPA. What’s even worse that the source of the information was neither Hill, Bounds, Herrick nor any other OPA official, but a former OPA director “who had no knowledge at all of the situation” and simply substituted speculation and innuendo for accurate information, Herrick said. The alleged firing or resignation of Bounds was said by the former director, Terri Mohr, currently a member of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, to have occurred in the context of an alleged effort by Hill to remove department heads thought to be particularly close to the former general manager, Bob Thompson. Herrick said that Bounds did not deserve to have her “many good years with the OPA” sullied by unsubstantiated reports in a local weekly that created controversy unfairly and unnecessarily around her and created the impression that she might have been underperforming in her job. What probably is true, based on the Progress’s understanding of how the job has been split among three individuals, is that she was not the detailed “numbers person” that Phillips, as aquatics director, clearly is. Hill said that Phillips had been asTo Page 10

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Worm infestation in Wood Duck bulkheading concerns Hill Waterfront differential holiday seems less likely with new discovery By TOM STAUSS Publisher aterfront property owners, who thought they might be receiving a one-year holiday on the $450 waterfront differential next year as the Ocean Pines Association

works to come up with a new multi-year bulkhead replacement program, might want to step back before thinking up ways to spend the savings. Acting General Manager Brett Hill recently delivered some potentially troublesome news for owners of waterfront property in Ocean Pines whose bulkheads are maintained by the OPA through waterfront differential assessment dollars allocated to the Bulkheads and Waterways Reserve. Although that

reserve currently is flush with cash -$1.8 million as of Oct. 31 – Hill said it may be insufficient to handle an expedited bulkhead replacement program that might be needed in Wood Duck Isle because of a newly discovered worm infestation in parts of that section. During a Nov. 17 board meeting, Hill disclosed the presence of a worm infestation in parts of Wood Duck Isle with wood bulkheading, last replaced roughly 15 years ago. Bulkheading is supposed

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to last 35 years or more, he noted. That much of the Wood Duck Isle bulkheading may need replacement well before its expected shelf life is over is a “scary proposition,” Hill said. The acting general manager made his disclosure in the context of a discussion of whether the OPA could afford to give owners of OPA-maintained bulkheads a holiday in the waterfront differential, an idea advocated by Director Slobodan Trendic in the absence of a new multiyear bulkhead replacement program. The original 35-year program is now approaching year 40. With evidence of a worm infestation, and with the potential of substantial outlays required in the future, Hill seemed to be saying that any waterfront differential holiday would potentially be a big mistake. He told the board that an extensive survey of all Ocean Pines wood bulkheading would be conducted in order to gain a more accurate picture of the extent of the problem. He later told the Progress that in some places the damage was less than what he had originally thought, in other places worse. After Hill made his comments about the “scary proposition” facing the OPA with respect to bulkheads, Trendic continued to insist that Hill needed to present clear, convincing evidence of need before the OPA continued to collect additional money from waterfront owners. “If we don’t have a bulkhead plan, how do we justifying taking the money?” he asked his colleagues. He said that if Wood Duck Isle bulkheads are in such poor condition because of worms, “let’s document it” before collecting money that may not be needed. OPA Facilities Manager Jerry Aveta said the initial discovery showed worm infestation “all over” Wood Duck Isle. “Please don’t cut the waterway reserve,” he said. Hill described the situation in Wood Duck Isle as a “time bomb that just went off” and that, if the infestation is as extensive as it might be, the OPA lacks the money in the bulkhead and waterways reserve to pay for replacement. The current $800,000 or so collected in waterfront differential funds “doesn’t get you very far” if an accelerated replacement program is needed, he said.

Vacancies From Page 8 sisting the Parks and Recreation Department in the preparation of that department’s budget for 2016-17. “She has been helping Sonia better present her budget to the models I am looking for, as I am asking more of staff this year than in the past. Colby had her budget finished early, and given the overlap in classes, etcetera, it made sense for Colby to help copy her models and business plans” to the Parks and Recreation Department, Hill told the Progress last month.

December 2016Ocean Pines PROGRESS 11

By TOM STAUSS Publisher dispute between neighbors in the Wood Duck Isle section of Ocean Pines has been decided by the Architectural Review Committee, with Steven and Janice Wilson receiving a permit for fencing and planters from the ARC in mid-November. The fencing and planters were originally approved by the ARC in early October, but the approval was rescinded in late October because the fence pickets were 27 inches above the ground. After the Wilsons cut them back to 24 inches to comply with ARC guidelines, a new permit was issued for both the planters and the fencing. The matter appears to be resolved, at least in so far as the Wilsons and the ARC are concerned. According to a recent email to the Progress from Janice Wilson, the planters are permanent landscape features but “we always take down the fences when we are not there.” A neighbor of the Wilsons, Earle Moore, appeared before the Board of Directors at the board’s regular monthly meeting Oct. 22 asking that the directors overturn the original ARC decision approving the structures. He called the structures ugly. The board declined to reverse the ARC decision, aware that under OPA found-

ARC approves fencing, planters in Wood Duck Isle neighborhood ing documents the ARC (technically still known as the Environmental Control Committee) has final approval authority over such matters. The board can exert some influence over an ARC decision by declining to take a property owner to court for a violation of restrictive covenants or ARC guidelines, but that scenario did not apply in this case. While taking no action to overturn ARC decision-making, some directors nonetheless had questions about the process used by the ARC and the Department of Compliance, Permits and Compliance in dealing with the issue. The Wilsons, in a letter published in the Opinion section of this edition of the Progress, criticized the CPI department for failing to follow its own procedures in dealing with the Wilson’s application. Janice Wilson told the Progress that while she believes CPI and the ARC regard the matter as closed, she was not certain how the board of directors might react when Cheryl Jacobs, the board’s li-

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aison to ARC, updates her colleagues on the status of the matter. The Wilsons are property owners and part-time residents of 74 Wood Duck Drive. The wooden planter boxes are spaced along the property, abutting the adjoining lot owned by Moore. Two-foot temporary fencing is connected to each planter box to create a fully enclosed area in which the neighbors’ pets or visiting grandchildren can play. The fencing can be disconnected and removed, creating free-standing planter boxes, when not in use. Although the record is not entirely clear, it appears that the ARC envisioned that the fencing would be removed when the residents of 74 Wood Duck Drive return home to their primary residence elsewhere. Janice Wilson told the Progress that this occurs whenever the Wilsons depart Ocean Pines. Moore alleged that the Wilson originally installed the planters and fence

without approval from the ARC. He said told them that they needed permits and he complained to the previous general manager, Bob Thompson, and then to CPI, but no action was ever taken to address the matter, according to him. Then last month his neighbors were officially granted approval by the ARC at a meeting he says he wasn’t invited to attend, Moore said. Acting General Manager Brett Hill told the board that the issue was initially addressed on an informal basis through CPI. He said when he assumed management of the OPA, he met with Janice Wilson, who claimed that CPI was “harassing” her and that there were three violations posted against the property. Since then, he said, he had been informed that the matter had been addressed. Hill said ARC considered an application from the property owner for the planters in September and denied it. In October, however, the committee reconsidered and approved a variance allowing the planters to encroach into the side yard setback, putting them closer to Moore’s home, Hill told the board. Jacobs said allowing the variance for installation of the planters within the side yard setback and with the temporary fencing was a compromise to the

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From Page 11 property owner’s request to ARC. She said such planters are permitted in Ocean Pines and the only reason the owners needed ARC approval was to move them closer to the property line. Jacobs said the OPA board cannot overrule an ARC decision. She said everyone has a different opinion of what is aesthetically pleasing. “They may not be the most attractive thing” but they are allowed, she said of the planters. “They’re perfectly fine according to the regulations.” Director Dave Stevens agreed. “It’s in the eye of the beholder what’s pretty or not? What’s ugly or not?” However, Jacobs said, it appears the property owners are letting the fence up all of the time, instead of removing it as required, and that presents a new violation on the lot. That is something the Wilsons deny. Hill said it looked to him like the fencing is permanently attached to the planters, but the Wilsons, in their letter published in this edition of the Progress, said the fencing is detachable. He said the only language in the OPA’s restrictions related to temporary fencing is for that placed around vegetables and newly planted landscaping. The restriction specifies a maximum height of 24 inches.

It was that height restriction that caused the CPI and the ARC to revoke the earlier approval of the fencing in late October, but the Wilsons then quickly acted to bring the fencing into compliance with the 24-inch regulation. OPA President Tom Herrick asked for clarification as to why ARC granted the variance to the side yard setback. Stevens, a former board liaison to ARC, said the committee frequently allows such variances and agreed with Jacobs that the board has no authority to overrule the decision. “I believe that their decision is final,” Stevens said. Still, Moore said his neighbors don’t even live in Ocean Pines full time. “They don’t live there,” he said. “That is irrelevant sir,” Stevens responded. Indeed, ARC guidelines apply equally to property owners regardless of whether they are full-time or part-time residents. Hill wondered why Moore wasn’t notified of the ARC’s meeting on the issue prior to issuance of the variance. He said he believes there should be notice provided to neighboring property owners. Jacobs said notice was sent but Moore didn’t show up. Moore, however, disagreed and said he was never notified. Similarly, the Wilsons said they were not notified by CPI staff or the ARC about meetings scheduled to discuss the issue.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

December 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Committee recommends open vote count in OPA elections By TOM STAUSS Publisher hen two candidates for the Board of Directors last summer called for a vote count open to the membership, successfully using the issue on their way to winning seats on the board, it seemed more or less inevitable that both would press for more transparency in board elections once taking office. Neither candidate, Brett Hill or Slobodan Trendic, have pressed the issue publicly in board meetings since August, but the resignation of the former elections committee and its replacement with an all-new panel suggested that some reforms might be afoot. Committee chair Steve Tuttle broke the ice with a presentation to the board in a work session Dec. 5. He was introduced to the board by Trendic, board liaison to the committee. Tuttle said the committee is working through a number of changes to the election process to improve transparency. The changes will be incorporated in proposed amendments to board resolution M-06 that governs how elections in Ocean Pines are to be conducted. Perhaps the most visible change the committee recommends is opening up the vote count, which traditionally has been done in closed session by the Elec-

Board to consider revisions to M-06 resolution tions Committee on the Friday before the annual meeting of the association. Election results would be posted immediately in the administration building and on the OPA Web. Election results would no longer be used as leverage to entice OPA members to attend the annual meeting of the association the following day. He also said that a 50-word statement allowed each candidate in the OPA election newsletter would be expanded to a 200-word statement, in addition to

answers to a series questions. Tuttle said the committee is suggesting that M-06 be amended to allow for electronic voting in addition to balloting by mail. He said the committee is not suggesting that the 2017 board election be conducted electronically but that the option would be available in the future when the technology is available for that purpose. Director and OPA Vice-President Dave Stevens, who has said he will not be running for reelection when his term

is up next year, said he thought the recommendations were well thought out. He asked whether the proposed changes to M-06 would be ready for a board vote in January. Tuttle said he thought they would be. Trendic said the committee had done a “tremendous job” so far in arriving at a consensus for election reforms. He said the committee had looked at the last election and the community’s interest in a more open process and had acted accordingly. No director spoke out in opposition to the proposed changes.

