July 2021 Ocean Pines Progress by Ocean Pines Progress

JULY 2021

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Board rejects vote to memorialize rsferendum results

In a somewhat confusing 3-4 vote that didn’t seem to have much practical significance, the Board of Directors has decided not to take additional action to “memorialize” or document the results of the recent referendum curbing board capital spending authority. ~ Page 12

THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY

COVER STORY

Board may target all properties in Ocean Pines for new regulation, fines Board approves process of amending the DRs By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer hile the owners of shortterm rental properties may soon be the first to feel the enforcement of Worcester County rental, noise, and litter laws by the Ocean Pines Association and pay the penalties for violating them, long-term rentals and owner-occupied homes could be next. During a June 15 Town Hall meeting on a proposal to amend the declaration of restrictions for each Ocean Pines section to incorporate the county regulations on shortterm rentals, some residents lobbied for application of those regulations to other properties as well. Still, it was a relatively sparse

Colette Horn

crowd at the Town Hall, hardly representative of Ocean Pines as a whole. But at the Board of Directors’

June 16 monthly meeting, Director Collette Horn said that at the board’s meeting in July she would introduce a motion to expand the properties that might be covered in response to what she heard at the Town Hall. Director Frank Daly during the June 16 meeting rejected a friendly amendment offered by Horn that would have expanded his proposal for amending the DRs to properties other than short-term rentals. He said he was not sure that OPA members who might support limited tightening of regulation of shortterm rentals would support a more expansive approach. Daly’s motion to begin the proTo Page 3

Lakernick, Farr running as a team in board election ~ Page 36 Candidates debate restoring board ‘professionalism’ ~ Page 38

Board votes repeal Resolution B-08

With no fanfare and hardly any discussion, the Board of Directors at its June 16 monthly meeting voted to eliminate controversial Board Resolution B-08 that governed Director and Officer Ethics and Conduct. The previous month, on first reading, the resolution’s critic-in-chief, Director Frank Daly, called it a “poster child for unintended, and bad, consequences.” ~ Page 14

Membership surge shakes off covid

There is no bad news in the membership report issued as part of the May financials posted on the Ocean Pines Association Web site June 22. All amenities in the aggregate are 91 percent of goal as of May 31, with 2,706 memberships sold compared to 1,217 sold in May of last year. These sales have already produced $754,190 in revenue. ~ Page 18

A blow-out start to 2021-22 finances

~Page 34

OPA ends 2020-21 with large surplus

~ Page 35

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COVER STORY From Page 1 cess of amending the DRs passed 6-1, with Director Tom Janasek continuing his adamant opposition. The process, with many details yet to be fleshed out, in broad terms would amend the declaration of restrictions in each section of Ocean Pines to incorporate language regarding regulation of short-term rentals that exactly follows the Worcester County code. “No more restrictive, which is direction from the board; no less restrictive, which is the rule under Maryland’s law,” Daly has said, adding “if you’re renting short-term and you’re in compliance with the county, you’re going to be in compliance with Ocean Pines. No questions asked.” The proposed amendment to the restrictions will give the OPA the ability to establish penalties for violation of short-term rental rules. “That’s where we found the shortcomings with the existing law at the county level,” Daly said. Changes to the restrictions will

require a section-by-section vote of property owners. A majority of the property owners in each section of Ocean Pines must vote in favor of the changes for them to be incorporated into the restrictive covenants for that section. The declaration of restrictions for sections developed after 1995 already give the OPA the authority to levy fines, a practice which has never been implemented. Daly said he understands that Horn’s motion in July will pertain only to issues with noise and trash accumulation but would apply to all properties in Ocean Pines, subject to a section-by-section vote. Fines would be in the enforcement toolbox, just as they are in Daly’s short-term rental proposal. “I’m not sure how the board will respond to that,” he said. “Details will matter. There will be no appetite for issuing fines for first time violations, that I’m confident of.” The Town Hall offered a deep dive into the nuances of the debate on short-term rentals. Andy Johnston wanted to know why changes to the restrictive covenants wouldn’t apply to and be-

dled uniformly and fairly,” he said. Daly said he has spoken with stakeholders across the community, including rental property owners, neighbors of rentals, property managers, and a variety of local and county agencies. “Some people are going to obviously be a little bit more squeamish” about adopting and enforcing the county code as part of the restrictive covenants, he said. Carla Soden, who owns a shortterm rental, asked about the applicability of the regulations to longterm rentals like boarding houses. “If it’s in the bylaws, if it’s in the DRs, it should be you’re not allowed to do this, period.” She said she would support fines for persistent violators. “Three years ago when the issue of imposing fines across the board was brought up… the community did not have an appetite for that,” Horn said. “What I’m hearing tonight is the community does have an appetite for it now. That they don’t want fines only to apply to short-term rentals, they want them To Page 5

come enforceable on all properties in Ocean Pines. “I’m not even sure we have to adopt it, if we’re all covered by the county ordinance are we not?” he asked. “The issues that I see here apply to everybody.” Daly, who had spearheaded the effort to enforce short-term rentals regulations, said in sections developed by Balfour Holdings after 1995 all federal state and local laws immediately apply and the board has the ability to levy fines for violations. “The only thing we need is four hands raised at the next board meeting,” he said. But that power has never been exercised by the board, and in other sections of Ocean Pines that authority does not exist. The board’s proposal would adopt that authority in those older sections of the community as well, Daly said. Johnston said any time one section of the community is treated differently than another it will create problems. “I can’t imagine any resident or property owner who rents that would not be in favor of these regulations. I mean as long as it’s han-

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COVER STORY Amending the DRs From Page 3 applied across the board,” she said. “We certainly are hearing that and this is certainly a question that can be revisited.” “If that’s the way we’re going as an association, that there has to be a whole procedure involved with that,” including an appeal process, Johnston said. Bill Hayes, a short-term rental property manager, accused the board of unfairly targeting shortterm rentals for enforcement. He wanted to know what the OPA will do when it identifies a nuisance property that is not a short-term rental. Daly responded that there is already a procedure in place to address violations of the declaration of restrictions on other properties and the OPA regularly follows that to bring properties into compliance. “This homeowners association exists for one basic reason that is to protect the character of the community and homeowner value. And

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July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 5 if we’re not doing that job, then we should all leave because we’re just failing miserably,” he said. “Until we go fines across the board which the community clearly did not want to do, then we’re gonna have to deal with it,” Daly said. There are 144 licensed short-term rentals in Ocean Pines but the general consensus is there are far more than that operating, Daly said. “To the best of my knowledge we have never had a problem with a Worcester County licensed shortterm rental,” he said. The problems have been with unlicensed rentals and that is why the OPA is taking action only on shortterm rentals at this time, he said. “That is solely, absolutely, and one hundred percent accurately the target of what we’re trying to do,” he said. But that statement was turned on its head by Horn’s declaration that she was interested in expanding the target. Daly acknowledged that the OPA does have similar problems with long-term rental properties and

owner-occupied homes. But, he said, those property owners tend to be more accessible and the OPA works through its existing compliance process with them. Director Camilla Rogers said the OPA’s governing documents are extremely well written and enforceable but there are issues specific to short-term rental licensing that need to be addressed under the proposed amendments to the restrictive covenants. “That’s excessive behavior that we don’t want to tolerate in our neighborhoods,” she said. Rogers took exception to allegations the board is trying to target short-term rentals. “That is simply not the case here at all.” She said the board is trying to do is be responsive to a community concern and set standards for appropriate behavior at short-term rentals. Johnston asked if the proposal has to be for short-term rentals only. “Are not the owners responsible regardless of use?” Daly said no. But, he added, the

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board tried to pursue more strict enforcement and fines for violations of the declaration of restrictions a few years ago and encountered community resistance. “There’s a lot of push-back on fines in general on the community within the community,” he said. Daly said the community seems to want the approach to addressing problem properties to be complaint-driven and not be invasive. “The Eastern Shore has grown up with what I call a complaint-driven enforcement system. So you could have a great neighbor and if they get a complaint somebody will go out and look at it. Or you can have a lousy property next to you and if nobody complains the county won’t do anything and quite frankly the association won’t,” Daly said. “And that’s a community question because when we get complaints we address them and we address them effectively. But if we don’t get complaints, it’s kind of a laissez faire situation,” he saod. Stuart Lakernick, a candidate in u

6 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021

COVER STORY

Amending the DRs From Page 6 this summer’s board election, said 03-03 Mattress Master-Ad 3/2/2017 11:13 AM Page 1 Daly’s proposal does target shortterm rentals. He said the OPA doesn’t need to be involved at all. Instead, neighMarch 3, 2017 The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch bors could file for an injunction through the court system if they have a grievance against a shortterm rental. Daly said that simply won’t happen. “You’re not going to walk down to Snow Hill and get a temporary injunction, I’ll tell you that flat out,“ he said. He added that “I guarantee you the judges down in Snow Hill aren’t sitting on their hands in the off chance that we’ll come with something and they’ll jump to it. “This is not a national security thing. Not a matter of life and death. You’re gonna take your place in the Rogers said her initial reaction hadn’t thought of and we’re maturqueue and the queue’s gonna be to the problem of short-term rentals ing in those approaches,” she said. quite long,” Daly said. was for the OPA to seek an injuncShe agreed with Horn that the Lakernick also said aggrieved tion against those in violation. board could consider extending the residents could call 911, which oth“And we have evolved from that enhanced regulations and enforceers also have said is the way to go point and I am really very proud ment to long-term and owner-occufor noise complaints in particular as of the way this has evolved. And I pied homes in the future. it creates a paper trail that will aid see us incorporating a lot of things “The short-term rentals were the in enforcement. into these rentals that perhaps we ones that raised their ugly heads

Scholarship winner

Brooklynn Pugner, a recent graduate of Stephen Decatur High School, was selected to receive a $2,500 STAR Scholarship from Page 29 the P.E.O. Sisterhood, presented at a luncheon held at the Ocean Pines Yacht Club June 3. She was recommended for the STAR Scholarship by P.E.O. Chapter AK of Ocean Pines. A former resident of Ocean Pines who recently moved to Newark, south of Berlin, she will attend Washington College in Chestertown, with the goal of becoming a Spanish teacher. Pictured left to right are Conni Hall, Chapter AK President; Brooklynn’s mother, Bethany Pugner; Brooklynn; and Sandy Williams, STAR Scholarship Committee member.

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first and we had to deal with that problem,” she said, adding that she can see incorporating similar language for other types of rentals or for the community in general. “It very well might happen and it’s through discussions like this that we can get that to happen,” she added.

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Board told it’s unfairly targeting short-term rentals; some candidates agree Lakernick, Farr align themselves with Janasek in opposing new OPA regulation, instead saying the county should step up By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer lleging the Ocean Pines Association is picking on them by proposing selective enforcement of noise and litter ordinances, several owners of short-term rental properties are calling for broad application of those regulations across the entire community, or, perhaps, no new regulation at all. During a June 13 Town Hall meeting on plans to adopt Worcester County’s short-term rental regulations in their entirety, along with the county’s noise and litter ordinances and apply them only to short-term rentals, property owners pleaded with the Board of Directors to not to discriminate against them. One candidate in this summer’s board election, Stuart Lakernick, aligned himself with that point of view during the Town Hall. At a subsequent candidate’s forum, another candidate, Rick Farr did the same, joining current Director Tom Janasek in opposition to the board’s approved approach of allowing property owners to vote on amending the Declaration of Restrictions in each section to allow for tighter enforcement of short-term rentals. It would appear that all three believe the county should step up to enforce noise and trash regulations

against offending short-term rentals, as opposed to the OPA taking on any additional enforcement activities including the levying of fines on recurring violators. Among the new powers envisioned are the ability to levy fines and ban up to 60 days short-term rentals on properties with recurring problems. “I think the nuisances that shortterm rentals get blamed for is a community problem,” Bill Hayes, a local property manager, said of complaints the OPA Board says it has received about violations on shortterm rental properties. He said short-term rentals are not the cause of those problems, which exist on long-term rentals and owner-occupied lots as well. “You can’t pick on short-term rentals and not pick on everybody else,” he said. OPA President Larry Perrone said it is not true that the OPA is out to get short-term rental owners. “We’re not targeting short term rental people who are trying to do the right thing,” he said, adding this has not been an easy matter for the board to address. He said he appreciated those who have property managers, are renting out to families, and trying to make some money. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

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Director Frank Daly, who has led the effort to address problems with short-term rentals properties, said the community has “a very small but a persistent number of problem sort-term rentals in Ocean Pines.” He said the proposal is to simply incorporate Worcester County’s short-term rental licensing requirements and the county’s noise and litter ordinances into the restrictive covenants for each section of Ocean Pines. That will require a vote in favor by a majority of the residents in each section. “To the best of my knowledge we have never had a problem with a Worcester County licensed shortterm rental,” Daly said. “The problems we have had have been with unlicensed rentals.” He said individual homeowners who want to do so should be able to rent them out for short-term use. “There’s no argument with that,” he said, but added “If you live next to a problem property and you don’t want it, that’s your decision and you should be able to say we don’t want to live next to it.” Daly said he spoke with numerous stakeholders, including shortterm rental owners, fire, police, zoning, and the Worcester County Commissioners in developing the proposal. “What we want is something that does not restrict property rights any more than they are restricted by the existing county law. As a homeowners association we can’t draft something that’s less restrictive than the county law,” Daly said. When it comes to problems with parking on the grassy shoulder along roads in Ocean Pines, Daly said the board will have to address that issue separately. While the OPA’s guidelines prohibit parking along the roads, they are public roads and the county does not prohibit parking there. As a result, the OPA can’t enforce its no parking rules, Daly said But Hayes said the board hasn’t

sought out input from property managers about its proposal to adopt the county short-term rental, noise, and litter regulations and incorporate them into the restrictive covenants for each section of Ocean Pines. “The short-term rental managers side has not been presented,” he said. Hayes said the OPA’s proposal wouldn’t even allow short-term renters to come to Ocean Pines and host a family birthday party or anniversary. A violation could result in a three-year suspension of the owners’ license, he said. Daly responded that’s in the county law now, not as an addition included by the OPA. He reiterated that the board is simply considering adopting the applicable county code into the DRs for each section of Ocean Pines. “If you had property managers [managing all short-term rentals] this problem would go away. The problem is not with properties that have property managers or county license holders,” he responded. “The problem is with absentee people who don’t use property managers. It’s the people that constantly have the problems that aren’t around.” Lakernick, a candidate for the board in this summer’s election, agreed that short-term rentals are being singled out by the OPA instead of the board addressing the issues as a community-wide problem for short-term, long term and permanent residents. He said it is unfair to single out short-term rentals as the source of violations of the declaration of restrictions and county code in the community. “If we’re talking three or four bad actors in a community of 8,452 lot owners, we’re talking an incredibly small percentage of short-term renters that may be causing issues,” Lakernick said. “I think that we have permanent residents that cause issues with neighbors all the time. We have long-term renters that cause issues and short-term. I think it’s sort of unfair to just single out short-term renters.” Lakernick added that if a neighbor has a problem with a short-term rental, one option is to file for injunctive relief through the courts themselves, without involving the OPA. “Parking, trash, and noise are the three big things. I agree with you, I don’t think there’s much that can To Page 10

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10 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021 Short-term rentals From Page 8 be done with parking. But trash and noise, calling 911 I think is your best answer.” he said. Director Camilia Rogers responded saying “If an independent person wants to take that on and go and file a petition in Snow Hill to get injunctive relief, then that is certainly within the Maryland code and that certainly is your right to do that. How long it would take is anybody’s guess.” Director Colette Horn added, “and how the judge would act on it is also anybody’s guess.” She said what the board is trying to do is respond to the complaints that it has heard. Hayes said short-term rental owners feel targeted. He said approximately 7 percent or about 600 of Ocean Pines homes are short-term rentals. “We have to walk the letter of the law where other people may not have to.” Carla Soden, who owns a short-

OCEAN PINES term rental, agreed and said she obtained a county license and tries to keep everyone happy, including the neighbors. “I just hate the way we’re being painted as this broad group of people that are making tons of money. Cause that is certainly not the case for me.” Still, she was concerned that any new regulations enacted by the OPA could result in “nitpicking” complaints from neighbors about her and other’s short-term rentals. Soden said there are currently “all kinds of things go on in my neighborhood that don’t bother me because it’s not that big of a deal.” But, she said implementing such regulations changes the character of the community. “What kind of community are we? Are we family-oriented?” Kathy Johnston asked what the board is hoping to accomplish by incorporating all of the county regulations into the declaration of restrictions for each section of Ocean Pines.

“What I’m hearing is that you are trying to put some teeth into our regulations in order to handle these” issues, she said. Johnston said the governing documents are clear that cars can’t be parked along the roads. “I guess we don’t have the teeth to take care of that,” she said. The other side of the argument on what to do with short-term rentals was also represented at the Town Hall. Yvette Tanious, who lives in Tern’s Landing, wants bad shortterm rental owners to be targeted by the OPA. She detailed a litany of complaints about short-term rentals in her high-end neighborhood, including renters blocking her driveway with their cars, frisbees and balls in her pool, and walking through her yard. “Come on. What is our association doing for us? They’re making tons of money by renting,” Tanious said, adding “This is so irritating. How much can one take?” She said her whole street is often blocked by 10 to 12 cars after the houses are rented out to multiple families by unlicensed short-term rentals. She said the owners have failed to respond to her concerns and they don’t have property management

firms taking care of the rentals for them. “I have the misfortune of living next to a short-term rental,” Virginia Sutula said. She wanted to know how renters are or will be informed of the rules by which they must abide in shortterm rentals. Perrone acknowledged that parking is an issue for many short-term rental properties because the driveways are not large enough to accommodate all the cars. “We can’t stop people from parking on the side of the road. We’ve looked into this issue, over and over and over again,” he said. Gary Clift posed questions to several directors at the meeting, asking if they want to get up in the morning and see three or four cars parked on their lawn or do they like the idea of living next to a boarding house? “No one likes that in front of their house,” he said, but that’s what is happening near him on McHenry Court. Of the rental property owners, he said the “only thing they think about is personal profit, and not the peace and tranquility of why we live here.” Cleft said he has been woken up in the early morning by noise and arguing by those using the rental homes. “I look at it as just bringing Ocean City’s problems west.”

