July 2018 ocean pines progress by Ocean Pines Progress

July 2018

www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress

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THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY

OPA BOARD ELECTION

Three candidates favor, or lean in favor of reducing lot assessments next year Diller, Daly, Tuttle on record as opposing this year’s $30 increase By TOM STAUSS Publisher ne candidate attending a candidates forum in late June declared his intent to reduce lot assessments next year, one candidate who didn’t make the event says she agrees, and a third candidate is leaning toward that goal if it can be justified with “some greater efficiency in operations and management.” The candidates who are on the record as supporting or who are open to a reduction is assessments are Frank Daly, Esther Diller and Steve Tuttle, all of whom expressed opposition to this year’s $30 increase. Another candidate, Ted Moroney, said during the June 27 candidates forum at the Ocean Pines Yacht Club’s upper level ballroom that he wouldn’t “promise” to reduce assessments. Indeed, his record as an appointed director this past year suggests that he is likely to conclude that assessment increases are necessary to deal with unmet needs in Ocean Pines. As a director, he voted to raise the assessment $9 more than the $30 adopted as part of the 2018-19 budget this past February. In a flier distributed at the forum, Daly said one goal as a director would be “to use my experience and conservative financial approach to upgrade (OPA) busi-

Left to right: Frank Daly Esther Diller Steve Tuttle

ness practices, budget and operations management with the specific objective of lowering your assessment. Implementing these practices will enable (the OPA) to address our community needs effectively without needlessly inflating our assessments and stockpiling money.” In the same candidate summary sheet Diller, who was unable to attend the forum, she said she would as a director “manage assessments -- they are ten per cent too high -- hold staff accountable for our money, and bring in professionals (to manage the association).” Tuttle, whose candidate statement at the forum did not mention assessments, said in a follow-up email to the Progress that he has expressed his opposition in other election materials to “increasing assessments unless it can be clearly supported and explained in a To Page 45

Calls for reductions in lot assessment are ‘ridiculous, foolhardy and a touch crazy,’ Paula Gray contends In a July 7 email to the Progress, Board of Directors candidate Paula Gray is taking on candidates who would like to reduce lot assessments next year. “As a good business practice, budgets should balance. To promise no increase, or as a way to get votes, a reduction in our basic assessments, would be ridiculous, foolhardy, and a touch crazy at this time,” she said. She said her position would be “a solid year (this year!) of watching, adjusting, and updating current spending and income. “The military calls it a stand-down, an examination of current practices, an evaluation of effectiveness and/or appropriateness, and an honest assessment of what next year would bring,” she said. The $921 assessment in place last year cost property owners $17.72 per week to support Ocean Pines, she said. “The $30 increase this year was 58 cents per week. If your assessment gets reduced by $100, you save $1.92 per week,” she added, “but at what cost to your standard of living?” Gray said that is “where one stares wide-eyed and says ‘really’,” adding that the “current focus for the coming year should be on what expectations are, where plans are focused and what the forensic audit brings out.”

Brett Hill files amended lawsuit for inclusion on this year’s ballot, suffers initial setback ~ Page 44

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OCEAN PINES BRIEFS Ocean Pines to showcase 50 Years at July 12 panel going back to 1968. Construction had started on the first phase of Ocean Pines on July 12, 1968, a date that is currently circled in Sawyer’s calendar. In commemoration of this day, the Ocean Pines 50th Anniversary Committee will host a panel discussion, titled “Timeless Tides: The Ocean Pines History Panel,” at 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 12, in the Assateague Room of the Ocean Pines Community Center. The panel will feature residents who will discuss the evolution of Ocean Pines. The panel’s mission is to assist the community in preserving and honoring early developers and families of Ocean Pines. In support of that mission, the Anniversary Committee strives to provide Ocean Pines residents and nonresidents with an appreciation of the growth of the community and ensure the legacy of Ocean Pines endures for future generations. q

ehind the color and music of the 50th Anniversary yearlong celebration lies a history filled with interesting twists and turns. Ocean Pines, in its infant stage, was a small coastal development with unpaved streets and pine trees that outnumbered residents. Decades later, Ocean Pines has grown in national significance, gracing the pages of publications like Forbes Magazine. The community’s historic journey to become a destination for year-round and seasonal residents takes center stage at a scheduled panel discussion his month. “Ocean Pines’ olden days are both fascinating and enthralling for history-hungry folks,” said Ocean Pines Marketing and Public Relations Director Denise Sawyer. “The golden anniversary has sparked ‘Pines pride’ and a collective effort to preserve the community’s rich history.” To understand the community’s growth, it is necessary to understand the roots of Ocean Pines itself,

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“We hope that lots of people will come by and participate on July 12,” said Jennifer Cropper-Rines, chairperson of the Ocean Pines 50th Anniversary Committee. “July 12 marks the date in 1968 that the lot sales began. The entire sales team met for the first time and the following day Boise Cascade started bringing in potential buyers. It should be very interesting to hear about those days.” Panelists include John Talbott, a member of the original Boise Cascade sales team and “community-proclaimed” historian; Edie Brennan, the first female sales associate for Boise Cascade in Ocean Pines and active member of the board of directors for the Ocean Pines Players Community Theater Group; Tim McMullen, who founded the Ocean Pines summer youth program in 1974 with his late wife; Ginny Reister, the founder of the Ocean Pines Hammerheads swim team in 1975; Marty Groff, a lot salesman for Boise Cascade who went on to start his

own real estate and construction company in 1979 that has built more than 1,000 homes in the area; and Marlene Ott, an associate broker at Shamrock Realty with more than 35 years of experience in Ocean Pines and one of the first residents of Ocean Pines. The panel will be moderated by Dan O’Hare, who is believed to be the first resident child born in Ocean Pines. The opening remarks will be presented by Cropper-Rines. The Ocean Pines Association will video-record the oral histories of Ocean Pines that will be presented at the panel discussion and included in a time capsule that will buried at White Horse Park on Saturday, Aug. 12. The Association will donate the unedited footage to the Worcester County Library, Ocean Pines Branch, and will make the recordings accessible on its Web site, www.oceanpines.org, in the coming months. The event is free and open to the public. The Anniversary Committee encourages attendees to bring their questions for the panel.

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“The 50th Anniversary of Ocean Pines has been so important and interesting,” said Cropper-Rines. “It’s my goal as the chairperson of the Committee to both share information today and preserve information for future residents.”

Board delays action on C-resolutions

In order to garner feedback from the chairman of individual Ocean Pines Association advisory committees, the Board of Directors postponed a second reading of proposed changes nine of the “C” resolutions. The minor amendments proposed to nine of the “C” resolutions, those governing the advisory committees, will bring them into compliance with the OPA’s governing documents. Director Ted Moroney, board liaison to the Bylaws and Resolution Advisory Committee, suggested putting off consideration of the changes until the input is received from the committees affected by the revised resolutions. “We are moving forward,” he said, but added that the resolutions probably will not be

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With General Manager John Bailey saying the work is mostly done already, the Board of Directors set a Sept.14 deadline for completion of an internal human resources review of the employee handbook, compliance and employee benefits. Director Slobodan Trendic offered a motion at a June 23 board meeting to require the review to be wrapped up by Sept.14. He said the purpose of the review is to meet the requirement in the association’s bylaws calling for periodic review of existing employee benefits, personnel To Page 8

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policies and other employment conditions. The effect is to ensure that OPA is in legal compliance with all current federal, state and local laws and regulations and to be ready to make adjustments to the company-paid employee benefits as the board prepares for the next budget planning. Trendic said he proposed the Sept. 14 date in order to ensure the board had the opportunity to consider any recommended changes for inclusion in board budget recommendations to the general manager. Those are supposed to be made in September, but last year the board was late. “It’s very difficult for us to do that if we really haven’t taken the time to review employee benefits, which has been a hot topic during the past budget season for some of us and I think for the community also” Trendic said. Director Ted Moroney gave a second to the motion but suggested extending the deadline for the work until Oct. 1. He said the Sept. 14 date may be too soon as the general manager and staff will be busy wrapping up the summer season

OCEAN PINES and at the same time a new board will be taking over for the OPA. He said October would still be early enough in the budget cycle for inclusion of any recommended changes to employee benefits. Recognizing the need for a more dedicated internal resource, the board took action in February to approve a new position for a human resources specialist. The general manager filled this position with Nate Douty. “We know that our HR specialist is already working on some of the things. And I wanted to put a deadline in place because one of the things the board needs to do that we kinda fell behind last fall is to provide the GM the budget guidelines,” Trendic said. He asked Moroney how to provide timely input to the general manager if the deadline for the HR work is moved to Oct. 1. Bailey said the HR specialist is already working on all three of the items covered by Trendic’s motion. In fact a draft employee handbook is ready for review by legal counsel. “That’s about ready to come to you.” Because the work is already under way he said meeting the Sept. 14

deadline shouldn’t be a problem.

Board to solicit views on audit committee

A proposal to establish a standing audit committee for the Ocean Pines Association will be vetted by the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee. Director Slobodan Trendic at the June 23 Board of Directors meeting offered a motion that the board ask the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee to provide an opinion on establishing a standing Audit Committee. “Speaking as an individual director, I believe there is a clear need for the Board to enhance the accountability throughout the entire association,” he said. Trendic’s recommendation was that the responsibilities of the Audit Committee should be to oversee external and internal audit functions; oversee the financial reporting process; oversee the internal controls; and ensure appropriate channels of communication exist for whistleblowers on fraud activities or other illegal acts. In providing background on the issue, Trendic said “many recent

and other past events lead me to conclude that establishing an audit committee is a necessary step to strengthen our good corporate governance. He said the role of an audit committee will be important as it will also monitor the performance of many critical functions such as the treasurer as a chief financial officer of the association, and when the association decides to change its external auditor or decides to perform specifically targeted audits. OPA President Doug Parks supported Trendic’s motion and said that the B&F committee should vet the proposal. “We should really refer this to as a request for them to come back to the board with a recommendation,” he said. “I don’t think we need to say that we need to form an audit committee yet. But I like idea of asking them we’re thinking about this.” Trendic said that is precisely his intent. “I’m good to go with referring it to them and then we can talk about what they come back with,” Director Ted Moroney said. Other directors agreed. Parks, the board liaison to the B&F committee, agreed to present

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Trendic’s criticism of Supik’s role as OPA treasurer cited as one reason for decision to leave By TOM STAUSS Publisher ith no public explanation or formal resignation letter but a lengthy one-onone conversation with Ocean Pines Association President Doug Parks, OPA Treasurer and Director Pat Supik abruptly resigned from the board June 19, leaving the board one director short until the vacancy is filled in this summer’s annual elections. The resignation means there will be four seats to be filled in this summer’s balloting, with the top two voter-getters receiving three-year terms and the third and fourth place finishers earning one-year terms each. Supik’s departure has roiled the

board, with Parks in a recent newspaper interview blaming Director Slobodan Trendic, a persistent critic of Supik, for her decision to quit. According to Parks, Supik said a “big part” of her decision to resign stemmed from Trendic’s criticism of her. The six-member board removes a fairly reliable vote for Parks’s agenda, to the extent that one exists, and perhaps the board’s most reliable and vocal supporter of General Manager John Bailey. In the board’s recent six-month review of Bailey’s job performance to date, Supik reportedly gave him high marks, especially for his budget management. Trendic, not particularly bullish on Bailey’s job performance to date,

had been particularly outspoken in what he regarded as Supik’s failure, as the OPA’s chief financial officer, to recommend aggressive cost-cutting action when deficits began to materialize last summer in two key amenity operations, the Yacht Club and Beach Club. Also, in response to an email question sent to all the directors by the Progress last month, Trendic took issue with Supik’s insistence as late as the board’s May meeting that the OPA’s operating deficit would be $1.6 million. It came in at $1.2 million, a $400,000 miss, a few days later, leading Trendic and other critics, including the Progress’ opinion pages, to express wonderment that her projection could have been so far afield from the actual result.

Trendic said in his email response that he would have been embarrased by such a prediction and would have resigned as a result of that and other alleged failures. Not long after, Supik did precisely that. The initial press release issue about the resignation was short, offering no reason for why Supik had resigned, not even the typical reference of wanting to spend more time with family. At the board’s June 23 monthly meeting, her departure was briefly mentioned by Parks as a loss for the association, but no other director expressed regret or disappointement in her decision. With Director Tom Herrick absent from the meeting on a personal matter, the five directors sitting behind the tables went about their board business during the meeting without a lot of rancor, debating issues and casting votes in the usual manner. But just as the meeting was about to adjourn, Parks brusquely changed the overall civil tone of the meeting by offering a motion to discuss in closed session a “director’s q

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colleagues. Until this latest outburst, this “What could we as individual DiThe motion passed 4 to 1, with year’s board had been relatively rectors done to address any condiFrom Page 7 Trendic telling Parks that he had no civil when compared to last year’s. tions we were aware of prior to the actions” that he contended had been intention to attend the meeting. Oddly, in a subsequent press re- resignation? factors in Supik’s decision to resign. He later called the Parks’ action lease explaining the decision to dis“What could we have done as a Parks committed a parliamenta- an ambush and criticised the OPA cuss the Supik resignation in closed team of Directors to address any ry faux pas in offering his motion, a president for not offering a motion to session, Parks seemed to suggest conditions we were aware of prior to mistake that the OPA parliamentar- amend the agenda for a closed ses- that Trendic had over-reacted in as- the resignation? “What can we take ian, Colette Horn, also didn’t catch. sion at the beginning of the meeting, suming that Trendic’s actions with away from the events leading up to Under OPA’s Board Resolution B-04 a routine and customary procedure. respect to Supik would be the topic the resignation that we can share for agenda development, board To anyone observing the of the closed meeting. as a reference in future discussions members may request additional late-breaking development, it was “During the June 23 board meet- with current and new Board mem2016Ocean Pines PROGRESS 53 OPINION motions or topics to be added to a obvious that it was Trendic that ing, a motion was approved to ad- July bers?” meeting agenda during a meeting in Parks had in mind he referred journ to toclosed session insisted Yacht that fessionwhen reportedly sets a range of 30 70 percent as to discuss Clarke points Parks’s’ to three statement years of cumulative Election Commentary acceptable limits formatters ACC funding. The OPA deficits. the Clarke andmeeting Gomsak,“was elsewhere in this progress by offering a motion to do to a director’swithin actions. pertaining to theClub resignaclosed not intendFrom Page 52 currently funds its replacement reserve at the low end edition of the Progress, spar over which three years so. has to be second and approved One Oceanof Pines resident, range. Joe tion of a sitting director. should I felt the edfor to analytic single out a director and work by It the multitude of candidates. the “acceptable” be used purposes. is seen as ainThompson cheerleader, andof oceanpinesforum.com, For what it’s worth, Thompson reportedly look at years blame the new has been by a Supik majority of those attendance. Reynolds resignation of a dulyhas electedLet’s directothe laytwo specific asfacility the cause for someone in the mold of Pete Gomsak, a former board recommended 50 percent funding of the ACC, to be open. An OPA member could take a look at the April Parks skipped that step, going diquipped thatachieved Trendicover hadtenbeen a tor warranted a discussion on the the resignation. I strive for a prac30, 2016, (end-of-fiscal-year) Yacht Club profit-loss member and current assistant OPA treasurer very years; the recommendation is conrectly to his motion toTerry-Jacobs go into closed “bad boy” again, a reference to Trenbymajority the Board. the to tical approach to things andClub in this statement conclude that the new Yacht has much aligned with the faction. tained in a document that matter the board won’t Given performed well Ifiwanted nancially.to have an open and Both a Gomsak and that Supikhe areapoloretired accountants, him release the OPA membership. session, mistake possibility of personal or not other in- case, dic’s periodicletclashes withtocertain The statement is posted on-line on the OPA Web both are identified with the notion that OPA reserves A 50 percent funding level still would require a siggized for in a laterand email to his formation over thatacould not be honest among the direcsiteshared (under forms and discussion documents, monthly financials). are underfunded, both are board wedded board to the members idea nifilast cant year. increase in the lot assessment, number Operational exclude which that the OPA’s reserve levels should be tied to someof years, and talking about assessment increases is publicly, it became a personnel mat- statements tors regarding the depreciation, issue and how we appear in departmental summaries contained in the thing called the annual component cost (ACC), a comnever popular, especially during election season. ter and as suchsecret, required discussion might handle similarreleased situations in annual audited fi nancial statement in early putational confection conceived and embraced by the The rationale for keeping the document ac• Ground Wildlife Inspection August. The unaudited numbers usually come close to accounting profession. cording to Thompson, is thatin it closed is a working document session. the future. • Winged WildlifeinInspections the “official” ones available in August. Gomsak and Terry tried to persuade Supik to run involved the updating and completion of theby OPA’s “The reaction Director Tren“While the discussion by the diThe Yacht Club’s operational loss in 2015-16 was for the board last year, failing to do so, but they suc-(Birds ongoing reserve study. & Wildfowl) dicdocument was surprising and $76,219; his unrectors a year earlier that it wasattended $181,875. the meeting ceeded this year. That’s absurd, because the itself is com• Wildlife Traps Granted, year-over-year improvement If anyone is the anointed candidate of this particuplete and has been referenced in one orto two board willingness participate in the the was beneficial, the preferencewas wassigto nificant, but a loss is a loss and a $76,000 loss (plus lar faction, it’s Supik in spades. meetings. Property owners paid for that document, • Snake Removal and Prevention meeting was disappointing. am have directorson Trendic and Herrick heftyI funded depreciation a $5 million buildSupik has said that, as chairman of the Budget and and it ought to be released immediately. • Bat Inspection ing) this past in year requires a subsidy Finance Advisory Committee, she is used to navigating Thompson seems willing uncertain to release it, he’s he be-immediately as but to why thestill discussion assubstantial well, in order to • Moleing Control through the annual lot assessment. in very roiled waters, forging a consensus in a group stymied by some of his board overseers, who in share their respective viewpoints. took the position that the meeting Supik could have shed more light on the subject with, at times, sharply conflicting views. thisServices instance over disclosure and trans•Bedbug andprefer More secrecy was However, the position that the discalled to implicate On theindulged had she in less cheerleading on what the Other candidates over the years have said that parency. Perhaps they fear that the Thompson recom-him. most recentl they, like Supik claims now, can end board factionalmendation could become an election Iissue, adversely cussion actually should say. not be delayed was contrary, requested the meeting to numbers Supik also seems firmly in the camp of replacing ism and infighting. It continues, despite the best efaffecting certain candidates, particularly Supik, who an overriding concern. I existing will askamethe discuss of are the immediate (rather than repairing and renovating) forts of those who say they can end it. hasPrescheduled been open in her viewpoint that the OPAissue reserves with the Country Club an example of when that. The Factional infighting will probably continue regardunderfunded. board to consider how and to resignation of a director,nities, without current minority faction favors substantial renovation; less of who is elected this year. It goes with the terWhat they don’t seem to realize is that by keepBat Removal best broaden this discussion to inany prior indication that the event it’s not certain where the majority stands. With Supik ritory. It becomes ugly when the infighting becomes ing it secret, it could also have the effect of adversely clude input from would directors would occur. Supik, My goal waspart to share of the majority, the board gainTrendic a voice personal, such as when one director says he’s going to affecting certain candidates, particularly even strongly biased in the directionthe of replacement. throw a colleague through the wall for the temerity more so than if they had allowed Thompson tothe release and Herrick,” statement conour thoughts on following: The candidates most likely to embrace Thompson’s of seeing issues differently. his recommendations, and their rationales, to the OPA cluded. “Were there any warning signs tenure continued as general manager are Supik, SiOcean Pines’ ACC has been estimated at roughly membership. andaprobably Larry Perrone. $14 million, which could mean that OPA reserves are Supik also has come under firewe from But in subsequent interview that as aformer Boardboard should mon, have Daly, rec- Ray Unger, Those who like the status quo are not without opunderfunded $10 million if 100 funding of member for her public statements to the effect ServingbyOcean Pines and Allpercent of Delmarva • References on Clarke Request in athat’s localhow weekly, Parks andClub addressed? tions. Perhapspublished too many, but it is this electhe ACC is the goal. that the OPA and the Oceanognized Pines Yacht is doing changed his tune somewhat, tion season. –had Tom Stauss Actually, it doesn’t have to be; the accounting prowell financially. adopting a harsher tone. He said Trendic, during email exchanges, had “questioned the level of competence” of Supik and other The Ocean Pines Progress, a journal directors. of news and commentary, is pub“It was a personal attack, plain lished monthly throughout the year. and said. “She said It issimple,” circulatedParks in Ocean Pines, Berlin, Ocean City, andofCaptain’s Cove, Va. there was a lot other things [that Letters and other editorial submisledsions: to her resignation]. It wasn’t the Please submit via email only. sole [reason] ofbe her leaving acLetters should original andbut, exclusive totothe Progress. phone cording her, it was aInclude big part of it.” number verification. Trendicfor pushed back against the idea that 127 he had personally Nottingham Laneattacked Supik. He said he MD objected Ocean Pines, 21811 to her performance as treasurer, the OPA’s PUBLISHER/EDITOR chief financial officer, which he said Tom Stauss is perfectly legitimate for a director tstauss1@mchsi.com 443-359-7527 and professional. “My interactions with [Supik} Advertising Sales have been via Frankemails. Bottone And every time I had copied the entire board 410-430-3660 on my correspondence with her. So, DIRECTOR all directorsART were made aware of my Rota Knott •Lawn Mowing, Edging & Trimming•Aerating•Landscaping views and those views were exclusively CONTRIBUTING and only relatedWRITER to her work •Mulching•Shrub Maintenance•Leaf Removal•Powerwashing Rota Knottofficer of the as the chief financial InkwellMedia@comcast.net association,” 443-880-1348 Trendic said in recent email.