Fire Department, LU contracts to be reviewed during budget process

hile it’s far too soon to know how or whether the Ocean Pines Association’s contractual agreements with the Ocean Pines Volunteer Fire Department and Landscapes Unlimited will be affected, there are early indications that both will receive more scrutiny than usual as part of the 2017-18 budget review process set to begin in January. OPA General Manager Brett Hill asked to meet in closed session with the Board of Directors after the Dec. 9 regular meeting to discuss these two contracts and their impact on his work preparing the draft budget for board review. While as usual directors are tightlipped about what occurred in closed session, OPA President Tom Herrick confirmed that OPA local counsel Joseph E. Moore has been asked to attend a closed meeting of the board on Thursday, Dec. 15, at 9 a.m. to review these contracts with Hill and the board. The current OPVFD agreement was negotiated by the former general manager and OPVFD officers some years back. Its basic provisions govern how much money the OPA allocates to the OPVFD each year for operations. There are performance provisions in the LU contract that could affect the golf budget next year. LU is the management company that operates the Ocean Pines golf course for the OPA. – Tom Stauss

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

December 2016

Board moving slowly on questionnaire, may send out with annual assessments While committee suggests using Survey Monkey platform to compile survey results, acting general manager suggests OPA’s own in-house software contains survey module that could be used instead By TOM STAUSS Publisher hile members of the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee were clearly excited about the prospect for moving quickly on a community survey during a meeting with the Board of Directors Nov. 17, perhaps with a launch by the end of the year, it soon became evident that the directors were following the beat of a different drummer. For one thing, unlike some members of the committee, the directors seemed less convinced that the survey results could have any meaningful impact on board deliberations in January and February on the 2016-17 budget. For that reason, and perhaps others, they seemed less inclined to move quickly on sending out the survey and compiling results. For them, it seemed like getting it right was more important than meeting an arbitrary deadline. Moreover, the directors wanted more

time to exchange emails among themselves on the content of the survey, adding to, subtracting from or modifying the roughly 40 questions that the committee has spent the better part of two years attempting to draft. It seemed apparent during the Nov. 17 meeting that some committee members thought they and the board were close to arriving at a final draft, perhaps by incorporating some of the questions from the Zogby survey of 2008. But because of the exchange of emails, and an apparent desire of the board to incur as little expense as possible in sending out the surveys, the timeline that the committee had suggested seems unrealistic. It’s possible that, after the directors are finished swapping out different versions of questions, the 40 questions arrived at by the committee could be substantially different in the board’s final, approved version. Acting General Manager Brett Hill, who also serves as an OPA board liai-

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son to the committee, threw the panel a curve when he suggested that the survey could be sent out with annual OPA assessments in March or whenever, based on when the board completes the budget for next year and sets the lot assessment rates. By taking advantage of a mailing that is already slated to occur, Hill said the OPA could avoid a hefty postal bill that a separate mailing would require. There seems to be a consensus emerging that says property owners who participate in the survey will be encouraged to enter their responses on-line to a site yet to be determined. Those without a computer or Internet access will be given the option of returning their surveys by mail or dropping them off. They will then require manual inputting by staff or committee members. Hill threw the committee another curve when he pushed back against a suggestion that the OPA employ a fairly well known but inexpensive software

product called Survey Money to compile the survey results. The acting general manager said he was surprised to learn that the OPA’s existing management and invoicing software includes an online survey module that could be accessed by property owners to input survey responses. Eventually, this software, or something like it, could be used by property owners to access their individual accounts on-line, perhaps even paying their assessments or amenity memberships on-line, Hill said. By using this software, the OPA could periodically send out new surveys without a lot of new effort, he added. Frank Daly, the committee chair, began the meeting with a description of how the committee might conduct the survey by using Survey Money software, which he said would cost the OPA $300 for a licensed copy. He said the plan would be for the committee, working with the OPA public relations department, would send out an e-blast to property owners whose email addresses are on file to advise them that the survey was available online. He said there would be the ability to segregate responses from renters from those of property owners. Daly said that the target would be to reach 20 percent of Ocean Pines properties. Director Slobodan Trendic said that

14 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

December 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 15

Herrick says two-year experiment of combining three racquet sport advocates into one committee hasn’t worked By TOM STAUSS Publisher ecause members were unable to work together harmoniously and had competing proposals for their three separate and distinct racquet sports – tennis, platform tennis and pickleball – the Ocean Pines Association racquet sports advisory committee established two years ago to advise the Board of Directors has been abolished. The action was taken by the board during a regular meeting Dec. 9, after the directors debated a proposal by OPA President Tom Herrick, the board liaison to the committee, to abolish it, in a Dec. 5 work session. In its place, Herrick said advice on each of the three racquet sports could be forwarded to the board by clubs representing each sport. None of these groups would be official committees of the OPA with board liaisons. Even before the board took action to abolish the committee, Herrick had taken action to suspend it pending board action. Herrick said the committee’s chairman had been verbally abused by members of the committee and no volunteer to an advisory committee should be subjected to that kind of behavior. He also said it was unfair to each of the groups to ask them to compromise their owns interests in a committee rather than advocate for their individual interests. He said the need to compromise or to come up with a plan that could pass muster in a group led to what he called an overly complicated and costly plan to improve the Manklin Meadows recreational complex. Herrick said that the former general manager told the board this past year that the master plan --- it could have the OPA up to $750,000 if fully built out as conceived -- was supported by the full committee. Herrick called that assertion propaganda. He said individual members of the committee in fact did not support the master plan and should not have been asked to sign off on it. He concluded that the committee as conceived was a well-intentioned idea that simply had not worked. The only director to vigorously defend the committee was Cheryl Jacobs, who did so during the Dec. 5 work session and the Dec. 9 regular meeting. She argued that committee members representing the three different racquet sports could still offer their individual recommendations to the board while the committee functioned as a group. Herrick’s argument won the day, with directors Dave Stevens and Slobodan Trendic both saying they thought the committee was a well-intentioned experiment that had not worked. Director Doug Parks said that new protocols needed to be established to ensure that each of the three racquet sport groups had ways to ensure their points of view were known to the board.

Questionnaire From Page 14 using the e-blast method only would “disenfranchise” property owners without computer or Internet access. There was discussion about sending out a postcard to property owners advising them of the online survey, to which Daly said “I like the postcard idea.” At that point Hill said the he had discovered the existence of a survey capability in the OPA’s management software. “We own our own Survey Monkey,” he said. Hill said the OPA doesn’t have good data on property owners who haven’t purchased amenity memberships, but of the roughly 2,000 households that have, property owners constitute roughly 1500. That’s not a good sample of all 8,452 Ocean Pines properties, he said. The best way to do ensure a more represen-

tative sample is to send out a notice to all property owners, he said. When Trendic questioned whether the OPA survey capability had been beta tested, Hill said that it had been, through limited deployment by some OPA department in a limited way. It just hasn’t been activated for usage on a comprehensive basis, he said. When Daly suggested that the survey could be quickly conducted, with results available by the end of the year, Director Dave Stevens said he didn’t think it could be done that fast and that “it won’t be useful for the upcoming budget. It will for the future,” he added. Stevens said he wasn’t concerned about surveying renters, who he said are “just another way for property owners to use their property.” His greater concern was how to reach non-resident owners and also how best to ensure that people without computer or Internet access are given a way to participate.

Trendic wages battle against new Tahoe Board accepts Hill proposal to keep it By TOM STAUSS Publisher cean Pines Association Director Slobodan Trendic has fallen short in an effort to persuade his colleagues to get rid of a new $40,000plus Tahoe approved for purchase by the previous Board of Directors last spring but only just arrived in Ocean Pines in November. According to Trendic, the board was told by the former general manager that two pick-up trucks in the Public Works Department were nearing their useful lives back in March or April. As an alternative to buying two new trucks, Trendic said the former GM suggested one new vehicle – the Tahoe – at an estimated cost of $61,000, as opposed to two new trucks at $35,000 each, for an estimated savings of $9,000. Trendic said the new vehicle was supposedly intended for Eddie Wells, the director of Public Works, equipped for use in emergency situations. “I think it was intended for the general manager from the outset,” Trendic told the Progress. At the Dec. 9 meeting of the Board of Directors, Acting General Manager Brett Hill presented to the board a proposal for a new $38,000 Chevrolet pick-up truck for the Public Works department. “It appears we still needed to replace one of the pick-ups, despite what the board was told back in April,” Trendic said. Trendic said a price of $44,831 was approved for the Tahoe in April. That was mostly likely the base price not including some supplemental features that were added later, he said.

Hill at that point suggested a survey notice be sent out with annual lot assessments. The committee and board members then discussed the possibility of incorporating some of the questions used in the 2008 Zogby survey in the new survey. “Some of the questions (in our survey) are remarkably similar (to those in the Zogby survey),” Daly said. He said the committee stands ready to make any changes in the questions that the directors request. He went on to say that if the board wants to send out the survey with the annual assessments, that would be fine with him. Hill also said the questions should be streamlined to include yes or no answers only. “We don’t want to read 3000 (essay-like) responses,” he said. At that point the directors agreed to exchange emails and arrive at a consensus on which questions to include in the survey.

When the Tahoe arrived, Hill and certain directors weren’t pleased. While initially designated as a Public Works vehicle, apparently neither Wells or the Public Works had any use for it. Trendic in particular regarded it as a telling symbol of excessive spending by the previous board, which he said he ran against as a candidate and vows to fight now that he serves on the board. During discussion of the purchase during a Dec. 5 work session, Hill didn’t disagree that the new vehicle was too expensive, but he said that reselling or trading it in for new, less expensive vehicles would cost the OPA 20 percent of the purchase price. He in effect said that it was too late to do anything about the purchase. But Trendic disagreed. He said the Tahoe could be traded in for two vehicles at roughly half the cost of a Tahoe, which before the extra equipment was added cost somewhere closed to $40,000. With extras, he said the purchase easily could have cost the OPA $50,000 or more. He suggested a Ford Transit van as better options that would allow recreation and public works staff to haul equipment as needed. During the Dec. 5 work session Hill suggested that the new Tahoe could be shared by the new general manager whenever he or she comes on board and the new director of marketing and public relations. It could be used to shuttle county officials around Ocean Pines whenever they come to visit, he added. He also said that keeping the new vehicle was better for the OPA bottom line than mileage reimbursement expenses. Trendic was buying it. He said county officials don’t need to be and wouldn’t be impressed by an expensive Tahoe. “Jim Bunting (county commission president) drives a pick-up,” Trendic told the Progress later. He informed his colleagues that in his experience in the business world mileage reimbursement tended to be better for the bottom line than buying expensive new vehicles. The discussion resumed at a regular meeting of the board Dec. 9, when Hill brought up for a board vote an unrelated motion to buy a new Chevrolet 2500 to replace a ten-year-old Ford F-250. The new vehicle will cost the OPA $38,051. Trendic suggested that the OPA trade in the $50,000 Tahoe and use the proceeds towards the purchase of the new Public Works truck. “I don’t see the justification for the Tahoe to remain in our fleet,” he told his colleagues. “It’s a matter of principle. We keep inheriting problems from the past,”