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12 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021

Board rejects vote to ‘memorialize’ referendum outcome

Perrone calls Parks’s motion a ‘process enema’ and it goes down, 3-4 By TOM STAUSS Publisher n a somewhat confusing 3-4 vote that didn’t seem to have much practical significance, the Board of Directors has decided not to take additional action to “memorialize” or document the results of the recent referendum curbing board capital spending authority. During the board’s June 16 monthly meeting, Directors Doug Parks offered a motion to adopt the language in the referendum and to make sure the changes get included in an amendment to the by-laws that would be filed in the OPA’s record repository in Snow Hill. Director Camilla Rogers, speaking in support of the motion, said it was not intended to accept the results of the referendum, but “to memorialize the change in filings in Snow Hill.” Director Frank Daly opined that the “memorializing” could occur either as an amendment to the by-laws or as a restatement. He didn’t say which he preferred, nor whether he thought the proposed board action was necessary. In the end, he decided it wasn’t. During discussion, Daly said that for Parks’s objective to be achieved, there would need to be a detailed documentation of the entire two-year process that led to the community voting to reduce the board’s capital

spending authority without a referendum. That process included a petition drive, a rejection of the petition on narrow semantic grounds, a court case challenging the rejection, a court decision ordering the OPA to conduct a referendum, additional time spent in working out details, and the community voting two to one to lower the Larry Perrone board’s spending threshold. “This (Parks’s motion) doesn’t get us” to that detailed accounting, Daly said, more or less implying that he didn’t think additional board action was necessary. Rogers told her colleagues that an affirmative vote on Parks’s motion would help create a track record of by-laws changes, including one that would show a 2021 update reflecting the referendum result. She said that a by-laws change in 2008 was poorly documented, as was one in the early 1990s. She added that OPA Attorney Jeremy Tucker said the by-laws change called for in the referendum could be incorporated either as an amendment or a restatement. He recommended a restatement, Rogers said. A restatement would be an updated version of the bylaws that doesn’t include the older threshold language.

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OCEAN PINES An amendment is an attachment to the by-laws that retains original language. The amendment would supersede the earlier language. Rogers also said that Michelle Bennett, the OPA’s senior executive assistant, keeps a record of when the by-laws changes are made. She seemed to be talking past Daly, who asked rhetorically “how do we capture where we got to this point,” again suggesting that neither a restatement nor an amendment would detail the process that led to the referendum outcome. Director Colette Horn said the steps that led to the referendum result are contained in meeting minutes of the board and Elections Committee. OPA President Larry Perrone also said that the process is documented in meeting minutes, but To Page 14

Trendic opines on how to document referendum results

n the recent dispute between Ocean Pines Association President Larry Perrone and OPA Treasurer Doug Parks on Parks’s motion to memorialize the results of the recent referendum reducing Board of Directors spending authority, former Director Slobodan Trendic offered his opinion on what he would have recommended were he still a member of the board. It was Trendic’s petition effort and successful legal challenge to the board’s rejection of the petition that led to the just concluded referendum that ratified a lower spending limit to be included in the OPA by-laws. “If I was on the board, I would present a motion that would require a ‘written notice’ be sent to all 8452 members stating the outcome / results of the referendum. The same notice should repeat the language of the proposed change and that the OPA Bylaws have been amended accordingly and specify the effective date when the change was made.” To limit expense, he said he would include the notice in the next mass mailing to the membership, either in a statement included in the summer newsletter or ballot materials.

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 13

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Board votes to repeal ethics and conduct policy Committee opts not to offer amendments to Resolution B-08

By TOM STAUSS Publisher ith no fanfare and hardly any discussion, the Board of Directors at its June 16 monthly meeting voted to eliminate controversial Board Resolution B-08 that governed Director and Officer Ethics and Conduct. The previous month, the resolution’s critic-in-chief, Director Frank Daly, called it a “poster child for unintended, and bad, consequences.” The repeal became official on Daly’s motion for a second reading. During the board’s May 15 meeting, Daly had invited the By-laws and Resolutions Advisory Committee to propose amendments to the resolution as an alternative to repeal. There was no such amended version offered during the meeting, suggesting that committee members concluded they didn’t have enough time to make proposed changes or that B-08 was beyond salvage, or perhaps some of both. In any event, Daly’s motion for repeal passed unanimously. At the May board meeting, Daly said that during his tenure on the board the directors handled three B-08 complaints, with none measuring up “to the standard of excellence and fairness that we expect of each other and that the community expects of us.” Neither Daly nor other board members offered any alternatives to B-08, which means for the time being at least board conduct and ethics is governed by the language in the Ocean Pines Association by-laws. That language is vague at best. Section 5.12 of the by-laws doesn’t offer up any specific examples of conduct that might justify removal of a director from the board. It says only that a director can be removed for cause by two thirds vote of the board, or after a petition of OPA members by simple board board majority, also for cause. According to the by-laws, “cause” may include but is not limited to absence from three consecutive board meetings or more than 60 days delinquency in paying annual lot assessments. The by-laws refer to the option of a board resolution defining conduct that might result in removal. No director has been removed from the board as the result of a B-08 action, and a reversion to controlling by-laws language makes removal even less likely absent some egregious conduct well beyond the events that had directors Tom Janasek and Larry Perrone in the crosshairs this past year. In prior critiques of B-08, Daly said the resolution as it’s been interpreted and applied prevented the board from publicly identifying who makes a complaint, who the complaint was filed against, and the nature of the complaint during three recent cases where B-08 complaints were filed against board members. “This resolution has completely prevented the accused of making any comments to defend themselves. It has prevented answers to totally appropriate questions from association members. The procedures employed have raised fair, and serious, questions regarding due process for both the accused and accuser,” Daly said.

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From Page 12 went on to describe Parks’s motion as a “process enema. “The community told us what they wanted,” he said, calling the motion redundant and unnecessary. He added that as a homeowner he was offended that the board would be voting on whether to accept the referendum results. He didn’t explain why he seemed to be taking the motion personally. He also took issue with Rogers’s assertion that Tucker had recommended the filing of a restated set of by-laws over an amendment. “Counsel has not recommended that we do this,” he said, telling directors he had spoken with Tucker earlier in the day. “He says [Parks’s motion] is redundant and unnecessary. The process will be documented in our minutes ... the record is in place.” In response to a June 24 inquiry from the Progress, Perrone said a decision has been made to file an amendment to the existing by-laws rather than a restatement. “I’m not sure when the amendment will be filed in Snow Hill,” he said, adding that the matter has been left to General Manager John Viola and Tucker to work out. A restatement including the amendment pertaining to board spending authority is more appropriate once the board completes a full review and rewrite of the current by-laws, a process that is already begin, Perrone said. During the June 16 debate, the OPA president called the filing of amended by-laws in the OPA’s Snow Hill repository a “mechanical operation that doesn’t require board action,” adding that they would have been filed already had Parks’s motion not been included in the June 16 agenda. Parks responded that he agreed that board action was “somewhat redundant,” but took issue with Perrone feeling offended by the motion. “I disagree that you’re offended,” Parks said. “The intent of the motion is not to accept” the referendum results, but to document the referendum outcome “for future reference.” Perrone repeated that he was offended nonetheless, and then called the question on Parks’s motion. It failed in a 3-4 vote. Parks, Rogers and Director Tom Janasek voted in favor, with Perrone, Daly, Horn and Director Frank Brown opposed.

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 15

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Strategic plan committee working on community survey Committee chair says it will be distributed no later than Sept. 1

January 1st By TOM STAUSS plan for Ocean Pines, for years an a strategic plan, much to Stevens’s thru January 18th. We will Publisher elusive goal. regret. open January 19th. of the Straecent meetings The previous effort led by late Committee co-chair Bernie McG-

tegic Plan Advisory have focused on a community survey that will help in devising a strategic

Director Dave Stevens succeeded in producing a lengthy survey, but the results were never turned into

orry told the Progress recently that his committee is hoping to devise a less unwieldy survey that in turn

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will produce data usable in developing a strategic plan for Ocean Pines. In response to an email, McGorry said his panel is targeting Sept. 1 at the latest to send out a survey, but before then if possible. “We would hope to compile the results by Oct. 1, but these are simply our current target dates,” he said. Once the survey is devised, he said it most likely will be conducted using a hybrid approach of on-line and regular mail to give more opportunity for participation by Ocean Pines Association members. “The most important aspect is that we want to hear from as many Ocean Pines’ property owners as possible,” he said. Department heads in Ocean Pines recently completed SWOP (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) reports that McGorry said had been very informative. So did members of the Executive Council, chairs of advisory committees in Ocean Pines who meet at least once a year with the OPA president. “Safety and amenities consistently are listed as strengths while drainage issues are an example of both a weakness and an opportunity,” he said. McGorry said the goal is to complete a draft strategic plan and to present it to the Board of Directors before the end of 2021, but that goal seems very fluid. “This is a volunteer committee and many of us have part-time or full time jobs, so we have to be realistic. Ideally we would really like to have it complete prior to the next budget planning cycle, but this may not be feasible,” he said. Members of the committee will be driving the process of writing the plan, but McGorry said who will actually be writing it has not been determined. The committee is accepting questions from community members for the survey, but “the only caveat would be is that we want to prioritize and limit the number of questions to make the final survey simple and not time consuming to complete,” McGorry said. “From what we have learned, the previous strategic planning process got bogged down with the fact that the homeowner survey was extremely long and took too much time to complete,” he said. If anyone would like to send in a question for consideration, they can email it to McGorry at bmcgorry1079@gmail.com by July 15.

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 17

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Membership resurgence shakes off covid All amenity departments substantially ahead of last year one month into fiscal year

Ocean Pines Association membership report Period ending May 31, 2021

By TOM STAUSS Publisher here is no bad news in the membership report issued as part of the May financials posted on the Ocean Pines Association Web site June 22, unless someone wants to quibble over platform tennis reaching only two thirds of its modest membership goal for the year. All amenities in the aggregate are 91 percent of goal as of May 31, with 2,706 memberships sold compared to 1,217 sold in May of last year. These sales have already produced $754,190 in revenue. The platform tennis shortfall is not huge in raw numbers. With 51 memberships sold so far, compared to 37 a year ago, it’s not the kind of shortfall that is going to have too many people upset. And it’s still early. Another racquet sport, pickleball, is already at 147 percent of its budgeted membership, with 159 in membership sales compared to 75 at the same time last year. That’s tops as a percentage of goal among all the amenities in the membership report. Tennis is close to meeting its membership goal for the year, with 64 membership sold far or 93 percent of goal. Last year at the end of May the number of tennis memberships sold was 38. The combination racquet membership covering all three sports is 293 percent of goal, with 18 memberships sold compared to 9 a year ago. The total racquet sport percentage of goal is 115 percent. Two other membership categories, golf and golf cart packages, have exceeded their goals for the year. Golf memberships are at 86, compared to 74 at the end of May last year, is at 102 percent of goal. The golf membership sales how reliant the Ocean Pines golf clurse is on non-member play, both OPA members who don’t purchase golf memberships and outsiders, including package deals promoted by local golf course promoters. Cart packages are at 119 percent, with 42 sold this year compared to 32 in May of 2020. Beach parking, a perennial cash cow for the OPA, is at 86 percent of goal, with 1,751 Beach Club passes sold compared to 864 a year ago. Aquatics has shown the most dramatic turnaround in membership sales, with 518 sold as of May 31 this year compared to only 72 a year ago. That’s 80 percent of goal. Unlike most other amenity departments, Aquatics encourages membership sales throughout the year. Annual memberships can be sold anytime during the year and expire a year later. Golf and racquet sport memberships run from May 1 to April 30 of the following year, which means that most of their membership revenue tends to show up in the May financials.

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 19

20 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021

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Brooks Ensor named Aquatics Committee chair Appointment follows shake-up, explanation of alleged safety concerns By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Board of Directors appointed Aquatics Advisory Committee member Brooks Ensor chair of the committee in a unanimous vote at the board’s June 16 meeting, on the recommendation of committee liaison Frank Daly. The appointment was a formality, as Ensor had been asked by Ocean Pines Association President Larry Perrone whether he would accept the position at a meeting of the committee in May. Ensor accepted on the spot, replacing Kathy Grimes, whose extended year as a committee member expired at the end of 2020. Daly had been unable to make the meeting and asked Perrone to attend and preside over the transition to a new chairman, Daly told the Progress. “I understand that it came as a shock,” Daly said. “But rules are rules. It was nothing personal.” Under OPA governing documents, committee members can serve three terms, starting with three years and extendable in two-year and one-year increments. Under unusual circumstances, a member can serve a final oneyear extension, but after that he or she is supposed to take time off or join another committee. Grimes had been serving a final one-year extension. Perrone invited her to continue to attend meetings and offer insights, but she “won’t be able to vote,” Daly said. According to the OPA’s Web site, Ensor’s first term expires in November of this year. The OPA Web site also lists Annemarie Wolfsheimer as a third-term member whose third term (one-year) expires on Dec. 17 of this year. She submitted an application for a one-year extension, Daly said, and it was approved by the board during the June 16 meeting. Ellen Hench and Steve Cohen also were added to the committee as a first-term member by unanimous vote of the board. Ensor’s appointment as chairman is somewhat ironic, as he was recently hired as a swimming instructor at Captain’s Cove, the community on the Maryland-Virginia line where former OPA Department head Colby Phillips now works as senior general manager. Ensor has 50 years of experience teaching swimming and as an aquatics facility executive. He hadn’t been serving as a swimming instructor in Ocean Pines for some time, and has had a good working relationship with Phillips over the years. She was the Aquatics Director in Ocean Pines before current Director Kathleen Cook. Daly said much of the May meeting of the committee consisted of a explanation of health and safety concerns raised by the committee in recent months about pool operations that Perrone “professionally” addressed point by point. OPA General Manager John Viola also attended the meeting, as did Cook. Both Daly and Viola said that Perrone did an excellent job of explaining that Cook and her staff were following health department rules and have an excellent working relationship with their inspectors and other staff. “I believe Larry addressed all of their concerns, and did so very professionally,” Daly said. While not able to say for certain whether all committee members were convinced, he said going forward he thought there would be a productive working relationship between the committee and staff. As an OPA director and board liaison, Daly said he hoped the committee would work on ways to help the board and staff deal with what he has called a “structural deficit” in Aquatics’ finances. The goal is to eliminate the deficit, which in the covid year of 2020-21 reached $295,815, or at least substantially to reduce it, Daly said. “I hope the committee can come up with some ideas,” he said. “After all, their role is to advise the board.”