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Trendic rescinds request for special meeting to consider Parks’s ouster as OPA president Directors decide not to probe board member’s ‘action’ cited as a reason Supik resigned as an OPA director and treasurer By TOM STAUSS Publisher fter months of more or less civil behavior in public, the Board of Directors last month once again descended into public acrimony, with relations between OPA President Doug Parks and Director Slobodan Trendic reaching a new low, with Trendic’s call for Parks’s removal as president and board spokesman. The public acrimony ended suddenly during a special meeting July 6, when Trendic rescinded his call for Parks’s ouster and Parks followed suit by withdrawing his call for a board review of factors, including alleged “action” by Trendic, that led former director and Ocean Pines Association treasurer Pat Supik to resign last month. Following a closed session on the topic of Brett Hill’s lawsuit against the OPA for ballot access, the board

emerged into open session and Parks apologized to Trendic for referring to him as a “turd” in a recent newspaper interview. Trendic immediately accepted the apology. Both directors said they wanted to focus the remaining six weeks of the current board term on constructive activities. Trendic offered his motion to remove Parks’s ouster as president after debating OPA attorney Jeremy Tucker about the propriety of discussing multiple topics in a special meeting called for a specific purpose under OPA bv-laws. Tucker said a meeting agenda was not restricted to a single topic, a conclusion Trendic disputed. To keep the meeting on a single topic, Trendic said he was rescinding his call for Parks to be ousted or to resign as president. He seemed to be hoping that Parks would reciprocate. He did, and just as quickly as ac-

rimony had reared its ugly head at the conclusion of the June 23 month ly board meeting, the acrimony seemed to subside. The flare-up of negativity occurred when Parks, skipping a required parliamentary step by failing to offer an amendment to the meeting agenda, instead offered a motion to go into closed session to discuss a director’s action -- clearly he was referring to Trendic -- that Parks later said played a large role in former director Pat Supik’s recent resignation. Normally, amendments to meeting agendas are considered and voted on at the beginning of meetings. “It was a personal attack, plain and simple,” Parks said, referring to published remarks by Trendic critical of Supik’s performance as OPA treasurer, including a $400,000 error in projecting the OPA’s operating deficit in 2017-18. According to an an

Doug Parks

Slobodan Trendic

account in a loal weekly, Parks said “there was a lot of other things [that led to her resignation]. It wasn’t the sole [reason] of her leaving but, according to her, it (Trendic’s criticism) was a big part of it.” Attempting to explain why he wanted to go into closed session to discuss Trendic in the context of the Supik resignation, Parks said in the newspaper interview that, “You might be saying, ‘Hey Doug, why are you trying to polish a turd? Why not just let the guy fall off a cliff?’” Parks then seemed to suggest that he wanted to go into closed session in the interests of educating or improving Trendic’s interactions with his colleagues. “One of the things I’m guilty of is, To Page 12

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Directors spar From Page 10 I still think there’s some way to salvage it. I may be wrong, but that’s part of my DNA,” Parks is quoted as saying. Trendic did not take kindly to Parks’s remarks. In an email to local media, Trendic said the Parks quote referencing the polishing of a turd was “absolutely reprehensible.” Trendic said that this was “not the first time Doug used a strong profanity and displayed his bullying style. In one of the previous board meetings, Doug used the “f” word and other vulgar language that was witnessed by all directors as well as our legal counsel. I was the only director to comment back in writing about Doug’s behavior.” According to Trendic, “Doug’s comments and his behavior at Saturday’s board meeting illustrates a certain management style that I have NO intention of tolerating. You might be interested to know that last year Doug recommended the Board consider censuring me

(for) discussing board business with the local media. Did he have a ducktape in mind? LoL.” Trendic said that Parks ended up as OPA president as a result of “director-majority maneuvering” last August and as a result is one of the OPA’s official spokespersons. “Doug’s recent behavior now makes one wonder if the Board’s decision (last August) was right and it begs this question: Should Doug Parks continue to be the spokesperson for the Association?” Trendic said, adding that he would request a special meeting and “I intend to submit this very question before the Board. My hope is that at least one more director will side with my concern and join me by requesting a special board meeting. Or that Doug will do what is in the best interest of the OPA community,” Trendic said. He left the distinct impression that he believes Parks should resign as president, something which, as this edition of the Progress was nearing press time, Parks showed no sign of doing. In a June 29 email to the Progq

12 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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OCEAN PINES From Page 12 In response to an email from the Progress, Trendic declined to identify the director who seconded the call for a special meeting, but Director Tom Herrick in an email response to the Progress confirmed it was him. The initial silence from other directors on the call for a special meeting was deafening. Parks did not return a phone call, and no other director responded to email asking for comment. Early in the first week of July, Trendic said that Parks had not responded to his call for a special meeting. But that soon was remedied, with Parks accepting the call and attempting to arrange a time and place convenient to all of the directors. That place was the small meeting room in the administration building, just off the main lobby. The Progress then asked Trendic what the remedy would be if, once called, some directors simply decline to attend a special meeting. “I do not have an answer. Maybe the Board’s parliamentarian does,”

In response to an email from the Progress, Trendic declined to identify the director who seconded the call for a special meeting, but Director Tom Herrick in an email response to the Progress confirmed it was him. The initial silence from other directors on the call for a special meeting was deafening. Parks did not return a phone call, and no other director responded to email asking for comment. Early in the first week of July, Trendic said that Parks had not responded to his call for a special meeting. But that soon was remedied, with Parks accepting the call and attempting to arrange a time and place convenient to all of the directors. That place was the small meeting room in the administration building, just off the main lobby. The Progress then asked Trendic what the remedy would be if, once called, some directors simply decline to attend a special meeting. “I do not have an answer. Maybe the Board’s parliamentarian does,” he said. It turned out that all six directors showed up.

Commissioners approve $1.25 million renovation to Ocean Pines library Chimney stacks and gables will be demolished, the roof will be completely replaced, and mechanical systems also are due for replacement By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer he 20-year old Ocean Pines library is about to get a $1.25 million renovation that includes major structural repairs, a new roof, chimney work, and interior repairs. During a June 19 meeting, the Worcester County Commissioners approved a guaranteed maximum price contract with the construction management firm of Whiting-Turner Contracting Company for the project, which is expected to take up to a year to complete. Commissioner Joe Mitrecic offered the motion to approve the contract and Commissioner Chip Bertino gave it a second. Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, on behalf of the Worcester County Commissioners, solicited bids for the work. This project consists of demolition of the existing chimney stacks, gable end architectural features, a complete roof replacement, dormer louver replacement, exterior masonry flashing repair, mechanical upgrades, and minor interior finishes repair.

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Directors spar

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

14 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

July 2018

Library renovation From Page 13

After opening of bids, Whiting-Turner Contracting Company evaluated and conducted scope reviews in order to provide the county a guaranteed maximum price proposal for the project. Built in 1999, the library’s roof system leaks and damage is systemic. Roof sheathing, valley flashing and shingles need to be replaced to prevent water intrusion.

Currently, the facility leaks rain water through the roof and chimneys causing considerable interior damage. The building has two brick chimneys and both leak due to original construction deficiencies. The chimneys need to be partially demolished and reconstructed with proper techniques and construction methods. An aging heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system cannot maintain space cooling require-

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ments at the library and is also scheduled for replacement as part of the project. The condensers and evaporator coils are obsolete and need to be upgraded to new equipment. Those using the library experience interruptions in cooling due to failing or failed equipment. Interior drywall repairs will have to be completed after building improvements. Upgrades for the HVAC systems will require that all systems meet applicable codes for indoor air quality and ozone depleting agents. John Tustin, county public works director, said Whiting-Turner has completed the bid phase services for the subject project and have assembled guaranteed maximum price to complete the project. “Through a competitive bid process, we have accepted bids,” Tustin told the commissioners. The approved subcontractors are K.B. Coldiron, Inc. for general trades, Northeast Contracting Corporation for roofing, Joseph M. Zimmer, Inc. for plumbing & HVAC and Lywood Electric, Inc. for electrical

work. In addition to the base prices from subcontractors, Tustin recommended several upgrades to the project, including installation of 50year shingles, replacement dormer louvers and motorized blinds for the arched gable windows. Tustin said it is important to get the project under way at the Ocean Pines library because the construction industry growth is increasing on the Eastern Shore, and contractor availability will become increasingly limited. “This project received minimal participation from prospective bidders. It is believed that the county would be best served by moving forward with this project to retain today’s pricing and the resources that bid this project,” he said. Construction of the improvements at the library is estimated to take up to a year after formal bidding and project award, based on construction sequencing, weather conditions and constraints. The library will remain open throughout the renovation

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OCEAN PINES By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer wo neighboring property owners and frequent users of the crabbing pier located in Whitetail Sanctuary lobbied the Board of Directors during a June 23 to keep the amenity at its current location. One speaker said she had talked with more than 50 residents of that section in South Ocean Pines and presented the board with a petition signed by many of them seeking to retain the crabbing pier. The narrative contrasted with the impression given of neighborhood sentiment at the May board meeting. General Manager John Bailey, quoting several residents who live in the immediate vicinity of the pier

County increases Ocean Pines water, wastewater rates By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer

ustomers in the Ocean Pines Sanitary Service Area will pay $16 per quarter more for basic water and wastewater following the June 19 approval by the Worcester County Commissioners of the fiscal year 2018-19 operating budget for the enterprise fund. Ocean Pines customers will, however, see a small reduction in the debt service fee for infrastructure improvements. The commissioners adopted the FY19 water and wastewater enterprise fund operating budgets, assessments, user charges, and other charges for each of the 11 sanitary service areas and sub-areas operated by the Worcester County Department of Public Works, Water & Wastewater Division. In addition to user fees, a debt service assessment is levied to repay bonds and loans for capital water and sewer infrastructure that is financed by the county, and all assessments are based per equivalent dwelling unit. In FY19 there will be a debt service reduction for Ocean Pines. In Ocean Pines rates will increase from $154 to $170 per EDU per quarter domestic water and sewer base fee, and increase from $146 to $158 per EDU per quarter for the domestic sewer only flat charge. Additional domestic water and sewer charges will be levied at a rate of $1.60 per 1,000 gallons up to 10,000 gallons.

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Residents lobby for retaining crabbing pier in Sanctuary Bailey narrative rejected in 50-signature petition and don’t like the presence of parked cars on their street, seemed to suggest that was representative of the neighbhorhood generally. The presentation of a 50-signature petition essentially indicated that Bailey hadn’t done his homework in canvassing the neighborhood and conveyed inaccurate information to the board in May. Lynn Killian confronted Bailey’s narrative head-on. She said she lives next to the crabbing pier; in fact, she said, her home’s proximity to the amenity was one of the reasons she and her husband bought the property. “One of the best amenities in a neighborhood is the one you use the most,” she said, adding “It’s close to home and brings simple joy to everyday life.” Killian said the crabbing pier is a place of quiet meditation, childhood amusement, family bonding, and bonding with friends and neighbors. “You meet nice people and families.” That, she said, is why there is a crabbing pier in Whitetail Sanctuary. Many residents of Ocean Pines are unable to have home on the water, Killian said, adding the crabbing pier is a place to which people can walk or ride a bicycle, and that doesn’t cost anything to use. “So we

really embrace this amenity that we have.” Killian said she talked with her neighbors in Whitetail Sanctuary and those who live in close proximity and found overwhelming support to have the pier repaired and remain where it is currently located. She said she reached out to all members of the Board of Directors and General Manager John Bailey to discuss the issue, but only Director Slobodan Trendic responded. She presented the board with the petition signed by residents of the area who support keeping the crab pier and urging its repair. Resident Rich Klina said he is a frequent user of the crabbing pier, which was an amenity that attracted him to the area. He said he has been crabbing throughout the community during the last 16 years and the pier in Whitetail Sanctuary is “probably the best location in Ocean Pines.” He said he has never seen more than three cars parked in the area by people using the crabbing pier because most people walk or ride a bicycle. “That’s telling me that the people who live in that general area in that location are the ones that use that dock,” he said, adding that it should

not be moved to a different location within Ocean Pines. That was the suggestion by Bailey at the May meeting, and he was able to convince a board majority to authorize him to search out alternatives at that time. Klina chastised the board for the OPA’s failure to properly maintain the crabbing pier, which is an amenity and therefore maintenance should be covered by annual assessments. “I don’t understand why there has been no maintenance done to this crab dock over the years,” he said. “It’s reached an actual point now where the condition of the dock area is reaching a point where it may have to be replaced.” It should have had regular annual maintenance, he said, but seemed to escape the notice of OPA management. He said the existing structure doesn’t appear to be in bad condition, aside from having two missing planks and one floating section out of alignment. “Other than that the dock looked the same as it did last year and the year before that and the year before that.” His recommendation was to fix the existing structure and keep the pier in Whitetail Sanctuary. If parking is a concern, he suggested removing some trees and adding designated spaces. However, during a board discussion of the project, OPA directors said that is impossible because the surrounding area is designated as wetlands.