Board deactivates racquet sports panel

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

December 2016

Hill-owned fiber optic company asks board for easement to lay cable in Ocean Pines Board rejects Hill resignation offer stemming from conflict of interest concerns By TOM STAUSS Publisher company owned by Ocean Pines Association director and acting general Manager Brett Hill and a partnering Internet service provider would like to bring high-speed fiber optic Internet service to Ocean Pines. They are asking the OPA for an easement to lay the fiber optic lines, an investment that could range in cost from $10 million to $15 million. The subject of a fiber optic easement was introduced during a Board of Directors work session Dec. 5 by Director Doug Parks, who is heading up a board task force charged with improving infor-

Tahoe From Page 15 alluding to the board recently having to deal with an inherited lease for new golf carts. He said the best way to deal with previous excessive expenditures is to get rid of them, even if it results in taking a loss on the resale. Hill said that the resale or trade-in value of the vehicle is roughly $25,000, with many of the extras actually reducing the value because most potential buyers would have no use for them. He argued that having the vehicle on hand will save the OPA money when a new general manager, who will drive the Tahoe while on the job, is hired. He said a new GM employment contract would not provide mileage reimbursement for a new general manager’s use of a personal vehicle. Director Dave Stevens said he didn’t think reselling the Tahoe would save money in the end. “It’s not worth the time and money (to resell it),” he said. Trendic told the Progress that it wasn’t a matter of saving money but the message sent to the community about excessive spending. He said the board missed an opportunity to show the community that it was acting differently than the previous one. Director Cheryl Jacobs said she thought the Public Works Department could manage with vehicles less costly than the $38,000 Chevrolet 2500. But she said the Tahoe purchase was justified as a vehicle that could be used during emergencies. The purchase of a new $38,000 Chevrolet 2500 was passed on a 5-2 vote, with Trendic and Jacobs voting against it, albeit for differing reasons. No motion was offered to get rid of the Tahoe. Trendic apparently knew he didn’t have the votes.

mation technology for the OPA. The Progress has learned that FTS Fiber, an Eastern Shore-based fiber optic backbone installer owned by Hill, has offered to pay the costs associated with linking up the Ocean Pines Police Department with the Sheriff’s office in Snow Hill via a state-funded fiber optic line that already runs from Ocean City down Route 90, Route 589 and then via Route 50 and down Route 113, to Snow Hill. The offer is for $200,000 to cover the upfront cost of running fiber optic cable from the police department on Ocean Parkway to Route 589, where it would connect with the state-financed fiber optic line. The company would also contribute $30,000 per year for 20 years in maintenance costs and annual connection fees. Because Ocean Pines is a home-owner association-run community rather than a municipality, the OPPD so far has been unable to connect to the state-financed fiber optic line that provides high-speed connectivity among the county’s law enforcement organizations. The offer from FTS to pay for a service worth about $800,000 over 20 years is a recognition that the OPA board is not likely to grant a fiber optic easement without some form of compensation. The precedent for that is an annual franchise fee levied on Mediacom, a local cable television and Internet provider, and a group of fees levied on the company, Sandpiper Energy, that is rolling out natural gas service to its installed base of customers in Ocean Pines. Parks introduced Kenneth Lawhorn, a board member of FTS Fiber, and Michael Wagner, an executive with Think Big Networks, a Chestertown-based Internet service provider, which is partnering with FTS Fiber. Another FTS Fiber executive, Adam Noll, was present. Parks pointed out that Hill left the meeting prior to the presentation to avoid involving himself in a conflict of interest situation. He has recused himself from any involvement in the board decision-making about the easement request and any negotiations involving the OPA and his company. In accordance with conflict of interest rules in board resolution B-05, Hill notified the board in writing in a Nov. 28 letter about a potential conflict of interest regarding the request for a fiber optic easement in Ocean Pines and a related issue of direct fiber optic connectivity between the Ocean Pines Police Department and the Worcester County

sheriff’s office in Snow Hill. “Mr. Hill, having a personal interest in FTS Fiber, shall recuse himself from any discussions regarding the opportunity and (shall) abstain from any votes involving FTS Fiber and its relationship to Association property to avoid an inherent conflict of interest,” the letter said. Despite that declared recusal in a notice to the board, Director Cheryl Jacobs said during board discussion that Hill faced a conflict of interest, and Ocean Pines resident Joe Reynolds said Hill should resign from the board in a comment at the end of the discussion. The Progress has learned that following the work session, Hill offered his resignation to the board. Five directors informed Hill that they were rejecting the resignation, with one director not responding, according to OPA President Tom Herrick. They in effect said that Hill should not be penalized or leave the board because his company is offering a service that may be well received by many Ocean Pines residents, as an alternative to a cable television provider not beloved by many of its customers. They also said that Hill’s departure from the board would be counter to the will of property owners who voted for him in last summer’s election. Hill told the Progress that he offered his resignation because, if faced with a choice, he has to put the economic interests of his family above his volunteer role as a director and acting general manager. He said he was of the belief that recusing himself in any involvement in the easement request, including opting out of any meetings in which the matter is discussed, would eliminate any concerns about a conflict of interest. While five of his colleagues seem to agree that this recusal is sufficient and compliant with board resolution B-05, the board also has elected to obtain a legal opinion from a law firm in Bethesda, Md., Lerch Early, on the conflict of interest question, with the hope and expectation that the firm will allay any conflict of interest concerns. That law firm is the same one that is used by the Parke subdivision in Ocean Pines. The proposal for a fiber optic easement was introduced by Parks as a way of providing information to Ocean Pines property owners about the benefits and details of high speed fiber optic Internet service. He said neither he nor the two companies were asking for any immediate board decision on the easement.

Lawhorn told the board “we’re not here asking for any money,” adding that FTS Fiber and its partnering firm are simply interested in obtaining an easement to lay fiber optic cable that would make high speed Internet service with speeds up to 1 gigabytes per second available to Ocean Pines residents. “We put in the fiber (and the Internet availability). Someone else manages the content,” he said. Download speeds of 1 gigabytes per second should make it possible for households with high demand for Internet – multiple streaming of movies, perhaps, happening simultaneously with high volume computer usage – more manageable without the annoying buffering that detract from the movie-watching experience or slow down a computer. Some households with fewer residents may not need download speeds that high. Many companies, such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Directv, Google, Apple and others, have either introduced or are in the process of rolling out content streaming services over the Internet that compete with cable television companies such as Mediacom for programming. Lawhorn described his and his partner company’s fiber optic Internet service as a competitor to Verizon DSL and FIOS and Mediacom’s high speed Internet service. He said his company believes in competition and that it offers the best way for consumers to receive the best service at the lowest cost. FTS Fiber and Think Big Networks recently have been active in Kent Company, with consumers purchasing highspeed fiber optic Internet service for $99 per month, Lawhorn said. But much of the “economic return on investment” comes not from residential consumers but from “enterprise corporate customers” needing teleconferencing and telecommunications services for employees and work-at-home consultants. Wagner, the CEO of Think Big Networks, said his company and FTS Fiber have installed fiber and high speed Internet service in Kent County and has moved into Talbot County, with plans eventually to compete throughout the Eastern Shore. The companies recently made a proposal to install fiber and high-speed Internet to Virginia Beach officials. Wagner said that FTS Fiber installs what he called the “dark cable” and his company makes the Internet connections possible. Obtaining programming content delivered over fiber optic Internet is the responsibility of the consumer, with an ever-expanding number of choices available. To get a foot in the door in Ocean Pines, Lawhorn said his company would install the fiber optic cable to allow the OPPD to link up with the county’s emergency dispatch system in Snow Hill, at an upfront cost of $200,000 and $30,000 per year thereafter in maintenance fees

16 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

From Page 16 payable to a fiber optic consortium. What Lawhorn didn’t make clear is that his company would absorb that upfront and continuing annual cost as a way of compensating the OPA for its non-exclusive easement to bury fiber optic cable throughout the community Hill confirmed that offer in a telephone interview with the Progress. Lawhorn said the cost to build out Ocean Pines would range from $10 million to $15 million. All the cable would be buried underground, with some manholes needed to provide access for repairs. Road cuts would be avoided by boring underground during installation, he added. Jacobs asked Lawhorn if he was Hill’s employee. He said he wasn’t, but rather served as a senior consultant to Hill. He’s also a member of FTS Fiber’s board of directors, the Progress has learned. Jacobs said she had “serious conflict of interest concerns with Brett” serving on the board as this issue unfolds. She did not say whether his Nov. 28 recusing himself from all discussion and board votes on the matter complied with board resolution B-05. She also asked whether granting FTS Fiber and its partner an easement would violate Mediacom’s exclusive contract to provide cable television programming in Ocean Pines. Lawhorn said it did not because the partnering companies provde high-speed Internet only, not programming. Director Slobodan Trendic dismissed concerns about competition with Mediacom. “It’s Internet only,” he agreed. He said there may be grants available to allow the OPPD to connect to the state-financed fiber optic line. He also pushed back against the notion that Hill, as the owner and CEO of FTS Fiber, faced a conflict of interest between his business affairs with those of the OPA. “Mr. Trump is dealing with the same thing, only in a bigger way,” Trendic quipped, alluding to the president-elect’s potential conflicts and refusal, so far at least, to transfer his holdings into a blind trust. Later, Trendic clarified that Hill, in recusing himself in the way he did, was doing all he could do to remove himself from the board’s deliberations on the easement request. Trendic said he supported granting the easement, because it could lead to offering Ocean Pines residents an alternative to Mediacom for Internet service.

Forfeit of county funds adds to bridge costs Board approves $44,000 change order to allow Ocean Parkway project to continue without delay By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer aving let $150,000 in Worcester County funding for the relocation of water and wastewater utilities on the Ocean Parkway and Clubhouse Drive bridges slip away, the Ocean Pines Association now needs to cover the full

cost of the project. Director Brett Hill, who took over as acting general manager this summer, said project delays under the former general manager, Bob Thompson, caused the OPA to lose county funding support for the work. “We’re at a standstill,” he told the Board of Directors during a Dec. 5 work

change order for the project’s contractor, Murtech Inc., calling for construction of support structures that were not included in the original bid to allow placement of the water and wastewater lines on or just under the bridges. The support structure will bear the weight of 12-inch iron water and wastewater pipes that serve Ocean Pines, some of which won’t even be attached to the bridges. The change order was unanimously approved by the board during a regular meeting Dec. 9. As a result the bridge repairs can continue without any significant delays at both the Ocean Parkway and Clubhouse Drive locations.

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18 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

December 2016

Herrick, Stevens probe lack of timeYOUR DESTINATION FOR EYEWEAR lines in revised M-01 board resolution

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Directors ‘accept’ revision of enforcement rules on first reading, but thorny issues remain to be resolved

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By TOM STAUSS Publisher ormer Ocean Pines President and Director Tom Terry reemerged to discuss a proposed revision to the OPA’s architectural and related guidelines at a board work session Oct. 17, only to have those changes that he had drafted with sitting director Cheryl Jacobs meet with some skepticism and an indication that more work is needed before the revision of board resolution M-01 will be approved on a second and final reading. OPA President Tom Herrick and Vice-president Dave Stevens, both of whom served in the minority with Terry when he was part of a majority bloc on the board – they weren’t part of it --

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The winner of the Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department’s second annual “Pup of the Pines” photo contest has been announced. CJ, who is 7 months old, received the greatest number of votes from attendees at the Ocean Pines Halloween fall festival on Oct. 29. He was recognized as the winner at the community’s “A Hometown Christmas” and tree lighting ceremony at White Horse Park on Saturday, Nov. 26. CJ’s owners are Pat and Robert Richardson of Ocean Pines. As the contest winner, CJ receives a free 2017 Ocean Pines Dog Park registration. He will also be the official face of the dog park and will be featured in the Ocean Pines Activity Guide and other postings throughout the year. Money raised from the contest entry fees will be used for upgrades and improvements to the dog park.