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Robert D. Park, DMD, MSD OPINION ORTHODONTIST Election Commentary

Board OKs purchase of six new trucks, boom mower

July 2016Ocean Pines PROGRESS

fession reportedly sets a range of 30 to 70 percent as Clarke points to three years of cumulative Yacht within acceptable limits for ACC funding. The OPA Club deficits. Clarke and Gomsak, elsewhere in this From Page 52 currently funds its replacement reserve at the low end edition of the Progress, spar over which three years by the multitude of candidates. of the “acceptable” range. should be used for analytic purposes. Supik is seen as a Thompson cheerleader, and For what it’s worth, Thompson reportedly has Let’s look at the two years the new facility has been 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 member and current assistant OPA treasurer very achieved over ten years; the recommendation is con- 30, 2016, (end-of-fiscal-year) Yacht Club profit-loss much aligned with the Terry-Jacobs faction. tained in a document that the board majority won’t statement to conclude that the new Yacht Club has By TOM STAUSS Fivefiof the six trucks to be purnot performed well nancially. Both Gomsak and Supik are retired accountants, let him release to the OPA membership. The statement is posted Web both are identified with the notion that OPA reserves A 50 percent funding level still would require a sigPublisher chased will beon-line used on by the theOPA Public site (under andDepartment documents, monthly financials). are underfunded, and both are wedded to the idea nificant increase in the lot assessment,ith over a number limited discussion be- forms Works and one, a 2021 that the OPA’s reserve levels should be tied to some- of years, and talking about assessment increases is Operational statements exclude depreciation, which cause all six trucks and Ford Explorer 4WD contained XLT, willin be appear in departmental summaries the thing called the annual component cost (ACC), a com- never popular, especially during election season. one Ventrac boom mowshared by General Manager annual audited financial statement released inJohn early putational confection conceived and embraced by the The rationale for keeping the document secret, acAugust. The unaudited comein close accounting profession. cording to Thompson, is that is a working document eritwere budgeted for 2021-22, the Viola andnumbers others usually who work theto “offi cial”Administration ones available in Building. August. That’s the Gomsak and Terry tried to persuade Supik to run involved in the updating and completion of the OPA’s Board of Directors at its the June 16 The Yacht Club’s operational loss in 2015-16 was for the board last year, failing to do so, but they suc- ongoing reserve study. monthly meeting $275,000a year same arrangement with the Explorearlier it was $181,875. ceeded this year. That’s absurd, because the document itself approved is com- $76,219; in truck replacement expenditures er that Viola drives currently. was sigGranted, the year-over-year improvement If anyone is the anointed candidate of this particu- plete and has been referenced in one or two board nifimower cant, but a loss a loss and a $76,000 loss (plus lar faction, it’s Supik in spades. meetings. Property ownersand paida for that document, $37,000 Ventrac boom Thatis vehicle will be transferred hefty funded on a and $5 million buildSupik has said that, as chairman of the Budget and and it ought to be releasedfor immediately. tree and steep ditch trimming. fordepreciation use by the Parks Recreation ing) this past year still requires a substantial subsidy Finance Advisory Committee, she is used to navigating Thompson seems willing to release it, but he’s beThe boom mower replaces a much Department. in very roiled waters, forging a consensus in a group ing stymied by some of his board overseers, who in through the annual lot assessment. less effective that went outcould Hertrick of SmyrSupik have shedFleet more Services light on the subject with, at times, sharply conflicting views. this instance prefer secrecy over disclosuremower and transshe indulged in less on what the Other candidates over the years have said that parency. Perhaps they fear that the Thompson recomof service a few years ago,had General na, Del., wascheerleading the low bidder on five numbers say. most by signifithey, like Supik claims now, can end board factional- mendation could become an electionJohn issue,Viola adversely Manager said. most recentl of the sixactually purchases, Supik also seems firmly in the camp of replacing ism and infighting. It continues, despite the best ef- affecting certain candidates, particularly Supik, who The new Ventrac boom mow- cant amounts. (rather than repairing and renovating) existing ameforts of those who say they can end it. has been open in her viewpoint that OPA reserves are er can mow steep ditches, can difference bids onofthe sixth nities, cut with the The Country Club anin example that. The Factional infighting will probably continue regard- underfunded. current minority faction a favors less of who is elected this year. It goes with the terWhat they don’t seem to realize is around that by keepvegetation ponds lakes and purchase, Fordsubstantial 250 van, renovation; was relacertain where the majority stands. With Supik ritory. It becomes ugly when the infighting becomes ing it secret, it could also have the effect adversely streams, can of trim hedges it’s andnot othtively modest. personal, such as when one director says he’s going to affecting certain candidates, particularly Supik, even part of the majority, the board would gain a voice er shrubs, can reach under fences Preston Automotive was the low strongly biased in the direction of replacement. throw a colleague through the wall for the temerity more so than if they had allowed Thompson to release and guardrails, and can trim tree bidder on that toone, with Thompson’s Hertrick The candidates most likely embrace of seeing issues differently. his recommendations, and their rationales, to the OPA continued general manager are Supik, SiOcean Pines’ ACC has been estimated at roughly membership. branches along trails and roads, tenure aboutas$1,000 higher. Daly, Ray Unger, andthe probably Larry Perrone. $14 million, which could mean that OPA reserves are Supik also has come under fire fromtoformer board mon, according promotional material In total, six new vehicles will Those who like the status quo are not without opunderfunded by $10 million if 100 percent funding of member Clarke for her public statements to the effect included with the board meeting cost the OPA $274,544, $13,456 less the ACC is the goal. that the OPA and the Ocean Pines Yacht Club is doing tions. Perhaps too many, but that’s how it is this elecMastercard-VI SA-American Express-Discover MD-0000726201 packet. what had been estimated in tion season. –than Tom Stauss Actually, it doesn’t have to be; the accounting pro- well financially.

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the 2021-22 capital budget approved earlier this year by the board. All the purchases will be funded out of the OPA’s replacement reserve. The Ocean Pines Progress, a journal The 2021 Explorer XLT will cost of news and commentary, is pubthelished OPA monthly $35,441.throughout the year. The five approved Public Works It is circulated in Ocean Pines, Berlin, vehicles 2021 Ford Transit Oceaninclude City, andaCaptain’s Cove, Va. Letters and other editorial submisT350, costing $51,397; a 2022 Ford sions: Please submit via email only. F250 Crewcab 4WD truck, costing Letters two should be original and exclu$36,551; 2022 Ford F550 dump sive to the Progress. Include phone trucks, each costing $57,302; and number for verification. a 2022 Ford F250 Crewcab 4WD truck, costing $36,551. Lane 127 Nottingham The Ventrac boomMD mower Ocean Pines, 21811is costing $37,016, about $1,000 more than PUBLISHER/EDITOR the budgeted $36,000. Tom Stauss All six vehicles and the boom tstauss1@mchsi.com mower come with a total price tag 443-359-7527 of $311,560. The lastAdvertising time the OPA Sales replaced a truck was in 2018, according to a Frank Bottone detailed summary of the purchases 410-430-3660 in a graphic included with the board ART DIRECTOR meeting packet. Rota Knott Viola reminded the board that the six new vehicles are replacing 13 CONTRIBUTING WRITER vehicles in theRota fleet, eight that have Knott alreadyInkwellMedia@comcast.net been sold at auction and five that will be. 443-880-1348 u

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 23

OCEAN PINES The eight vehicles sold at auction earlier this year generated $53,460 in revenue for the OPA, and the other five are estimated to bring in another $55,000, for total proceeds of $108,460. The net cost of the vehicle purchases less proceeds from the auctions will come in at about $165,000. The replacement of 13 trucks with six new ones will save the OPA roughly $79,200 in operating costs, Viola said, comprised of $12,000 in fuel costs, $12,000 in repair and maintenance costs, $8,000 in insurance, tags and registration. Of that $79,200 in projected savings, Viola’s graphic indicates that $51,000 is savings in depreciation, which he later acknowledged is not a hard cost. In addition, the vehicles that were sold earlier this year were fully depreciated. Viola told the Progress that depreciation expense can be replaced with ever higher increases in repair and maintenance expense as a way of estimating savings, but he acknowledged that the estimated savings are just that, an estimate.

Bainbridge project nears completion OPA awaits second county reimbursement check By TOM STAUSS Publisher n schedule and on budget, the Bainbridge Park project is essentially completed, with the purchase and planting of plants still to be done, General Manager John Viola announced during the June 16 Board of Directors meeting. A forebay, a smaller pond where filtration takes place before water enters the main pond, was completed in May, Viola said. It’s separated from the main pond by a dirt berm, grasses and plants. Underwater benches for plants have also been installed, with plants that aid in filtration to be purchased and installed. Viola showed photos of various components of the project during the meeting, including a pond outfall structure where storm water exits Ocean Pines on route to another storage pond in nearby River Run. Viola noted that the first reimbursement from the county of $52,046 for costs associated with the project has been received. A second payment of $128,674 is being processed. Eventually, the Ocean Pines Asu

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The completed forebay, above, separated from the main pond by the berm. The outfall structure, right, which provides additional filtration before stormwater exits Ocean Pines.

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From Page 23 sociation will receive $482,337 in pass-through funds from the county as part of $482,337 in state grant funds . The OPA is contributing another $235,000 towards the project, including $122,176 already paid to Vista Engineering for project schematics and $32,474 to the county for permit review. Ground-breaking for the project was March 18. Improvements at the pond include replacement of storm drain inflow and outflow pipes, construction of the new forebay, re-grading and raising the perimeter of the pond and installing aquatic benches, and building a new weir to control water levels and slow flooding during larger storms. Three crossings at Beacon Hill, Sandyhook and Pinehurst roads began the last week of May. Ditches were excavated, with soil removed with more impervious soil. While the project will have some marginal benefit in removing stormwater, its primary purpose is to improve the ΊΙΙΛΘΟΎ΍ ψϟ ΎϊϝχϘϊ ΕϏχϔ Georges Cnty Md will qualityPrince of water that eventually ΍χϚϋͧ йрͿкйͿлйкт end up in the bay or river. ΎϞϖ ϊχϚϋͧ йрͿкйͿлйлй Price: 98.500 (00.00) Ί΍и

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July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 25

Viola, board unsure about ownership of cluster boxes

Letter from postal service conveying title is missing in action By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer ith ownership of the cluster boxes used for delivery of mail within the community in question, the Ocean Pines Association doesn’t know if it should be budgeting hundreds of thousands of dollars for their eventual replacement or if that is the responsibility of the postal service. While the postal service appears to be continuing with the maintenance of the cluster boxes, a yearsold letter that no one currently employed by the OPA has ever seen may have turned their ownership and upkeep over to the OPA. During his June 16 general manager’s report to the Board of Direc-

tors, John Viola provided an update on the relocation of the mailboxes on High Sheriff Trail due to a pipe failure at the site. While that project simply involved creating a new pad site for the mailboxes, paving, and fabricating one new pedestal for a cluster box unit, Viola said he used the project to gather information about the cost of replacing the mailboxes. “The perfect one was the High Sheriff Trail mailbox because when the pipe went down and there was a cave-in several months ago, it affected the mailboxes and we had to move them as well as correct them,” he said. Viola said the OPA decided to relocate the High Sheriff Trail site

and move those mailboxes off the main road. “We think it will work better. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on it and one person that didn’t like it.” Viola said there was much discussion about the replacement of the cluster boxes during this year’s budget process. “A lot of people wanted to address the mailboxes. Some came in with some big numbers and some ideas and everything,” he said. While the project didn’t make it into the budget, Viola said staff wanted to do some research into the mailboxes. “What I recommended was let us do some work. Let’s get some history just like I did with the roads couple years ago. Let’s get a

feel for it so we know what we’re getting into,” he said. Based on information gathered during the High Sheriff Trail project, Viola said replacement of a cluster box, the multi-unit frames that generally contain 12 to 16 regular mailboxes or fewer for package delivery, could cost $1,600 to $2,000 each. Mailbox sites located throughout Ocean Pines often have six or more cluster boxes at each pad site. Similarly based on the High Sheriff Trail project, paving at each site is estimated at $2,500 and the concrete pad construction at $2,800. Each cluster mailbox sits on a pedestal that is affixed to the concrete pad site. At the High Sheriff Trail site, the OPA had to replace one of the mailbox pedestals. Unable to find one, the association had it fabricated to fit the cluster boxes at a cost of a few hundred dollars. Viola said the pedestals in the cluster boxes throughout Ocean Pines are a certain size that was supposedly configured to meet post u

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26 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021 Cluster boxes

From Page 25 office standards. “We could not get that so we had the pedestal fabricated,” he said. Viola noted that his initial cost estimates for replacement of portions of the mailbox sites doesn’t include upgrades that have long been discussed like pavilions, roofing, and lights. “In the meantime we will continue to maintain and try where we can to update the mailboxes as I committed,” he said. OPA President Larry Perrone questioned ownership of the cluster boxes. He pointed out that at recent election forums, two candidates said the OPA owns them. “I don’t think we do. The post office still owns them. That’s why they’re not on our asset register,” he said. Perrone said replacement of all cluster boxes throughout Ocean Pines would not be a cheap project. He asked Viola if he has “any numbers for what we’re looking at association wide…?” “This is a debate,” Viola said re-

OCEAN PINES garding ownership of the cluster boxes. “I have an idea what’s going on.” He said the cluster boxes themselves are not on the OPA’s fixed asset register, and as a result, “I would think we don’t own [them].” But Viola said he has heard there was a letter from the postal service to the OPA several years ago turning over ownership of the cluster boxes. He said he has never seen it. “I don’t know what that means quite honestly,” he said. “The only thing I can tell this board and this association, it’s not on our books.” The concrete pads for the mailbox sites are OPA assets, apparently, but not the actual cluster boxes. That may be part of the confusion, he added Director Colette Horn said she spoke to the postmistress four years ago and was told that the postal service owned the luster boxes, but if the OPA started maintaining them then it would own them. “That’s something for this board and B and F [Budget and Finance Advisory Committee] to decide,” Viola responded about taking on the responsibility and associated cost of

maintaining the cluster boxes. He said he doesn’t have an estimate for that cost yet. “It depends also what we want, but I can give you options,” he said. Director Tom Janasek said he has seen postal service employees on weekends fixing pedestals. “They’re obviously doing it. I don’t know who requested it.” Viola said he has noticed that some of the pedestals on the cluster boxes are rotted and will need to be replaced. “I’ve seen them. We can start looking at that,” he said, adding “If you’re talking about replacing all these clusters, obviously we just count them up and times them by $2,000 or $1,600. We’ll try to fine tune the price.” “It’s not going to be a cheap proposition,” Perrone said. Director Doug Parks said the board is receiving differing information about the ownership of the cluster boxes. “I reached out to the postmaster last year and asked that same question because we weren’t really sure. You’re right it’s not on the asset list but according to them there was

something back in 2015 where they granted ownership of the mailboxes to us.” Parks said he doesn/t recall such a notification. He said he asked the postal service to produce that letter but never received it. So he suggested trying again. “Maybe another inquiry to them tell them we are still unsure,” he said. “Maybe we reach out to them and just finalize that and make sure we’ve got it.” Janasek said the Environmental and Natural Assets Advisory Committee studied and presented a report on the mailbox sites about three years ago that included cost estimates for replacement. He said the OPA should revisit that report. “When we looked into it you had to coordinate with the mail carrier so they could either empty the boxes or take them somewhere so they would be protected. And then replace the pedestal and then put the box back,” he said. He asked if the OPA got the postal service’s permission before moving the High Sheriff Trail mailboxes. Viola said “we did not.” u

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July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 27

Cluster boxes

From Page 26 “Really? You don’t have to?” Janasek asked. “If it was, [it involves] a process that I don’t know,” Viola said. Janasek reminded him that “messing with the mail is a federal offense.” Viola said “there was definitely communication” between the OPA and the postal service but just what that was he wasn’t sure. “We did talk.” Director Frank Daly, doing a quick calculation, said it would have cost the OPA about $30,000 for replace the cluster boxes on High Sheriff Trail had that been the association’s responsibility and part of that project. Viola reiterated that the OPA did not replace the cluster boxes, but only did concrete and blacktop top and replaced one pedestal. “We did not touch the mailboxes. Nor will I until I get approval from the board and find out exactly what” is the status of ownership, he said.

Viola again deflects questions about ditching NorthStar Software upgrade causes more problems for OPA, but GM says pluses outweigh minuses By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer ust when the Ocean Pines Association seemed to be making forward progress, installation of the NorthStar integrated software package hit more snags. “NorthStar is one step forward. You take a step back. You turn around,” General Manager John Viola told the Board of Directors during its June 16 monthly meeting. Viola said the problems seem to occur whenever NorthStar does a system-wide an upgrade that affects all of their customers. “They had an upgrade last weekend and it didn’t go well,” he said, adding that those upgrades seem to knock out much of the OPA’s software customization. The last upgrade had a significant impact on the OPA’s website. “What happens is whatever we had specifically for us, customized or was part of the original program

that’s unique to Ocean Pines, when they do their upgrades somehow they get dropped off,” Viola said. “Obviously these upgrades are for all their customers. I can just tell you what I believe is happening, what we’re seeing.” The OPA’s new IT employee, Tracy Townsend, is working with NorthStar to address the outstanding issues. Currently there are 23 open issues related to the association’s software package. “That’s his main role right now,” Viola said of the open issues. “He’s all over it.” Viola said NorthStar has some challenges on their end. “Obviously it’s affecting us. We’re not pleased, but we’re working through it.” He said the impact on the OPA so far has been that it’s been slow realizing the efficiencies that it hoped to gain with the switch to a new software package. “Eventually we will, hopefully,” he added. u

28 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021 NorthStar

From Page 27 Viola said the other challenge has been constantly reworking issues that had already been addressed but that resurface after NorthStar system upgrades. “Any time there’s rework is taking the team more work and allocating resources, especially in finance as well as my department heads, to rework this stuff as opposed to doing other stuff,” he said. Director Tom Janasek asked at what point the does the OPA “get to the point of no return on this?” He said Ocean Pines is expending much of its own money on payroll for staff to continue working with NorthStar to address ongoing issues. He said the project has been ongoing for almost three years but was supposed to be up and running within six months. He said it was supposed to “be running everything and every time something new comes up they update it” and it’s not getting any better. “I just don’t understand ... how long we’re gonna continue putting

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OCEAN PINES out money into this system until it actually starts to function, if it ever does,” Janasek said, adding that he is not a IT person but recognizes there has to be an end point to the pain and suffering. Camilla Rogers said that was her question as well. “I talked to some staff over the weekend who were really, really frustrated because they want to do a good job,” she said. “Can you help us understand this?” she asked Viola. When Viola queried her regarding to whom she had spoken, Rogers said it was Yacht Club employees. She said Yacht Club staff expressed frustration with the NorthStar system just in general. Viola reminded directors that the NorthStar point of sale system is not being used at the Yacht Club at this time. Early problems with the system there caused the OPA to temporarily pull the plug on the system and revert to a pre-existing POS system until after the summer season. “At the Yacht Club we’re not using the point of sale system from NorthStar. So I know they had frustrations with it. We all did. It wasn’t

software package could not have done what the NorthStar system is being designed and installed to do. No one ever seemed to have looked into it, he said. “It just was never done, and nobody spent the money over the years,” Viola said. “It wasn’t that the other system couldn’t do it. For whatever reason over the years, whoever was in charge they just didn’t explore it or spend the money for whatever reason.” At this point, Viola said the OPA needs to move forward with installation of the NorthStar suite and keep working with the company to address any problems. “So we need to continue. This is a toll on me as much as anybody. To shift gears on this right now… Remember, there was no one system out there that fits all here. So, I say we stay the way we go,” he told the board. He said his staff team is on board with continuing the NorthStar installation. “There are benefits to it. Especially to the finance side. It is integrated,” Viola said, adding that problems with the upgrades will continue to be addressed as they arise.