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16 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

July 2018

Country Club project delayed again, with plan changes General Notes:

Elevator to be included in revised RFP as an option By TOM STAUSS Publisher xpectations that a request for proposals for the Country Club second floor renovation would be approved by the Board of Directors and sent out on or about the first of June were dashed last month. The project didn’t go out to bid by July 1, either. It’s possible that revised plans, including an elevator and changes to the roof line for aesthetic reasons, will be reviewed by the Board of Directors this month, in a special meeting or perhaps at the board’s regular meeting July 27, before a formal OCEAN RFP PINES is issued by General Manager John Bailey. GOLF CLUB The slippage in the schedule means it will be the newly reorganized Board of Directors, with three A1.1 or four new members, that will review and award a contract for the renovation, perhaps as early as August. The plan still is to begin construction in October with completion by March of next year. During the board’s regular meeting June 23, Bailey said it would take the OPA roughly two weeks from then to submit proposed alterations to the plans to the architects, Davis Bowen Friedel. He said the architects would require two or three weeks to complete revisions, after which it would be possible to issue an RFP. But Bailey omitted a step: the current board will most likely want to review the plans yet again before

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Bailey is authorized to release the RFP. In his GM’s report during the June 23 meeting, Bailey announced that the latest set of revisions will include an elevator to replace the lift in the building’s entry foyer. Earlier, the plan had been to delay installing the elevator in a second phase, but opinion in Ocean Pines, and very real concerns about American with Disability Act requirements, persuaded Bailey that an elevator option needed to be included in the RFP. It cost add roughly $100,000 to the final cost of the project, according to local builder Marvin Steen, who has said he will submit a proposal to the OPA for the renovation in which his services as a general contractor would be donated. Bailey said the informal working group of staff, directors and members of the Ocean Pines golfing community have been “looking at” the roof and roof lines from the perspective of making sure leaks are fixed and prevented from occurring in the future. He said the group has also “been dealing with aesthetics” of the current roof lines, which project a dated and unattractive 1970s appearance. Later during the meeting, Director Ted Moroney, who has emerged as the board’s “spearhead” on the renovation project according to Director Slobodan Trendic, said the architects had already addressed roof line and leak issues in its most recent schematics. To what extent there will need to be further revisions in the roof isn’t clear. Bailey directed residents to visit the OPA Web site and input “Country Club” using the site’s search function to view DBF’s most recent designs, which probably won’t be significantly changed in the final To Page 18

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July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Please Vote for Esther Diller Ocean Pines Association, Board of Directors Summer 2018 Election

If elected, I will work to achieve the following: • Reduction of lot assessments. This year’s increase was unnecessary and was based in part on inflated estimates of last year’s operating deficit. • An end to theft, fraud, corruption and embezzlement. If the forensic audit uncovers evidence of wrong-doing by individuals, prosecution rather than cover-ups to deter others. • The evaluation of outsourcing for departments that need it, to reduce costs and improve efficiencies in the delivery of services. • A delay in a vote on the NorthStar financial management software to allow the new Board to consider all alternatives, including outsourcing. • Communication- I will look to establish a response to public questions at board meetings before the next meeting, so members of our community can see they are being heard. • Accountability for how our money is spent and transparency in procurement/bid practices, including opening of bids in public in most cases. • Bring cohesiveness to our board so we can work as a team. End needless and non-productive infighting. Authority: Esther Diller

18 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Country Club

From Page 16 draft, at least to where revisions are evident to the casual observer. Elevations from the east, south and west indicate a far more streamlined, modern roofline when compared to the existing building. The posted schematics, somewhat oddly,

Rod and reel winner

OCEAN PINES

July 2018 don’t include a north elevation, the way the building would look when viewing the front entrance from the driving range or circular driveway. Moroney also directed OPA members to visit the OPA Web site for a recap of a June 15 meeting of staff, golfers and directors at the Country Club, the result of a special meeting of the board June 14, when a group

Poor weather did not prevent ore than 50 youth from participating in the Ocean Pines Anglers Club Teach A Kid To Fish event held last month at the South Gate Pond. Anglers Club members and representatives from the Department of Natural Resources were on hand to show the youth fishing regulations, knot tying, fish identification and casting instruction. Bait was provided so articipants could try out their newly learned skills. A drawing was held at the conclusion of the event for a new rod & reel won, whcich was won by Andrew Sharff, shown with club president Walt Boge.

of members of the Ocean Pines golf community suggested changes to the latest design. Attending the working group’s meetring were Bailey, OPA Facilities Manager Kevin Layfield, OPA President Doug Parks, golf committee members Larry Perrone, Frank Brown and Bob Long, Director and Golf Advisory Committee Board Liaison Tom Herrick, Director of Golf John Malinowski, Trendic, Moroney, and Matt Ortt of the Matt Ortt Companies. According to the meeting recap, the group’s tour began inside the front entrance and proceeded to a large open area, through meeting rooms, a board/dining room and bar area, discussing plans in detail for each area. The group also looked inside the existing kitchen, looking more at space than at existing equipment, according to the summary. “The group proceeded to the covered deck and talked about the removal, extension, and raising the deck to level it with the existing floor. Discussion included the second floor rear of the building access via two new replacement staircases. The group then walked out back and viewed the roof lines, flat roof and the visual changes proposed. Subsequently the group moved to the front of the building and observed the roof lines as well. Several members accessed the roof and observed the flat roof and the existing and proposed intersection of roof lines,” the summary says. The group then met with Ortt, who “examined the kitchen and provided some initial thoughts. He will provide {Bailey] with some recommendations

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and layout suggestions with options in the next two weeks.” The plan has been to provide for a modest “warming kitchen” to accommodate golf banquets, with food preparation likely to originate in the first level Tern Grille kitchen or off-site at the Ocean Pines Yacht Club. There is no indication in the summary that the plan for a warming kitchen only has changed. According to the summary, items to be discussed with the architect include deck railing materials, such as glass, vinyl or cable; window additions in the the board/ dining room, with consideration of the afternoon sun; options to reduce floor sound to the lower level (spray foam, cork); and acoustics in the board room along with speaker placement. Replacement of all the windows on the second floor will be considered, most likely as an option in the RFP. Other issues include water drainage from the roof to the ground level, a two-foot increase in the deck elevation, further changes in the roof line to eliminate potential leak issues, re-siding of the exterior, and the elevator. Exterior re-siding had not been considered in earlier incarnations of the plans, but its current unappealing condition will probably make it into a final RFP. “These are the primary issues to be addressed [by Bailey] with the Architect/Engineer,” the summary said, adding that “several of these items (new windows, various floor sound proofing options) will likely become what are known as Add/Alternates in the bid package where the bidders separately list an add or deduct a price for the option. This allows OPA to perform a cost/ value analysis to determine if the association wants to accept the option,” the summary says. According to the summary, the group did not object to the basic floor plan on the upper level. Bailey “confirmed the decorator from the Matt Ortt Company would be assisting in the decor of the finished areas of the Country Club which garnered unanimous approval,” according to the summary. It concluded that the installation of the elevator and possible additional changes to the roof line could be the most significant changes to the plans to date. It glossed over exterior re-siding, which definitely would add significantly to a final cost of renovation.

OCEAN PINES

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Euthanized wildfowl are donated to the Maryland Food Bank

arly in morning on June 29 before most Ocean Pines residents were up and about, a service associated with the United State Department of Agriculture

and contracted by the Ocean Pines Association rounded up about 250 resident Canadian geese that had been accumulating at the South Gate ponds and took them away on

their final destination. In a press release posted on the OPA Web site, General Manager John Bailey took full responsibility for the removal, expressing regret

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OCEAN PINES

July 2018

From Page 19

of resident Canada geese contributes to unacceptable accumulation levels of feces in the waters and recreation areas of the community,” he said. The press release indicated that the OPA had contracted with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for the removal of resident Canada geese as a part of the USDA’s wildlife damage management project. Bailey said that prior to their arrival in Ocean Pines, the federal agency determined that their actions would be in compliance with all federal statutes, including the National Environmental Policy Act. Removal of Canadian geese from the ponds in Ocean Pines occurs from time to time, with the full support of the OPA’s Environment and Natural Assets Advisory Committee. Geese removal was approved as part of the 2018-19 budget. The resident Canada geese that were captured and removed from the community were euthanized and donated to the Maryland Food Bank.

Bailey pushing for board action on reserve study funding issues Joint meeting between B&F committee, directors could set the stage for decisions later this month By TOM STAUSS Publisher eneral Manager John Bailey is pushing an ambitious schedule for the Board of Directors, with the advice of the Budget and Finance Advisory, to make decisions later this month relative to the level of assessments needed to fund Ocean Pines Association reserve accounts and future capital improvements. These decisions are related to some degree to the update of a 2016 reserve study, a 357-document that purports to list all of the OPA’s assets valued at $5,000 or more. After months of delay and a scrubbing of the asset list, removing items no longer in service or fully depreciated. it supposedly is a more or less accurate description of and toting up of OPA asset values that may or may not be helpful in board decision-making relative to reserve funding and associated assessment levels. At the board’s June 23 board meeting, Bailey called attention to a scheduled joint meeting of the board and the budget and finance committee July 13 to discuss the reserve study. After the re-

serve study, more accurately described as an asset list that includes an expected remaining life span of listed assets, is dissected, the two groups are expected to pivot to a discussion of the reserves and related funding issues. Bailey said he doesn’t want the July 13 meeting to focus on individual items listed in the reservve study’s asset list, telling the board and the budget and finance committee in recent meetings that to do will bog down the process and get the board no closer to making decisions Bailey seems determined that they make this month. Bailey wants the two groups to hash out the percentage of full asset replacement “we want to fund,” assumed to be substantially less than 100 percent. Bailey has said that some homeowner associations have reserves as low as ten percent, but others, especially those with a rich variety of amenities and other common area property, can go much higher. With OPA assets valued north of $40 million including cash holdings, as of April 30 according to the balance sheet, which may or may not correspond to

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OCEAN PINES

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

General Manager John Bailey recently announced that a portion of the Swim and Racquet Club campus has returned to use as a staging area for bulkhead replacement in Ocean Pines.

Staging area previously opposed by residents across the canal has been resurrected for same purpose By TOM STAUSS Publisher eneral Manager John Bailey announced the resumption of the annual bulkhead replacement program in a June 27 press release posted on the Ocean Pines Association Web site. He said it’s necessary to do bulkhead replacement in the summer months because for the past two years, except for some emergency repairs necessitated by a lawsuit, little or no work on work on bulkheads has been done. In the past, the OPA has avoided repair and replacement work in the summer because it’s prime boating season. A two-year delay in significant bulkhead work would not appear to be related to the season-

Reserve study From Page 20 values appearing on the updated reserve study, it makes a huge difference what percentage of full funding the board decides to adopt, which of course presumes the directors are prepared to adopt any percentage at all. At the end of April, the conclusion of the 2017-18 fiscal year, total OPA reserves were $7,893,933, roughly 20 percent of assets as shown on the April balance sheet. The reserve balance was $10,500,202 as of May 31, or 26.25 percent of all assets shown on the April balance sheet. There was no balance sheet included in the May financials. Bailey has noted that the reserve study asset list doesn’t include some

drainage improvements and, as would be expected, doesn’t include new capital projects, either. New capital projects are normally itemized in a capital improvement plan, something that was last updated during the administration of former general manager Bob Thompson, more than five years ago. That version is essentially useless today. There is no capital improvement plan under draft currently, a previous two-year effort to draft one essentially failing to produce a draft, let alone a final product. In years past, earlier iterations of capital improvement plans have had major impacts on decisions made about the level of funding needed in reserves to pay for major capital projects, usually replacement of existing buildings.

al nature of boating in Ocean Pines, nor was a resumption of replacement activity in the summer cleared by the Board of Directors in advance. Whether any director makes an issue out of it remains to be seen. It probably will depend on whether affected residents complain about the staging area as they have in years past. Bailey announced that the Seabreeze Road staging area adjacent to the Swim and Racquet Club that has been used in the past will once again be used for that purpose when the program resumes. Indeed, equipment and materials used in replacement have already shown up on the site. That location was vigorously opposed in the past by neighbors across the canal, who have shown up at board meetings in large numbers to protest. Among their concerns is that the area is designated as park that is part of the Swim and

For all of Ocean Pines’ 50 years, there never has been a formal “percentage” of full funding of assets that Bailey appears overly anxious to set as an official OPA policy, within days of a new board with three or four new members taking office. In addition to a funding percentage, Bailey is pressing policy-makers to adopt a minimum balance to hold in the reserves, along with an inflation rate assumption that would adjust those balances each year. He also wants to determine an escalation factor over a period of years to reach the minimum balance determined to be desirable, under the assumption that it may be politically impossible to make the jump all in year. The latter assumes that the board will be inclined to make any change

Bailey announces resumption of bulkhead replacement program this summer

at all in the reserve balances. Bailey also said some consideration will need to be made for road improvements in additional to drainage solutions that may be proposed in coming months. The general manager told the board during its June 23 meeting that the budget and finance committee will be ready to make formal recommendations to the board on these reserve funding issues in a meeting July 18. Then, at the board’s scheduled July 27 board meeting, Bailey said the board “will vote” on the committee’s recommendations. That’s what he’s hopes for, at least. The statement seemed somewhat presumptuous, because directors, not necessarily the general manager, determine when they will or won’t vote on certain matters.

22 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

July 2018

Bulkheads From Page 21 Racquet Club campus that includes the swimming pool, a splash pad, a basketball court and free tennis courts. The opponents have in the past elicited the assistance of the Assateague Coastal Trust and other local environmental groups in their efforts. In year’s past, use of the area as a bulkhead replacement staging area has been condemned as an eyesore and safety hazard by the residents whose homes and backyards are across the canal from it. Former Acting General Manager and Director Brett Hill told the Progress recently that he recalls that the Hi-Tide contract specifies that the staging area would be located in OPA common area off Ocean Parkway near the entrance to Wood Duck Isle, closer to where replacement work will be focused. According to Bailey, materials stored on-site at the staging area will be “transferred to a barge and moved to the work site,” which the press release didn’t identify. Previously, OPA Facilities Kevin Layfield has identified the Wood

Duck Isle sections of Ocean Pines where there is a lot of worm-infested bulkheading that needs repair or replacement. The press release said the staging area “located at the end of Seabreeze Road has been used to load barges for the bulkhead replacement program in Ocean Pines for over 20 years.” The general manager said the OPA is working with the contractor “to ensure that the site is kept orderly and will be sure to post the area so that children are aware not to play on the materials or equipment.” Bailey said the staging area will be not available for use for bulkhead projects not associated with the Ocean Pines bulkhead program, but whether that will offer much comfort to affected residents also remains to be seen. Bailey said barges and other vessels are under the jurisdiction of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Marine Police and cannot be regulated by the OPA but can’t be tied to a bulkhead owned by Ocean Pines Association. The press release offered no detail on the status of the one-year

contract with Hi-Tide Marine Construction that was approved in a board vote in July of last year but only executed this past January, according to OPA Director Ted Moroney. He said that a new request for proposals would be issued well before the current contract with HiTide expires. Without a long-term replacement plan in place, the board was hesitant a year ago to approve more than a one-year contract for bulkhead repairs in Ocean Pines during a July 28 meeting. Hill, in his final weeks as acting OPA general manager, presented a proposal to award a three-year contract to Hi-Tide Marine Construction, which submitted the least expensive bid among five responses to a request for proposals. A majority of directors were not willing to commit to a three-year term, opting instead for a shorter contract, with an option to renew. Hill said the board had previously discussed the bulkhead repair contract but never officially made an award. “This has dragged on too long and we just need to get it moving for-

ward,” he said at the time. Hi-Tide Marine Construction was the low bidder with a base bid of $226.70 per linear food for vinyl bulkhead. That rate was just $1.79 more per linear foot than the OPA has been paying for to its previous contractor, Fisher Marine, for wooden bulkhead replacement. Hi-Tide currently carries contracts with both the State of Maryland and the Town of Ocean City. In making his motion for approval, Hill said that it is in the OPA’s best interest to sign a contract with the company so it can move forward with its bulkhead repair program as quickly as possible. Director Pat Supik gave a second to the motion. The OPA completed its original 20- to 25-year plan a couple of years ago, and since then has been doing repairs on an as-needed basis. In the meantime, the OPA’s bulkhead and waterways reserve has ballooned to $3.1 million as of May 31, more than three times what was typically spent in a year of replacement under the old program. Roughly $1 million in bulkhead replacement is budgeted for the current fiscal year.

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OCEAN PINES

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Survey won’t be included with OPA ballot materials

copies they receive in the mail. By TOM STAUSS “With regard to providing the Publisher survey on-line, we will be utilizing hen Ocean Pines property the services of Snap Survey,” softowners receive their balware that Bailey will allow the OPA lots and candidate summa“to combine the on-line responses ries for the annual Board of Directors Bailey says that for ‘political and practical’ reasons, it’s better and the hard-copy, returned surveys election this month, they won’t find to send out questionnaire in its own, separate mailing; into one data stream. Snap Survey something other than the usual docwill collate everything and provide uments. Aug. 13 is the planned mailing date us with a summary report and the That’s because General Manager everybody plenty of time to digest data.” John Bailey, despite a board motion that one envelope.” Bailey said a separate mailing the results and include any aspects In remarks supporting his motion dating back to March 29, has decidwill take place. into the development of the 2019-20 last March, Trendic noted that the ed not to include the long delayed “We plan to wait just a bit and budget, as well as in the strategic Strategic Planning Advisory Commember survey that the Strategic send the survey out and post it on plan,” he said. mittee, to which he is board liaison, Planning Advisory Committee and Bailey said the plan is to provide made several recommendations to Monday, Aug. 13 (following the anits predecessor has been working on nual meeting) with a return date of the survey on-line along with allow- the Board in a memo dated Feb. 6. for well over a year. Frank Daly, the committee’s cur- Friday, Aug. 31. This will still give ing OPA members to fill out hard rent chairman and a candidate for the Board of Directors this summer, told the Progress in late June that he believes the survey is in a form that could be mailed out to property owners as part of the election materials. He said that Bailey recently asked him if the committee had any additional changes it wanted to make to the survey. Daly told Bailey that the committee was satisfied with the latest draft and that he should mail it out to property owners consistent with a board motion that was passed 6-1 on March 29. Technically, even if Bailey would arrange to include the survey with the ballot materials, he will have missed the deadline called for in the board’s March 29 action, which instructed the GM “to undertake a Community Survey by distributing the questionnaires to the Association’s homeowners no later” than July 2. Election materials are due to delivery to OPA Secretary Colette Horn for printing and mailing by July 6, Each Unit is 2543 Sq. Ft. Plus 256 Sq. Ft. Patio four days later than the July 2 dead30 Feet Open Space - Between Buildings line, and ballots could go out anytime after that. Enjoy all the Ocean Pines Amenities! The Progress emailed Bailey in The Yacht Club & Marina • Golf & Country Club • Tennis Courts early July asking about his plans to get the survey in the hands of propBeach Club • Four Outdoor Swimming Pools • Indoor Pool erty owners. Parks • Community Center and Special Events He responded in a July 6 email. Shopping Center • Medical Center • Post Office • Library “After much consideration, we are not going to be sending the survey Woods in back of Townhomes with the ballots,” Bailey said. r Stop In and Ask icrk You e Site Reasons “include the political P u o Y Stop In and Ask om Pick rede H About Our Newest Project and the practical. Politically, no one m Site r o e f H About Our Newest Project e d r e wants to introduce any possible conPreferrP ow! Now! N Like us on fusion to the election process. Having Like us on two documents in the same mailing that have to be returned separately is not the way to prevent that from Like us on Associates, Inc. happening,” Bailey said, adding that “practically speaking, the ballots al627B Ocean Parkway Ocean Pines, MD 21811 627B Ocean Ocean Pines, MD 21811 ways go out in an regular envelope, PH: 410-641-7050 CELLParkway ANYTIME: 443-235-2325 thus there is no way we can fit all of ANYTIME: 443-235-2325 PH: 410-641-7050 CELL Steen@Beachin.net steenhomes.com MHBR 486 the election materials and the surSteen@Beachin.net steenhomes.com vey and another return envelope into MHBR 486

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24 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

July 2018

Pintail Park clean-up

Members of the Ocean City Power Squadron, a unit of the United States Power Squadrons, participated in the annual spring cleanup of Pintail Park on June 19. As part of a commitment to support the community, Pintail Park was adopted and has been maintained for the past several years by the Ocean City Power Squadron. Members pictured from left to right are Tony Smith, Tom Rush, Eileen Salaﬁa, Ginny Rush, John Zaleski, Tony Curro, Ken Wolf, Jack Tellman, Jeanne Stiehl, Stock Harmon, Joe Salaﬁa, Terry West, Sharon Wolf, and Bill Sewell.