Bridge repairs From Page 17 Hill said the current utility line attachments to the bridges are among the reasons the structures are deficient. He said the existing bridges were not built to withstand the stress of having lane utility lines place on them. The new support structures will be able to handle the burden to the extent that there still is an issue. In response to questions from directors, Hill said the only alternative is to wait until next fiscal year and hope the county includes funding for the project in the OPSA budget. Even if the county did foot the bill, Hill said it would be recouped from Ocean Pines property owners via a charge on their water and wastewater bill. He said that is unfair to residents. “Even though it is money out of our pocket it is best for us just to absorb it.” Absent an understanding of how water and wastewater operations and capital improvements are funded within the OPSA, some members of the board originally thought all Worcester County residents should help pay for lines to be

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relocated as part of bridge rehabilitation projects by the Ocean Pines Association. “It just sounds like once again Ocean Pines is getting short-changed by the county,” Director Cheryl Jacobs said during the Dec. 5 discussion of a requested change order to the contract for Ocean Parkway and Clubhouse Drive bridge repairs. John Ross, deputy director of county public works, clarified the process for making and funding water and wastewater infrastructure improvements at a Dec. 9 board meeting. He said when the OPA did not ask for the budgeted money for tunneling under the canal for the placement of utility lines in the prior fiscal year, it got spent on other county priorities. Director Slobodan Trendic asked if the contractor has found any other problems with the bridge that would necessitate additional funding. Hill responded that the structure is sound. “As far as the structure there have not been any signs of any additional work required.” He said the overall issue is the condition of the concrete, but the metal structure contained with the concrete is sound.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

December 2016

Board approves Tern Grille expansion Board to meet in special session Dec. 15 to discuss second floor options

The vote did not include renovations to the downstairs bathrooms, improvements Jacobs said she had hoped could be included with the Tern Grill expansion. But the $105,000 estimated cost of the Tern Grille improvements now includes some kitchen upgrades that Acting General Manager Brett Hill, during

Golf Clubhouse Renovation Option #3 (FY 17) First Floor Estimated Upgrades: $245,000 Increased Storage

Reduce Women’s Locker Room

Replace Roof ($93k) Replace HVAC ($110‐120k) (Kitchen Area)

Upgrade Women’s Bathroom

Upgrade Men’s Bathroom Hallway

Mechanical

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This configuration is a rough layout of the Country Club’s first floor that the Board of Directors approved in a Dec. 9 vote. a Dec. 5 work session, suggested were not immediately necessarily. Reacting to comments made during the work session by some directors that the grill kitchen was inadequate, Hill said the planned kitchen improvements

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will include a new walk-in refrigerator and replacement of a stove cook top to include a larger surface area to accommodate more and faster food preparation. Also during the Dec. 9 meeting, the directors voted unanimously to spend up to $125,000 in the current fiscal year for removal of all legacy HVAC equipment at the Country Club and its replacement by a room-by-room, mini-split, ductless heating and colling system to be installed by Public Works. The new system means that the roof of the Country Club will not have to be cluttered with a lot of outside cooling units and the single boiler that provides limited heat to the entire building will no longer be necessary. The new ductless system will mean that heating and cooling units can be turned off in rooms individually as needed, which should result in a much more economical operation at the Country Club. The grill and HVAC improvements

are just the latest improvements that will be funded in the current fiscal year. Previously, the board had approved up to $93,000 in roof repairs, already well under way. Other directors, notably Hill, are not opposed to moving faster on a plan and schedule to renovate the Country Club. Hill said that if the board wanted to expedite approval of a comprehensive renovation budget and plan for the Country Club, he’s prepared to move on it. To that end, OPA President Tom Herrick has announced that a special meeting of the board has been set for Thursday, Dec. 15, at 10 a.m. to discuss several options for renovating the upper level of the Country Club. He said there might also be a decision made to the budget for downstairs bathroom renovation, as well, to be accomplished at the same time as the Tern Grille expansion. A decision in which upper level option to move ahead with could be made

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer n an effort to accommodate additional customers at the Tern Grille during the 2017 golfing season, the Board of Directors has voted to move ahead with renovation and expansion of the lower level bar and dining area of the Country Club, an initial stage in a major rehab of the building. A 6-1 vote to proceed was taken during the Dec. 9 regular monthly meeting of the board. The only dissenter was Director Cheryl Jacobs, who wanted the board to be even more aggressive with the improvement schedule. Most of the work will be accomplished in-house by the Ocean Pines Public Works Department.

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Golf Clubhouse Renovation December 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Option # 3 (FY 18) Golf Clubhouse Renovation Golf Clubhouse Renovation Second Floor Estimated Upgrades: $417,000 Option # 3 (FY 18) Option # 3 (FY 18)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Country Club

Storage

Maintenance

Storage Maintenance

Hallway Maintenance

Storage

Refrigeration

Refrigeration Storage

Refrigeration

Second Floor Estimated Upgrades: $417,000 Second Floor Estimated Upgrades: $417,000 Storage

Hallway

Board Room Board Room

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Hallway

Dining Area Board Room

Dining Area

Bar

Dining Area

Option 3 is the likely choice for a redesign of the second floor of the Country Club. A decision Restored Outside Deck to approve this layout could come Restored Outside Deck as soon as a Dec. 15 special meetRestored Outside Deck Restored Outside Deck ing of the Board of Directors. Restored Outside Deck

From Page 20 at that meeting, he said. During a Dec. 5 work session, the directors reviewed the staff plan presented by Hill to begin first floor renovations shortly after the first of the year as part of a proposed larger-scale renovation and repurposing of the Country Club. The proposal includes doubling the size of the bar, enclosing and adding climate control for an existing three-season room to add more seating and reducing the size of the men’s locker room to create a hallway that would make the bathrooms more accessible to Terns Grille patrons. Hill estimated the project cost at $50,000 with the Public Works department staff completing the renovations. Hill said now is the off season for golf operations so it is the perfect time to make improvements to the dining area. The goal is to have the work complete by April 1. “I need to be able to execute that right after holidays,” he said, adding that there is only a six to eight-week window to get the work done. “We’re trying to drive all of these numbers down and use our dollars as efficiently as possible.” Some directors were concerned about making a decision to renovate the Tern

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22 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

December 2016

Country Club From Page 21 Grille without considering Hill’s overall proposals for refurbishing and repurposing the Country Club, which includes a banquet facility, meeting rooms, relocated bar, and upgraded kitchen on the second floor. Herrick questioned whether the association should be approving projects at the Country Club on a piecemeal basis starting with renovations to the Tern Grille, or should review and approval

the overall plan first. Jacobs voiced a similar concern. She said agreeing to the proposed renovations of the downstairs dictates what can happen upstairs at the Country Club. She also questioned the need for improvement to the Tern Grille’s kitchen to serve the expanded dining area. “Aren’t we also supposed to be doing some improvement to grill kitchen?” she asked. Director Dave Stevens said it also bothered him that the downstairs kitchen is not being expanded at all. He said

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it is “less than optimal” for serving an increased number of customers. Hill responded that all three of the Country Club options presented by staff include renovations to the Tern Grille. The only significant difference is whether there is expanded dining room area downstairs or meeting rooms. However, the footprint would be the same regardless of the use ultimately determined by the board, he said. Based on the immediate needs for dining at the Country Club, Hill said there were no plans to upgrade the downstairs kitchen. “It’s not a high end operation,” he said, adding that staff feels it is sufficient for their operation in FY 2017. “If the staff says this is what they need to get up in the spring, they’re the experts on this and I have to defer to their opinion,” he said, deference that had faded by the Dec. 9 meeting. The need is for additional dining area, Hill argued. “Three of four foursomes come in that place is packed,” he said. By the board’s Dec. 9 regular meeting, Hill had decided that moving ahead with new kitchen equipment made sense after all. Still, Jacobs said it doesn’t make sense to move forward with that piece of the project in a vacuum. “If we want to work through it in stages that’s one thing,” she said, but added that an overall plan should be

approved first. But Hill was concerned about the timing in the event of any delay in board action. He said that if the board didn’t approve the Tern Grille project in December, then he would lose the entire month of January to have the work done. Director Doug Parks asked if moving forward with the Tern Grille project would “negate options” for use of the second floor. He said he prefers to review the overall proposal and try to reach an agreement as to how to proceed. By the Dec. 9 meeting, most directors agreed that the board could approve the downstairs renovations without agreeing to a specific plan for the upper level. Only Jacobs was insisting that everything be tied together. Herrick asked about renovations to the restrooms at the Country Club. Hill said that’s the next project on the list. Once the Tern Grille improvements are completed, he plans to tackle to bathrooms on both floors of the building in conjunction with a bathroom project at the Ocean Pines Beach Club in Ocean City. In the meantime, he said of the existing bathrooms “they’re 80s, but functional.” It now appears that the downstairs bathrooms, too, could be put on a fast track for renovation. The special meeting set for Dec. 15 could result in a renovation fast track that no one could have expected.

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Renovations Secure Parking/ transfer area

Administrative Building Proposed Administration Building renovation Expanded Police Station (3,795 S.F.) Women’s Locker Room

Cell

180 sq. ft.

Armory

72 sq. ft.

OPA Staff Offices (2,021 S.F.) Mech Room

Common Break Room

72 sq. ft.

Office

72 sq. ft.

293 sq. ft.

Processing

Comptroller

Computer Room

940 sq. ft.

Cell Supply Room 60 sq. ft.

Mech

Evidence

36 sq. ft.

LT. 1 Office

LT. 2 Office

Officers Work Area 435 sq. ft.

180 sq. ft.

Men’s Locker Room

Finance

Payroll

229 sq. ft.

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120 sq. ft.

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Supply Alcove 70 sq. ft.

Lobby

Supervisors Office 210 sq. ft.

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90 sq. ft.

66 sq. ft.

88 sq. ft.

195 sq. ft.

255 sq. ft.

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ADA Toilet

Public Interview Room 108 sq. ft.

Records Storage 153 sq. ft.

Chief’s Office

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254 sq. ft.

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move to the Country Club many of the community groups and organizations that use the Community Center rooms for free for meetings and activities. He said there is more demand for use of space by those groups than the OPA can currently handle at the Community Center. Shifting them to the Country Club will accommodate their needs and at the same time open up the Community Center for more recreation and parks activities. “We would be able to accommodate more of the paid programs that this building could house that we’re turning away,” he said. Proposed renovations to the Country Club kitchen are relatively small-scale and inexpensive at about $37,000, ac-

cording to Hill, who said much of the existing equipment can be sold for salvage, reducing the net cost of the new kitchen close to zero. In response to concern from Director Dave Stevens about the need for a second floor kitchen in that building, Hill argued that if the OPA gives it up now, the association may never be able to get a kitchen back again. “We have a facility that we can use. If we take that facility away it’s not coming back,” he said, adding the question is whether the OPA continues its the investment to “preserve what is an asset to the community in having that type of facility available or eliminate it.” He said it would serve a banquet area with a maximum capacity of 140 people.