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as advertised. But we took it out. They have their systems that they recommended,” he said. Viola said he has discussed implementation of the NorthSstar software with association department heads and asked them the same question Janasek asked him during the meeting. “They say, I say, that we need to stay with it,” he added. As for additional expenses, Viola said the extra work by NorthStar for installation and to resolve the constant problems is not at any cost to the OPA. “We’re not giving them more money,” he said. However, he noted that it is costing the OPA staff time and resources. “It is costing us in time. I’m not going to deny that, but more in the sense of the efficiencies that I thought we would have.” Still, he said there are benefits to the NorthStar system that the OPA did not have with its previous software system. “This system is integrated, that’s a big one. The finance side, the reporting side is more robust,” he said. But, he said, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the OPA’s previous

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July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 29

Viola hopes innovation will eliminate summer brown-outs

enewed maintenance efforts have helped improve conditions at the Ocean Pines Golf Club, Golf Superintendent Justin Hartshorne said during a Board of Directors meeting on June16. Hartshorne was hired about a year and a half ago and promoted to superintendent last year. He has almost 20 years of golf maintenance experience “I’m very excited for this year. The course is in great shape right now,” Hartshorne said. Chief among the maintenance efforts, Hartshorne said aerification is “one of the most important things we do throughout the year.” The process uses mechanical coring tines to remove soil, and to increase air and water movement. Sand is then brushed or blown into the holes to fill them in. “The goal is to fill the holes up when we’re completely done, that way everything heals quicker,” he said. “It gives places for water to move through the soil profile, helps get oxygen down in there, and helps with quicker recovery.” Hartshorne said the process looks more invasive than it actually is. “When we do punch those holes, it looks like we tear up and rototill that whole entire greens surface … [but] if you take all those holes and push them into one corner of the green, they’re actually only impacting anywhere from 5-10 percent of the actual surface area of the green.” Hartshorne said the United States Golf Association recommends annually disrupting 20 percent of the surface of the greens. “By doing two aerifications a year, which we have on the schedule, we can get close to that number,” he said. A more recent addition is the use of Ninja Tines, which punch smaller and shallower aeration holes. “It’s like aerification, but this is a much smaller tine,” Hartshorne said. “It’s a lot less disruptive. I know a lot of guys … play behind it and hardly know we’ve done it, once we’ve gotten it cleaned up.” He said top dressing, or adding a

light dusting of sand to the putting area, can also help by diluting layers of thatch that normally build up. “Anyone who’s played this spring … has encountered this. We’ve been doing it weekly to help maintain conditions,” he said. “It’s helping with foot traffic [and] with ball marks flying in. We’re just trying to add a layer of sand to pad that area, and it also helps with smoothness [and] firmness when you’re playing on them.” The course maintenance staff also uses the process of verticutting, or vertical mowing, on the greens. “This is a very shallow process that just helps the thatch at the surface and removes it,” he said. “We top dress behind to fill those channels in, just to [keep] that sand in the profile.” Hartshorne said the entire effort is meant to correct a layer of thatch that has built up over time. “We need to continue these practices, with the ninja tines, the top dressing, and it’s going to help us,” he said. “You’re going to see drastic improvement in reducing the thatch within three to four years. “Everything we’re doing is creat-

ing space for water and oxygen, but it is going to be a consistent process,” he continued. “My crew has done a fantastic job of running with this and consistently working this into our maintenance routine.” Hartshorne and his staff have also worked to bolster drainage on the course, starting with cleaning out the existing drain lines. Over time, he said, sand, leaves and other material gets caught in the drainage system, and that has to be blown out or flushed. Some areas, like the 15th hole, may need added drainage, but others are receiving help from normal maintenance. “We’ve just been trying to clean those systems out,” he said. “Areas where we can blow them out and clean [the drains], we’re certainly trying to take advantage of that, because the existing pipe in the ground, a lot of it’s still good ... We’re only replacing what we absolutely need to replace. “The goal is to just get the water off the playing surface as quick as we possibly can,” he added. Hartshorne said other regularly scheduled agronomic and mainte-

Justin Hartshorne

nance practices now include the use of wetting agents and hand watering to help deepen the root system, as well as soil testing. “The golf course looks great right now, but you can always do something better,” he said, adding that soil testing may help reveal other work that needs to be done. “That’s just going to give me a lot of extra information.” He said the overall goal is to improve the health of the greens, increase the ability to handle summer stress like elevated temperatures and heavy rains, and create a smooth and firm putting surface. “That’s really the goal this year, to get as much data as we can, adding those practices, and really just trying to keep that root system moving water and oxygen in that [soil] profile,” he said. u

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30 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021

OCEAN PINES BRIEFS Former commissioner Judy Boggs passes

ormer Worcester County Commissioner Judy, who represented Ocean Pines in county government from the early 2000s to the mid-2020s, passed away peacefully in her home on June 1. Born on January 26, 1940, she was married for 60 years to her husband William “Bill” Boggs who preceded her in death. She was elected to represent the newly established Ocean Pines Dis-

trict in 2002 and served as a member of the Board of County Commissioners from December 2002 to December 2014. Throughout her long public service career, she was a member of the Board of Directors of the Maryland Association of Counties, a past president and member of the Board of Directors of the Ocean Pines Association, and established and served as first president of the Worcester County Commission for Women in 2005. As a member and president of the OPA in the early 2000s, she was in-

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strumental in a referendum effort to change the OPA by-laws, eliminating the ability of the Board of Directors to change the by-laws by majority vote of directors. As a result of the successful referendum, OPA by-laws were amended to allow future changes only by majority vote of OPA members voting in a referendum. That provision remains a part of the OPA by-laws in its current iteration. She was named Worcester County Commission for Women’s “Woman of the Year” in 2020 and in 2005, the Maryland Daily Record named her as one of the 100 most powerful and influential women in the state.

OCEAN PINES July Fourth fireworks celebration to return

The Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department will once again host a Fourth of July fireworks celebration at Veterans Memorial Park on Route 589 and Cathell Road. The event this year is scheduled from 5-8:45 p.m., with carnival games, dry slides and bounce houses for children, plus live music and food and drink vendors. Children’s wristbands are $7 and are good for all slides and bounce houses. Wristbands will be required for those attractions only. General admission is free and open to the public. Fireworks are scheduled to start at 9:15 p.m. and go until roughly 9:45 p.m. The fireworks will launch from the north side of the pond, by Cathell Road. A new viewing zone will be fenced off from Manklin Creek Road to the Veterans Memorial. There will be no viewing along Ocean Parkway, from Cathell Road to Manklin Creek Road. There will also be a “safe zone” marked by an orange fence, from the pond to the firehouse. No one may enter the marked area. Guests may bring lawn chairs and blankets. Parking will be available in the area near the Ocean Pines Library and Taylor Bank. Parking will not be allowed along Ocean Parkway. Limited handicapped parking will be available in a marked area just south of the Sports Core Pool. Police will close Ocean Parkway from Manklin Creek Road to Offshore Lane about 20 minutes before the fireworks begin. Additionally, police will close Cathell Road from Ocean Parkway to the entrance of the Sports Core Pool at around noon, when the fireworks company is scheduled to arrive. The area will remain closed until the fireworks equipment is u

Golf course From Page 29 One measure of how well the new procedures are working will be this July and August, which traditionally have been the months when monsoon rains followed by high temperatures literally boil the greens, causing brown-outs. General Manager John Viola has high hopes that won’t happen this year because of all the preventative measures.

OCEAN PINES loaded back up. At the conclusion of the fireworks, pedestrians will be given preference over motorists. Residents and guests should expect delays throughout the day. In case of inclement weather, the fireworks display will move to Monday, July 5.

Board considers tweak to C-4 resolution

In an 11th hour addition to the agenda of the June 16 meeting of the Board of Directors, Director Camilla Rogers offered for first reading a house-keeping change affecting Board Resolution C-04 that governs the activities of the By-Laws and Resolutions Advisory Committee. The proposed change would give the committee the role of helping the board comply with resolution amendment procedures that are detailed in an amendment to Board Resolution B-01. This is an addition to a provision in C-04 that gives the panel the role of assisting the board in revising OPA governing documents.

Advisory committee appointments made

The Board of Directors at its June

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 31 16 monthly meeting made a number of appointments to advisory committees. Brooks Ensor was named chair of the Aquatics committee, while Annemarie Wolfsheimer was appointed to her third term. Also joining the Aquatics committee are Steve Cohen and Ellen Hench. The board approved Patti Stevens to a first term on Recreation and Parks and Gary Miller to a first term on Strategic Planning.

Ocean Pines named ‘Safest City’ in state

The Ocean Pines Association General Manager’s Office announced recently that Ocean Pines, while technically a homeowner’s association, was recently named as the “safest city” in Maryland by website Safewise. Safewise uses FBI crime statistics and U.S. Census data to determine its rankings. According to the site, the violent crime rate in Ocean Pines has dropped in each of the last three years, from 1.7 per 1,000 people in 2019, to 1.1 per 1,000 in 2020, and 0.7 per 1,000 in 2021. Ocean Pines moved up one spot in the Safewise ranking from last year, when Taneytown was named the safest community in Maryland.

Teach a Kid to fish Day

The Ocean Pines Anglers Club hosted kids of all ages along with parents and grandparents at its annual Teach A Kid to Fish event June 19 at the South Pond in Ocean Pines. Angler members staffed stations where the aspiring young anglers could learn lure identification, knot tying, fish identification, casting instruction and basic fishing rules. Bait was provided so the youth could try out their newly learned skills in the pond with several fish caught. The event concluded with a drawing for a free rod and reel. The Ocean City/Berlin Optimist Club and Ocean Pines Park and Recreation Department provided support of the event. Above, Event Chairman Lee Phillips presents a free Rod and Reel to Melanie Wilckens whose winning ticket was pulled by her sister Stacy.

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32 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021

WORCESTER COUNTY

COUNTY BRIEFS EDU allocation set for med center

Arguing the project will use less capacity than designated by Worcester County, Coastal Ventures Properties LLC, the developer of a medical office complex at 11109 Cathage Road, adjacent to the Ocean Pines North Gate, signed a wastewater allocation agreement with Worcester County that limits it to 12 EDUs from the Ocean Pines Service Area. “This is the allocation agreement for the last building at the Ocean Pines medical center complex. We reviewed data submitted by the applicant for build-out of their 70,000 square foot facility. “We also reviewed more extensive data previously sent in by the applicant late last year,” Bob Mitchell, director of environmental programs, told the Worcester County Commissioners during a June 1 meeting. He said his department will monitor the flow at the facility for 24 months and make additional adjustments after that time. Under county resolution if the

proposed use is adequately addressed in the flow tables but the owner disputes the project sewer flows per unit of measure in the flow table, the property owner may request a review of the projected flows. In accordance with the code, the property owner will enter into an allocation agreement that specifies a total of 12 EDUs will serve the building as agreed to in conversations between the county administration, staff and the developer’s attorney. “We will monitor this building for the specified period to establish baseline data for any future EDU capacity adjustments,” Mitchell said. In 2019, the county adopted a resolution that established sewer flow calculations for residential and non-residential uses served by public systems. A resolution signed by the commissioners is required for an allocation agreement if the owner disputes the flow calculations. If in the 24 month’s period, the daily sewer flow over any three consecutive days or any ten individuals days exceed the EDU allocation

specified in the agreement, then the owner is required to immediately purchase in full the additional EDUs being used and must pay any back usage charges. Otherwise, the owner must take steps to reduce flow below the allocation limits within 90 days. If during the 24 months period, the highest daily sewer flow over any three consecutive days or for any ten individual says is less than the EDU allocation, the county must refund the initial purchase price of the overage EDUs. Commissioner Chip Bertino offered a motion, which carried unanimously, to approve the allocation agreement. “What recourse does the county have to ensure that this is brought into compliance? What options do we have available?” he asked Mitchell. “We can turn it off,” Mitchell regarding wastewater service. He added the county can levy any additional charges to the property via taxes. “It can be assigned to their tax rate too. This is a lien on a property.”

County seeks increased water permit for OPSA

With the Ocean Pines’ water system taking on a number of new customers in the past few years, Worcester County is seeking approval for an increased water allocation. Several years ago, the county completed a water supply capacity management evaluation that showed in the long term, the system would have problems meeting the peak system demand. Although the pumping and treatment systems are adequate, the permitted allocation of water is not,

according to John Ross, deputy director of county public works. “We, in the last few years, had some capacity management plan studies completed for a couple of our service areas. And specifically the Ocean Pines Service Area seems to be pretty well off as far as the amount of water we can pump out of the ground. “Unfortunately, our water allocation permit does not reflect that ability to pump that much water out of the ground,” Ross said. In an effort to increase the permitted water allocation, the county contacted two consultants with expertise in that area to provide the services required to increase the water allocation. The proposals from those firms were EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc. for $11,399 and Barton and Loguidice, DPC for $23,800. Both firms had the necessary qualifications to complete the requested services, so staff recommended and the Worcester County Commissioners voted to award the contract to EA Engineering to complete the water allocation evaluation for the OPSA. Funding for the work was included in the 2021 system budget. The county has connected multiple additional water service customers to the OPSA, including Pines Plaza shopping center, McDonalds, Showell Elementary School, and St. John Neumann’s Church during the last several years, continuing a pattern established over decades. “We believe we have a really good case to get an increase in our water allocation from the state,” Ross told the Worcester County Commissioners during a June 1 meeting. Due to that increased use of the Ocean Pines water system, the

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county is evaluating increasing water use allocations and water appropriation permit. The county is hoping to modify its water appropriate permit from current allocation of 1.5 million gallons per day average with 2.5 MGD maximum to 2 MGD annual average and 3 MGD maximum usage. EA Engineering will complete a comprehensive water demand analysis for the project and determine the availability of groundwater in the aquifer. It will also identify the drawdown effects of the proposed water use on the water levels in wells of nearby other users of the aquifer. “They need to have a professional engineer do a study of the aquifer and of the region to determine if they can approve that water allocation increase,” Ross said of the state. Commissioner Chip Bertino asked if the county has expended the water system too. “Is this a situation where we’re taking on too much and we’re not gonna be able to service the customers that we have?” Ross said no. “We’re well capable of pumping far more water out of the ground than we’re allocated by a permit,” he said. “We have taken on a lot some of the bigger water consumers in the area.” As a result of removing those wells from the ground, he said the county’s system should be entitled to the water allocation they used to get as they were pumping basically out of the same aquifer. “So this is just paperwork?” Bertino asked. “It’s absolutely paperwork,” Ross responded.

Wastewater coming to Gum Point Road

Worcester County is moving forward with plans to extend a wastewater line down Gum Point Road to provide access to the Ocean Pines system for homes along that rural road located south of Ocean Pines. John Ross, county deputy director of public works, during a June 1 meeting said drawings for a Gum Point Road Sewer Extension Project have been completed and an application has been submitted to the state of Maryland for the permits required to complete the project. The next step is preparation of bidding specifications, bidding, and award of construction contracts. Ross presented a proposal from J.W. Salm Engineering for those related services totaling $6,270 to prepare documents and for services during project award and construction. He said the county has been working with the engineers of the design of the sewer pipeline along Gum Point Road so it makes sense to award the contract to the firm. Salm has completed the layout of the sanitary force main for homes to connect to and to get them off of septic systems on Gum Point Road. Based on the staff recommendation, the Worcester County Commissioners unanimously approved moving forward with the bid award to J.W. Salm Engineering for project engineering services. Funding for this phase of the work will come from an intergovernmental loan secured for the project and repaid as residents connect to the sewer line. Residents on Gum Point Road will not be forced to connect to the new system once it’s built.

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Commissioners maintain property, income tax rates Surplus funds help cover $12 million in spending increases By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer espite an increase in expenditures of more than $12 million for fiscal year 2022, the Worcester County Commissioners opted to hold steady both the property tax rate at 84.5 cents and the local income tax rate at 2.25 percent. The commissioners on June 1 approved the $216,509,211 operating budget, which reflects an increase of $12,188,580 or 6 percent more than the 2020-21 budget. The 2020-21 budget maintains the real property tax rate of 84.5 cents per $100 of assessed value and the county’s local income tax rate of 2.25 percent, while reducing the requested expenditures of $218.6 million by $2.1 million. The commissioners’ budget decisions were based on current and projected trends along with anticipated fiscal year 2021 revenue surplus. One-time capital and operating expenses that had been previously reduced due to prior years’ budget constraints were reevaluated as part of the 2020-21 budget process. Rather than propose additional funding cuts, the commissioners agreed to tap into the county’s surplus funds to fill the estimated shortfall and fund $1 million in needed supplemental funding for emergency medical services. The county allocation for the Board of Education’s operating budget is $97 million, an increase of $2.39 million over the current year adopted budget. School construction debt is paid by the county on behalf of the school system. It is not reflected in the school system’s budget but is included in the county’s operating budget. The school system’s approved operating budget of $97 million, plus debt service of $12.46 million, totals $109.47 million for 50.6 percent of the county’s total estimated revenue. The salary package for the school system reflects a payroll increase of $1.8 million, which includes a step, longevity step for those eligible, a 1 percent COLA for teachers and 1.5 percent COLA for support staff employees. The bus contracts account increase over 2020-21 is $66,393 and reflects a 1 percent increase to bus contractor’s hourly, mileage and PVA rates effective July 1 for $43,930. Also included is the request for several contractors to purchase new buses for $22,463. Starting teacher pay would increase 1 percent from $47,322 to $47,795. Major approved general fund expenditures include salary account increases that to include a 3.5 percent cost of living adjustment for county employees and longevity pay for those eligible.