Member survey From Page 23 The committee suggested that the survey be made “available electronically via Survey Monkey and in written form to be mailed by the Association,” with a 30-day deadline for responses. The committee recommended that the survey be sent only to Ocean

Pines homeowners, which seemed to take renters out of the equation. The committee noted that the 24 questions submitted to the board last year have not changed since then and that “therefore, the Committee requests that the Board and the General Manager add, delete or modify these questions as necessary.” Trendic said the purpose and ef-

fect of his motion was to facilitate “the beginning phase of the Association’s effort to obtain valuable feedback from homeowners. The information collected from this survey and other resources will serve as the basis for developing a multi-year strategic plan” for the OPA. OPA Director Ted Moroney, while indicating support for the motion, asked Trendic to ask the strategic

planning committee to advise on what percentage of “8,000 property owners” would constitute a “reasonable sampling” to give credence to the survey results. He also said he wanted to know what the committee “was going to do with it” once results are tabulated. OPA President Doug Parks said that any question that asks for a “narrative,” by which he meant a written response as opposed to a yes-no or multiple choice, should be deleted from the survey. Jacobs said he hoped her “critique” of the survey that she submitted last year would be addressed in a revised version of the survey, which she also said should be limited to check-off responses. Trendic said the July 2 deadline for sending out the survey should give Bailey, working with the committee, adequate time to come back to the board with a final draft for review. “That’s why the deadline is in three months,” he said. It appears that Bailey will miss that deadline by roughly a month and a half, but it’s probably not going to raise a lot of concern.

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

26 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

July 2018

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Horn withdraws motion on ethics/conduct policy, compares process to ‘giving birth without anesthesia’

What’s precious to you isprecious precious What’s to to us.

he wasdrafted expecting thedocument, board to move in a that the likened new direction. long process of develthe 10-month Thompson served six to years as generoping the resolution giving birth al manager, that’s within the without theand benefi t ofwell medication. average of service for managers of “Thistime 10-month process kinda reminds me of the time I gave birth

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voted 6-1 extendreading. the contract for anproval on to second other three years change. With just fivewithout members present Newboard’s anointed OPA at the June 23President meeting Tom and Herrick was the only director to vote one of those, Slobodan Trendic abagainst thethe extension. of the direcstaining, board One voted to table a second reading of the resolution

members as a result of this summer’s He election told the– to Progress incontract a recent OPA revisit the exinterview that what essentially tension, whether to renegotiate it orretermains rewrite a list minateafter it, orHorn’s keep it in force asiswritten. of infractions thatspecifi defied ne “cause” The contract an Aug. in 31 the by-laws could deadline forprovision making a that decision on rethe sult in removal from the board.

Hill that Thompson’s contract would be

axe fell as soon as it did. The new board terminated in the with closedansession Aug. reorganized itself election of 26. ofBOARD OF DIRECTORS other Aug. directors ficesHein and a meeting 22. Hdeclined an will’s i t invitation h o u t to by motion go the intoProgress closed session email to disanesthesia. on Aug. 26 after the open session to made cuss how and why the decision terThat wasofapossible termination. no mention minate the contract occurred, citing the painful Trendicand told the Progress several confi of closedtomeetings. l e ndentiality g t the h ydecision days after terminate was made that “absolutely” there was no inprocess as The or press release byannouncing the tention expectation the board mawell. And decision that the Stevens contract and was jority Herrick, this ofissaid be-only Trendic, Hill that contract be made for Thompson’s convenience, meaningwould that the ginning to terminated in the closed session Aug. 26. surpass the board majority was not alleging any sort He andand other directors declined an ofpain wrong-doing onColette Thompson’s Horn part that email invitation lengthiness by the Progress to diswouldhow have a termination for cuss andjustifi whyedthe decision to terof that” she said. minate the contract occurred, citing the cause. She called out OPA President confi dentiality of closedfor meetings. The termination convenience Doug Parks after he said it is unThe that press release announcing the means Thompson reap generlikely that he will will vote to aapprove decision said only that the contract was the resolution. ous severance package, including salary made for convenience, meaning thatatthe find disconcerting that the and“Ibenefi tsit for nine months, although board majority was not alleging any sort ninth hour I’m getting feedback that apparently he no will bepart eligible of wrong-doing on longer Thompson’s that says this is a no-go from directors for anyhave bonuses. would justified a termination for who had voted to begin with to purcause. Nine months of salary works to sue efforts based a out shared Thethis termination for on convenience $123,750 for work that need not be perconcern the will governing documeans that that Thompson reap a generformed. ments did not adequately ous severance package, including address salary the defi of cause foralthough The veilnition deliberations inremoval closed and benefi tsover for nine months, of a director, and the shared concern apparently he no longer will be eligible regarding mechanisms for providing for any bonuses. guidance on the ethics of conduct Nine months of salary works out to $123,750 for work that need notbusiness be perof directors during their formed. meetings and their communications SM The had veil over deliberations in created closed that deteriorated and some serious problems in the last 

this Jacobs’ year’s budget related toobjections; the bonus Brett the OPA given that, at theGM time, there cial performance, ended uppasses with a highStevens motion 4-3, over ‘emotional’ Hill named acting 28ly Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2018 clauses” that would have made it much was a solid majority of pro-Thompson dicontentious 4-3 vote to terminate the whowho voted forhave it, Jack Collins, was easieroptions. for Thompson to earn a bonus re- tors rectors could renegotiated the By TOM STAUSS contract and Thompson’s employment three Newly elected director Brettthis Hill,year. who defeated in his election bidmore this lucrative summer, Publisher lated to amenity performance contract to make it even with the Ocean Pines Association. motion to go into closed ses- with his contract extension vote a possiclosed meeting that began with offered Hill the in his explanation said that the for Thompson. Director Brett Hill was chosen by the intended purpose of reviewing sion, in prepared remarks explaining his ble contributing factor. board “has an to discussre-a Stevens wasforparticipating in was the five board members Also voting the extension the board majority to serve interim motion said thatobligation General Manager Bobas ThompParks called out for leaning against adoption of new policy; Moroney says he’s OK more objective measure of bonus calcu- Dave meeting via telephone, later had discovered “many disturbing Stevens, who wasn’tand on said the ballot son’s employment contract, pending includinga cently or acting general manager factors surrounding the handling of the this year but isn’t known as a Thompson with July vote or pushing decision to new board; Trendic adamantly opposed lation, so a notifi cation of a (reopened) he might have voted differently had he what described as “disturbsearchone fordirector a replacement. bonus (for the 2015-15 fiscal year),” fan. Both Collins and Stevens explained ing factors” involving a $30,900 bonus GM negotiation would be in thedraft best until been at person to hash out the deAt a L.special meeting of the Board contract By ROTA KNOTT itsthe July meeting, or possible possibly to Moroney said the revised well as “adjustments already made to their votes as the best deal for for better-than-budgeted amenity finan- as interest of all parties to avoid further istails of a renegotiation. Contributing Writer August after the annual OPA elecwith the ethics committee deletthis year’s budget related to the bonus of Directors Aug. 26, the directors votthe OPA given that, at the time, there cial performance, ended up with a highsues in future years.”have for Elections have and ith adirectors major in the tion seating of three or four could be presented action at was clauses” that would made it much aand solidthe majority ofconsequences, pro-Thompson diedcontentious 5-2, with Patterminate Renaud and ly 4-3 vote rewrite to the ed works, members of the new directors. the July 27 regular meeting of the easier for Thompson to earn a bonus rerectors who could have renegotiated the A decision to revisit the contract by with the election of Hill and Slobodan contract and Thompson’s Cheryl Jacobs dissenting,employment to go into lated to amenity performance thisopened year. contract make it June even that more lucrative OceanPines Pines Association’s board. During that 23 Thompson meeting, with the Ocean Association. the Aug. 31 deadline would have Trendic ittowas apparent closedofsession to discuss Thompson’s Hillsaid in his that the for Thompson. Board Directors are was at odds over Horn presented a revised version of he explanation was leaningsaid in support Director Brett Hill chosen by a He two-month window for the board and no Stevens longer had a solid majority in of supcontract, been for ofboard was the whether towhich adopthad atoresolution that B-08 participating for second reading, it. “has an obligation to discuss a resolution the board majority serveextended as interim Thompson to renegotiate, something porters on the board. more objective measure of bonus calcumeeting via telephone, and said later three yearsgeneral Aprilof 28. establishes aoncode ethics and con-a Earlier iterations of the revised but she wanted to table final conor acting manager pending lation, so a notifi cation of awould (reopened) might differently had one he that Thompson probably have he Indeed,have there an toexpectation search forguidelines a replacement. duct, sets removal of a resolution sideration by voted thewas board allow allowed both directors Undisclosed at thefor time the contract contract negotiation would be in the best been at the person to hash out the deAt a of special meeting ofbody, the Board welcomed. Back in April, he offered to more in thereview community that, at some member the made governing by the Bylaws andpoint, ResOPA members to submit comextension was public was aand pro- and interest oftoallbe parties to avoid further istails of a renegotiation. of Directors Aug. 26, the directors the vot- plaints creates a committee to oversee olutions Advisory Committee. considered by the drop amenity-based bonus incentives in Thompson’s contract probably would be vision the Pat “newRenaud board” and – in sues in future years.” Elections have consequences, and ed 5-2, that withallows directors process. Despite some minor revisions now-abandoned ethics committee. for atomore predictable incenterminated by theofnew In pubA decision revisit the contract by with the election Hill board. and Slobodan this case,Jacobs theaccording board that to hadtoDirector three new exchange Cheryl dissenting, go into Actually, As the revised version sans ethics since the first reading in May, intive package, but the board at the time the Aug. 31 deadline would have opened lished accounts, Thompson himself said Trendic it was apparent that Thompson closed session to discuss members as references a result of this Ted Moroney, toThompson’s ansummer’s ethics committee cluding making bothmajority OPA directors had not for been posted on no a two-month window the board and longer had a solid of supvoted 6-1 Web to extend the for an- and he was expecting the board to move in a contract, which been for OPA election – tohad revisit theextended contract ex- the committee have been deleted in the allon association OPA as contract of July 7, it’s Thompson to site renegotiate, something porters the board. officers subject three years on April 28. other three years without change. new direction. latest draft resolution by Director the ethics requirewhether thiswould provision tension, whether to renegotiate it or ter- not known Thompson probably have to Indeed, thereand wasconduct an expectation Undisclosed at the time the contract thatNew anointed OPA President Tom Thompson served six years as generColette Horn. ments, she said there was one more remains after Horn’s latest rewrite. minate it, was or keep it inpublic force as written. extension made was a pro- welcomed. Back in April, he offered to in the community that, at some point, That would also eliminate access change that needed to be run by the It’s also unclear whether Horn Herrick was the only director to vote al manager, and that’s well within the drop amenity-based bonus incentives in Thompson’s contract probably would be Thethat contract ed an Aug.– 31 vision allowsspecifi the “new board” in tothis an case, attorney that earlier drafts of B&F committee. intends to present the new draft for exchange for a more predictable incenterminated by the new board. In pubagainst the extension. One of the direc- average time of service for managers of the making board that had three deadline for a decision onnew the fitive the resolution had called for. Horn, who Thompson led the work rst package, reading but or the askboard for at board ap- lished the time accounts, himselfgroup said

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ethics proposal From Page 28 two years.” She said the document includes both guidelines and protections for directors “by creating specificity that we can all agree to” regarding what constitutes a violation of ethics or conduct and how it is to be addressed. “So I think it’s time to cut off input to this. I think we’ve got the input and the language that we need,” she said. Horn suggested sending the resolution back to the Bylaws and Resolutions Advisory Committee one final time to a “last minute concern” expressed regarding the power of an ethics committee to refer matters to legal counsel and to address any “lingering concerns” regarding consistency with the OPA’s governing documents. In response to Parks’s concerns, Horn said “The work was born of a shared concern that the level of discourse and collaboration among directors was in need of elevation. It was a shared belief that the governing documents had not provided the level of specificity in its guidance on ethics and conduct that would be required to achieve this elevation in communication and collaboration.” Parks said the resolution simply adds a layer of administrative management and subjectivity to something that is already reasonably well stated in the bylaws. “I am kind of on the fence but probably not in favor of moving forward with this despite the wonderful work that the committee did,” he said, adding he understands the work group was trying to clarify language included in the governing documents.

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Instead, he said it adds a “level of burden and subjectivity that quite frankly we may not need right now.” Horn said the work group realizes the resolution may not be perfect. “Our aim was to produce our best effort, realizing that after implementation here may be need for refinement or revisions based on practicality and usefulness of this document,” she added. Trendic has maintained his adamant opposition to the resolution. “I’m totally in favor of holding directors to a higher certain level of ethical standards and conduct. I think that’s been obvious for some time now,” he said, adding that his concern is how the resolution addresses that issue. As an alternative to adding a new layer of bureaucracy and opportunity for divisiveness in Ocean Pines, he said the board could simply have directors sign off on a simple code of ethics. Horn said the resolution also addresses the shared concern of directors that the governing documents did not provide sufficient guidance regarding removal of directors for cause. “There’s plenty in our existing bylaws and in our resolutions that defines conflict of interest and other areas. So all we need to do as a board really take the time to learn and comply with what is in place,” Trendic responded. He also took issue with the timing of the resolution and said any further consideration of the proposal should wait until after the annual OPA elections because at least three new directors will be elected. “I believe it would be unfair of this board to even attempt to do something like this,” he said and suggest-

ed the second reading be tabled until the August board meeting. While Parks wasn’t a fan of the resolution, he disagreed with Trendic about the timing. “Boards change all the time. And if we took that approach we’d never conduct any business in June or July,” he said. Director Cheryl Jacobs said the timing is very appropriate because it gives the sitting board the opportunity to have the new resolution in place before the next slate of directors takes office. “What better way to indoctrinate the new board members…as to the expectations of the outgoing board?” She said a new group of directors could also mean a new board majority takes control of the OPA. “I do think it is entirely appropriate to set the stage for what could be a new board majority if all four people come in with like-minded ideas,” she said. Moroney told Trendic the resolution was generated in response to a

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board majority’s attempt last year to oust Trendic from his seat on the board. He echoed Horn’s comment that the resolution serves two purposes, one of which is to define resources for disciplinary action against a director. “But more important was put in something that was a check and balance on any majority of the board acting on their own will because a board member or other members didn’t go along with it,” Moroney said. “By having that separate group that came in and looked at it, it would validate some of what was being said.” As for the timing, Moroney said that doesn’t matter to him. He said one board years ago fired the general manager just prior to an election, so there’s precedent for July action. He said he is just interested in “moving the thing forward” and then the board can determine if it wants to take final action in July or August.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

July 2018

Directors agree not to appoint board replacement for Supik Board votes to appoint John Viola as treasurer

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer ith just six weeks until the results of the annual Ocean Pines Association election are announced, the Board of Directors has opted not to appoint a replacement for Pat Supik, who resigned unexpectedly in June. Five of the remaining six directors discussed what to do about the vacancy during a June 23 board meeting and decided not to take any action. Instead, the vacancy will be filled following the election. At a special meeting July 6, with Director Tom Herrick in attendance, the board reaffirmed the consensus that had been evident at the June 23 meeting. The issue had been raised by Director Slobodan Trendic, who said he felt it was important to put it on the meeting agenda so association

members knew what was going to happen. Trendic read from a section of the OPA bylaws that allows the board to take action – or not – to appoint a replacement when a board vacancy occurs. If a vacancy occurs on the board within 90 days prior to the annual meeting but before the ballots have been submitted for printing, the majority of the remaining board of directors may appoint a replacement to serve until the next annual meeting. “We have a vacancy on the board and the bylaws actually provide us with the opportunity to appoint a replacement or not appoint a replacement given that we are only six weeks away from the elections,” Trendic said. Director Ted Moroney said the board should wait. “My personal opinion is being this close to the

election with one more scheduled meeting that we not fill it at this point. That we just go ahead and let the new board get set.” OPA President Doug Parks said there is only one more regular board meeting before the annual meeting. He said there have been board vacancies in the past close to the election and the board didn’t fill the position. Still, he said, “I can’t say I have a strong feeling one way or the other.” He said it also may be difficult to find someone who would want to step in for a short period of time. “I think it would be inappropriate if we asked some of the candidates that are currently running for the board to step in. I would not be in favor of that at all,” he said. No one else was, either. Trendic said he agreed with Moroney and Parks that the board

should take action no action and simply allow the board to function with six directors until August. “Given the time that’s left and we only have one meeting it would be pointless to appoint anybody,” he said. “I’m totally in favor of just letting the board continue to function as is ... and let the time run out until the next election.” Later during the meeting, the board approved a motion to adjourn to closed session to discuss Supik’s resignation. Trendic refused to participate. [See separate article in this edition of the Progress for details.] Also, during the June 23 meeting, directors voted to elect John Viola as the OPA’s treasurer. Trendic offered a motion that Viola, one of three assistant treasurers, serve in the position until the organizational meeting of the incoming board is held in August. At that meeting the board will elect new officers of the association. Moroney gave a second to the motion, which was approved unanimously. Trendic said the board is required to act to fill the position following q