“I don’t think anybody’s questioning how great the plan is in terms of repurposing the space,” Director Slobodan Trendic said. But he said he was concerned about the food and beverage aspect. “Just because you’ve had something and you’ve had it for 50 years doesn’t mean it continues to be an asset if it’s a costly asset,” he said. Stevens questioned how many 140-person golf banquets are really being held in Ocean Pines. He was skeptical that the banquet room was needed and said the facility shouldn’t compete with the Yacht Club. Hill said the goal is to accommodate golf events that aren’t currently being

From Page 1 taining two dining rooms initially, until all food and beverage operations can be moved to the second floor; only carryout would remain available downstairs. The third option, strongly recommended by staff and the one that probably has the votes, is a larger scale renovation based on option one, and also calls for creation of the multipurpose/ banquet room upstairs, three smaller meeting rooms, relocation of the bar, and opening of the enclosed decks. What’s labeled as a board room on a conceptual floor plan of the second floor is actually envisioned as a board/ conference room with modern audio, visual and teleconferencing equipment. It would be used by the OPA board for its meetings but would be available for other groups for business meetings and similar purposes. Hill argued that the banquet area on the upper level would be small, accommodating about 120 people, and would not compete with the Yacht Club food and beverage operations because it would be focused primarily on golf-related events or events that the Yacht Club is too large to accommodate. He later told the Progress that this smaller banquet venue would give the Yacht Club’s banquet manager more options for keeping Ocean Pines clubs and organizations in Ocean Pines for their events. The contract with Landscapes Unlimited calls for the OPA and LU to share the second floor and accommodate one another’s activities, Hill said. The Parks and Recreation Department will also have the ability to schedule meetings in the Country Club, he said. Downstairs, the size of the men’s locker room would be reduced to make room for an expanded Tern Grille. The three-season room under the deck would be closed in to provide additional seating for table service. Hill said that work could be done in time for the 2017 golfing season. All of plans incorporate updated bathrooms on both floors and other interior improvements. “We’d be sprucing up the entire venue inside,” Hill said, adding that it will be like a new building. Hill said renovations to the Country Club would also include plumbing and electrical upgrades. Plans for the replacement of the HVAC system, roof repairs and mold remediation are all already well under way. Ductless HVAC systems will be replacing the older systems and roof-based compressors. OPA President Tom Herrick said the board is no longer considering building new facilities for either the police department or Country Club but is trying to maximum the use of existing available spaces. He said the reason the Country Club isn’t used now for meetings and activities is “because it’s run down.” If it is renovated, members will be more likely to use it, he argued. Hill agreed and said the goal is to

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26 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Renovations

Option 1

From Page 25 held at the facility for a variety of reasons, including kitchen equipment that doesn’t work. “To say we’re not having it in there now is not fair because we really can’t,” he said. Trendic said golf is a seasonal sport and wanted to know what would happen with the facility in the off season. He said there needs to be some business justification based on data that illustrates the need. “As this point I am a little concerned with almost $1 million in renovations” when the golf course itself costs association members about half a million dollars annually, he said. Hill argued that is going to cost about $200,000 just to make immediate and necessary repairs to the roof, HVAC and mold remediation at the Country Club. He said the proposed renovations, which will include administrative and meeting spaces, will benefit the entire community, not just golfers. Stevens wasn’t convinced that there is a lack of meeting space, either. He wanted to know in what way it is insufficient. Still, he said that proposed renovations are generally moving in “the right direction.” He concurred that the Country Club is too large of a building for golf alone. Trendic agreed and said the fact that

COVER STORY

Summary

December 2016

Description

Replace roof & HVAC in FY 17 & impact revenue immediately with changes downstairs; FY 18 integrate community functions and expand Tern Grill Upstairs with exposed decking.

Option 2

Option 3

Replace roof & HVAC in FY 17; Integrate golf & community functions in FY 18 with pro shop, tern grill & board room upstairs; meeting rooms, locker rooms & limited food service for golfers downstairs.

Replace roof & HVAC in FY 17 & impact revenue immediately with changes downstairs; FY 18 integrate community functions and expand Tern Grill Upstairs to include banquet seating with exposed decking.

Costs

FY 17

Roof*

$69,400‐ 76,340

HVAC*

$110,000 ‐ 120,000

1st Floor**

$195,800

Video Conference capability

FY 18

2nd Floor**

$375,200 ‐ $392,140

FY 18

FY 17

$275,000 $392,000 $25,000

Video Conference capability

Totals

FY 17

$417,000

$245,800

$392,000 $25,000 $179,400 ‐ $196,340

$692,000

FY 18

$392,000 $25,000 $425,200 ‐ $442,140

$417,000

* Based on actual OPA Golf Clubhouse estimates conducted in last 30‐45 days ** Based on component estimates listed on previous slide The three options under consideration for renovating the Country Club. the groups want more meeting space at the Community Center than is available doesn’t justify the need for more meeting rooms. He said the board needs to determine how often the clubs should

have access to meeting rooms and then figure out if there is adequate space based on what is a “reasonable need.” Hill said at that point he was just looking for guidance from the board

regarding whether or not to include funding for capital improvements to the administrative building and Country Club in the FY 2018 budget proposal. It seems he’s getting a positive response.

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COVER STORY Yacht Club renaissance? From Page 26 erendum that made it possible. First the repurposing. Critics of the original design of the $5 million building often remark on the sterile lobby encountered by patrons as they walk through the front door from under the porte-cochere. There are stairwells to the left and right, and an elevator to the right. No live human beings to point the uninitiated to where the action is – the rear of the building. Signage directed patrons to enter through a closed door to what some critics call the hallway to nowhere; it’s a long corridor that to leads to a welcome area at the end of the hallway (it backs up to a restroom). Beyond that is the restaurant located at the back end of the building and a small bar area that lately has expanded into the restaurant area with high top tables and chairs. Very soon what critics regard as a sterile and unwelcoming design will change dramatically. Hill announced recently that he will reposition the welcome alcove from the end of the hallway to the lobby area. No longer will patrons enter the building without a live human being offering a friendly acknowledgement and directions. The welcome area should be up and running and greeting customers by the third week of December, Hill disclosed during a meeting of the Board of Directors Dec. 9. The long “hallway to nowhere” will be given a new purpose. A new, 20-by-2-foot bar has been built by the Ocean Pines Public Works Department will stretch on the east wall of the hallway from the storage rooms to the old welcoming alcove; the alcove will become a prep area for bar staff. Barstools allowing seating for up to ten people will be positioned in a way that still leaves plenty of room for diners to move down the corridor toward the restaurant area. Hill told the board that old signage for Tuffy’s Tavern, from the old Yacht Club, was found in storage and has been mounted to the new bar, connecting the past to the new, improved Yacht Club. One or two days a week over the winter months, the Yacht Club will be bar-only. If trivia night is moved to Sunday from Thursday, Wednesday and Thursday will be those nights when the main kitchen is not open, Hill said. Full service dining will be open Friday through Sunday, with live entertainment scheduled Friday and Saturday nights. Hill said he was able to secure the services of popular bands at reduced rates over the winter, which he said is win-win for the OPA and the bands, who might otherwise be out of work. He said the live music might tend to bring in a younger crowd in addition to the loyal diehards.

December 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Sunday brunch will continue as it has for decades in Ocean Pines. Hill also is adding a new package goods business at the Yacht Club. Public Works is building a display area for craft beer and wines, and just as soon as the new bar is up and running Yacht Club patrons will be able to purchase beer and wine on their way out of the Yacht Club. Hill said the OPA’s liquor license allows such sales but, for some reason, prior management never saw the opportunity. “We think that this can be an important supplement for the bar and food

business,” he said. “It no longer will be necessary for Ocean Pines residents to leave Ocean Pines” to purchase beer and wine, “and our craft beer selection will be very competitive” with other package good stores in the area, he said. Hill said the idea behind these changes is to encourage year-round residents in Ocean Pines to come back to the Yacht Club or, in some cases, pay a visit for the first time. Then, during the warmer months, when the summer part-time residents flock to the amenity as they traditional do, the idea is to keep the year-round residents coming back.

“That ought to bring the Yacht Club close to or even at break-even,” Hill said. Because the bar and other alterations to the building are being done in-house, Hill said the cost is minimal. Some additional refrigeration equipment was brought at auction from former restaurants, for minimal amounts of money, with one new appliance bought new. That the improvements are being made by Public Works Department staff in-house is starting to be a pattern under Hill. He’s taking the same approach at the Country Club, where renovations there are being undertaken or supervised by Public Works.

28 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPA FINANCES

December 2016

Board still can’t decide whether to abolish, defund legacy reserve Stevens, Trendic contend that the OPA should take less from property owners in assessments until real need can be demonstrated; Hill urges ‘extreme’ caution

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Board of Directors has been unable to reach a consensus on an important issue that would have a significant impact on next year’s lot assessment. Whether or not to eliminate or reduce the so-called legacy reserve, a component of the Major Maintenance and Replacement Reserve, and its funding component, will affect almost $900,000 collected from property owners in the annual assessments. When the Board of Directors approved budget guidance for 2016-17 during its Oct. 22 regular meeting, conspicuously absent was acceptance of a recommendation from the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee to continue funding the so-called legacy reserve, which two directors have made clear they want to abolish. The legacy reserve was once called the five-year plan and is now in its eighth year. It was used as the primary funding source for building the new Yacht Club. It currently carries a balance of

roughly $353,000, the net result of $865,000 in new assessment contributions on May 1. When the board met again on Nov. 17 to once again discuss next year’s budget, Directors Dave Ste- Dave Stevens vens and Slobodan Trendic made it clear they would like the legacy reserve to go away next year. Trendic went even further by suggesting that, absent any action adopting a new bulkhead replacement plan, the board should consider giving waterfront property owners with OPA-maintained bulkheads a holiday from paying the so-called “waterfront differential” next year. The bulkhead reserve carries a balance of $1.8 million currently, more than twice what is spent in a typical year for bulkhead replacement. Trendic opened the discussion by noting that the legacy reserve costs every property owner $109 and that the board should decide whether to keep it. Previ-