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OPA FINANCES

OPA has blow-out month to start the fiscal year Positive variance to budget is a dramatic $533,000 BY TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association recorded a blow-out month financially in May, producing a $532,746 operating fund surplus in the initial month of the 2021-22 fiscal year. The positive variance to budget was the result of revenues over budget by $380,136 and expenses under budget by $152,610. Total revenues, including annual assessments received to date, were $6.68 million compared to the budgeted $6.15 million A primary driver of the robust surge in revenues is related to the solid sales of memberships,General Manager John Viola told the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee in a June 23 meeting. Covid’s deleterious effects appear to be in the rear view mirror, with all amenity sales except for platform tennis at 80 percent or more of budget. Viola told the committee that the $532,746 operating surplus was probably somewhat inflated because of timing issues and “soft” budgeting related to concerns about lingering covid effects. He said the timing issues relate to the early rush to buy amenity memberships, “way earlier than it’s been in the past,” adding that June numbers could reflect that. At the same time, however, he said the membership office believes there has been a real, “organic” growth in membership which help explain the May revenue surge well beyond expectations. Viola said he thinks the real “organic” surplus for the month factored for timing and covid softness is somewhere in a range from $250,00 to $300,000. “I’m OK with $300,000 as the organic surplusnumber,” he said, also attributing the outstanding results to some “wage favorability” resulting from hiring not occurring as rapidly as had been forecast. But other key metrics of a return to fiscal health post-covid without the crutch of federal Payroll Protection Program funds include $339,714 in sales at the Yacht Club in May and $60,235 in the Clubhouse Grille, two of the three food and beverage venues operated for the OPA by the Matt Ortt Companies. The third MOC-operated venue, the Beach Club, outperformed its budget by $13,817. Viola said that he’s been informed by MOC partner Ralph DeAngelus that the Yacht Club has bookings of $500,000 in banquets this year, a substantial increase over last year’s covid debacle. Golf membership revenue year-over-year is up because of the modest increase in membership fees this year, he said. All amenity departments with the exception of the Beach Club were in the black for May, and all amenity departments exceeded their budgets for the month, a rare occurrence in the annals of

OPA financial history. All assessment-supported departments exceeded their budgets, with the exception of General Administration, which recorded a negative variance of $1,731. Beach Parking led all amenity departments in exceeding its budget, with a $117,085 positive variance, followed by Golf Operations (+$93,527), Aquatics (+50,176), Yacht Club (+$44,085), Tennis (+$29,159), Clubhouse Grille (+$24,516), Pickleball ($22,467), Marinas ($21,657), Beach Club (+$13,817) and Platform Tennis (+$2,842). The Recreation and Parks Department recorded a $31,680 positive variance to budget. Another way of measuring financial performance is positive net revenues. Beach Parking ($311,119) again led the way, followed by Golf Operations ($261,776), Marinas ($204,298), Aquatics ($134,825), Beach Parking ($311,119), Pickleball ($35,084), Yacht Club ($34,968), Tennis ($23,399), Clubhouse Grille ($18,105), and Platform Tennis ($8,428). Only the Beach Club was in the red for the month, recording a deficit of $11,119, which more than likely will be offset by robust surpluses in the prime months of July and August. Reserve summary -- The OPA’s reserve balance was $8.676 million as of May 31, comprised of $5.4 million in the Replacement Reserve, $2.045 million in Bulkheads/Waterways, $216,592 in Roads, $710,660 in Drainage, and $282,889 in New Capital. The increase over the $5.65 million balance at

OPA announces forgiveness of Payroll Protection loan

eneral Manager John Viola announced during the June 16 monthly meeting of the Board of Directors that the $1.143 million in federal assistance received through the Paycheck Protection Program tied to Covid-19 relief has officially been forgiven. The Ocean Pines Association first announced it had received the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding in April 2020. Viola said that the OPA submitted paperwork through the Bank of Ocean City in March of 2021 to have the loan converted to a grant. That paperwork was then sent to the Small Business Administration, which had 90 days to respond. “Bank of Ocean City contacted me the other day [and] told me that they had [been notified] that we had received forgiveness,” Viola said. He added that Finance Director Steve Phillips also received an official letter of forgiveness from the Small Business Administration. Viola said the Association accounted for the funds as revenue, which was then applied to payroll as required. “All the PPP money was used for payroll,” he said. “Obviously, [the Small Business Administration] checked it. They asked us for information [and] we gave them everything. Every dollar of the PPP money was used for payroll, which was the whole idea of the program. We adhered to that 100 per cent.”

the end of April is attributed to $2.88 million in contributions from assessments.

Ocean Pines Association, net operating results by Department, May 2021

Source: Finance Department, Ocean Pines Association

OPA FINANCES

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 35

End-of-year surplus $125,000 higher than last projection April 30 Operating Fund surplus of $1.245 million is a record high for the OPA By TOM STAUSS Publisher he $1,275,298 operating surplus generated by the Ocean Pines Association in the 202021 fiscal year that concluded April was $125,000 higher than the yearend projection offered up by General Manager at the May 15 monthly meeting of the Board of Directors. Viola had expressed optimism that the mid-April projection of a $1.15 million surplus wouldn’t be significantly eroded by April operations and adjustments to the bottom line that often occur when various components of the budget are reconciled at year’s end and reflected in the April financial statements. Not only was there no erosion, but the financials for April resulted in an unanticipated boost in the end-

Backing the blue

of-year surplus, which is still subject to change during the audit process. So far, there have been no significant adjustments identified by the OPA’s auditing firm, TGM, would significantly change the April results, Viola told the Progress in a June 18 telephone interview. At the end of March, the OPA was ahead of budget by $1,329,699, falling to $1,275,298 at the end of April, a decrease of $54,371. That latter number represents the negative variance to budget in April operations. Viola said the operating surplus of $1.275 million would “roll over” into retained earnings, with some of that wiping out prior year operating deficits. He said additional funds could be shifted out of the operating fund into reserve accounts includ-

The Republican Women of Worcester County held their annual Red, White and Blue luncheon meeting on Thursday, June 24, at the Lighthouse Sound Restaurant. The guest speaker was Worcester County Sheriff, Matt Crisifulli, who gave updates on law enforcement activities in his department, along with Charlotte Cathell, RWWC Americanism Chair (center), who gave a talk on Worcester County History, and Sandy Zitzer, RWWC, first vice president.

ing roads, but added “that’s for us to discuss” with the Board of Directors and Budget and Finance Committee. “We do have a surplus, but the surplus was because we cut costs,” Viola said. “There were cutbacks, we couldn’t do certain things because of covid … those are the reasons why we had the surplus.” The cut-backs were notable in the Recreation and Parks Department, which hosted fewer programs with reduced participation, and Public Works, which didn’t hire all of its budgeted personnel. During the June 15 meeting of the board, Viola said that the OPA’s operating fund as of April 30 stood at $1.245 mllion, the highest it’s ever been at the conclusion of a fiscal year. Viola made it clear as he has had previously that without federal covid stimulus revenue, including Payroll Protection Program and CARES Act funding, the OPA would have had an operating loss last year of about $225.000. His comments represent a continuation of his push-back against some opinion within Ocean Pines that the OPA should not have accepted the PPP money, which he said was used solely and properly for support of payroll and job preservation during the covid pandemic. Covid definitely had an impact on OPA financial performance, however, particularly Aquatics, which missed its budget in 2020-21 by $192,991 on an actual loss of $295,815; beach parking, which missed its budget by $158,908 while still generating $331,034 in net revenue; the Yacht Club, which was behind budget by $73,836 but generated a $14,178 surplus; and golf operations, which lost $96,958 and missed its budget by $56,409. Viola said that covid contributed to a $385,719 surplus for last year in Public Works as the department did not fill budgeted positions. According to the April financial

summary, departments that exceeded their budgets for the 202021 fiscal year included general administration ($1,075,979), finance ($85,247), public relations ($58,499), compliance and permits ($34,701), public works ($385,719), recreation and parks ($97,114), pickleball ($3,097), the Clubhouse Bar and Grille ($23,826), and Marinas ($58,060). Missing their budgets were aquatics ($192,992), beach parking ($158,908), the Yacht Club ($73,836), golf ($56,409), general maintenance ($56,232), tennis ($35,042), Beach Club ($5,055), and the general manager’s office ($4,854). Another way of measuring the relative success of amenity operations is actual results for the year as opposed to performance relative to budget. Amenity operations that produced operating surpluses for the year include beach parking ($331,034), marinas $250,067, the Beach Club ($92,687), Yacht Club ($14,178), pickleball ($13,205), and the Clubhouse Grille ($12,139). The Matt Ortt Companies operate the Beach Club, the Yacht Club and the Clubhouse Grille, all three generating actual surpluses for the OPA. The Recreation and Parks Department, a hybrid operation funded from lot assessment subsidies and program fees, cost the OPA $429,357 last year while exceeding its budget by $97,114. Year-end reserve summary -At the end of the 2020-21 fiscal year (April), the OPA’s reserve fund balance was $5,653,641, slightly higher than the balance on April 30 a year ago. The replacement reserve balance was $3,852,553, the bulkhead/waterways reserve $1,041,111, roads $216,322, drainage $468,603, and new capital $102,052. April 30 balance sheet -- OPA assets as of April 30 totaled $43.178 million, compared to $42.355 yearover-year. Operating cash balance at year’s end was $3,272,313, compared to $3,836,151 in April of 2020. Short-term investments as of April 30 totaled $12,230,994, compared to $8,422,022 in April of 2020. OPA Treasurer Doug Parks attributed the improved financial position to last year’s covid pandemic that slowed assessment collections and the improved covid outlook in the spring of 2021.

36 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021

OPA ELECTION

Farr, Lakernick in lockstep during June 9 forum Candidates distance themselves from Daly on several key issues

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer n moves reminiscent of WWE Friday Night’s wrestling, two candidates seeking to win seats on the Board of Directors’ in this summer’s Ocean Pines Association election echoed each other’s moves and supported their unofficial running mate’s positions during a June candidate’s forum. All Richard Farr and Stuart Lakernick were missing was the WWE signature tag team hand slap as they passed each other on the way to the podium during the June 9 forum they attempted to distinguish themselves from incumbent Frank Daly and newcomer David C. Hardy. Farr and Lakernick shared opinions on everything from short-term rentals to changing the bylaws to funding infrastructure improvements while trading polite barbs with Daly and offering to share scotch with Hardy. Daly, meanwhile, emphasized his record as a director who gets things done for the property owners of Ocean Pines while ensuring accountability and keeping their assessments stable. His campaign message: Promises Made, Promises Kept.

Frank Daly

Rick Farr

When asked about regulating short-term rental of homes in Ocean Pines, Lakernick, a vocal opponent of the board’s plans to adopt Worcester County regulations as part of the covenants in each section of the community, said those county rules are already in place. Therefore, the OPA doesn’t need to adopt them, he said. “I don’t think that we should put more restrictive covenants on owners here in Ocean Pines, adding that the county should be enforcing its regulations and not be looking to the OPA to do so. Since the county collects the licensing fees for shortterm rentals it is responsible for enforcement, he said. Lakernick said the county and OPA should educate property owners and residents about how to file a complaint related to violations of the short-term rental ordinance or

David Hardy

Stuart Lakernick

noise and litter regulations. He said the OPA should alert its membership to call 911 to report complaints so a record is made and someone has to respond to address the issue. “I think first and foremost [property owners] have to understand the process and I think it’s really important as Stu mentioned that we have to educate our members,” Farr said regarding the reporting of complaints about problems with shortterm rentals. Farr said the OPA needs to work with the county to ensure the appropriate processes are being followed and then determine whether Ocean Pines should implement more processes to address issues such as trash and noise, like establishing quiet hours in the community. Hardy said property owners have a responsibility to comply with the short-term rental rules in place, but

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if the OPA adds a layer of regulations “what’s to say that they will comply with that either?” He also said there should be an easier method for registering and addressing complaints about them. Still, Hardy said the OPA “should limit how bureaucratic we really are.” Daly, who has spearheaded the year-two effort to rein in problem short-term rentals into compliance in the community, said the proposal simply incorporates the existing county laws into the restrictive covenants and gives the OPA the ability to enforce them. “We are not trying to put in any more restrictions than what currently exist. What we’re after is a more effective enforcement mechanism,” he said. When an irresponsible property owner operates a shortterm rental and causes problems in the neighborhood, the OPA will be able to act faster and quicker than the county that doesn’t have the budget or resources to do so, he said. When asked how the OPA can more effectively work with county and state officials to bring in additional funding to support Ocean Pines, Hardy said, “It’s amazing how much money is available from the federal government” for areas like energy and environmental projects. He said funding has been made available as a result of the pandemic that will take agencies years to spend and Ocean Pines should position itself to take advantage of that funding. “We need opportunities to meet with officials to see what we can expect from them,” he said, adding, “There’s always opportunities for moving our community forward.” Daly said the OPA already has an excellent relationship with county and state representatives. He noted that Ocean Pines receives funding to support the police department, fire and EMS, and road and bridge maintenance. But, he said, being a homeowners association “pretty much locks us out of other funding opportunities.” While the county is stepping up with more support for the fire and EMS, he said the OPA can’t expect the county to regularly fund other areas of its operations. Farr said “one of biggest things we need to do is develop partnerships with local and state government.” He cited the recent completion of the Bainbridge Pond water qualu

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 37

OPA ELECTION Candidates forum

From Page 36 ity and drainage project as an example of ways in which the OPA can partner with the county and other agencies to benefit residents of Ocean Pines. He said the board needs to continue to partner with agencies and get grants to upgrade its facilities and infrastructure. “I agree with Rick. I feel that we need to continue to look for more grant money. I don’t agree with Mr. Daly that we can’t get it,” Lakernick said. He too said the Bainbridge Pond project set precedent for the OPA working with the county and other agencies like the Maryland Coastal Bays Program. He acknowledged that county and state funding supports the fire and EMS agencies and dollars from the nearby Ocean Downs casino help cover the cost of roads maintenance. As for familiarity and a desire to work with OPA advisory committees, all of the candidates cited budget and finance as a priority focus area. Daly pointed out that he has served as board liaison to Budget and Finance and the Strategic Planning committees, and is current liaison to the golf and aquatics committees. In working with the Budget and Finance committee, he said he helped to streamline the budgeting and financial accountability process. “When I ran for the board three years ago this association was in serious trouble,” Daly said, adding there were staggering losses in operations that exceeded $1.6 million, an active criminal investigation, weak business practices, two former board members leveled charges of fraud, theft, and corruption. He said homeowners and employees had lost confidence in the board and management. “I’ve used my experience and conservative financial approach with the specific objective of improving the management of this association and keeping your assessments low and stable. During my three-year tenure, your assessment has increase from $986 to $996,” he said. Daly is now focusing on eliminating losses at the golf course and aquatics amenities. “I want every single amenity line item by line item to pull their own weight,” he said. As a relative newcomer to Ocean Pines and its operating strictures, Hardy said he intends to become more aware of all of the advisory committees. He said he is interested in working with Public Works and others to address issues such as drainage and on the beautification of Ocean Pines. He also specifically said he is committed to learning more about how the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee functions. Farr said he wants to serve on the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee as its board liaison. “It’s in pretty good shape right now” compared to past years, he said, as the OPA is now using a bottom up budgeting approach and ensuring the board and committee are involved in the process early on. He also cited beautification of Ocean Pines as an interest and said a lot of things have deteriorated, like the North Gate bridge, that need to be

addressed soon. “Rick stole my thunder, I wanted to do B&F,” Lakernick said, adding, “This is the heart of what makes our community run.” He said the OPA needs to tap into some of the “abundant capital that we have” in residents with “amazing experience.” In response to a question about the conclusions he draws from the recent referendum to establish a board spending cap of $1 million, after which a referendum is required, Lakernick said, “It’s pretty easy. The conclusion I draw from the referendum that was just passed which I voted for, it’s another set of controls we put on the board.” He said if “anything really breaks” it will cost more than $1 million and all property owners should have a say in “whether we fix it, how we fix it.” “I too voted for the referendum,” Farr said, adding, “I think controls have to be in place. You have to be fiscally conservative.” He said it is important for all residents to know and understand to what the association’s funds are being allocate. “They are our assessments that we pay.” Daly said from a political standpoint the referendum results told the board that it still has a lot of work to do. Over the decades, a serious amount of mistrust developed between property owners and the Board and general manager, he said. That trust will not be rebuilt until there have been boards and general managers who show property owners they will spend their money wisely, he added. As a board member, Daly supported the board position in favor of retaining the former limit, but very much objected to a false claim made in promotional materials that a successful referendum would result in annual referendums on the OPA bulkhead replacement program. “The board needs to be accountable for every dime that it moves to spend. The referendum picked an arbitrary number of a million dollars,” Hardy said. He said inflation may have an impact on the dollar amount in the future but that can be adjusted. He said he “can’t really say $1 million is the right number” but it does impose restrictions on the board to ensure that property owners concur with future actions to spend a significant amount of money. When asked about updates to the OPA by-laws, Hardy said the charter and bylaws are decades old and need to be reviewed. He said the community should be involved in that effort and the document should be reviewed line by line “and then let the community decide” whether to adopt any changes. Farr said the by-laws need a comprehensive review to ensure they are appropriate for the OPA as it exists today. He said they should be reviewed line by line and the impact of any changes should be clearly explained. “Rick was pretty succinct. I agree with Rick,” Lakernick said. He said the OPA needs uniform documents that apply to all sections. When asked about a plan for projects like to replace the mailbox clusters throughout Ocean

Pines, Daly said “Our board has created a plan, citing the creation of a new capital improvement reserve fund for small projects that didn’t exist two years ago. He said some of that funding could be used for mailbox replacements if that is done on a piecemeal basis. But if all of them were replaced as part of a single project that could top $1 million and would now require a referendum vote of property owners due to the new cap on the Board’s spending authority, he said. Farr said the mailboxes aren’t listed among the OPA’s assets but there was a previous study of their replacement that “got shelved.” He said it is something that needs to be addressed. “The post office doesn’t own these any more. We own this. This is our asset now.” “Again I agree with Rick. How ‘bout that?” Lakernick said. Unlike Daly, he said he doesn’t believe the mailbox replacement would qualify for funding through the new capital reserve fund, but rather would have to come from the replacement fund. “We do own those boxes and we need to fix them. They’re unsightly. They’re embarrassing,” Lakernick said. For any major infrastructure project, Hardy said, “I do believe that before you start any project all of the facts need to be ascertained regarding what you intend on doing and what you expect at end.” He said the OPA should be operating as a business and doing what it can afford. He suggested seeking funding like grants and government support to help cover the cost of major capital projects. “I think when we’re dealing with end of life on some of our facilities, yes, as Stu mentioned our Beach Club is getting close to that prospect of replacement or fixing up,” Farr said. He said there must be community involvement, openness, and clarity on replacement costs for facilities like the Beach Club or Southside Fire Station that will be coming up. “You’re absolutely correct Rick our DMA study is gonna show that we’re gonna need 24 percent of assets in reserve so that we can replace these things and it doesn’t hit us in our pocket real bad,” Lakernick said. Daly said the Southside Fire Station replacement is not the OPA’s responsibility, but “if all else fails they will be coming to us asking for help” with funding for a replacement facility. He said the Beach Club would be good for another 20 to 25 years with some renovations but “get ready for some real big numbers” when it does come time to replace it. Currently, components within the Beach Club are included on the OPA’s list of assets triggering replacement when they’re fully depreciated, depending on their actual condition. The building structure itself is not on the asset list, General Manager John Viola told the Progress recently. Normally that would mean its replacement could not be funded out of the OPA’s replacement reserve, but a board super-majority could always waive that restriction.