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the resignation of Supik, who served as treasurer, to be in compliance with the bylaws. He read a section of the bylaws that states “a vacancy in any office shall be filled for the unexpired portion of the term by a person elected by the board of directors at the next regular meeting of the board or at a special meeting called for that purpose.” Supik’s resignation took place four days prior to the meeting but a special meeting was not called. Therefore, Trendic said it was important to address the issue during the June 23 meeting because it was the next regular scheduled meeting. Moroney initially called for a special meeting of the board to address the issue. He said the OPA has two experienced people as the assistant treasurers who are not employees, John Viola and Gene Ringsdorf. “My personal preference is that one of them step up and do this going forward. And then also my personal preference is depending on the

makeup of the board if I’m sitting here is that we do look for expertise in the treasurer’s position going forward,” he said. Moroney suggested holding a special meeting “once we’ve had a chance to talk to people” to see if either of the assistant treasurers would take on the role. Parks agreed and said as of that meeting the board has not had a chance to solicit any potential candidates “because it’s been a quick turnaround.” However, to stay in compliance with the association bylaws the board recognizes it does have a responsibility to hold a special meeting to address the appointment of a new treasurer. Trendic told the board he had already spoken to Viola to ask if he would be willing to step up “and he was perfectly OK with that.” He said he called Viola just prior to the start of that board meeting to verify that he was willing to serve as treasurer. With five directors present, Trendic said there was no reason to hold off on making the appointment. He said the board should nominate Viola as treasurer and not delay the

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Interest generally exempt from federal may locality w bonds may be subjectalso to federal andresiding profits inand tax-exempt bonds may be be free alternative of state andminimum local taxestax for(AMT), investors thelosses state on and/or locality where Ratings by Moody’s/Standard Poor’s. A credit ratingbonds of a may security is not to a recommendation to buy, selland or hold the s the bonds&were issued. However, be subject federal alternative tax (AMT), about Viola’s availability, Moroney revision, suspension, reduction withdrawal at any time by may the assigning Agency. pertains profits andorlosses on tax-exempt bonds be subjectRating to capital gainsInsurance tax treatment. Rat- only to the *As of00/00/00. 06/07/2018 est. No representationings is made as to any insurer’s abilityA to meet its financial commitments. Ratings and insurance do by Moody’s/Standard & Poor’s. credit rating of a security is not a recommendation to * As of said he would make a call to Viola not guarantee the market thethe bond. buy, value sell or of hold security and may be subject to review, revision, suspension, reduction or withdrawal at any time by the assigning Rating Agency. Insurance pertains only to the timely Financial FINRA/SIPC. Securitiesand offered Subject to availability pricethrough change.Raymond MinimumJames purchases may Services, apply. TheInc. yield, member is the lesser of yield to maturity or yield to call. to confirm it. payment of principal and interest. No representation is made to any insurer’s ability to meet its from federal taxation and may alsofinancial be freecommitments. of state andRatings local taxes for investors state where the bo and insurance do notresiding remove in riskthe since theyand/or do notlocality guarantee the market value of the bond. bonds may be subject to federal alternative minimum tax (AMT), and profits and losses on tax-exempt bonds may be subject to Trendic’s information turned out Ratings by Moody’s/Standard Poor’s.Financial A credit rating of a Inc., security is not FINRA/SIPC a recommendation to buy, sell hold8/15 the security an ©2015 Raymond&James Services, member 15-MFI-0113 ICDorBS Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FNRA/SIPC. revision, suspension, reduction or withdrawal at any time by the assigning Rating Agency. Insurance pertains only to the timely pay to be accurate.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

July 2018

Horn withdraws White Horse Park boat ramp motion pending call for volunteers to help gather usage data Jacobs says those who think amenity is being over-used by non-members should help count cars By ROTA L.KNOTT Contributing Writer rompted by complaints from property owners that “outsiders” are hindering their ability to use the White Horse boat ramp, the Ocean Pines Association is trying to gather data that will illustrate the extent of congestion at the amenity. But, a lack of volunteers who are willing to count vehicles at the boat ramp during designated data collection slots brought the process to a standstill. During a June 23 meeting, the Board of Directors called for those who complained about lack of parking and long wait times at the boat ramp to step up and help the Marine Activities Advisory Committee collect data for eight weekends. OPA President Doug Parks said members need to come together and collect the data so the board can make an informed decision on the use of the boat ramp. Director Collette Horn initially offered a motion, which she withdraw following discussion, for the board to provide specific direction to MAAC for the collection of data regarding the number of vehicles ac-

cessing the White Horse boat launch during the current boating season. She included a sample spreadsheet for data entry of vehicles counted during three different time slots on multiple days. “There have been complaints by members who wish to launch their boat using the White Horse boat launch facility that there is insufficient space for parking vehicles with trailers so as to ensure safe access to the launch ramps and that there are excessive wait times for gaining access to one of the two launch ramps during the spring and summer boating season,” Horn said. In order to determine the extent of the problem and to determine appropriate remedies it is necessary to gather data on usage, she added. At an April meeting the board tasked MAAC with gathering that information. While MAAC proposed pursuing data collection during a single timeframe beginning at 10:30 a.m. on the weekends, the board felt additional monitoring was necessary. Horn said the reports received from members was that the congestion at the boat ramp occurred later in the day. Therefore, the board wants to include two additional data

points at mid-day and mid- to early afternoon. However, Horn said the committee is having difficulty finding enough volunteers to be able to collect that data. Horn said the expanded data collection model is unrealistic based on the limited number of volunteers. “This is the challenge that we’re going to have,” she said. Parks said the board took the issue to MAAC to try to leverage use of the advisory committee. “In this case we thought we had a good approach to looking at an issue that’s been discussed at length over the years about the use of the boat ramp by the non-Ocean Pines individuals that have access and use of that boat ramp .... Now that it is time to gather data, the committee is not able to provide all of the necessary manpower to do so. “It’s almost maybe a call to arms for the rest of the community,” Parks said. He added that the board can’t determine if there is a problem and how to address it without adequate data, starting with an assessment of the degree to which congestion is a problem. Director Cheryl Jacobs suggested

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tabling Horn’s motion until the July board meeting. “Once again this is an issue that was brought to us by people who, in the community, were facing difficulty in being able to utilize one of the amenities that we all help pay for because there was a belief that outsiders were taking up all of the spots,” she said, suggesting a call to those community members who feel the boat ramps are being abused to help out with data collection. The board needs the data “so we can decide once and for all if their belief is well-founded factually” and make some ecisions regarding how to address the problem, she said. Jacobs emphasized the board is not trying to collect data because it intends to charge property owners for use of the boat ramp. “That’s not the intention at all. The intention is that the amenities that we all pay for are available for us to use without outside people taking up all of the spaces.” She said if anyone is to be charged a fee for usage “it’s somebody who doesn’t belong here.” Horn concurred the data collection is not for the purpose of charging members for the use of the amenity. “The issue is, is there a congestion problem regardless of who these users are? If there is a congestion problem then we’ll need to go to the next step of figuring out is that due to outsiders versus insiders, which is a separate question,” she said. The project simply involves counting boat trailers, she said. “It’s not rocket science.” Director Ted Moroney said if the board decides to delay the data collection then it might as well not do it at all because it will miss the height of the summer season. He said the only way to complete the data collection correctly is to have association staff do it. He suggested the board direct the general manager to have staff do the data collection and track the associated costs. “At some point we’ve got to get to the end of this. Every year we talk about how this stuff is being used. Let’s find out what the truth is. Figure out if we do need to either have a sticker or a gate or whatever. What that cost is going to be to the association members to do that, how big the problem is, and bring it to a close one way or another,” Moroney said. Otherwise the board is just going to continue to have the same conversation about the White Horse boat ramp time after time. q

32 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Boat ramp

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Bailey warns of penalties in new drainage strategy

From Page 32

Details await working group’s recommendations later this month By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer hile the Ocean Pines Association has no legal authority to do so, a drainage working group may be preparing to include in its recommendations levying fines on property owners who fail to maintain manicured, debris-free ditches along their lots. The working group’s final report and recommendations are scheduled to be presented to the Board of Directors later this month, but General Manager John Bailey provided an update at a June 23 board meeting. With no further explanation, Bailey hinted that a proposal to penalize property owners for keeping unkempt ditches could be forthcoming. During his general manager’s report, Bailey said the drainage working group is looking at enforcement and penalties as a way to encourage preventative maintenance. He said the drainage group is trying to determine exactly who is responsible and for what elements

of the stormwater management system in place in Ocean Pines. “That’s an ongoing discussion right now which a lot of us have been entertaining to discuss,” he said, suggesting that the OPA’s governing documents do not necessarily specify some areas of responsibility for maintaining the drainage structures. “The documents are clear in one sense and not clear in another,” he said, adding that “there are other things besides the documents that we have to deal with.” As an example, he said there has been some discussion about how to address drainage as it relates to lots owned by non-residents, rental properties, and vacant lots. For purposes of lot assessments, however, there is no distinction among these kinds of lots. Bailey quickly moved on to provide a brief overview of other topics to be addressed in the final report, which will be presented at the July board meeting. Overall, he said the report will contain an introduc-

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OPA staff perform data collection at the boat ramp. “This was brought to use by community members who are upset about this situation and I’m asking that those same community members come forward …” to help with the data collection. She suggested tabling consideration of Horn’s motion, but still soliciting volunteers to get started the data collection process. “I’d rather do some of it instead of not doing any of it.” Parks was also opposed to having the OPA conduct and fund having staff perform the data collection. At this point it is “just counting cars” and should be easy for anyone to do, he said. Moroney said it is fine to use volunteers, but added “I just don’t think you’re going to get usable data back doing it that way…” He questioned the validity of counting cars without knowing how many are not Ocean Pines residents. Horn withdrew her motion and said the board can revisit it in July.

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34 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

July 2018

Herrick fears board is planning to ram through NorthStar management software contract at July 27 meeting Committees scheduled to review competing software from Legum and Norman on July 20 By TOM STAUSS Publisher is remaining days as an Ocean Pines Association director are winding down, but Tom Herrick is determined to do whatever he can to delay a decision on new management software until after a new Board of Directors is organized in August. He is not a fan of the NorthStar Technologies’s software suite that has the backing of OPA President Doug Parks and the Technology Working Group. He is more receptive to proprietary management software controlled by Legum and Norman, a regional homeowner association management company that the board last summer came close to hiring to manage OPA financial operations. But he thinks that a planned re-

view of L&N software in a July 20 demonstration is a “smokescreen” to allow Parks and others on the board to “ram through” a vote on NorthStar software at the board’s scheduled July 27 meeting. Members of the TWG and the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee are scheduled to review L&N software. A recommendation on which package is better for the OPA is likely to follow, with the possibility that the two panels will differ. The TWG has recommended that the board enter into a six-year contract with NorthStar for its software suite, with an estimated cost of $1 million. L&N recently was asked by the OPA to submit an request for proposal (RFP) for software services to the OPA, with an initial deadline of July 9. That deadline was extended by one day, the Progress has learned.

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Herrick said the RFP to L&N, authorized by Parks, should have been extended to other companies, and not just for software. Herrick wants a full exploration of outsourcing not limited to NorthStar or even L&N. The Progress has learned that L&N will be submitting a proposal to the OPA that decouples management of OPA financial affairs from its proprietary software, at least to some degree. OPA Director Ted Moroney said the L&N solution might in the end be a hybrid, involving some on-site oversight by L&N employees. “It could include some ‘rebadging’ of OPA personnel (as L&N employees),” he said. Moroney in a recent email to his colleagues said the L&N submission due on July 10 will address the recent recommendation of the B&F committee to explore outsourcing. “This meets the recommendation from B&F and our Treasurer

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tion to the stormwater management system and drainage woes in Ocean Pines. It will include discussion of specifically what the problems are, as well as environmental, community design, water table, construction on lots that may not be buildable today, and other factors that play a role in drainage in the community. He said the report will detail the design capacity of the existing system, average amount of rainfall, and “the numbers.” There are 350 miles of ditch lines within Ocean Pines, he said. The drainage working group’s report will address five primary focus areas of emergency response, preventive maintenance, chronic non-engineering issues, chronic engineering issues, and education. “We break each one of those five elements down,” Bailey said. As an example, he said, in the area of emergency response the report discusses what OPA does during a storm event, what the county does, what residents can do, what doesn’t

(John Viola) who has seen the finance portion of the (L&N) system in person,” Moroney wrote. “We will have completed our due diligence which might allow for a vote on the 27th, and if they (L&N) are included, would certainly not have a new board overturning a decision two weeks later based on failing to include this last option. Don’t include them and the argument will be made we purposely excluded them, regardless of facts,” Moroney wrote. Herrick told the Progress in early July that he believes a vote on July 27 would be premature. Herrick said full outsourcing also needs to be in the mix, and that can only occur if an RFP is issued to more companies. “Just inviting in L&N for a software demo in no way meets the concerns of the B&F committee about the need to fully explore outsourcing,” Herrick said. “Because of that, the current board should expect the new board to rescind premature action by this board.” By any measure, it would appear that the decision-making process on this issue has slowed down considerably. A motion to approve the purchase and implementation of community To Page 36

get done, and the impact of significant rainfall on the rest of the drainage program. Bailey said “most importantly from this report will come specific recommendations back to the board,” he said, adding those suggestions will include items like pilot projects and education programs. The recommendations will also come with a price tag so the board has an estimate of the cost for inclusion in the OPA budget process if necessary. Some of those items include funding for additional staffing and equipment. Bailey said the working group wants to have an eight-member drainage staff team and purchase a service truck, GPS, and other tools for the employees’ use. Another potentially costly recommendation is opening the public works yard for collection of yard debris on a yearround basis. “There will be specific recommendations with specific amounts of money that will be presented and then I will work to incorporate some of that into next year’s budget,” Bailey said.

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36 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

July 2018

Management software From Page 34

association management software licensed by NorthStar was nowhere to be found on the agenda for the June 23 meeting of the Board of Directors, and it was not added belatedly as a way of circumventing member scrutiny on what has become a hot button political issue in this summer’s board election. At the board’s May 24 monthly meeting, Parks had intended to push for a board vote on the controversial software package, but he

pulled it from consideration because it encountered significant pushback by the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee. The committee adopted the position of two sitting OPA Directors, Slobodon Trendic and Herrick, that the OPA should fully explore financial management outsourcing options, including the possible hiring of a financial management company, before committing to a six-year relationship with NorthStar for its software solutions. Three candidates for the OPA board were on record early as oppos-

ing the NorthStar option without first exploring outsourcing options, which would include consideration of outside firm’s software solutions. Those candidates are Esther Diller, Frank Daly and Steve Tuttle. One other board candidate, Paula Gray, responded to a Progress email by saying if the NorthStar proposal is “that good, it will be that good next month after the election. The usual response by our Board has been to criticize or chastise a response like mine by saying ‘you don’t have enough, all or whatever information.’ Yet no questions are

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answered or data is ever offered, under the guise of contractual confidentiality... Please head up my response as What’s the Rush!!!” Another candidate, Greg Turner, told the Progress that a decision could wait for a new board. Arie Klapholz did not respond to a Progress request for comment. The matter did not arise in last month’s candidates forum hosted by the Elections Committee. Moroney, more supportive of the NorthStar solution, says he’s open to L&N software as well. Diller, Daly, Tuttle and Gray are all advocating for the decision to be pushed off to the new board that will organize in August, after this summer’s board election. Herrick among current directors has been the most vocal in urging delay in deciding the issue. Parks is largely regarded as a proponent of the NorthStar software, as he’s a member of the Technology Working Group that has been in the forefront recommending it. Directors Cheryl Jacobs and Colette Horn have not made their views public. The resignation of former OPA Treasurer and Director Pat Supik, a NorthStar proponent, diminished chances that a board vote will occur in July, before a new board is organized. According to Herrick, Parks seems to be convinced that “looking at software only from Legum and Norman (a company that almost received an “outsourced” contract last summer to manage OPA’s financial affairs) will satisfy the concerns of those in the community who want to know why they were not evaluated. The only true evaluation (of outsourcing) will occur is if the next board demands it. Hopefully the association will not be locked into a six-year commitment contract with NorthStar before they are elected,” Herrick said. At a joint meeting last month with the Budget and Finance Committee and the Technology Working Group, TWG chairman Tom Terry and the TWG’s paid consultant, Len Smith, continued to push for the NorthStar solution. Herrick told the Progress he belGeneral Manager John Bailey told the joint meeting of the two committees that he’s been in touch with Legum and Norman to see if they are willing to license its software to the OPA without a contract to manage the OPA’s financial operations. The answer to that seems to be a qualified yes.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Six of seven board candidates urge current directors not to vote on software package at July 27 meeting By TOM STAUSS Publisher n response to a question sent to all seven candidates in this summer’s Board of Directors election by the Progress, Frank Daly has positioned himself foursquare against the possible purchase of management software recommended by General Manager John Bailey and the Technology Working Group. He is joined in opposition to the software package, which might come up for a vote at the Board of Directors’ July 27 meeting, by candidates

Esther Diller, Steve Tuttle, Paula Gray and Greg Turner. But it was Daly who offered the most detailed explanation of his position advocating for delay. Candidate Ted Moroney, a sitting director who is in a position to prevent the vote from happening or to vote against the NorthStar Technologies package should it be added to the July 27 meeting agenda, isn’t calling for a vote July 27 but nor is he opposing it. [See separate article in this edition of the Progress for details.}