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ously he has said that without a specific plan or identified need for that money, the OPA should not be collecting it. To collect more in aassesments than has been demonstrated to be needed just lends itself to decisions to find ways to spend money frivilously, he has said. OPA Director and Treasurer Pat Supik, a former chair and member of the budget and finance panel, said she would “err on the side” of keeping the legacy reserve and its funding stream,. She suggested that the board once and for all set a percentage of the annual component cost of OPA assets – said to be roughly $16 million – that would be held in the Major Maintenance and Replacement Reserve at the end of the fiscal year. She said the OPA is “in transition” and that the OPA should exercise caution before taking less from property owners in assessments. She said the ACC percentage could be set at 25 or 40 percent, without making a firm recommendation. Former General Manager Bob Thompson recommended it be set at 50 percent, to be phased in over a number of years. The balance in the replacement reserve as of this past April 30 was $4.13 million, or roughly 25 percent of the annual component cost. At the end of October, the balance was $5.3 million. Assistant OP Treasurer Gene Ringsdorf appeared to weigh in on the side of Supik. He suggestred that if the waterfront differential is reduced one year, only to be increased the next when a new bulkhead replacement program is in place, it would be disconcerting to property ownMONDAY NIGHT

ers than if the waterfront differential were held constant. The inconsistency could become a political issue debated in the annual OPA election. The “waterfront differential” and $19 in every lot owner’s assessment is transferred to the bulkheads and waterways reserve, which is distinct from the major maintenance and replacement reserve. Ringsdorf also said that in his view the historical component of the maintenance and replacement reserve, which is financed through funded depreciation of OPA assets, needs to be supplemented with additional assessment dollars. “You won’t be able to do everything you need to do with just depreciation revenue,” he said, without specifying how much additional revenue might be needed in next year’s budget to fund actual needs. As he has done previously whenever the subject has arisen, Stevens pushed back hard against the notion that the OPA is lacking in reserve funds to address its capital needs. He repeated arguments he has made in recent months on the subject of reserves. “I can point to the past five years” of spending activity from the historic reserve, he said. “We haven’t spent a fraction of what’s in there, and we built a Yacht Club.” It was the legacy reserve, not the historic reserve, that financed the Yacht Club, which is why the legacy reserve carried a large negative balance until this year. Stevens also said that what Acting General Manager “Brett (Hill) is doing” with respect to OPA capital projects – advocating renovation of existing buildings rather than replacing them – means the OPA is not lacking for funds for whatever needs will arise in the future. He also implied he was not particularly interested in setting an ACC percentage formula as advocated by Suipk. “I’m not talking about a formula,” he said. So far, the new board, other than To Page 30

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OPA FINANCES

December 2016

Federal overtime rule impact minimal on OPA Delay in FLSA changes from Dec. 1 matters little, Hill says By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association back in September began evaluating pending changes to the nation’s Fair Labor Standards Act that Acting General Manager Brett Hill feared could force the OPA to pay overtime to certain key employees who previously have been exempt. The OPA, and employers across the country, were facing a Dec. 1 start date for a new FLSA rule imposed by the U.S. Labor Department. When a U.S. Circuit Court delayed implementation of the new rule in a decision issued last month, it meant very little as a practical matter, Hill told the Progress in a Dec. 2 telephone interview. That’s because the OPA administration had already worked through any possible issues as part of the annual performance review for staff, arriving at acceptable outcomes for both the OPA and the affected individuals, Hill said. The delay in the new rule’s implementation doesn’t mean the OPA will delay

its solutions, which he said affected the parks and recreation department more than any other. With the recent departure of the department’s former director, and some restructuring within the department, the feared increase in payroll expenses has been avoided, he said. In fact, the recreation department overall will be experiencing a net decrease in expenses this year and next, Hill told the Progress. It could have been worse. Had the federal court not ruled as it did, and had Hill not resolved issues in anticipation of the rule change, the OPA could have faced higher payroll costs because of the rule. OPA like other employers could have been subject to a higher salary threshold for workers to qualify as exempt from overtime beginning Dec. 1. According to a published Final Rule for FISA, the salary threshold would have increased from $455 per week, or $23,600 per year, to $913 per week, or $47,476 per year, on Dec. 1. According to published reports, the

higher threshold would have resulted in some employees getting raises, as employers tried to avoid paying overtime to some employees whose pay is close to the new, higher threshold. Others, who under the previous, lower threshold could not receive overtime, may have been eligible. Both possibilities could have had an impact on OPA payroll costs. Published reports also said that the situation is complicated because the FLSA allows certain employees to be exempt from overtime if they are paid at least the minimum threshold, are salaried and hold certain kind of “high-level” executive positions. There was concern that, with the new rules in place, OPA might be forced to pay over-time to certain individuals who work more than the typical 40-hour work week. It appears that bullet has been dodged, at least for now.

Reserve levels From Page 28 Supik, has shown no interest in setting a percentage, something the previous board couldn’t decide on, either. In what could presage a division on the board when it takes up the budget in January and February, Hill seemed to come down on the side of Supik and Ringsdorf on the question of eliminating

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the legacy reserve’s revenue stream. He said he agreed with Supik and would “urge extreme caution (before reducing revenues to the reserves). We don’t have the information to know whether we have too much or too little” and “we don’t have a strategy” to address capital needs going forward, he said. Hill said he didn’t think Stevens “could show me that we have too much money” in the reserves to fund needed capital expenditures in the future. Stevens responded that Hill couldn’t “prove it to me that we don’t have enough.” Hill then said that a maintenance plan for OPA assets had not even been factored into the discussion. “God never made a GM who thinks he has enough money,” Stevens then quipped. If Supik and Hill remain on the side of keeping the legacy reserve and its funding stream, with Stevens and Trendic staking out the opposite position, the deciding votes would seem to lie with OPA President Tom Herrick and directors Doug Parks and Cheryl Jacobs. Two of those three would have to join with Stevens and Trendic to vote affirmatively to defund the legacy reserve, unless Hill could be persuaded to take another look. With no resolution of the issue during the Dec. 5 work session,it will carry over into the 2017-18 budget deliberations set to begin next month.

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OPA FINANCES

December 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPA maintains negative operating fund variance for 2016-17 fiscal year Aquatics ahead of budget by $64,000; Yacht Club records a positive October By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association remained modestly in negative territory half way into the 2016-17 fiscal year, with October financial results indicating that the OPA has a negative operating fund variance of $51,424. According to Controller Art Carmine’s October financial report for October, the OPA recorded a negative operating fund variance of $39,803 for the month, with revenues missing budget by $52,452. Expenses were under budget by $29,310, while new capital expenditures were over budget by $16,661. Excluding new capital, the negative variance to budget for the month was $23,142. Through the end of October, which marked the end of the first half of 2016-17, the negative operating fund variance Ocean Pines Association financial results by department for October 2016. Source: OPA Controller Art Carmine Tennis recorded an $8,884 surplus so well year over year. of $51,424 resulted from revenues un- by marinas, with a $5,323 positive variThe Yacht Club was in the black der budget by $296,319, expenses under ance and aquatics, with a $2,602 posi- through October, a slight improvement over last year’s $7,302. through October by $103,135, substanbudget by $220,715, and new capital un- tive variance. Other departments with positive Pickleball is in the black by $7,248 tially less than is customary entering der budget by $24,180. Excluding new capital expenditures, variances to budget were Beach Club through October, down modestly from a the cooler months when the amenity traditionally loses money. the net operating variance for the year parking ($1,617), tennis ($800), Beach $7,982 surplus a year ago. Club ($504), and platform tennis ($62). Although in the black through OctoA year ago the surplus through Ocso far is a negative $75,604. Missing their monthly budget targets ber, other amenities aren’t faring quite There are essentially three ways to look at OPA financial performance. One were golf operations, with a $39,397 is to measure actual results against bud- negative variance, and pickleball, with a get, with either positive or negative vari- $977 negative variance. At the half-way mark into the fiscal ances possible. Another is simply actual results, year, Aquatics is far and away the best performer compared to budget while the which can be surpluses or deficits. Both measurements are presented in Yacht Club is the worst. Aquatics’ positive variance is $86,786, OPA financial reports for a particular month and cumulatively for the entire while the Yacht Club has a negative variance of $172,898 relative to budget. fiscal year. Marinas ($40,562), Beach Club parkThe monthly financial reports posted on the OPA Web site under documents ing ($21,317), Beach Club ($5,303) and also include detailed break-outs for each pickleball ($694) were all ahead of budamenity department, along with year-to- get through October. In addition to the Yacht Club, behind date numbers for the current and previous year, making year-over-year compar- budget through October were golf operations (-$106,280), tennis (-$3,395) and isons possible. Year-over-year performance is the platform tennis (-$1,557). All amenities were in the black for the third way to measure financial perforfirst six months of the fiscal year, which mance. The OPA runs its fiscal year from is not unusual for this time period. The cooler months of the year tend to May 1 through April 30 of the following take bites out of operating surplus reyear. 800-K S. Salisbury Blvd., 16-B South Main St., Amenity performance in October was corded early in the fiscal year. Salisbury, MD Berlin, MD The top three amenities relative to mixed, as it usually is. (Next to the Greek Pita Place Restaurant) (1 block south of Atlantic Hotel) All three racquet sports, aquatics, golf actual net performance half way into operations, the Beach Club, Beach Club the fiscal year were Beach Club parking, M & F 9-7 • T-W-TH 9-5:30 • Sat 9-3 Mon., Tues., Thurs., & Fri. 9-4:30 parking and marinas recorded losses for marina operations and Aquatics, in that order. the month. Beach Club parking produced a The only amenity to produce a surplus – albeit a very modest one – was $391,427 surplus through October, a the Yacht Club, which was $3,343 in the modest improvement over the $383,767 black, still the best October for the high surplus recorded a year ago. Marina operations also had a good profile restaurant, bar and catering fasummer, recording a $223,261 surplus cility in many years. 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CAPTAIN’S COVE

December 2016

Hearn signals possible decrease in assessments for unimproved properties Cove president says developer won’t exercise three-votes-per-lot privilege if referendum for changes to organizational documents is conducted next year By TOM STAUSS Publisher hile it would require a vote of the full Cove membership in a referendum, Captain’s Cove president Tim Hearn responded somewhat favorably to a suggestion by a property owner during the Cove’s annual meeting in November that owners

of unimproved property deserve a reduction in annual assessments. At least, he did not rule out the idea. Non-resident property Everett Lane, during the member forum portion of the meeting, said that he owns four lots in Captain’s Cove, two of which aren’t buildable. He said he didn’t think it’s fair that

October financials

roads. The operating recovery reserve was zeroed out in September. There are two components of the maintenance and replacement reserve. One, the so-called historic reserve, composed of funded depreciation, had a balance of $5,735,557 as of Oct. 31. The supplemental legacy reserve, once known as the five-year-plan, carried a negative balance of $352,791. This reserve is on a path to be zeroed out next year. Balance Sheet – As of Oct. 31, the OPA had total assets of $35.24 million, up from $33.73 million a year previous. The assets were matched by $1.5 million in liabilities and $35.24 million in owner equity. Cash on hand for operating purposes as of Oct. 31 was $2.9 million, with short term investments totaling $8.06 million.