38 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021

OPA ELECTION

Candidates call for greater ‘professionalism’ Daly says directors work together despite differences By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer ith incumbent Frank Daly defending his record of amicability with his peers, three challengers in this summer’s Board of Directors election are calling for improved professionalism on the Ocean Pines Association’s governing body. During a June 9 forum, the four candidates seeking election to the two seats up for grabs in this summer’s election addressed the board’s ability to get along and how to help improve the working relationship among directors. “We have two directors on opposite ends of the spectrum that don’t really get along real well if you read the media,” Daly said of the perceived animosity on the board. In reality, he said, during the last year there have only been two 3-4 votes of the board, one on removal of a director. The other was on a motion he put forth to release an investigative report to property owners “with absolutely zero redactions.” He said all the other board votes come in 5-2, 6-1, and sometimes 7-0. “But not too many 4-3s,” he said. There was another 4-3 at the board’s June 16 monthly meeting, on a motion by Director Doug Parks to memorialize the recent referendum results on board spending authority. “So what does that tell you? It tells you that people that probably aren’t on number one Christmas card lists with each other are working together. They do listen on the issues and they do collaborate on the issues,” Daly said, adding “And we do that inside a really tough politically charged environment, guys. Let’s don’t candy coat this.” Twice there were attempts to remove a director, he said. “You don’t expect those people to get around a camp fire and sing Kumbaya together. It ain’t gonna happen,” he said, adding “And by the way you’re not going to walk in as new members of the board and sprinkle holy water on that board and they’re going to love each other. Ain’t gonna happen.” He said if a director stays in the middle and focuses on what to do and how that benefits the association, directors can work with both sides and get things done. “And that’s how I survive on the board,” he said. Coming from the private sector, Rick Farr said a governing body should always be working in the best interest of the community or employees. “We are not always going to agree on different areas and subjects but at the end of the day we can sit here as professionals and understand that no matter if we didn’t vote for a certain thing or against it. We can sit here as colleagues and remain professional,” he said. Farr said that is how he has operated in a corporate environment. “I’m not in politics at all and I don’t want to be in politics. But I think that it’s important that it’s always going to be at the best

Daly’s name to lead off OPA election ballot

candidate draw held on Friday, June 4, officially set the ballot order for the 2021 Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors election. The ballot order is Frank Daly, Stuart Lakernick. David C. Hardy, and Richard Farr. One previously announced candidate, Lisa Romersa, has withdrawn from the race. Ballot order was decided by a deck of four cards, drawn by each candidate and announced by Elections Committee Chairman Steve Habeger. Two seats on the Board will be up for election this year: those currently held by Daly and Frank Brown. The seven-member volunteer board is the governing body of Ocean Pines. Habeger said ballots would be mailed on the week of July 12 and must be received by close of business on Aug. 11. “Your vote counts and we want to make sure your vote counts. Please make sure your ballot is received by the deadline,” he said. To illustrate the importance of returning the ballot on time, Habeger held up 100 ballots from the recent referendum vote that were received late, and not counted. “Because they’re after the deadline, they’re not valid. We don’t even open the envelopes,” he said. “We do not want to see an election decided by, say, 10 or 12 votes and have 100 unopened ballots.” Habeger said the postal service continues to move slowly, with reports that referendum ballots “took two weeks to get to lower Pennsylvania and central New Jersey. If it takes two weeks for the envelope to get there, the clock is ticking,” he said. The easiest and best way to ensure that ballots are returnd in time to be counted is to replace the return envelope with the ballot in the drop box in the lobby of the police department, Habeger added.

interest of our community in every decision that we make,” he said, adding “I think it’s important that we have open collaboration between board members and understanding reasons why they are leaning a certain way or why they want to vote a certain way.” He said that is how a board should function in order to avoid conflicts that distract from its work to serve the community. “At the end of the day it’s important that we all remain professional.” Whether in the private sector, military environment, government, or academics, David Hardy said leaders are rated every year in how they get along with their peers and subordinates. “We’re professionals here. You respect what your peers believe to be the truth. You don’t live on innuendo and rumor. You ensure that you vote or you make decisions based upon fact and not near fact,” he said. Hardy said “although you may not be the best buds,” board members each make their decisions and should be professional within the confines of the board. “And then as you walk away you do not backstab people.” Stuart Lakernick called himself a community activist, and said he is a Lion and Rotarian. He said he thinks about board service from a Rotarian view of benefiting the community and building good will. “That’s how I will be a director and relate to my fellow directors on the Board.” With just 40 percent of property owners typically voting in a board election, candidates discussed how to encourage people to vote and why they should vote for them. “If nothing else this last year has taught us it

is very easy to participate in a meeting, in a near face-to-face event and do it in a virtual setting,” Hardy said, adding “I personally believe that it would be very useful to have live meetings (as opposed to delayed broadcast of board meetings) even if it’s done in a virtual setting with opportunity to come in and do face to face.” Hardy said people tend to vote when there are hot button topics. He said candidates should reach out to the community to let them know that their vote really is important. “And then also consider our own voting approach,” he said. He also suggested the OPA may want to reconsider how it receives ballots and potentially create an electronic voting system, verify by post mark rather than received date, or have other drop boxes locations. “We should ensure that whatever we do works to the benefit of our community.” Lakernick said he has been campaigning doorto-door and most people do not even know an election is under way. “I felt that if I’m going to represent them I should meet them. A lot of them, most of them, have no clue what goes on,” he said. He also said OPA board meetings should be broadcast live to encourage viewership. Recording and broadcasting them later eliminates the ability for property owners to make any public comments in real time. “We need to get back to broadcasting our meetings,” he said. “This time Stuart stole my thunder,” Farr said, adding he has also been door-knocking. He said residents want to know what’s going on but have been ill-informed. To Page 40

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 39

PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT My name is Frank Daly. Let me share with you an inconvenient truth about politics. Candidates run on promises. Incumbents run on their record. In 2018, I was a candidate running on promises. Today as an incubment I stand with and am running on my record. In 2018 I promised to keep assessments low, stable and predictable. Mission accomplished. During my tenure your base assessment has increased a total of $10. I promised to address aging, dilapidated facilities that had suffered for decades from a lack of maintainence and repairs. Our new Police Headquarters, Golf club house, cart barn, craft building and refurbished beach club speak for themselves. I promised to address infrastructure. And we have. Bulkhead renovations are on schedule and expenditures for drainage projects are at record levels. After years of TRYING, we now have a Mediacom competitor-Comcast. In 2018 I promised to address the record losses we were experiencing with our amenities. Again, mission accomplished. During my tenure the yacht club and beach club have moved from record losses to profitability. And for the first time since I moved into Ocean Pines it appears that all amenities, with the exception of aquatics, will show net operating profits this upcoming year. And finally, I promised that I would work hard with management to change the culture from one of damnable indifference to one of operational excellence. And I believe the performance of the management team during the past three years, and especially during the pandemic, shows that we have accomplished this challenging tranformation with flying colors. We ended the 2020/2021 fiscal year with a net operating profit of over $1.1 million. And in the first month of fiscal 2021/2022 we recorded a record net operating profit of over $532,000. Again, mission accomplished.

I would like to thank you for your support in making this happen, and I am ASKING FOR your vote to continue the progress we have made over the past three years and to insure it continues well into the future. Thank You Frank Daly

VOTE for

FRANK DALY

Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors Paid Advertisement: Authority of the candidate

40 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021

OPA ELECTION

Board ‘professionalism’

From Page 39 “It’s very, very important that you get to know your community and the community involvement,” he said. Part-time residents particularly feel that they are not part of the process. Broadcasting meetings live will help address that gap, he said. “We have the technology. The technology’s out there to do that,” he said, adding “Let them know that their voices matter. Their votes matter.” General Manager John Viola and Marketing and Public Relations Director Josh Davis recently worked to have new equipment installed in the board room of the Administration Building to allow for live streaming of meetings and participation by remote viewers, with a lot of in-person seating available. Daly said getting property owners to attend meetings and to vote are two different things. “If you want to get a lot of people voting start putting emotionally charged issues in front of them,” he said and cited the example of a potential significant increase in assessments. “The reason people aren’t voting is some don’t care, some are satisfied, some are out of town, and some are just ‘I can’t change the system anyway’,” Daly said. He said it is important to continually educate property owners and make sure they understand how important issues affect them and how the people representing them on the board affects them. “Once you do that you can get people engaged. And once you people engaged, they will vote,” he said. Farr said he is not a politician but just cares about people and Ocean Pines. “Being a part of this board I want to be able to ensure that the voices of our community are heard. And really for them to understand that they do have an active listening partner with them.” He said he is not going to promise that he can solve problems. “But what I can promise is that I will bring their concerns to the board and that’s what’s most important.” Hardy said he is transitioning to retirement and will bring to professionalism and honesty to Ocean Pines. “I believe that the community should be able to work together. I believe that this is a volunteer organization. This is not supposed to be a political organization.” He said he plans to become involved in the community even if not elected to the board. “If I am elected I will serve in a manner which provides all of my attention that’s necessary to do the job.” Lakernick said he is a passionate man and what you see is what you get. “I’m a peacemaker by nature. I have a strong personality. I work well with others though,” he said. “You know, I think about it, we’re all shareholders in this company of Ocean Pines. I know it’s not a stock company but we all own a share of the success of what this place can do.” He said there are seven individuals on the board that work together to make policy that the general manager carries out. “The business of

Second candidates’ forum slated for July13 Committee waiting to hear from candidates on intentions to participate By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association’s Elections Committee has set Tuesday, July 13, for the second of two candidates’ forums that the panel intends to host before ballots are sent out to eligible voters. Committee Chair Steve Habeger said the forum is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the Ocean Pines Golf Clubhouse. “The candidates are not required to participate, but we did announce two forums as part of this year’s process,” he said. The later date appears designed to accommodate schedules. Habeger said the format of the second forum will be the same as the first forum held June 9. The committee had considered the possibility of replacing the traditional question-answer format that has all candidates sitting together with a half-hour one-on-one with each candidate separately, but that idea was discarded. Questions from OPA members for possible inclusion in the next forum have been quite numerous, Habeger said. But the committee is still accepting questions for possible inclusion via email at elections@ oceanpines.org. The committee is planning to send out ballots the second week of July, with the return date no later than the Thursday before the annual meeting of the OPA in August. The opening and counting of ballots will be done all in-house this summer, Haberger said, using a new Fujitsu scanner and dedicated laptop computer to assist in compiling vote totals and weeding out invalid ballots, such as those with three votes for candidates. Only two votes per ballot are permitted. Committee members will also be on the lookout for possible invalid ballots. The recent referendum on board spending authority had the committee counting ballots by hand, and that proved much too labor intensive, Habeger said. But this year’s vote count will be entirely in-house, unlike last year, when ballots were opened and processed at Ace Printing in Berlin, the OPA’s long-time printing and mailing vendor. Ballots will be larger than in past years, and will include photos of the four candidates running, Habeger said, in response to OPA member requests. This year, there are two contested seats, one held by Director Frank Daly, who’s running for re-election, and the other by Frank Brown, an appointed director who isn’t running. Stuart Lakernick, Rick Farr, and David Hardy are the three other candidates.

Ocean Pines is a complicated business. And there is a political charge to this whole thing.” Daly said the inconvenient truth about politics is that “candidates run on promises. Incumbents run on their record.” Citing his record as a director, he said he promised to keep assessments low, stable and predictable. “Mission accomplished. During my tenure your base assessment has increased a total of $10.” He promised to address aging dilapidated facilities that suffered for decades from lack of maintenance, and worked to create a police headquarters, clubhouse, cart barn, craft building, and refurbished Beach Club. Daly said he worked to address aging infrastructure and now bulkhead renovations are schedule and drainage projects have gotten under way, and brought in a cable television competitor. He cited another priority when elected for his first term as addressing losses at amenities, and the Yacht Club and Beach Club turned to profitability during the pandemic.

Maryland Safe Boating Course July 12, 13, & 14, 6-9 p.m. Ocean Pines Library, 11107 Cathell Rd. The Maryland Boating Safety Education Act requires that anyone born after July 1, 1972, to possess a Maryland Basic Boating Safety Certificate to operate a boat in the state of Maryland. Those attending the class, and passing the test will receive a Maryland Boating Certificate, which is NASBLA approved and valid in all states.

A fee of $20 covers the cost of the course and materials Checks should be made payable to:

USGCAUX 12-05 and mailed to: USCGAUX 12-05, PO Box 1682, Berlin, MD 21811 Payyment via PayPAL is also accepted

For more information or to register please contact: Barry Cohen at 410-935-4807 or email CGAUXOC@Gmail.com

2021 Course schedule: Aug. 7 (all day), Sept. 7-9, Oct. 5-7

LIFESTYLES

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 41 colorful candy sprinkles to the top of a sundae. In his trademark picture on the outside of the trucks, Mister Softee wears a red bowtie and has a cone for a face and white ice cream for hair. The logo is immediately recognizable when the truck approaches and children run indoors asking their mothers for bills and change. When Sessa moved to the Shore, his daughter, Dominque, suggested he buy an ice cream truck. Thinking that was a refreshing idea, he telephoned one of the Conways, told them his thought and was pleased to hear, “You’d be perfect for the job in the Ocean Pines area.” Now he steers the trucks, with colorful pictures of frozen treats on the outside, through the streets of Ocean Pines, often until after sunset, selling the desserts and sometimes giving away Mister Softee memorabilia like calendars and tattoos. His trucks can also be found at events like 3rd Friday in Salisbury, art shows at Northside Park in Ocean City, fairs and even private birthday parties. He will be at Bubba’s Celebrity Basketball Game on Aug. 28, at the Worcester County Recreational Center in Snow Hill. Bubba, the first name of area bodyguard Bubba Almony, who is involved in programs including those that teach anti-bullying skills, is organizing the event, to raise awareness and proceeds for cancer, bullying and mental health. See www.bubbaalmony. com. Often, at fairs and other outdoor events, customers are still lining up as Sessa is closing, a nod to his popularity. “I sell about 200 cones a day. We also have gelati, frozen bananas and we have non-lactose ice cream for people who have allergies,” he said. Most popular is a vanilla cone with rainbow jimmies, followed by root beer floats and milkshakes. Root beer floats Anthony Sessa looking out from his Mister Softee truck in Ocean Pines seem to be a favorite in the Pines. “Philadelphia had many kids. There were big Customers also order strawberry-banana families and there were a lot of kids,” Sessa said, shakes, fashioned with fresh strawberries that as he worked the soft ice cream machine in the are blended with a little sugar water. truck, filling a cone with layer after layer of choc“All day I hear, ‘I cannot believe Mister Softee olate soft serve. In the early days, the trucks were is here.’ It’s very popular in Ocean Pines. I have called Valley Fresh. people who come out every day and say it reminds The company was founded by brothers Bill and them of their childhood. They can’t get enough of Jim Conway. Around 1955, one of them said, “My it. I’m doing what my father and uncles did. I try wife says this ice cream is so soft, we should call to talk to everybody like they did in the ‘50s. Mr. it Mister Softee,” Sessa said. The name stuck like u

Mister Softee: Recapturing those childhood memories and making new ones By SUSAN CANFORA Contributing Writer hen you’re a child, carefree, out of school for the summer, days are endless and the streets perfect for skateboarding and biking, especially to the Mister Softee truck, that white and blue, happy-to-see-you ice cream mobile with the upbeat, unmistakable jingle, promising chocolate and vanilla cones, thick milkshakes, sundaes, ice cream sandwiches and even miniature cones for dogs that owner Anthony Sessa hands out with a grin, but no charge. “One thing about me, I love dogs,” said the Philadelphia native, who, this year, is celebrating 65 years in the Mister Softee business. “I started working the truck with my father, then I worked with my Uncle Al and Uncle Louie. Now we have two trucks,” said Sessa, an amiable man who is quick smile and who loves to talk about the old days and share memories of his hard-working, dedicated parents and how well they raised him. “I like working in Ocean Pines,” he said during a recent afternoon conversation, adding there’s an app that tracks the truck so residents can know when to expect it. “It’s nice in Ocean Pines. The kids love Mister Softee. I’ve never had any complaints. My trucks are very clean and well-kept and everyone can see that. Some of the items that are the most popular in Ocean Pines are root beer floats, Banana Boats and Cartwheels,” he said, referring to ice cream sandwiches. “Root beer floats, kids like those. And kids like the cherry dipped cones. Adults like hot fudge sundaes and Banana Boats and they get cones, too,” he said. Customers are usually delighted to spot the iconic ice cream truck they might not have encountered since childhood and often approach Sessa saying how much it means to them, how happy memories of childhood flood back when they hear the song playing from the truck. He nods in greeting, carries on conversations with them, makes new friends everywhere he goes. Sessa was positively influenced by his father, Carmine, and Uncles Louie and Al DiFranco, who all drove Mister Softee trucks in Philadelphia when he was growing up. At the height of their success, each brother had 15 trucks.