Director Tom Herrick told the Progress recently that he believes determined, behind-the-scenes lobbying by the TWG and General Manager John Bailey continues and may be successful in pushing the NorthStar proposal to the finish line later this month. Daly agrees. “Pushing the Northstar proposal to the finish line would be, in my opinion, a very bad mistake with completely unnecessary risks to the Association,” Daly said in his reply to Progress. He said last year’s “deep dive audit” of OPA operations indicated serious issues that need to be addressed, including antiquated and fragmented software, weak business processes and poor management. “Implementing a software package before correcting the business process and management deficiencies puts the entire software investment at risk,” Daly said, echoing positions that Herrick and Director Slobodan Trendic have taken on the NorthStar purchase. “I have personally asked four sitting directors if they have validated and verified that the business process and management issues have been rectified,” Daly said in his reply. “Director Herrick said he did not know. At the town hall meeting [former] Director Supik did not answer

the question. Director Parks said he would check with the GM. Director Maroney said that verification and validation would come from the audit of this year’s financial statements.” Daly said those responses “do not give me the confidence I would require to risk what by most accounts will be one million of our assessment dollars in the Northstar package.” According to Herrick, supporters of the NorthStar proposal are trying to appease those who have suggested looking at the possible outsourcing of OPA financial management to a company such as Legum and Norman by asking that company if it would be willing to license use of its proprietary management software to the OPA. To Herrick, that approach is a smokescreen to persuade out-sourcing proponents that outsourcing has been looked at seriously by the board. Daly said such an narrow focus is not adequate. “First, the Northstar software package is a package designed for clubs with extensive amenities. I have no doubt that it would serve our golf, aquatics, racquet sports and food and beverage amenities well,” Daly said. “However, Northstar does not address any of our ‘municipal functions’ such as asset management, road, bridge, bulkhead and ditch maintenance management, preventive and predictive maintenance of buildings and equipment, capital planning, CPI activities and utility consumption. “Northstar also fails to address our budgeting, forecasting, reporting and project activity requirements. “The question that really needs q

Daly says board vote later this month on NorthStar software package would be ‘reckless’; wants issue to be resolved by new board

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The Coast Guard Auxiliary is offering the Maryland Basic Boating Safety Course July 10, 11 and 12 at the Ocean Pines Library. A Maryland safe boating certificate is required for all boat operators born after July 1st 1972 and is awarded after successful completion of the course. The Course includes piloting in local waters, tying nautical knots, foul weather tactics, legal issues and common marine maintenance. The cost is $15 for all three evenings. Barry Cohen at 410-935-4807 or CGAUX1205 @Gmail.com is handling registration or calls for more information.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

July 2018

Jacobs says Trendic can’t have copy of initial Mediacom contract draft Parks subsequently overrules her and provides a copy By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer first draft of a new contract between the Ocean Pines Association and Mediacom Communications, the sole provider of cable television and internet service within the community, was declared off limits to members of the Board of Directors, at least for a day or two. Slobodan Trendic asked for an update on the status of a new franchise agreement with Mediacom during a June 23 board meeting, but his request for a copy of the document was denied by OPA Vice President and Director Cheryl Jacobs, whose authority to do so is not spelled out in any OPA organizational document. After receiving an overview of the work that has taken place so far to negotiate a new contract with Mediacom, Trendic said it’s good to hear what’s been going on but he wanted to see the 55-page draft contract. When he asked for verification that it is not available to the board for review, Jacobs responded “that’s correct.” Trendic wanted to know who said the board can’t have access to the draft agreement. Jacobs, who has been serving on a work group to help develop the new contract, responded that it was the OPA’s attorney. Trendic then asked – emphasizing that he was not so informed – if the board had been made aware that it couldn’t see the draft. He said

Daly on NorthStar From Page 37

to be answered is what the plan to address all of these areas is and what is the cost? Are we looking at extensively customizing Northstar? At leasing a second package to cover the ‘municipal’ functions? If we are looking at two packages how are we going to integrate them to improve our budgeting, forecasting, reporting and project activity tracking? What will our IT Department look like-in house or outsourced,” Daly added. According to Daly, the proper approach would be to address those issues and then issue a RFP for outsourcing to determine if any HOA

he intended to follow up on that issue after the board meeting. OPA President Doug Parks said “Really where we are right now is, it wasn’t ready for presentation to the board because the draft agreement went to the attorneys.” He said there is a nondisclosure requirement “until they get to a certain point. Be advised that the process is ongoing. It’s not ready yet.” Meanwhile, he said the delay in signing a new agreement is not affecting the current service arrangement with Mediacom. They will continue to provide service for Ocean Pines customers on a monthto month basis “as long as we’re operating in good faith with them,” he said. A day or two later, Trendic told the Progress that Parks had relented and made copies of the draft contract available to directors. Trendic said that was a good move by Parks, because it enables directors to offer suggestions for improvements before either side considers it a done deal. Trendic said he asked to add a discussion of the status of new franchise agreement to the meeting agenda “to let the community know what’s going on with Medicaom.” He said the OPA knew the previous agreement with the cable company was nearing its end on June 3 of this year. He said Parks and Jacobs informed the Board last fall that the

discussions with Mediacom representatives were taking place. The board had yet to receive any draft of the new franchise agreement for review and its approval. Specifically, he wanted to know who is negotiating on behalf of the OPA and what is causing delays in executing the new franchise agreement. Trendic said he wants to see the draft document to “make sure certain things are addressed in a very transparent way, especially if those concerns are in the form of a cost that will be passed through Mediacom directly to the homeowners of this association.” He argued that the full board should have access to the document. As for the legal advice not to share it with the board, he said “I want the board to made aware of under what laws that is being used as a condition for not having access on an important contract of this nature that impacts the entire community.” Jacobs backpedaled, saying “perhaps I didn’t explain it properly.” She said she was not suggesting the entire board will not have access to the franchise agreement. “Absolutely they will. I’m just saying this initial draft, which we just got, is not ready yet to be shared with the entire board because the attorney is looking for some feedback relative to the questions that were raised by the group that’s been working on it…” She said the Technology Work Group, which includes General

management companies would respond to make a fair, unbiased comparison. “Based on what all of the candidates have said I am confident that the new Board will have the votes to insist on a full, fair and true comparison of outsourcing versus a lease/ purchase of our software requirements. If I am elected that will be how I vote,” Daly said. Whether he will have that opportunity remains to be seen. Daly also positioned himself as less than enamored with the way the TWG has functioned. “I also believe the votes will be there to bring the Technology Work Group in from the dark and to run it as every other committee in the As-

sociation is run, in full compliance of our bylaws and the Maryland HOA Act. I don’t see a lot of support for a Committee that meets in secret in violation of both,” he said. Daly said there is no need to rush the Northstar lease purchase “other that the fear that the new Board will demand a fair, unbiased comparison between it and other potential options. Right now the Northstar proposal, best case, addresses only one of several software related issues. Without being certain that the process and management issues identified in the ‘Deep Dive’ audit have been fully addressed and having answers for the other software issues it would be reckless to proceed,” he said.

Manager John Bailey and former director and OPA President Tom Terry, has been working to develop language that provides a strong franchise agreement with Mediacom and can also be used as a template for any other providers that may offer service within Ocean Pines. That is why it is taking so long to develop the document, she said. “We are going on a month to month basis with Mediacom now,” Bailey said. The day prior to the meeting he said he received the 55-page document from the OPA attorney. “It’s a wonderful 55-pages of technical and wonderful legalize that requires several readings for each paragraph to understand it,” Bailey said. Bailey added the OPA tried to negotiate with additional providers, including Comcast and Verizon, to serve the community. He said it is “not as simple as Comcast can run a line from ditch to your home. They don’t have infrastructure in place to serve Ocean Pines. “The biggest change is that they easements are no longer just available to Mediacom. They’re available to everybody but it requires a significant capital investment by Comcast or whoever else…” Bailey said. “It wouldn’t matter who it was they would have to put in their own infrastructure or buy it from Mediacom. So it’s a big capital investment for anybody else to provide it.” Director Ted Moroney said the new franchise agreement is not like past contracts with Mediacom. Because of the law changed to prohibit exclusionary rights-of-way, other providers could offer cable and Internet within the community in the future. Moroney said the association is also developing a document that can be used with other service providers. “This document really has to encompass a lot more than previous Mediacom contracts did which is why it’s taking a little bit longer. And its 55 pages or so versus a half a dozen pages,”Parks said, adding as he has previous that the OPA did talk with both Verizon and Comcast about serving Ocean Pines. Verizon wasn’t interested at all. Comcast was only willing to do so under a bulk contract with the association that would have required every property owner to have service, which they would pay for through the annual assessment, Parks said. Moroney said Comcast’s proposal of a bulk basic contract would mean q

38 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPA FINANCES

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Board rebuffs Trendic effort to trim retirement fund matching contributions OPA contributions to 401-K accounts too generous and are outside industry standards, Trendic says

ly meeting. In the end, four directors voted in favor and Trendic abstained on Director of Finance Steve Phillips’s recommended approach to the vesting issue. Under Phillips’s recommended approach, after one year of employment, OPA employees retroactive to May 1 will receive a matching contribution into their 401(k) retirement account, up to three percent of compensation. The contribution becomes fully vested -- that is, it becomes the property of the employee -- one year after he or she is employed. Director Colette Horn brought

Parks announces first status report on forensic audit Details sparse in Gross, Mendelsohn’s first update By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer wo months into the forensic audit, the certified public accounting firm hired by the Board of Directors to investigage Ocean Pines Association’s finances has submitted its first status report. The report, available on the OPA’s Web site, provides no recommendations but simply details the firm’s work so far. OPA President Doug Parks pre-

sented an update on the forensic audit during his remarks at the opening of the board’s June 23 meeting. “It’s very generic. It basically lists the things they have done to date,” he said. The Board voted unanimously April 5, with one director absent, to award a contract for forensic audit services to the firm of Gross, Mendelsohn & Associates. Now, two months into its contract, GMA is conducting Phase 1 of its review of

Mediacom

ble service because the association would be paying the bill for them. “So you are paying for them to have cable.” There would be no incentive for the provider to disconnect service for any residents because the company would still be paid by the OPA. “It’s a little more complicated than we’re just getting a cheap price,” Moroney said of the bulk service contract, which has been off the table for several months. Faced with no alternatives other than Comcast’s bulk service proposal, “the smart thing to do,” Parks said, was work with Mediacom to develop a new contract. “The focus is to get Mediacom structured in a way that it can be a benefit to the community at this point in time,” he said.

From Page 38 that “every single homeowner in the association gets charged per month” even if they receive service from a different provider. “We would have to lock the entire association in for five years as part of this deal with a five percent increase per year built in and it only gives you one set up in your house so you would have to pay additional,” he said, adding, “So whether the bulk rate is lower or not. It’s not quite as simple as it looks.” There would be no way to opt out like residents can under the trash collection franchise agreement, he said. People who do not pay their association dues would still receive ca-

the vesting issue to the board in the form of a motion because of a recent board-approved change in 401(k) contribution policy. Under previous practice, the OPA made socalled “safe harbor” contributions to employees’ 401(k) accounts even if an employee elected not to make a contribution. As a result of a recent board-approved change, the OPA now will only contribute to the retirement account if an employee does so, too. In addition to the vesting issue, the directors voted to appoint Phillips as the retirement accounts’ limited trustee, replacing former the OPA’s food and beverage operations. The firm initially performed financial data analyses and planning in its office and then worked on site in Ocean Pines for two weeks. Staff gave GMA a download of all general ledger activity for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2017 and the first eleven months of fiscal year ending April 30, 2018. “We have worked with that data in Excel and set up pivot tables to enable us to pull up data on a departmental basis and to drill down on the detail activity. We also prepared various financial analyses of the Food and Beverage Department data for the last two years including comparing income and expense amounts to budget,” the status report states. That work was completed by GMA at its office prior to working on site in Ocean Pines. GMA has performed a detailed review of daily sales, both cash and credit card receipts, and deposits for all food and beverage department operation for a period during the summer of 2017, including comparisons to point-of-sale reports, credit card transactions, general ledger entries, and bank deposits. It has conducted a detailed analysis of all bank deposits for a period during the summer of 2017 to identify missing bank deposits and gather information to further investigate any discrepancies and determine what happened to the missing money. Additionally, GMA is performing an in-depth analysis of payroll exq

By TOM STAUSS Publisher irector Slobodan Trendic, concerned that the Ocean Pines Association may be too generous in the way it funds 401(K) retirement accounts for employees, recently tried to convince his colleagues on the Board of Directors to adjust the way the OPA handles the issue of when OPA matching contributions become fully vested. The arcane issue of when 401(k) matching contributions become fully vested, immediately or over a period of years, was debated by the Board of Directors at the June 23 month-

controller Art Carmine, who retired from the OPA last year. After Horn introduced her motion to accept Phillips’s vesting proposal, OPA President Doug Parks commented that “it’s not that we’re doing anything new” with respect to vesting. Trendic then asked Phillips the definition of a limited trustee as opposed to trustee. Phillips said he didn’t know, but said he needed to step into the role however it’s defined because Carmine is no longer an OPA employee available to serve in that capacity. Trendic said he couldn’t vote in favor of a motion when neither he nor anyone could define the term “limited trustee.” He also said he was reluctant too support the vesting policy recommended by Phillips because the board has not been provided details “of what the plan is all about.” He noted that its existence does not appear in the recently revised employee handbook. Director Ted Moroney responded that “short-term” the board needs to replace Carmine. He didn’t seemed too concerned about the precise definition of a “limited” trustee. Trendic also suggested that the full vesting of retirement contributions after only a year of employment to him seemed too generous. He proposed instead a staggered vesting policy, as a way of encouraging employees to remain employed for a longer period of time. He suggested phasing in vesting over a three-year period, rather than one year as now occurs, consistent with what he said is current industry practice. Trendic also questioned whether the full vesting after a year of employment is budgeted for 2018-19, to which Phillips responded that it is. Phillips said the budget allows for $117,000 in matching 401(k) contributions and that full vesting of retirement contributions are covered by that $117,000. In response to another question from Trendic, Phillips said that 80 to 100 employees are eligible to matching OPA contributions under the policy. Trendic noted that if the plan covers 100 or more employees, the OPA’s plan is subject to an annual audit by regulators. When Horn’s motion for full vesting after one year came to a vote, along with Phillips’s appointment as a limited trustee, Parks, Moroney, Horn and Cheryl Jacobs were in favor. Trendic abstained, clearly convinced that the vote was premature.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2018

By TOM STAUSS Publisher o one in Ocean Pines Association management is happy with the $103,000 budget miss in May, the first month in the 2018-19 fiscal year, but the negative variance to budget is not seen as a harbinger of financial woes to come. Another million dolar operating loss is nowhere in sight this early in the new fiscal year. Indeed, an indicator of OPA’s financial health is May’s net operating income of $6.286 million, an increase of $1.07 million over May of last year, the result of $241,000 more in lot assessment revenue and $779,000 less in revenue transferred to the OPA’s reserve funds from the operating fund. The negative operating fund variance of $102,953 was the result of revenues under budget by $31,063 and expenses over budget by $71,890, according to a financial statement prepared by OPA Director of Finance Steve Phillips and posted on the OPA Web site last month. The Yacht Club, under new management, lost $64,466 for May and missed its budget by $39,139. But OPA officials are not alarmed by the results, reflecting 11 days of operations under the Matt Ortt Companies. While revenues were under budget by $11,466, the revenue miss was entirely blamed on banquet revenue that did not materialize so soon under the Ortt tenure. But regular food and beverage outperformed budget by about $27,000 and was ahead of May, 2017, numbers by about $15,000. Last May, the Yacht Club was open all month, compared to this year’s 11 days. The newly renamed Yacht Club ballroom on the building’s second floor is expected to regenerate a lucrative wedding and banquet budget over time under Ortt Companies management. Yacht Club expenditures exceeded budget by $27,674, according to Phillips driven by additional onetime costs associated with the startup, including salaries and benefits related to new employee training and management labor costs and some renovation expenses, as well as services and supplies. This latter line item includes new uniforms, kitchen/bar supplies and cleaning supplies. Based on cash flow for June, Phillips is predicting a significant turnaround in June, the first full month of operations at the Yacht Club un-

OPA records $103,000 negative operating fund variance in May Assessment increase boosts revenues by $1 million year over year der Ortt management. June financials should be released sometime in the third week of July. The Ocean Pines Beach Club, also under Ortt management, similarly lost money in May. The $24,836 loss was accompanied by a negative variance to budget of $20,778, resulting from the same start-up costs that affected the Yacht Club. June, July and August are expected to be much better. Golf operations and the Tern Grille got off to good starts in May. Golf operations produced a $48,935 surplus for the month, exceeding its budget by $2,642. The Tern Grille, not operated by the Matt Ortt Companies but in-house under the supervision of Director of Golf John Malinowski, earned $1,297 for the month, while missing its budget by $2,432. Net revenues of $144,100, including monthly pro-rated member dues of $10,628, missed budget by $7,751. But total expenses of $95,165 were less than budget by $10,393. Wages and benefits were under budget by $12,393. Given the amount of rain that fell in May, the $48,935 in net revenues should be viewed as a very positive indicator going forward. By all accounts, the Ocean Pines golf course is in good playing condition despite all the inclement weather. The addition of a “parking only” parking pass this year at the Beach Club resulted in a revenue boost for beach parking in May while adversely affecting membership revenue for the Aquatics department. While the parking-only pass is giving OPA members greater choice in its parking options this year, not forcing them to purchase photo ID or pool debit cards, the change has resulted in overall less revenue to the OPA from parking passes than would have been attained under the options available last year. Beach parking generated $190,855 in net revenue for the month, $31,773 better than budget. Last year, same month, the net revenue was $157,470. That’s a $33,385 improvement year-over-year. Aquatics generated a $223,289 surplus for the month, on reve-

nues of $319,372 and expenses of $96,093. A year ago, the surplus was $276,846. That’s a negative swing of $53,557. Member dues, which are recorded for the most part in the months in which they are sold (March and April sales are attributed to the new fiscal year that begins May 1), were substantially less than generated last year. A year ago in May, Aquatics membership dues including Beach parking pass revenue were $327,470, a number that dropped to $278,525 this May, a $48,945 year-over-year negative swing. The negative variance to budget in May in member dues was $48,475. Aquatics expenses in May were over budget by $6,847, reflecting higher wage and benefit costs from the minimum wage increase. Even with the loss of membership revenue year over year, there is no particular reason to believe that Aquatics will return to the days of substantial deficits. The unaudited Aquatics surplus last year was about $140,000, so a negative swing of $50,000 carried forward throughout the year would result in a surplus of roughly $90,000, still well above break-even. Phillips said he does not expect the Aquatics Department to make up the loss in membership revenue over the course of the year. Other amenities are off to positive starts. Marina operations produced an operating surplus of $174,705 in May, $3,806 ahead of budget. All three racquet sports were in positive territory and ahead of budget. The Parks and Recreation Department produced a $14,220 surplus for the month, $7,280 ahead of budget. Under general maintenance, expenditures were over budget by $38,734, primarily resulting from maintenance and repair costs related to the reopening of the Beach Club and Yacht Club. According to Phillips, the Board of Directors approved $65,000 in repair and renovation costs not anticipated when the 2018-19 budget was approved

last February. Under general administration, Phillips reported that spending was over budget by $27,007, including IT consulting services over budget by $26,000 and legal expenses over budget by about $9,000. Phillips said bad debt expense for the month was under budget by about $9,000. The police department was ahead of budget by $11,371, primarily from salary savings through open positions and less overtime. In his summary for May, Phillips disclosed that the OPA had purchased, from the Bank of Ocean City, an additional $3.5 million in CDARS in May, with an average interest rate on $6.88 million in laddered CDs of 1.74 percent. Phillips disclosed that the OPA deposited $250,000 in a new money market account with Union Bank in early June, with an additional $2 million in laddered CDARS later in the month. Reserve summary -- As of May 31, the OPA had $10,500,202 in reserve accounts -- $6,02,861 in the replacement reserve, $3,159,043 in the bulkhead and waterways reserve, and $1,138,298 in the roads reserve.