From Page 31 tober was $212,228. That’s a $109,123 negative year over year swing. Golf operations recorded an $18,600 surplus through October, compared to $125,331 last year for the same period. That’s a $106,731 year over year negative swing. Platform tennis had a $3,755 surplus for the first six months of the fiscal year, a decline from last year’s $5,767 surplus at the fiscal year’s half-way mark.. Reserve Summary – The OPA through Oct. 31 had $7.76 million allocated to reserves, a drop from $7.96 at the end of September. The reserve balance was composed of $5.4 million in the Major Maintenance and Replacement reserve, $1.8 in bulkheads and waterways, and $550,180 in

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he has to pay full $1200 per year annual assessments on those unbuildable lots. It’s a complaint that has been made often over the years, with no change in policy resulting. Hearn, alluding to the Cove’s founding documents, said they require all lots to pay the same base assessment. But he also said – as he has previously – that the board is considering a package of amendments to the founding documents including one that might allow lower assessments for some classifications of property owners. These same documents require roughly 2,000 affirmative votes for proposed amendments before they can be implemented. “There is a budget ramification (if a reduction is approved for some property owners),” Hearn said. If the targeted revenue remains the same, then property owners in other classes – such as those who own homes or buildable lots – would most likely see an increase in their assessments. Hearn said another proposal under active consideration would be to allow property owners who own adjacent lots to receive a reduced assessment on those adjacent lots if there is only one home built on all of the lots. That, too, would have a budget ram-

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ification. Hearn said that it’s going to take the first quarter or half of 2017 to decide which proposed amendments to the organizational documents to propose, and then all of them will be sent to the Cove association’s law firm for legal review. To come close to the 2000-vote threshold for approval, Hearn said that roughly 480 association-owned lots could be added to the 1340 or so developer-owned lots. The Cove board of directors would have to vote to cast association-owned lots for the package, an event that no doubt would be controversial among resident homeowners. Combining developer-owned and association-owned lots would still leave the vote total short of what’s needed to pass the package of changes. While Hearn didn’t delve into how the 2,000 votes could be obtained, non-resident owners of unimproved property – especially those whose lots might be assessed at a lower rate – might be inclined to vote for a package that conceivably would save them money. “If we’re going to modernize (our documents), I’m guessing that lot owners will want to participate,” he said. Later, Hearn said that the developer/ declarant, under the 2012 settlement agreement, would not be casting “triple votes” in any referendum for a package of changes in the organization documents. “That’s only relevant when voting for board members,” he said, and that, too, might be going away next year if the Cove association no longer is fiscally challenged in a way that meets the terms of the 2012 settlement agreement. “It’s important to have a board that doesn’t drive the organization into insolvency,” he quipped. Promoting the Cove – Cove property owner Bill Shockley, recalling the early days of Ocean Pines development when Boise Cascade embarked on a high-powered marketing program to sell lots, asked Hearn during the annual meeting whether the developer could do something similar to stimulate lot sales in Captain’s Cove. Contending that lot values have “gone down” in the Cove for the past ten or 15 years, Shockley said he wanted to hear the developer’s game plan for lot sales, prompting a response from Hearn and Jim Silfee, one of three Cove board members with developer/declarant interests. Hearn said the involvement with the Cove by business interests began in 2012. Hearn and his former business partners were concerned about the financial health of the association, particularly its reserves, which had declined to about $300,000 from a previous high of $1.2 million, rather than a grand vision for Captain’s Cove. “The last four years have been about getting” the Cove association back into a condition of fiscal health, he said, less so about trying to raise property owners or stimulate lot sales. q

32 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

December 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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34 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

CAPTAIN’S COVE

December 2016

Promoting the Cove From Page 32 Hearn then went to describe the Cove over the past ten years in less pessimistic terms than Shockley did. Hearn said there have been over 400 homes built in the Cove over the past decade, more than all other subdivisions in Accomack County combined during that same period. He added that the Cove is “incredibly well positioned” to take advantage of an improving real estate market once it takes root in places other than Sussex County, De., which he said had already recovered from the depths of the Great

Recession. The greater Ocean City area and the Eastern Shore of Virginia has not rebounded to the same degree, he said. He said he expected the Cove to recover once the greater Ocean City area does. He even said that he’s been buying property in certain sections of Captain’s Cove where the owners want to “get out” of their investments. But Hearn said he didn’t think the Cove developer – CCG Note, LLC, and affiliated companies – would agree with that Shockley that an aggressive marketing effort would be worth the investment at the present time.

Silfee agreed. He said the developer had avoided a “race to the bottom” in the pricing of lots, keeping to a typical price of $7500 for an interior lot. At the same time, he acknowledged that the developer has not made a single lot sale in the past two years. “Buyers don’t need to pay our price” if they want a lot in the Cove, he said, as in some cases sellers will in effect give away a lot as a way of continuing to pay lot assessments. “It’s a supply and demand situation.” As for an aggressive marketing effort, he said he doubted the developer would be able to recoup the marketing costs, even if, for example, a $45,000 canal lot

sold for $60,000 as a result of aggressive marketing. “It would be negative net to put something like that together,” Silfee said. Hearn added that the Cove developer couldn’t do anything remotely like what Boise Cascade did in Ocean Pines in the late 1960s and 1970s to sell lots. “We’d all go to jail with all that bait and switch stuff,” he said. Hearn said the long-term health of the Cove will be brought about by continued building of new homes. Silfee agreed. “Our focus will be on (bringing in) quality builders, with home-lot packages,” he said.

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OPINION

December 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Well-conceived solutions to capital improvement needs

cting General Manager Brett Hill certainly can’t be accused of timidity as he and his management team begin to tackle the “big ticket” capital improvement needs in Ocean Pines. Last month, in a special meeting of the Board of Directors called to discuss budget issues for the 2017-18 budget year (not so far away), Hill unveiled what are deceptively simple but rather extraordinary proposals to resolve the issue of whether to replace or renovate the aging (and criminally neglected) Country Club. But he did so in a way that also addresses inadequacies in the new Yacht Club, the somewhat new Community Center, and the much older Administration building, all while providing the Ocean Pines Police Department more space to do its in-house tasks more efficiently. How all this ties together is what makes this extraordinary. At the risk of falling victim to the disease of cheerleading, let us declare unequivocally that he has managed to pull off a conceptual plan -- develish details remain, of course -- that solves most if not all of Ocean Pines’ major capital needs for a relatively modest amount of money. The key to this grand design is that he proposes to make better use of existing space under roof in Ocean Pines, renovating and reallocating space as needed while avoiding the excessive and wasteful cost, delay and permitting nightmare of new construction. It would seem be that all of this can be accomplished within two fiscal years, an ambitious schedule to be sure but

per level were initially proposed by the OPA’s golf course management company, Landscapes Unlmited. An excursion through the curious cul-de-sacs An excursion through theby-ways curious and by-ways and cul-de-sacs Director of Golf John Malinowski of Worcester County’s County’s most densely community. of Worcester mostpopulated densely populated community. told the board that the company beBy TOM STAUSS/ By TOM Publisher STAUSS/Publisher lieves it could sell more golf outings and golf-related banquets on the secdoable, if Hill’s budget proposal is to be vamped Administration Building would ond floor if the facilities, including the be more than compensated in the ma- kitchen, were adequate. believed. According to Malinowski, golf Even more astounding is that it is de- jor renovation of the Country Club progroups have little interest in relocating signed to be implemented in a way that posed by Hill. The renovated Country Club would “off-campus” to the Yacht Club for their reduces if not eliminates any disruption of service, particularly at the Country be designed to create additional (and award ceremonies and banquets. If another few golf tournaments and Club and the lower level Tern Grille and more useful and welcoming) meeting space for the many clubs and organiza- golf-related banquets is all that might golf pro shop operation. As an alternative to a new police sta- tions that find space difficult to reserve be marketed on the Country Club’s uption, or an expansion of the existing one in the Community Center and too cav- per level, it probably wouldn’t be worth as proposed by the former general man- ernous and inhospitable at the Yacht the cost. The expanded and renovated Tern ager, Hill is proposing enlarging the Club. A renovation option recommended Grille on the lower level might be adespace allocated to the OPPD within the confines of the existing Administration by Hill -- it was the third of three pre- quate for many such events. The most compelling reason for why sented by him at the special meeting building. A draft building plan shows this is -- shows a board room and two smaller a modest kitchen and dining area on the made possible by eliminating two meet- meeting rooms on the upper level of the building’s second floor is a good idea, acing rooms and two executive offices in Country Club, along with an area for cording to OPA President Tom Herrick and Hill, has very little to do with golf. the existing building and repurposing dining and a kitchen. Rather, it has much to do with the The designated board room, with the entry lobby. OPA departments -- the GM’s office, state-of-the-art audio and video equip- fact that the OPA’s $5 million Yacht membership, accounting and market- ment, is actually intended to accommo- Club is poorly designed to accommoing/public relations -- would all remain date any organization that wants to use date the smaller meetings and more intimate banquet settings that many in the reconfigured Administration it for their meetings. For those who remember the old Ocean Pines residents and organizabuilding. Perhaps the most notable change for Country Club before the disastrous tions crave. While there certainly is no guarana typical OPA member would be the re- renovation of the late 1980s, Hill’s contee that a second banquet option on the location of the membership office from ceptual design for the building’s upper its space just off the front lobby to spac- level includes the restoration of outdoor second floor of the Country Club will be successful -- that will depend a great es previously occupied by the existing decking. deal how well the renovation is done The dining room and kitchen on the board meeting room. It would be accessible from what second level might seem on a first pass -- at least the OPA will have improved would become the building’s new pri- to be superfluous, competitive with the its odds at recapturing (or capturing, as mary entrance, the side door on the OPA’s banquet business at the Yacht the case may be) some of the business lost to more welcoming venues in the Club. east-facing side of the building. Modest banquet facilities on the up- local area. The loss of meeting space in the reShould the board follow through on a modest kitchen and banquet option at the Country Club’s second level, it will tend to verify that, like it or not, much of the planning for the new Yacht Club was flawed. One reason the OPA decided to opt for a two-level Yacht Club against some competing views for a smaller facility was the idea that a new Yacht Club could much more effectively deliver on the lucrative banquet business. It didn’t happen that way, of course. Room dividers for the cavernous banquet hall on the upper level never happened as promised, and of course those involved in designing the new building failed to include more intimate room settings for smaller meetings and events. The result was a $5 million facility that doesn’t accommodate the many clubs and organizations active in Ocean Pines. Aggravating, to be sure. To some extent, Hill’s proposal for the Country Club is meeting the Yacht Club’s conceptual amd design flaws head on. For that, he should be commended. Hill’s volunteer efforts on behalf of Ocean Pines are yielding more than professional paid “experts” ever did.