42 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021

LIFESTYLES

LIFESTYLES BRIEFS Annual Ocean Pines-Taylor Bank Golf Scramble returns July 14

T Canines get free cones from Anthony Sessa, the Mister Softer vendor who plies the streets of Ocean Pines with his tasty wares.

Mr. Softee

From Page 41

Softee makes memories,” Sessa said. A man dedicated to his wife, Judie, and daughters, Sessa writes Facebook posts, some sentimental, about his family and often about being cool Mister Softee. “Thinking what my father, grandfather, uncles would think about what’s going on in world today,” he mused in one post. No doubt his father would enjoy the neighborhood dogs who recognize the trucks and run to his son, who gives them all free, miniature vanilla cones. “One thing about me, I love dogs. My father loved dogs. He started that, giving out these cones. We had cones specially made, small cones, for dogs back in 1957. In reality we are the original company to give away ice cream to dogs. “My father, he was such a dog person. If he found a stray and it was sick or hurt, he’d take it home. He was like a doctor to those dogs,” Sessa said, sharing stories about the Ocean Pines canines, including Tonka and Teddy, who live on Boston Drive and in The Point, whose tails wag as they wait, knowing what’s in Sessa’s hand. “I guess they recognize the music,” Sessa said with a shrug and look of amusement. “I have one dog that waits in line. When somebody gets out of line, he moves up, just like a regular customer. He waits his turn until he gets to me.”

Entry deadline July 7; sponsorships still available

he Ocean Pines Golf Members’ Council will host the 36th annual Ocean Pines-Taylor Bank Golf Scramble at the Ocean Pines Golf Club on Wednesday, July 14 with a 9 a.m. shotgun start. The tournament benefits junior golf in the area by supporting junior golf clinics and an annual tournament for junior golfers. It also raises funds for scholarships for local high school seniors who have shown an interest in golf. In the last six years, the Golf Members’ Council has raised $35,000 for local scholarships. This year’s event is being held in honor of Scotty Wheatley, the longtime tournament chairman who passed away earlier this year. “Early in 2020, Scotty Wheatley began working on the next version of the event and was full of hope and enthusiasm,” tournament chairman Steve Howse said. “You could see the disappointment in his face when we learned that hosting a major event could not happen in 2020 [because of the COVID-19 pandemic]. But, the members stepped up in many different ways and helped Scotty match the terrific results he had achieved since taking on the responsibility for the Scramble.” Because of Wheatley’s efforts, Howse said many members bought tee box signs last year, and those were displayed at the Ocean Pines Golf Club. “Sadly, almost a year later, we lost Scotty, and our 2021 Scramble will be dedicated to him in recognition for all that he did,” Howse said. “In 2021, our tee signs will return to the course and the tee boxes. We hope you will again step up and purchase a sign to be displayed on the course on July 14.” The public entry fee is $100 per person, which includes greens fee, cart, team prizes, men’s and ladies’ closest-to-the-pin prizes, door prizes, continental breakfast, on-course refreshments and lunch at the Ocean Pines Clubhouse Grille following the tournament. The entry fee for Ocean Pines Golf members is $60. The cart fee is extra for those without a cart package. Players may sign up individually or as a foursome. Individuals or incomplete teams will be paired. The entry deadline is July 7. Taylor Bank is the longtime event Title Sponsor. Platinum and Gold level sponsorships are still available. Tee sponsorships are available for $50 for businesses and nonmembers, or $35 for golf members. Entry and sponsorship forms may be picked up at the Ocean Pines Golf Club. Fees may be mailed to Ocean Pines Golf Members’ Council, PO Box 1356, Berlin, Maryland 21811. Checks should be made payable to “Ocean Pines Golf Members’ Council.” For more information, contact Howse at 571-239-8469

Kiwanis announces scholarship winners

The Ocean Pines - Ocean City Kiwanis Club has announced the awarding of scholarships to local graduating senior students. This year there were two Memorial Scholarships as Kiwanians Reverend Skip McComas and Pastor Dave Herr both passed away this past year. Much of the funds were raised during the covid by the club’s now annual “Lottery Raffle” ticket sales. All 1,000 tickets were sold. The 2022 tickets are now on sale and can be purchased weekly on Saturdays at the Ocean Pines Farmers Market from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Scholarships were awarded to Maeve Donahue, $2000 Skip McComas Memorial, William & Mary University; Kellen Catrino, $2000 Dave Herr Memorial, Salisbury University; Brooklyn Pugner, $1000, Washington College; Morgan Carlson, $1000, Washington College; Lydia Woodley, $1000, St. John’s University Queens Campus; Kathrine Wrench, $1000, West Virginia University; Rafe Parsons, $1000, Bridgewater College. and Evan Truitt, $1000, Charleston Southern University.

Golf Members’ Council awards scholarships

The Ocean Pines Golf Members’ Council recently awarded five scholarships totaling $11,000 to local high school seniors. The scholarship committee of the Golf Members’ Council each year honors students who have exhibited an interest in the game of golf, and who demonstrated exemplary academic and extracurricular records. Bob Long, scholarship committee chairman, said awards are given on behalf of Ocean Pines Golf Club members that support the fund throughout the year. He said members have raised more than $35,000 for scholarships over the last six years. “This year’s $11,000 amount is by far the greatest and reflects the work put in by Scotty Wheatley who, for many years, chaired the Ocean Pines-Taylor Bank Scramble that helps raise funds for junior golf programs

LIFESTYLES and scholarships,” Long said. “Scotty passed away this past February, and in his memory his friends contributed to the creation on a scholarship in his name.” Of the five recipients, one was an Ocean Pines resident. Samantha Herold was a senior at Stephen Decatur High School who played on the golf team for four years and has been a four-year honor roll student with a challenging selection of courses. Her extracurricular work includes music, dance and equestrian interests. She will attend West Virginia University. She is the 2021 Scotty Wheatley Scholarship winner and was awarded $2,000.

Platform tennis tournament returns Sept. 25

The Ocean Pines Platform Tennis Club will host its third annual benefit tournament on Sept. 25, at the Ocean Pines Racquet Center. This year, the club has dedicated the tournament to Jim Freeman, an active platform tennis member who passed away on March 15 after a battle with cancer. Freeman served the U.S. Marines with honor and later worked for 31 years as a seventh-grade science teacher at Keith Valley Middle School in Horsham, Pennsylvania. He retired to Ocean Pines with his wife, June, and became an active member of the platform tennis community. The Platform Tennis Club will donate all tournament proceeds to Semper Fi & America’s Fund, a nonprofit “dedicated to providing immediate financial assistance and lifetime support to combat wounded, critically ill and catastrophically injured members of all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families.” “Our friend Jim was a proud Marine, and a multi-term president and passionate advocate for our Platform Tennis Club,” tournament co-organizer Karen Kaplan said. “He is sorely missed. We respectfully request that all entry fees, donations, and sponsorships be donated in honor of Jim to the Semper Fi & America’s Fund Charity, which provides many vital layers of services to members of all service branches and their families,” she said.All platform tennis clubs in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania may compete. Individual players may also enter. The entry deadline is Sept. 11, and the entry fee is a $50 donation, per player. Checks may be made payable to Semper Fi/America’s Fund, “in Memory of Jim Freeman,” mailed with an entry form to Michael Petito, 4 Long Court, Ocean Pines, Maryland, 21811. Entry forms are available on the Ocean Pines Association Website for download. The Ocean Pines Platform Tennis Club is also seeking sponsors for the event.

Memorial unveiled at Racquet Center

A sizable crowd on Saturday, June 12, gathered at the Ocean Pines Racquet Center to remember Paul Rusko as a teacher, mentor, and a dedicated family man who affected countless people both locally and throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Rusko, a Pennsylvania native who later retired to Ocean Pines, passed away in December. He was the coordinator of physical education and athletics in Anne Arundel County for more than three decades. It was there that he met Tim McMullen, the current Ocean Pines Racquet Sports program coordinator and a former athletic director at Broadneck High School in Anne Arundel County. McMullen said it was fitting that no one called him on that overcast morning to ask if the remembrance event was still on. Rusko rarely – if ever – postponed the chance to play tennis. “My first winter down here was 2015-2016 and Paul texted me on a morning in which it was 32 degrees with a 20-mile-an-hour wind. He said, ‘Tim, I’ll see you on the court,’” McMullen said. Before they were close friends, McMullen knew “Mr. Rusko,” the prolific coach and athletic director who would attend four different football games on a Friday night, starting at South River High School in Edgewater, then visiting Annapolis and Severna Park high schools, and finally finishing at Old Mill High School in Millersville.

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 43 McMullen said Rusko helped open seven different schools in Anne Arundel County. He also played a crucial role during integration. Ocean Pines Tennis Director Terry Underkoffler credited Rusko with encouraging him to coach tennis professionally. Underkoffler had been a soccer coach since the 1970s. Both he and McMullen were part of the “Early Bird” group of tennis players that Rusko put together. The group met weekly, started very early in the morning, played tennis, and fostered many friendships. “Playing tennis in Ocean Pines is more than just a racquet sport ... you make lifelong friends,” Underkoffler said. “Paul, even in the times of the pandemic, encouraged us to continue to play, but play safely.” Underkoffler was the first of many who symbolically placed tennis balls and other tokens on a new memorial bench dedicated to Rusko after offering comments in his memory.

Platform tennis players honor Jim Freeman

About 100 platform tennis players on Saturday, June 9, gathered at the Ocean Pines Racquet Center to remember Jim Freeman, an active player who passed away on March 15 after a battle with cancer. Freeman was recalled both as a teacher, and as a friendly and fun-loving guy who enjoyed the sport. He also loved a cold beer, and his favorite football team, the Eagles, from his native Pennsylvania. Sue Walter, who organized “The Celebration of Life – Play & Party” in honor of Freeman, said more than $2,200 had been donated for the event by platform members. The funds covered the luncheon expenses and a memorial to Freeman, and the rest will help with costs of future Platform Tennis Club events. Walter said Freeman’s request for his own celebration of life, was that his friends “gather, play, eat and drink and party.” “I think he’ll be watching today,” she said. In planning the physical part of the memorial, Walter said she first thought about a getting bench in honor of Freeman. She said Tracey Jones had another idea and reached out to her brother, Doug Dawson, a master woodcraftsman, who quickly sketched a design of a wooden bar table filled with symbols of some of Freeman’s favorite things. “He blew our socks off, what this man has done,” she said. The memorial, unveiled during the ceremoony, features a tabletop of eight hand-carved, wood platform tennis paddles, with pictures of some of Freeman’s favorite things on each one, from his beloved Philadelphia Eagles and his favorite Yuengling beer, to fishing, photography, golf, and the U.S. Marines emblem. It will become a permanent part of the Ocean Pines Racquet Center. The inscription reads, “In loving memory of Jim Freeman, from your friends at OPPTA. ‘Perform random acts of kindness’ - Jim.”

Kiwanis Car Show set for July 24

The First Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines-Ocean City Car Show is scheduled for Saturday, July 24, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Ocean Pines Veterans Memorial Park. Registration costs $15 per entrant and will take from 8-9 a.m. The show will include judged classes, trophies and awards, as well as food concessions by Kiwanis Dawg Team. The club will also be selling lottery raffle” tickets for $20 each with 365 chances to win.

Women’s Club announces community donations

The Women’s Club of Ocean Pines recently announced the award of $1,600 community donations to ten organizations organizations for 2021. They included Coastal Hospice, Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra Outreach, Ocean Pines Parks and Recreation, Ocean Pines Volunteer Fire Department, Stories Love Music, Town Cats, Women Supporting Women, Worcester County Humane Society Thrift Store, Worcester County Veterans Memorial, and Worcester Youth & Family Counseling Services. Sponsorship of scholarships and community donations are achievable only through a successful fundraising year, which the managed despite the challenges presented by co. The donations are limited to organizations that promote the welfare and interests of the residents of Ocean Pines.

Building Captain’s Cove One Home at a Time

44 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021

CAPTAIN’S COVE

FEATURED FEATURED HOMESMODEL

Mackerel

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Building Captain’s Cove Sea Robin Dolphin One Home at a Time

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37316 Doubloon Drive

• 3BR/2.5BA New Constru • 1497 Sq ft • Screen por • 1 Car gara • Hardwood Floors

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$134,900

Partnering with Cindy Welsh of Hall Realty -- Call Cindy for Details! Call for Current Pricing

• 3BR/2BA

New Construction PRICING CALL FOR CURRENT

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Sea Robin

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Striper

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Two Story Contemporary Home OCEAN 3 BR / 2.5PINES BA 1818 Sq Ft • $191,400

GOLF COURSE Barracuda $7,500 2/286 Cleared, Corner $15,000 2/331 Cleared $15,000 2/293 Cleared, Septic Approved $20,000 2/196 Cleared $20,000 2/249 Cleared, Pond View $20,000 2/287 Cleared $30,000 2/361 Cleared, Septic Approved, Pond View

Two Story Contemporary Home INTERIOR 3 BR / 2.5 BA 1874 Sq Ft • $193,800

Two Story Contemporary Home 4 BR / 2.5 BA 2050 Sq Ft • $212,900

$2,000 4/2028 Wooded $2,500 1/1550 Wooded, W&S specializes in spec home sa J&A Builders $3,000 5/82 Wooded and new home construction. All of our mo $5,000 11/17 Wooded, Approved are “stickSeptic built” and feature a first floor m 2-Story Contemporary Home 2-Story Contemporary Home $5,000 3/1712 Wooded 2-Story Contemporary Home suite with standard appliance package, a 2-Story Contemporary Home 3 BR / 2.5 BA 1774 Sq Ft 3 BR / 2.5 BA 2243 Sq Ft 3 BR/2.5 BA 1607 Sq Ft 3 BR / 2.5 BA 1874 Sq Ft $5,000 3/1722Low-E Wooded windows. These are a few of our m $5,000 3/1725 Wooded we can build on your lot. Prices DO NOT include the cost of clearing a $5,600 8/47 Cleared, Septic Approved Mako Tiger Shark Thresher Hammerhead OR the lot. Homes are of similar design and m $6,000 9/197 Cleared Call for Current Pricing Call for Current Pricing Call for Current Pricing Call for Current Pricing have upgrades. Prices good for Captain’s Cov $6,000 9/71 Cleared Greenbackville, Va. Only. MHBR #4790 $6,000 9/73 Cleared Raised Home on Pilings Raised Home on Pilings TiRaised Home on Pilings $7,000 1/899 Wooded, W&S 3 BR / 2 BA 1745 Sq Ft • $232,400 4 BR / 3.5 BA 1940 Sq Ft • $257,500 3 BR / 2 BA 1349 Sq Ft • $174,200 $7,000 1/868 Wooded, W&S, Oversized $7,900 10/104 Cleared, Septic Approved $9,000 7/34, 35, 36 (3- Lot Pkg) Water Views $10,000 1/1246 Wooded, W&S, Canal Views Raised Home on Pilings Raised Home on Pilings Raised Home on Pilings Pen Fed Raised Realty Home on Pilings Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices $10,000 9/2 Cleared, Corner 3 BR/2 BA 1349 Sq Ft 3 BR / 2 BA 1663 Sq Ft 3 BR/2 BA 1745 Sq Ft 4 BR/3.5 BA 1940 Sq Ft $20,000 3/1632 Cleared, W&S, Water Views 4323 Captain’s Corridor • PO Box 28 $40,000 1/1261 Cleared, W&S, Bay View J&A Builders specializes in spec home sales and new home construction. All of our models are “stick built” and feature a first floor master suite with standard appliance package, and Low-E

Tiger Shark

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windows. These are a few of our models we can build on your lot. Prices DO NOT include the the lot. Homes are of similar design and may have upgrades. Prices good for Captain’s Cove, Greenbackville, Va. Only. Prices subject to change without notice. MHBR #4790