Forensic audit From Page 39

penditures for both the Yacht Club and Beach Club operations during period selected in the summer of 2017. That review includes verifying hours paid to hours reported in the point-of-sale systems, verifying wages per payroll registers to general ledger postings, analysis of overtime hours worked by employees, examination of selected employees personnel files, and financial analysis comparing payroll during summer 2017 to summer 2016 and computing cost as percent of sales during same period. GMA said it has also conducted interviews with four individuals to gather information for the forensic audit. The firm did not specify who it had interviewed, but added that it will be conducting additional interviews as part of its investigation. The OPA received and reviewed proposals from five firms interested in conducting the forensic audit of the association’s finances and opted to retain the services of GMA. The firm offers complete financial services both for-profit and nonprofit organizations in Maryland, Virginia and the surrounding area.

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Jacobs defends Horn’s objectivity in decision blocking Hill from ballot Letter surfaces in which Horn prior to election as a director called for Hill’s removal from the board By TOM STAUSS Publisher olette Horn, a member of the Board of Directors and the Ocean Pines Association secretary who denied former director and Acting General Manager Brett Hill access to this summer’s ballot because she said he paid his lot assessment too late, was previously on record as highly critical of Hill. She questioned his integrity and advocated for his removal from the board last year, not long before she became a successful candidate to the board in last year’s balloting. In a letter published in a local weekly last April, Horn wrote that she was “requesting that the Acting General Manager be disciplined for overstepping his authority. I am also requesting a vote of no confidence in

this Board member and initiation of a referendum for his removal from the BOD in accordance with Article V Section 5.12 of the By-Laws based on a gross violation of the articles of the By-Laws that govern the procedures and processes by which business is conducted on behalf of [Ocean Pines] Association members.” In her letter she contended that “the actions of this Board member in this matter indicate that the integrity with which he represents the interests of the [Ocean Pines] Association and conducts our business cannot be trusted by the members to adhere to the by-laws of the OPA.” The letter prompted Joe Reynolds of oceanpinesforum.com to question Horn’s “objectivity in interpreting obvious conflicts in the by-laws regarding candidate eligibility and

her unilateral decision to not allow Brett Hill to be on the ballot this year,” adding that to avoid a conflict of interest or the appearance of one Horn should have recused herself from deciding Hill’s eligibility to run for the board. Horn didn’t rise to her own defense, but Director Cheryl Jacobs did. “You conclude that Director Horn could not perform her duties, based on something written a year ago, thereby impugning her professionalism,” Jacobs said in a response posted on the forum. “You are certainly free to express your opinion; I certainly do not agree, as I am free to do.” That prompted a response from Reynolds who told Jacobs that he had “concluded nothing except that

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Director Horn should have recused herself from making any unilateral decision about the qualifications of Brett Hill to be a board candidate. “Recusal means to say that you won’t take part in something, typically because you can’t do so impartially when impartiality is needed. I believe this would go so far as to apply if failure to recuse creates the perception of impartiality or bias. This should be of paramount importance and concern in an election process,” he said. He said given that Horn wrote that Hill lacked integrity and should be removed from the board, Horn has no way to “hope to avoid the perception of bias or partiality in any unilateral decision she makes about Brett Hill. “This has nothing at all to do with whether or not Director Horn was correct in her decision to disqualify Brett Hill. It has nothing to do with whether or not the OPA legal counsel was correct in saying her decision was correct. It has nothing to do with whether or not a Judge says her decision was correct or not,” he

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OPA ELECTION

42 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPA ELECTION

July 2018

STOP endorses Diller, Daly for Board of Directors Diller resigns as chairman to avoid conflict of interest

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he organization founded by former Ocean Pines Association Director Marty Clarke is taking an interest in this summer’s Board of Directors election, endorsing two candidates and leaving the possibility of endorsing one more should former director and acting

General Manager Brett Hill succeed in his uphill battle to be included on the ballot. Esther Diller, who had been appointed by Clarke in April to assume the chairmanship of the group, recently resigned from that position. “It was a conflict of interest for me to run for the board and to oversee the organization that is endorsing

candidates,” she said. The position of chairman remains vacant for now, but the group has someone in mind, she said, to be appointed in August after the board election. Hill told the Progress that after a meeting of the STOP steering committee July 3, the group had decided to endorse Diller and Frank Daly for the board.

Sold out golf camps

Ocean Pines Golf Club hosted more than 30 junior golfers the last week of June in the first of a series of sold-out camps that will be held throughout the summer. More than 120 total registered campers will participate in four camp sessions this summer, which have grown in popularity since Ocean Pines Golf Club PGA Director of Golf John Malinowski began offering them in 2012. Malinowski and golf course staff provide instruction in swing basics, chipping and putting, rules and etiquette, the use of irons and woods and more for beginner and experienced players ages 5-14. Although all four camp sessions are sold out for the summer, campers may be placed on a waiting list in case vacancies occur, Malinowski said. He added that those who were not able to participate in camp or would like additional group instruction can attend a junior golf clinic to be offered in the fall. For details, call the club at 410-641-6057 or visit OceanPinesGolf.org. Pictured are more than 30 junior golfers and instructors who participated in the first session of junior golf camp at Ocean Pines Golf Club June 25-28.

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“Both think as we do that the assessments in Ocean Pines are too high and should be rolled back,” Hill said. While he doesn’t expect and hasn’t asked any candidate to commit to a particular dollar amount, Hill said he believes the assessment can be cut back $90 annually, with no reduction in basic services. He said it’s possible that other candidates would support an assessment decrease, but based on conversations with them Hill said that STOP is convinced that Diller and Daly would lead an effort to reduce assessments next year and wouldn’t go “squishy” when management and some directors push in the opposite direction. “Some of the others, we’re not so sure about,” he said. Hill said the group is convinced that Ted Moroney, an appointed director this past year, would be hard pressed to support an assessment decrease under any circumstances and is more likely to find reasons to increase it. Hill said that STOP believes these two candidates will also be rock-solid in a full exploration of the possibility of outsourcing financial management and oppose an immediate decision to award a management software contract to NorthStar Technologies.

Jacobs defends Horn From Page 41

continued. “As for telling me you are free to disagree with my opinion, I never suggested otherwise. I am not quite Designing effective,you environmentally sure why feel the need to state sound weed control programs for the obvious,” Delmarva property owners he for 30told years! Jacobs. She responded to Reynolds via 410-742-2973 email, which he then posted on the forum. “I know how you love controversy, but Director Horn’s decision regarding WeedPRO Mr. Owner Hill’s eligibility to be a can- Jim Samis Locally Owned & Operated • Serving based Delmarva for 30 years didate was on following the Licensed & Insured • Certified in MD, DE & VA same procedure followed the prior We Accept year by Director Trendic when he Free Estimates • Guaranteed Results was Secretary and was supported by legal counsel. Please refrain from intimating it was anything personal,” Jacobs said. That didn’t come close to satisfying Reynolds. “No reasonable person could see her comments last year as anything but personal. Given her obvious bias, in my opinion she should have recused herself from any decision regarding Brett Hill as a qualified candidate. I will not refrain from expressing my opinion,” he wrote.

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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OPA ELECTION

Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2018

Court rebuffs initial Hill request to stop OPA election By TOM STAUSS Publisher hen he received notice from the Worcester County Circuit Court in early July rejecting his request for an immediate injunction to stop the Ocean Pines Association election this summer unless and until his name is added to the ballot, former OPA Director and Acting General Manager Brett could have thrown in the towel. He didn’t. The notice from the court indicated that he had not followed Maryland law in filing his original suit as well as an amended version. “One big issue was that my original complaint was not served with a Writ of Summons,” Hill said in an email to the Progress on July 4. “That was provided to me Tuesday (July 3).” Hill said that Director and OPA secretary Collette Horn, a named defendant, was served with the writ of summons on July 3. “The association will be served tomorrow morning (July 5, with the proper document),” Hill said. It remains to be seen whether the missing writ of summons was the only problem that the court will find with the filing. In the meantime, Hill was hoping that the board of directors, on advice of insurance company attorneys and OPA attorney Jeremy Tucker, would overrule Horn’s decision not to include Hill on the ballot during a special meeting of the board July 6. That didn’t happen. After hearing an update on the case from Tucker, directors did not overturn Horn’s decision to send out ballots with seven candidates, not including Hill. Because of a gag rule on disclosures from closed meetings, it could not be immediately determined whether all directors were solidly in line with keeping Hill off the ballot. Election materials including ballots were scheduled for printing and mailing the week of July 9, with ballots likely to start arriving in OPA member mailboxes the week after that, if not before. Hill said he will be filing an amended suit, complete with a writ of summons, on July 9 or 10, with at least three additional items of complaint. One would be the failure of the full board to act to place him on the ballot in its closed meeting on July 6. A second item of complaint would be a letter written by Horn and published in a local weekly in April of last year calling for Hill’s removal from the board and acting general manager. Hill said the letter shows animus and bias towards him by Horn, who he said should have recused herself from making a decision on his eligibility to run for the board. A third item of complaint,Hill said, was the participation of Horn and Director Ted Moroney in the conversation July 6 in which the board

Hill asks for injunction to halt election pending decision on ballot inclusion Renews call to stop the printing and mailing of ballots

By TOM STAUSS Publisher rett Hill, the former acting general manager and elected director who resigned from the board last August, on June 27 filed an amended complaint with the Worcester County Circuit Court asking for the court’s “immediate intervention” in his dispute with Ocean Pines Association Secretary Colette Horn over his blocked candidacy in this summer’s Board of Directors election. In a request for the court to issue a temporary restraining order, to stop the election process in its tracks, Hill notes that the OPA’s bylaws require the submission of election materials to the secretary for printing no later than the first Friday in July, which this year is July 6. “Plaintiff fears that there may not be sufficient time left for a full adversary hearing on the proprietary of issuance of a preliminary injunction required by Maryland law,” he writes in his amended complaint. Allowing the OPA to print and mail out ballots “when (it) lack(s) a duly qualified candidate, without a determination by this Court of the issues raised on the merits of the Plaintiff’s petition, would result in immediate, substantial and irreparable harm,” the complaint continues. He asked for the court’s “immediate intervention” to protect him from this “immediate, substantial and irreparable harm,” more specifically the printing and mailing of ballots and to order the cessation of “candidate forums and other promotional events until a list of qualified candidates can be determined by the court.” The lack of any court action on Hill’s complaint as of July 6 prevented Hill’s participation in the only candidates’ forum scheduled this year, one hosted by the OPA’s Election Committee at the Yacht Club on June 27. The amended suit renews Hill’s assertion that Hill, as an OPA director and OPA officer charged with overseeing the election process, breached her fiduciary duty to abide by OPA bylaws and the Maryland Homeowners Association Act to properly conduct an election, to submit all eligible candidates to the Elections Committee and to treat “all candidates equally and without prejudice.” The suit alleges that Hill breached her duties in a way that “was willful, intentional and in bad faith,” causing the plaintiff and members of the OPA to have sustained, and will continue to sustain, substantial damage and loss.” Hill is asking for $24,4525 in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages to compensate for this alleged breach of fiduciary duty, which he said would be donated to the OPA’s general fund if it’s awarded by the court. In the initial filing last month, Hill only asked for punitive damages of $50,000. In another change from the initial filing, Hill is asking the court to waive the requirement of a bond, which under Maryland law a plaintiff may be required to file for the payment of damages to which defendants may be entitled to as a result of an injunction or temporary restraining order obtained by a plaintiff. As noted in the filing, courts can waive the bond requirement if a plaintiff is unable to provide it, substantial injustice would result if an injunction was not issued, or the case is one of extraordinary hardship. Hill asserts that he is unable to provide surety or other security for the bond, substantial injustice would result if the case doesn’t proceed, and this is a case of “extraordinary hardship.” He contends that “if the Board of Directors continue the election without a determination of the issues raised” in the suit, “the Board of Directors will cause immediate, irreparable and substantial harm to the Association’s membership by hosting a biased election.” As of July 6, the date by which election materials are to be delivered to the secretary by the Elections Committee for printing, the OPA through its insurance carrier’s law firm, Whit-

took no action to overrule Horn and place Hill on the ballot. “Colette has a demonstrated bias against me and Ted is on the ballot this summer,” Hill said. “It’s a conflict of interest for either of them to have sat in on this meeting with Tucker. Both should have recused and walked out of the room.”

Hill acknowledged that as of early July it would be an “uphill battle” for him to get on the ballot this summer, but he said it was worth the fight “as a matter of principle.” At the very least he said it is imperative that the OPA begin the task of amending bylaws so that competing interpretations on eligibility are no longer possible.

OPA ELECTION Court rebuff

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Assessments

From Page 44

From Page 1

eford, Taylor and Preston of Baltimore, had not responded to the original filing or the amended version. This would not be unusual, as a defendant normally has 30 days to respond. There is nothing new in the amended filing regarding the basics of the dispute, which has to do with dueling interpretations of OPA bylaws pertaining to candidate eligibility in OPA elections. Horn has said that the bylaws required Hill to have paid his 2018-19 lot assessments by May 15 to be eligible to run. Hill argues that the May 15 deadline is not supported by language in the OPA bylaws, Sections 5.02(a) and (d) and 3.01(c), which he said should be interpreted to read that he should be certified as a candidate if his assessments are paid within 35 days of the vote count in August. Horn, who under the OPA organizational documents is the sole corporate officer given the task for certifying candidates, cites 5.02(d) of the bylaws and board resolution M-09 as setting a hard deadline of May 15 for candidate eligibility. Section 5.02(d) says that the secretary “shall verify that the Association’s records as of May 15th support each candidate’s eligibility and shall submit a list of eligible candidates to the Elections Committee no later than June 1st.” Hill argues that this language gives the secretary flexibility to certify candidates after May 15. She disagrees.

convincing way to the membership. I am not convinced the $30 increase this year was necesssary. Raising assessments to cover losses and/or ineffective or inefficient management is unacceptable.” Tuttle said that “after careful analysis, if it can be shown that with some greater efficiency in operations and management, assessments can actually be reduced, I would support a reduction in the current assessment.” In a brief conversation with the Progress on July 6, candidate Paula Gray made comments that suggested she is more in line with the thinking of Moroney than Diller or Daly in particular. She said she is reluctant to set a reduction in assessments because of likely significant expenditures facing the OPA, such as expensive drainage projects whose estimated costs have yet to be quantified. Candidate Greg Turner initially seemed to agree with Moroney and Gray, suggesting that future capital expenditures would make reducing the assessment difficult to achieve. The best that can be hoped for, he said, is “to hold the line” against increases. Arie Klapholz did not respond to a Progress email. Brett Hill, a former OPA director, general manager and declared candidate who has been blocked from the ballot this summer by Board Secretary Colette Horn, said he has talked with

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He says his calculations indicate that, assuming the Yacht Club and Beach Club amenities perform as budgeted or better this year, it would be possible to reduce the assessment by up to $90 next year from the current $951. Hill said that at this point several months before a new budget cycle begins it would be impossible to say for sure that the new board will be able to deliver a reduction in the assessment next year. “But setting it out as an objective is a reasonable thing to do,” he said.

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CAPTAIN’S COVE

Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2018

Trial date set for July 16 on charges that Cove president violated past directors’ privacy rights Hearn calls case against him attempted intimidation by former board members,says he’s ready to defend himself By TOM STAUSS Publisher aptain’s Cove property owner association President Tim Hearn says he’s ready to defend himself against charges that he violated the privacy rights of former members of the Cove board by briefly publishing their 1099 tax documents on the members-only section of the Cove’s Web site. Charges that he violated 58.1-3F of Virginia’s criminal code, a class one misdemeanor, will be heard in Accomack County District Court in Accomac on July 16. Hearn is taking the case seriously, calling the charges filed against him by former directors John Ward, George Dattore and six others an attempt at intimidation. He said he will be represent-

ed by an attorney. While he said he is leaving details of his defense in the hands of his attorney, he said he he lawyer to argue that those who filed the complaint against him are “self-editing” the applicable section of the Virginia code and that he expects his attorney will push back against what he said is a misreading of the code. Ward in a recent text message said that he and the other directors had been notified by the county’s commonwealth attorney of the trial date. Violating 58.1-3 is a Class 1 misdemeanor involving unauthorized disclosure of confidential tax information. The relevant section says it “shall be unlawful for any person to disseminate, publish or cause to

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be published any confidential tax document which he knows or has to reason to know is a confidential tax document.” The code defines confidential tax document as any correspondence, document, or tax return that is prohibited from being divulged ... and includes any document containing information on the transactions, property, income, or business of any person, firm, or corporation that is required to be filed with any state official ...” The penalty for a Class 1 misdemeanor is confinement in jail for not more than 12 months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both. An Internet search revealed the $2500 maximum fine, not $25,000, as one Cove resident said in a recent

email to the Progress. Hearn told the Progress last month that all complainants are former board members who served before Hearn and business allies took effective control of the Cove association in 2012. His first court appearance on the charges had been scheduled for mid-June, but his attorney told him a personal appearance was not required. He had hoped the charges would be dismissed at that time, but they weren’t. Hearn has said that his arrest is just the latest in a saga that began last May when Hearn, in comments during a board meeting, criticized boards on which Ward and Dattore, perhaps his two most determined critics, served. “From 2009 to 2012 George Dattore and fellow board members paid themselves over $200,000 for travel costs associated with coming to meetings,” Hearn told the Progress, citing the existence of 1099s issued to directors that prove it. Those 1099s were subsequently posted on the members only section of the Cove’s Web site, triggering a dispute that has now been criminalized. q

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CAPTAIN’S COVE

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Trial date From Page 46 July 30th board meeting -- The June 7 board meeting cancelled because of the Hearn arrest has been rescheduled for July 30th, with a very light agenda, Hearn has announced. It will be held in Towson, Md., at the Sheraton Town Center, across from the mall, Hearn said. A preliminary agenda has been posted on the Cove Web site. Hearn said there was no connection between the decision to hold a meeting at least two hours away from the Cove and his arrest. “We’ve been considering rotating meetings between the Cove and the Western Shore for some time,” Hearn said, because many Cove non-resident owners live closer to the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia metro areas. He said he is aware that it will be less convenient to the 40 or so residents who show up to meetings in the Cove. Since it will be held at a convention hotel with broadband access, Hearn said it’s possible that the meeting will be live streamed. Communications Director Justin Wilder always makes audio of meetings available, so at the very least that will occur at the July 30 meeting. “I’ll ask Justin about the possibility of a live stream,” Hearn told the Progress. He said the light meeting agenda will include verification of the assessment levels for next year and some discussion of the 2018-19 budget. Because he said the Cove is performing better than budget so far this year, and has completed its capital projects, there will be no need to raise the $1200 assessments that’s been in place for several years. Health and safety fair: The Cove’s ninth annual health fair will be held on Saturday, Aug. 4, from 8:30 a.m. until noon, at the Marina Club. The fair is sponsored by the Captain’s Cove Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). Free health screenings provided by Atlantic General Hospital will include cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides and blood glucose levels, which requires a 12-hour fast. Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital will have a nurse checking blood pressure. Riverside Home Health, Hospice & Senior Perspectives and Riverside Cancer Care Services will provide pertinent information.