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December 2016

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OPINION

December 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

COMMENTARY

Fiber optic proposal is good for Ocean Pines Brett Hill’s ‘potential conflict’ of interest has been satisfactorily addressed

t’s much too early to draw any definitive conclusions about the prospects for fiber optic lines and super high speed Internet service in Ocean Pines. But it’s encouraging that at least one business partnership is interested enough to ask the Ocean Pines Association whether it’s willing to grant an easement to allow one of the partners, FTS Fiber, to bury fiber optic cable throughout Ocean Pines. Another company, Think Big Networks, would lease the lines from FTS Fiber and would become a high-speed Internet service provider for potential customers in Ocean Pines. Details of the proposal were offered by representatives of the two companies at a Dec. 5 work session of the OPA Board of Directors. Walking out of the meeting before the presentation was OPA Director and Acting General Manager Brett Hill, a shareholder in FTS Fiber and its chief executive officer. Why he was not participating in the discussion was evident to anyone paying attention and was announced prior to the discussion by Director Doug Parks, who stated matter of factly that Hill was not participating because FTS Fiber is his company. What Hill was doing was hardly shocking and surprising. He was recusing himself from participating in the presentation because of the very obvious conflict of interest that his participation would have posed. In addition, by submitting a letter to the Board of Directors in late November giving notice of a potential conflict of interest by his ownership of FTS Fiber, Hill was fully compliant with both the letter and spirit of Board Resolution B-05. He informed his col-

leagues that he was taking himself out of the loop in any board discussion about fiber optic lines and high speed Internet and related easements in Ocean Pines. By doing so, he eliminated the potential conflict of interest. That’s what recusal does. In the matter of FTS Fiber’s interest in securing an easement to lay fiber optic cable in Ocean Pines, Hill is representing his and his company’s interests, and only those. Ocean Pines’ interests are going to be secured and represented by the six remaining directors, who will be performing their due diligence on this issue as if Hill was no longer a member of the board and acting general manager. Before this issue moves further along, it would not be surprising if the directors decide to actively solicit and entertain proposals from other companies and partnerships interested in providing fiber optic Internet service to Ocean Pines residents. One interested entity might well be Mediacom, the current leading provider of Internet and related services to residents. Mediacom’s exclusive contract with the OPA to offer cable television programming in Ocean Pines expires in 2018. There is no exclusivity with respect to the Internet service. There have been a couple of misguided calls for Hill to step down as acting GM and director because he was so daring and enterprising as to see a business opportunity in Ocean Pines and to act on it. Some even toss around the term “conflict of interest” like a shibboleth. Let’s be clear here. There is no conflict of interest. There was a potential conflict fully disclosed by Hill in a formal notice to the board in compliance with

an applicable board resolution and a declaration that he was recusing himself from all involvement in the matter as a sitting member of the board and acting general manager. It’s only a conflict if he would foolishly renege on his recusal and try to insert himself into board deliberations on this matter in the future. He’s far too intelligent for that and his colleagues are as well. For anyone to continue to insist that his interests are in conflict is to be willfully obtuse. For any board member to make that assertion fully cognizant of Hill’s full and voluntary disclosure of a potential conflict is contemptible, even more so because that director had his disclosure and recusal letter in her possession before recklessly alleging a conflict of interest in public. She certainly noticed, or should have, that Hill walked out of the meeting before the presentation began. For him to resign from the board either voluntarily or by action of the board would overturn the will of the voters in this past summer’s election, in which his candidacy drew the most votes out of a slate of 11. His willingness to volunteer as acting general manager – a job for which he is receiving no compensation – speaks well of his interest in helping his home town community. He’s putting in some long hours for Ocean Pines and by many indications this place is starting to turn around for the better. It would be a shame to lose that because a few folks in Ocean Pines don’t fully grasp the distinction between a potential conflict of interest and a real one. – Tom Stauss

Legacy reserve needs a ‘final’ haircut

t’s an issue that won’t go away and one that the Board of Directors appears to be having some difficulty in resolving. It involves money, lots of it, by Ocean Pines standards at least, and it probably will have a direct impact on the level of annual lot assessments to be levied on property owners next year. Previous boards have grappled with it – once called the five-year plan, now the legacy reserve – trimming it modestly the last couple of years and reducing its impact on the wallets of property owners. But it remains a festering presence in the financial affairs of the OPA, now in its eighth year of existence, one that the new board ought to find a way to kill off once and for all in the coming 2017-18 budget deliberations. The 2015-16 board set the OPA on a course for eliminating the legacy reserve, and its $865,000 annual extraction from property owners, less than a year ago. It currently carries a modest $353,000 deficit, well within striking distance of painless elimination. The legacy reserve and its funding stream is just one component of what’s called the Major Maintenance and Replacement Reserve, and it will remain flush with cash even if the legacy component is killed off. Currently it carries a $5.4 million balance. Each year, through the full funding of depreciation on most OPA assets, it collects roughly $1.55 million in new assessment dollars extracted from property owners that are recorded as “contributions” to the historical component of the Major Maintenance and Replacement Reserve. OPA Vice-president and Director Dave Stevens has pointed out that in the past five or even ten years, actual expenditures on average from the Major Main-

tenance and Replacement Reserve have not exceeded the collections from the historical component. Another way of saying this is that, on balance, depreciation-related contributions – we prefer the less sugar-coated term extractions or collections – has been sufficient to fund the major replacement and maintenance demands of the OPA during this period, together with the more routine and modest replacements of vehicles and other equipment. Granted, there was a great deal of deferred maintenance during that period, to which a great deal of catch-up is required, something the current board and acting General Manager Brett Hill is intelligently addressing. Funds on hand now and in the future appear more than adequate to handle the rather comprehensive capital improvement solutions that Hill is proposing. It can all be accomplished without continuing to excessively fund the Major Maintenance and Replacement reserve, a point that Stevens made during board debate last month. He quite correctly told his colleagues that Hill’s well-crafted conceptual plans designed to address the OPA’s most urgent capital needs obviate the need for the OPA to collect large sums of assessment dollars for future capital improvements and new wasteful and extravagant buildings proposed by the previous general manager. Hill at one point during the discussion seemed to push back against Stevens’ insistence that the legacy component could be safely eliminated and defunded. One substantive argument that the acting general manager proffered for preserving current level of reserve funding had to do with some unexpected bulkhead repairs caused by a worm infestation in portions

of Wood Duck Isle. Whatever the extent that this infestation will require an accelerated schedule of bulkhead replacement or repairs – that is unknown at this writing – the Major Maintenance and Replacement Reserve was not established and should not be used to deal with it. The Bulkhead and Waterways Reserve is there for that purpose. Bulkhead repair and replacement in Wood Duck Isle is irrelevant to the issue of funding or defunding the legacy reserve. During last month’s discussion, the board arrived at no policy “guidance” for the general manager respecting reserve level funding for next year’s budget. Here are some Progress recommendations: • Eliminate the legacy reserve column and its funding stream from the Major Maintenance and Replacement Reserve next year. • Fully fund depreciation through the historical reserve in the amount of $1.5 million or whatever is calculated from a cleaned-up depreciation schedule. • Consider supplementing the historical reserve with an inflation factor. This inflation factor was a staple of the reserve budget until it was removed a few years ago. While the need for this inflation supplement may not be “proven” by an approved capital improvement plan or multi-year maintenance plan – they’re still works in progress – restoring a modest inflation supplement could be a way to harmonize competing viewpoints on the subject of reserves among directors. An “inflation factor” of $353,000 would be enough to zero out the current deficit in the legacy reserve. Fiscal conservatism won at the OPA ballot box this summer. Let’s hope directors remember that and provide some assessment relief to match spending restraint when crafting next year’s budget. – Tom Stauss

38 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPINION

December 2016

LETTER

ARC didn’t follow established rules

I am a property owner with a complaint about the CPI Department not following established procedures. On Monday, Aug. 8, I was out in my yard starting work on a project to build planter boxes. In July, I had been in the CPI office and spoke with (CPI inspector) Dino McCurdy about what I was allowed to do on my property line, and he informed me as to how tall I could make the boxes and said the Yacht Club had these – so I went and checked them out. So I was working on this project to build raised planter boxes. We decided to build these planters because, after having a property survey done in July, our suspicions about our neighbor’s drainage pipe being on our property were confirmed. To avoid upsetting my neighbor and digging into his drainage pipe, we decided to build raised planters in an effort to have some landscaping on our property. On Saturday, Aug. 6, my neighbor came out, and made it clear that he was not happy with what we were doing. So it was no surprise when I saw the CPI truck drive past my home on Monday. Tuesday morning, Aug. 9, I went into the CPI office to verify that they had been to my home on Monday. I told them I did not want to spend anymore money or time working on this project if I was going to have any issues.

The CPI’s Linda Martin told me she was just getting ready to call me, that my neighbor had said he was getting ready to put his home on the market, and we had empty boxes in our yard and

a fence in disrepair. She told me my planters were fine, but that I needed to straighten up my fence and make it less wobbly. I told her that I didn’t know how I was going to do that without digging into the ground, due to my neighbor’s drainage pipe. That is when I asked could I attach the fence to the planter boxes. She said no problem. I went home, took measurements, planned out what to do, and went back to Home Depot to buy the needed materials. Thursday morning, Aug. 11, I am out in my front yard, and here comes the CPI truck again. A gentlemen named Mike, who I believe is the other CPI inspector, gets out and asks me what is going on here. I said I had no idea. He told me that my neighbor continued to complain, now that we had put plants in the boxes, and that his lawnmower guy could not cut his side yard. I told Mike that they had just had their grass cut the day before, and I watched, checking to see if they were able to get through. They were. The side yard was cut. Mike asked if he could come onto my property and look at what I had done. He took more pictures, and during our conversation it was mentioned that he also had been to my home on Monday morning. So the CPI had been to my home three times, and never once was I told I was in violation of any CPI regulation. I did exactly what I was told to do

by the CPI staff to attach the fence to planters. Tuesday morning, Aug. 16, I am getting ready to leave to go home, and Dino McCurdy comes to my door to inform me that the ARC Committee had met that morning and decided that I had an illegal fence and I needed to take it down. I told Mr. McCurdy that the fence sections were built so that they can be lifted right off the planter boxes, and I would remove them and would no longer have a fence. However, I asked him why I was told on Tuesday that my planters and fence were fine, that I needed to straighten my fence and make it less wobbly. The only reason these fence sections were attached to the planter boxes was because I was told I could do this by CPI. I went back into the CPI department to get names of people I had spoken with, and who to contact with the ARC. I called Mr. Glenn Duffy (committee chairman) and he told me that the committee had been shown one picture and it was a unanimous decision that we could not have this snow fence. It did not look nice, he told me, and maybe if we would have used better materials they would not have had an issue. That is when I realized they had not seen any of the pictures which showed the completed project, only the first picture taken on Monday morning when I was just starting to work on this project. One issue I have with the CPI is how in an eight-day period, after the CPI being at my home on three occasions and me going into their office on Tuesday, is that I was never told that I was in vio-

lation. Or even that a violation had been alleged. In fact I did exactly what I was told to do (by the CPI staff), but yet the ARC made a ruling with us having no knowledge that we were in violation. Resolution M-01 Section 6d. clearly states that in all cases wherein the ARC or Board is to review a potential violation with the intent of recommending corrective action, the members shall be informed of this review and shall be notified of their right to be present at the review to present any information regarding the alleged violation. Why did none of this happen? We were we only informed after the fact that the ARC had ruled as it did, giving us no opportunity to explain or defend our position or what had occurred. Even if proper procedures had been followed, how is it fair to the homeowner that when the CPI has four pictures available for a property, they chose only one to show the ARC -- a picture taken the first day when CPI knew we were just starting work on this project? I did call (CPI Department Director) Mr. Eddie Wells to ask him this question, and the answer was he didn’t know why they did that. I respect that my neighbor has every right to file a complaint if he is unhappy, and I respect the rights of the ARC Committee to make decisions on these complaints. However, I do not respect an Ocean Pines Department that does not follow its own policy and enforcement procedures. Steven and Janice Wilson 74 Wood Duck Drive Ocean Pines

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

127 Nottingham Lane Ocean Pines, MD 21811

PUBLISHER/EDITOR Tom Stauss tstauss1@mchsi.com 443-359-7527

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December 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

40 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

December 2016

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