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OPINION

Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2018

COMMENTARY PROGRESS ENDORSEMENTS Diller, Daly, Tuttle, and Moroney (maybe)

he 2018 election for Board of Directors could turn out to be the most consequential in many years. It’s not often -- indeed, if memory and archival research serves, it’s never happened before -- that Ocean Pines Association members have the opportunity to vote for four directors. This is possible because of the recent resignation from the board of Pat Supik, whose departure caused some unnecessary caterwauling on the part of President Doug Parks but which, on balance, was an honorable decision on her part. She deserved a more dignified bon voyage than Parks afforded her. Even three new directors, if they have the good sense to align themselves with carry-over director Slobodan Trendic on key issues, could set the OPA on a new course if they so choose. Three of the Progress’ top four choices for the board are on record as supporting, as a budget objective, a reduction in the base lot assessment next year. Esther Diller, Frank Daly and Steve Tuttle have made definitive statements to that effect. There is no guarantee, of course, that a reduction will happen, but it’s encouraging that they recognize the possibility of it happening and will work to see that it does. Certainly directors who start with a presumption of lower assessments are preferable to those whose appetites lie in the opposite direction. That means, when the new board meets early in its term to give budgetary marching orders to the general manager and director of finance, these three directors and Trendic can instruct management to figure out ways to spend less and manage Ocean Pines more efficiently. They can and should think of ways to run the OPA more cost consciously when crafting a budget for 2019-20. How about giving serious consideration to outsourcing parts of the Public Works Department, which spins off streams of requests for new equipment year after year? Although details always matter, all three agree with Trendic that the board needs to take a serious look at outsourcing its financial management functions, and that means that issuing a request for information and/or a request for proposals from homeowner management companies. It should result in a decision not to contract with NorthStar Technogies for a six-year package of software until and unless all outsourcing options are thoroughly vetted. Outsourcing the finance department or even basic HOA functions doesn’t necessarily lead to the firing of current management or any department head. It provides a layer of oversight and professionalism on an operation that has been

lacking over the years. The need for a forensic fraud audit alone proves that not all is as it should be in Ocean Pines land. Outsourcing does not imply revolutionary change, which isn’t what Ocean Pines needs or, broadly speaking, would ever support. For instance, should a new board decide to hire a firm like Legum and Norman to assume day-to-day oversight over operations, there is no reason that General Manager John Bailey has to lose his job. With a six-month severance package in his contract, the OPA could insist that L&N, or any other management company for that matter, keep Bailey on for six months to see how well he performs. The same would be true for Director of Finance Steve Phillips should a new board decide to outsource financial management functions rather than purchase an expensive suite of software from NorthStar. Top-performing department heads need not worry. Any management company is going to need knowledgeable, effective department heads to run the pools, the recreation department, the marinas, and other amenities. The OPA has that now. Even golf operations are performing better now than they have in decades. The Matt Ortt group has made an excellent first impression in managing the Yacht Club and Beach Club. Positive financial results should follow, if early revenue flows continue. Out-sourcing can work throughout Ocean Pines if done thoughtfully and creatively. Rather than deploying Public Works crews to mow the ditches and drainage canals, for instance, why not hire competent outside companies to do that for us, eliminating the need to buy and maintain expensive mowing equipment? Candidates Diller, Daly and Tuttle project the kind of business and/or engineering competence and engagement with Ocean Pines issues that make for good directors. They’re not going to need a lot of on-the-job training or indoctrination on how to be a board member. They’re saying the right things about the level of assessments and outsourcing. Their mindsets are where they need to be to join Trendic in a course correction. Director Ted Moroney also possesses the kind of business competence, engagement and understanding of Ocean Pines issues that could make him an effective elected member of the board. The board this past year has been at its best when Moroney and Trendic see eye-to-eye and work together. Moroney may not be in sync with other candidates or even a majority of OPA members on assessment levels or outsourcing, but it never hurts for a board to have a degree of a diversity of

viewpoints on issues that matter. In addition, he’s not afraid to grab hold of an issue and run with it. Trendic praised Moroney for his role in patching up relations with the Ocean Pines Volunteer Fire Department in a funding kerfuffle; the department got its money, much later than it should have, but so it goes. Trendic also had kind things to say about Moroney’s recent involvement in jump-starting efforts to renovate the upper level of the Country Club. The reservation that prevents an unequivocal endorsement of Moroney’s candidacy has to do with an issue front and center in Ocean Pines right now, and that’s the proposed commitment of roughly $1 million over six years to NorthStar Technologies’ software suite. In a July 6 email to his colleagues, just as the Progress’s print deadline loomed, Moroney advocated for inclusion on the July 27 board agenda consideration of the NorthStar Technologies’ proposal. This is premature, especially if his intent is to force a vote on this very large financial commitment. Bear in mind that three leading candidates to the board this summer believe this decision should fall to the new board, but only after a request for proposals or for information (and RFP or RFI) is issued for the purpose of gathering information on the possible outsourcing of OPA financial operations. A fourth candidate, Paula Gray, agrees there should be no rush to judgment in the context of a board election. Greg Turner, a fifth candidate, agrees. Arie Klapholz probably does, too, but he didn’t respond to a Progress email asking for comment. There’s no harm if the July 27 agenda includes the topic as a discussion item, and it remains to be seen what Moroney’s intentions are. But his issuing of this troubling email on the eve of ballots going out creates doubt as to his intentions. OPA members who care about this issue might try to obtain a clarification before marking their ballots. If it takes waiting until the July 27 board meeting to see what transpires, that’s well within the deadline for returning ballots. Quite independent of media endorsements, it’s hard to imagine an election outcome this summer without Moroney in the top four. Candidates other than Diller, Daly and Tuttle who have volunteered to run for the board this summer might be perfectly acceptable directors if elected, but none other than Moroney have a demonstrated record of thinking about and seriously engaging in the issues that confront us, combined with a solid business background. Nor have they offered real solutions or paths forward. Paula Gray might make a solid director one day, This is a year when candidates who won’t need on-the-job training are available. -- Tom Stauss

OPINION

July 2018 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

COMMENTARY Trendic, Parks cease-fire a good outcome

xcept for the jaundiced few among us who actually enjoy the spectacle of directors sparring with one another, most in Ocean Pines who follow the Board of Directors in its wanderings in the policy brier patch prefer it when our elected leaders get along. But our elected representatives need not like one another. Calling the directors a “team” in the sense of them all pulling the oars in synchronicity with one another isn’t necessarily desirable or needed, either. What is desirable is civility of discourse and an intelligent vetting of differing perspectives when they arise, as the often do. Goals and desired outcomes can differ, too. Out of that dialogue of differing perspectives can come some good outcomes. Save for this most recent outburst of dysfunction, this board has not succumbed to the sort of negativity that obscured almost everything accomplished by last year’s board. That’s one reason the recent backsliding was painful to behold. Both Ocean Pines Association President Doug Parks and Director Slobodan Trendic, in the best interests of the OPA in the remaining six weeks of the current board term, have decided to move on from the testiness that has characterized their relationship in recent weeks. At a special meeting called to consider Trendic’s proposal to remove Parks, it was Trendic who made the first move to de-escalate by withdrawing his motion to consider Parks’s removal. As a practical matter, it wasn’t going to happen anyway, as four votes out of six, a supermajority, was never in the cards. Even one recusal -- reportedly Ted Moroney was prepared to recuse because he’s a candidate for the board this summer -- would have doomed the effort. It would not have been surprising if the vote to remove Parks would have gone down with only Trendic voting to oust him. So perhaps rescission of the measure was the

only intelligent move Trendic could have made. He had made his point, a point that needed to be made. Be that as it may, the board, the OPA and Ocean Pines is the better for his tactical (if not strategic) retreat. Parks, too, rose to the occasion by taking off the agenda for a closed meeting discussion of the extent to which Trendic’s critique of former director and OPA treasurer Pat Supik was a contributing factor in her decision to resign from the board. Prior to going into closed session to discuss the Hill election lawsuit, Parks said he was willing to forgo a discussion of the Supik resignation for the remaining six weeks of the current board’s term, thereby allowing focus on far more important matters. His, too, was the only intelligent decision that could have been made. No practical good could have resulted from a rehash. Trendic is in no need of re-education or a lesson in manners, or a tutorial on how his sometimes strongly worded dissents from board action or the performance of his colleagues sometimes offend his colleagues. To those who find his approach off-putting, the proper rejoinder is: Get over it. The Ocean Pines community didn’t knowingly elect snowflakes. If the rough-and-tumble of board debate sometimes feels as if it’s personal, know that it’s sometimes difficult to draw a red line between what’s personal and what’s policy. To be sure, individuals often attach themselves to policy, emotionally, and are self-inflicted victims of confirmation bias when those policy preferences are resisted by others. So there’s a personal component to policy debates that can flare up into emotional distress. This goes with the territory of serving on an elected board of directors. As a practical matter, the Parks retreat should mean no rehashing of the Supik resignation will ever occur, as it’s unlikely that a board of three or four new members in August will care all that

much about the resignation of a director in the previous term. Directors come and go with the tide. No one is indispensable, though some directors come close. The emergence of John Viola as the new OPA treasurer should provide comfort to those who fret about the state of OPA finances. He’s part of the solution. If Supik wanted a public discussion of the reasons she resigned, she would have sent a resignation letter to the local media or to the OPA for posting on the OPA’s Web site. She didn’t. So it’s appropriate to find some fault with Parks’s original attempt to air the dirty linen, even in a closed session. As surely everyone knows by now, what’s closed in Ocean Pines doesn’t remain closed for long. After the board emerged from closed session to discuss the Hill matter, Parks took the time to apologize to Trendic for effectively calling him a “turd” in a recent newspaper interview. That’s what prompted the call for Parks’s removal as president and board spokesman to begin with. Parks’s apology seemed sincere enough -- at least to those who were present to witness it -- and it was the proper and decent thing to do under the circumstances. Name-calling is distasteful. Apologizing for it is soothing to the soul and clears the air. Parks also knows he messed up in his original call for a meeting to discuss the Supik resignation because he neglected to first offer a motion to amend the meeting agenda to permit another motion for discussion. That omission is not the worst parliamentary sin ever to be committed in Ocean Pines 50-year history, but it’s helpful whenever someone in a position of authority owns up to a mistake. It’s doubtful that Parks will make the same mistake again. He apologized to his colleagues for that one, too. Good for him. Good for us. -Tom Stauss

Horn’s unfortunate metaphor in ethics/conduct debate current board, absent a motion to rescind. The directors have their schedAn excursion through the curious by-ways and cul-de-sacs An excursion through the curious by-ways and cul-de-sacs uled of Worcester County’s County’s most densely community. of Worcester mostpopulated densely populated community.July meeting within a couple of weeks of the annual meeting of the By TOM STAUSS/ By TOM Publisher STAUSS/Publisher association, when election results lette, but you invited the metaphor a new board with either three or are certified. It’s awkward for the -- have improved markedly now that four new directors will be orga- current board to be making this deOPA President Doug Parks has indi- nized. Horn would no doubt prefer cision so close to a new board taking cated that he’s leaning against sup- that the latest revised draft of the office. Moroney, a candidate for the porting the draft policy advocated policy gets an up or down vote at board, surely knows this. In addition, with the recent resigby Horn and her working group of the board’s July meeting. Moroney, wisely, seems to suggest that an Au- nation of Pat Supik from the board, volunteers. Another director, Ted Moroney, gust vote would make just as much a less than full complement of disaid he’s fine with voting on the pro- sense. After all, a newly reorganized rectors would be making a decision posed policy either at the board’s board would have to live with the to impose this new policy on a new July meeting or in August, when policy if it’s implemented by the

LIFE IN THE LIFE INPINES THE PINES

olette Horn’s wince-inducing comparison of the process to produce an unneeded and potentially divisive Board of Directors ethics/conduct policy to giving birth without an anesthetic invites the kind of rejoinder that she probably won’t appreciate. She made the comparison during an extended discussion of the proposed policy at the board’s June 23 monthly meeting, when it became clear that the proposed policy might not have the problem-free birth she and her task force might have hoped for. Indeed, prospects for a late-term abortion or a still-birth -- sorry, Co-

50 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPINION

July 2018

Life in the Pines From Page 49 board and the Ocean Pines community that would have to endure the potential surge in divisive politics this new policy invites. Keep in mind that for 50 years Ocean Pines has managed its affairs with bylaws that provide for removal of a director -- never invoked, but with a couple of near misses -- under extraordinary circumstances, for cause, with a super majority of all directors necessary for removal. Granted, the bylaws don’t define cause, probably by design, because the founders probably preferred that the process leading to removal of a director, thereby nullifying the choice of property owners in a legitimate election, be difficult, that is, with a high burden of proof of wrong-doing. The proposed new ethics/conduct policy as initially proposed would create a new standing Ethics Committee to consider complaints against directors by their colleagues or by members of the OPA. The latter would add a new layer of potential divisiveness into Ocean Pines governance. While the new policy might not make it more likely that sitting directors file ethics complaints against their colleagues, the provision that any OPA member can do so should give the current six-member board pause. It’s not too difficult to imagine property owners, incensed with this

or that policy decision by the board, or failure of said policy, or for almost any reason, good, bad or indifferent, filing complaints against directors. A new example would be the way that Parks handled a closed session of the board after the June 23 regular meeting to discuss Supik’s resignation. Rather than include the closed meeting as part of the June 23 meeting agenda, as is customary, or add it to the agenda at the beginning of the meeting, as also is customary, Parks sprang his motion for a closed meeting just as the regular meeting was about to adjourn. The motion referenced actions taken by a director that, according to Parks, led to Supik’s resignation. Since Director Slobodan Trendic had been outspoken in his critical assessment of Supik’s tenure as OPA treasurer, he (and other meeting attendees) naturally concluded that Parks had Trendic in mind with his motion for a closed meeting. Trendic balked, telling Parks he had no intention of attending the closed meeting and that he very much resented the apparent ambush. It’s not too difficult to imagine Trendic, or some other OPA member unhappy with Parks, submitting a complaint against him for the unforced, completely unnecessary and utterly non-productive way in which he led four directors, himself included, into a closed session to discuss a matter that could have been more fruitfully conducted in public. Horn herself might be subject

of an ethics complaint for the way she’s been handling Brett Hill’s application to run for the board this summer. She has been interpreting the OPA bylaws in the most restrictive way possible to deny Hill the chance to run for the board this summer. Almost every sentient being who’s looked at the applicable bylaws has concluded that, at best, the bylaws are contradictory or could be interpreted and applied to allow Hill to run, with no damage to the OPA. Even if she relied on competent legal advice to take the position she did -- and that may or may not be the case here -- her decision-making in this matter would plausibly constitute a legitimate complaint against her by Hill or any of his supporters. Should Horn somehow manage to ram this policy through in the waning days of the current board’s tenure, expect an effort by Trendic to rescind it once a new board is organized. If Hill is denied access to the ballot by Horn, as seems very possible, expect her to be the subject of an ethics complaint. Trendic’s preferred option is for the board to adopt a concise statement of ethics without the creation of an ethics committee or a cumbersome enforcement mechanism. He’s convinced that the current bylaws provide adequate means for removal of a director whose behavior warrants it. He’s quite right. Ocean Pines doesn’t need what Horn is proposing.

What’s worked well for 50 years should work well enough for the next 50. There’s word that Horn, aware that the proposed ethics committee is bound to sink her entire initiative, has been busy rewriting it, stripping it of its most offensive features. According to Moroney, the ethics committee itself has been deleted from the resolution, which presumably means that recourse to an attorney by a committee that no longer exists is gone, too. This constitutes progress, but this doesn’t mean the next iteration of the proposed policy is deserving of support. The new draft is substantially changed from earlier versions and therefore should be introduced for a first reading. As what’s left in the proposed resolution probably will focus on what would constitute cause for removal from the board, those interested in this issue should certainly have an opportunity to reflect on these justifications for removal. For instance, will First Amendment free speech rights of directors to talk to the media about certain sensitive matters be abridged in this version of the policy? Will a director be removed for advocating that another director resign from an officer’s position? What about comparing another director to -- wait for it -- a chunk of fecal matter? There’s no hurry to get this done. The new board can handle it.

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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.

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