CINDY WELSH - REALTOR

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

Hall Realty

4323 Captain’s Corridor Greenbackville, VA. 23356 302-381-6910 (cell) 757-854-1604 (office) 757-854-1606 (fax)

CAPTAIN’S COVE

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 45

Captain’s Cove board votes to proceed with outsourced management

golf course staff are already Indigo employees. The action taken at the May 25 meeting formalizes the previously announced shift away from L&H Services as the firm that handles Captain’s Cove financial operations. “IGP has lots of programs and resources available that will help move everyone [to the new structure],” Hearn said during the May 25 board meeting. “L&H has done a great job for us but can’t transition to digital processes that IGP can.” He said he expects that Indigo will be providing full financial statements by sometime in the June-July-August time-frame, while L&H would continue to be involved in creating the 2021-22 budget. The transition to Indigo should be To Page 47

All Cove personnel to transition to Indigo Golf Partners by year’s end By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Board of Directors of the Captain’s Cove property owners association voted unanimously at its May 25 meeting to continue with plans to transition to an outsourced management structure by amending its existing agreement with Indigo Golf Partners, former-

ly Billy Casper Golf, to include additional accounting and personnel services. The move to outsource management of the Captain’s Cove community while retaining oversight by the elected Board of Directors had been announced at a board meeting in late February by Captain’s Cove Golf and Yacht Club President Tim

Hearn, at the same time that the Cove board hired Colby Phillips as the community’s senior general manager. Justin Wilder remains as the general manager under Phillips, and both are CCGYC employees. By year’s end, all 13 CCGYC employees will shift over to Indigo. About two dozen Marina Club and

CAPTAIN'S COVE

CONCEPTUAL PARK PLAN Greenbackville, VA

EXISTING CAPTAIN'S COVE COMMUNITY BUILDING

EXISTING PLAYGROUND

BIKE RACK ON CONCRETE PAD (TYP BOTH SIDES)

EXISTING MONUMENT & GRAVEL AREA TO BE REMOVED

EXISTING EVERGREEN TO BE REMOVED

U.S. ARMY 4'X6' FLAG

12' TALL FLAG POLE 18"X18"X4' CIVIC MONUMENT (3) IN-GROUND WELL LIGHTS

8.0' WIDE PAVER WALKWAY WITH CONCRETE BAND

BELGRAD PAVERS MEGADUBLIN NORTHWOOD

PATH LIGHT

(8) AROUND LANDSCAPE ISLAND

U.S. MARINE CORPS 4'X6' FLAG

PATH LIGHTS

12' TALL FLAG POLE 18"X18"X4' CIVIC MONUMENT (3) IN-GROUND WELL LIGHTS

CIVIC MONUMENT (TYPICAL) AT BASE OF ALL FLAGS

EXISTING CONCRETE WALKWAY TO REMAIN

U.S. NAVY 4'X6' FLAG

12' TALL FLAG POLE 18"X18"X4' CIVIC MONUMENT (3) IN-GROUND WELL LIGHTS

CAPTAIN'S COVE DEDICATION PLAQUE

8.0' 8"X8" ENGRAVED BRICK PAVERS AROUND PERIMETER

R22.5'

EXISTING TREES TO REMAIN

CAN ALSO BE INCORPORATED ALONG INSIDE OF THE WALKWAY

FRASIER FIR (OR SIMILIAR) FOR CHRISTMAS LIGHTING

U.S. COAST GUARD 4'X6' FLAG

12' TALL FLAG POLE 18"X18"X4' CIVIC MONUMENT (3) IN-GROUND WELL LIGHTS

CIVIC MONUMENT (TYPICAL) AT BASE OF ALL FLAGS

PARK BENCHES SPACED BETWEEN FLAG DISPLAYS

IN-GROUND WELL LIGHTS

U.S. SPACE FORCE 4'X6' FLAG

12' TALL FLAG POLE 18"X18"X4' CIVIC MONUMENT (3) IN-GROUND WELL LIGHTS

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 6'X8' FLAG & POW / MIA 4'X6' FLAG

U.S. AIR FORCE 4'X6' FLAG

12' TALL FLAG POLE 18"X18"X4' CIVIC MONUMENT (3) IN-GROUND WELL LIGHTS

20' TALL FLAG POLE (4) IN-GROUND WELL LIGHTS

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 6'X8' FLAG

EXISTING CAPTAIN'S COVE COMMUNITY BUILDING

20' TALL FLAG POLE 18"X18"X4' CIVIC MONUMENT (3) IN-GROUND WELL LIGHTS

EXISTING TREES TO REMAIN

PLANT LIST

F:\Vista\Projects\21-066 Captains Cove Virginia\ENGINEERING\dwg\CDc 062121.dwg, 6/21/2021 4:14:29 PM, 1:1

SYMBOL

COMMON NAME

MINIMUM SIZE REQUIRED

MATURE SIZE

SPACING

ABIES FRASERI

FRASIER FIR

6'-8' TALL

H: 25'-30' S: 15'-20'

AS SHOWN

AZALEA JAPONICA 'JOHANNA'

JOHANNA AZALEA

30" MIN.

H: 3'-4' S: 3'-4'

3' O.C.

AZALEA X ' GUMPO WHITE'

GUMPO WHITE AZALEA

18" MIN

H: 3' S: 3'

3' O.C.

BUXUS SEMPERVIRENS 'SUFFRUTICOSA'

DWARF ENGLISH BOXWOOD

18" MIN

H: 1'-2' S: 1'-2'

2' O.C.

CHAMAECYPARIS PISIFERA 'GOLDEN MOP'

JAPANESE FALSECYPRESS

30" MIN

H: 3'-5' S: 3'-5'

4' O.C.

HEMEROCALLIS 'HAPPY RETURNS'

HAPPY RETURN DAYLILLY

1 GAL CONT.

H: 18"-24" S: 18"-24"

18" O.C.

HYDRANGEA MACROPHYLLA 'ENDLESS SUMMER'

BIG LEAF ENDLESS SUMMER HYDRANGEA

18" MIN

H: 3'-5' S: 3'-5'

3'-4' O.C.

MISCANTHUS SINENSIS 'GRACILLIMUS'

MAIDEN GRASS

18" MIN

H: 4'-7' S: 3'-6'

3' O.C.

ROSA X RADTKO

DOUBLE KNOCK OUT ROSE

18" MIN

H: 3'-4' S: 3'-4'

3' O.C.

BOTANICAL NAME

SCALE: 1" = 10' EXISTING DECIDIOUS TREES TO REMAIN

NOTE: This drawing, specifications, and work produced by Vista Design, Inc. (VDI) for this project are instruments of service for this project only, and remains the copyrighted property of VDI. Reuse or reproduction of any of the instruments of service of VDI by the Client or assignees without the written permission of VDI will be at the Clients risk and be a violation of the copyright laws of the United States of America and the respective state within which the work was completed.

FLAGPOLE Anodized Black Finish

ID RR

IN PTA

QUANTITY

VV ISTA

D E S I G N, I NC.

NORTH

Engineers, Surveyors, Landscape Architects, Land Planning Consultants, GIS Specialists

CIVIC MONUMENT TYPICAL STYLE

New Veteran’s Memorial

DEDICATION PLAQUE

PARK BENCH

BIKE RACKS

EXISTING EVERGREEN TO BE REMOVED

11634 Worcester Hwy, Showell, MD 21862 email vista@vistadesigninc.com ph. 410-352-3874 fax 410-352-3875

Vista Design recently completed designed for a new Veteran’s Memorial in Captain’s Cove, to be located in the field next to the Community Building on Captain’s Corridor. The first iteration of the memorial was presented at the managers’ meeting of the Cove in June by Senior General Manager Colby Phillips. The second one pictured above moved the American flag display to the center of the site, which will be flanked by trees representing the six service branches. The new memorial will replace the existing memorial erected in the 1990s. According to Phillips, the working group assembled to bring the project to fruition is awaiting cost estimates and will announce them as soon as they are available. She said that a donor possibly will be coming forward to help with the costs. There is no date on when the project will begin construction. “We don’t want to rush and want to make sure we are doing it thorough and correctly,” she said. The current location of the old memorial may in the future become the venue for an expanded playground. Working group members in addition to Phillips include Dan Fields, Kari Grimm, Linda Reece, Jim Hayes, Tim Joilet, Jeannette Delude, Robert Smith, Erin Smith, Trina Seymore, Nancy Woodall, John Palazzo, Barry Magrogan, Tom Hynd, Jackie Hynd and Judy Dibetta.

CAPTAIN’S COVE

46 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021 July 4th Community Boat Parade Those interested in participating in the parade must register with Tina Williams or Teresa Birckhead by June 30, on the Resident Facebook Page. Or call/text Teresa at 757-647-9917 or Tina at 410-490-3997. We need watercraft type (boat or jet ski), length of boat, if you need to launch your boat or if it’s at your dock, if you have a marine radio, and contact preference/info.

Decorate your watercraft for the Fourth of July Celebration! • 7:15 p.m. Boats meet out on the bay • 7:30 p.m. Boat starts moving through the south canals Light up and decorate your waterfront house to support the participants, or watch from the shore at the Marina Club

New Aquatics Programs Coming to Captain’s Cove This Summer for Members & Guests of Members Private and Group Swim Lessons

Family Fun Nights

Captain’s Cove is excited to be offering Swim Lessons this summer with Coach Brooks Ensor, who has over 50 years experience in teaching children of all ages how to swim and improve their swimming techniques. • Group Lessons in Two-Week Sessions: First session: M,W,F July 12-23 Second session: M/W/F July 26 - Aug. 6 Ages 4 to 6 years old, 4:30 - 5:10 p.m. Ages 7 to 12 old, 5:20 - 6 p.m. Cost: $10 per member, $30 for guests

• Join us Monday nights this summer starting July 5 at the Town Center pool from 6-8 p.m. Hot dogs and beverages can be purchased until 7 p.m. DJ Donny will be spinning family-friendly tunes, drawing tickets for door prizes, as well as judging the biggest splash contest!

• Private Lessons for all ages: Cost for Private 30-Min Lesson Members $25 • Guests $30 Cost for Private 45-Min Lesson Members $35 • Guests $45

• To sign up for group or private swim lessons, please stop by the Marina Club front desk or call 757-824-3454 or email marinaclub@captscove.com Lessons Taught at the Town Center Pool

Junior Lifeguard Program • The Captains Cove Junior Lifeguard program helps kids build a foundation of knowledge, attitude, and skills that are needed to be a responsible volunteer & future lifeguard. One Day Sessions from 10am-3pm. Team Taught. For more information, please email Colby Phillips at cphillips@captscove.com Ages 7-14 One Day Sessions from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. To allow multiple children to participate, please choose only one date and if we have extra space, we will accommodate children who already went through the program. Dates: July, 21, July 28, Aug. 4 Maximum Allowed for each session is 15 MEMBERS: FREE Guest of Members: $10

Water Aerobics/Hydrobikes • Water Aerobics Class This fun energetic exercise program will give you results and isn’t hard on the body. Class is set to music. Instructor: Eileen Klinefelter. Two 6-week sessions. Monday & Thursday evenings at 5:30pm at the indoor pool. Please sign up at the Marina Club by emailing marinaclub@ captscove.com or stopping by. • Hydrobikes! Tone & Sculpt your body with no impact to your joints! Water cycling is a GREAT aerobic workout that is easy on your back & knees. Class is set to music and water shoes are required. Classes start July 6th and will be held Tuesday evenings at 4:30pm and 5:30 pm. Please sign up at the front desk at the Marina Club or email marinaclub@captscove.com

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 47

CAPTAIN’S COVE Transition

From Page 45 completed by year’s end, Hearn said. Short-term rentals I -- At the same May 25 meeting, the board voted 4 to 0 with two abstentions to approve a resolution that consolidates regulations on short-term rentals in the community. The vote lit up the Cove’s members-only message board, with Larry Berger, George Dattore and former director Rosemary Hall challenging the board action and Hearn defending it. Unknown is the extent to which Cove residents agree with the three opponents that an overwhelming number of them oppose any shortterm rentals in Captain’s Cove. Another issue is whether reliance on a legal opinion by the Pender and Coward law firm was sufficient in drawing up the consolidated regulations. Also in dispute is whether language in the Cove’s Declarations describing Captain’s Cove as a residential community allows for shortterm rentals. Critics say they don’t; Hearn says they do, having previously cited Accomack County zoning authorities in support. The board agrees, citing Pender and Coward’s legal opinion. Hearn also offered up a solution to residents who want to ban shortterm rentals in Captain’s Cove. “Invest your time and money in pursuing an amendment to the Declarations, or one of the other processes to effect change within CCGYC as described in the various organizational documents and legal statutes,” Hearn wrote He later told Berger that “if there really [is] an ‘overwhelming member opposition broad and deep across the community to short-term/transient rentals,’ then it seems obvious that you need to get out from behind your keyboard and start running the effort to secure that Declaration Amendment.” He also suggested an alternative: that opponents of the board action could hire an attorney and challenge it in court. As of June 21, there was no indication from any of the opponents whether they would undertake the effort to amend the Declarations or challenge the board’s and legal counsel’s interpretations of the Declarations in court. Short-term rentals II -- Hearn

mentioned during the meeting that the goal of the consolidated shortterm rental regulations is to reduce the current of problem properties from 5 to zero. There are currently about 20 homes identified as being used for short-term rentals in Captain’s Cove. “We are aiming for a quiet community,” Hearn said, adding that the Accomack County sheriff will respond to noise complaints. Cove General Manager Justin Wilder said that it’s important for any resident aggrieved by noise or other issues to call Cove security as the event is happening. At the June 14 Senior General Manager/General Manager’s Meeting, Chief of Security John Costello reported that “there were no problems with short-term rentals” according to recent call logs. Transition to Taylor Bank -During the May 25 meeting, Hearn reported that the transition to Taylor Bank as the Cove’s primary bank is continuing, with the $2.4 million Marina Club refinancing expected to close before the end of June and deposits of property owners’ bi-annual dues into a Taylor Bank account has started. The Marina Club refinancing is for ten years at a 4.35 percent interest rate.

Hearn said that testing of the Taylor Bank “lock-box protocol” was under way, but that lock-box payments to the Cove’s previous bank, M&T, will continue, probably until the end of the calendar year. He advised Cove property owners who have set up bill-pay debits from their individual accounts to change their payment address from M&T to Taylor Bank before the next set of Cove invoices are sent out. Hourly rates -- In response to the post-covid labor shortage, Hearn suggested during the May 25 meeting that hourly rates for non-salaried employees would need to be increased in the budget for 2021-22 now under preparation. He suggested $15 an hour would be the new minimum for full-time employees, somewhat below that for part-timers. Director Andy Zubco said that given local conditions that $15 an hour for both full- and part-time employees would be appropriate. Hearn said he was OK with that, and therefore it seems like some Cove employees will be getting raises next year, if not sooner. CARES Act funding - During the June 14 manager’s meeting, Phillips reported optimistically on the results of a June 6 Town Hall meeting on CARES Act funding sponsored by the Board of Super-

visors, with 12 residents from the Cove attending. Phillips spoke on behalf of the Cove and the hope that it will receive a fair share of the grant funding as Accomack County’s most densely populated community. About 85 percent of the questions related to providing broadband Internet services to under-served communities, like Captain’s Cove, she said. “We’re on their radar,” she added. EMS Services - Phillips also said she continues to work with local supervisor Ron Wolff in the hopes of receiving county support for seven days a week, 24-hour emergency services availability from the Greenbackville Fire Company. Currently it’s only five days a week during normal business hours. “We have Mr. Wolff’s support,” but Cove residents need to continue to urge the county supervisors to provide the support that other fire companies in the county receive. Executive financial summary -- Through April, the seventh month of the Cove’s fiscal year, CCGYC has net income of $464,000, Phillips said in the June 14 meeting. It’s comprised of $44,000 in net revenues from Indigo operations, a $221,000 non-cash credit from holding back payments to Exhibit X as u

Visitors from up north

Class members of the Ocean Pines Water Aerobics class taught for many years in Ocean Pines by Colby Phillips visited the new Captain’s Cove Senior General Manager in June. They had lunch together at the grille in the Town Center and gave them a tour of the Captain’s Cove community. Pictured are Lou and Jane Furman, Phillips, Jim Himlin, Sue Vickers, Bill and Jill Kelly.

48 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021

Professional Services

sponse to a recent suggestion, Phillips announced that stickers indiFrom Page 47 cating Cove property ownership a result of refinancing the Marina can be obtained at the Marina Club Club mortgage, $155,000 in federal front desk for users of the boat ramp Payroll Protection Program funds, who park their vehicles at the mariDental and $50,000 in budget timing vari-Services na when they’re out boating. ances. The intent is to ensure that only The last five months of the fiscal Cove members use the limited parkyear are generally the busiest, so it’s ing available at the board ramp. very possible that the net income or New programs -- In addition operating surplus will increase by to previously announced swimming year’s end in September. lesson and junior lifeguard proD.M.D., Boat ramp stickers - In re- grams, PhillipsP.A. said the Cove will be

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offering a host of new programs in dation to the Board of Directors on a coming months, including line danc- new Web site vendor that will rework ing, Yoga, hydro-bikes and Aqua the site to make it more user friendYoga. ly, preserving existing features such Line dining filled up almost im- as the message board and access to mediately as did Contractor Yoga, and Phillips financial data. Homemember Improvements Contractor --Home Improvements said that she’ll be adding more hyAppreciation -- At the concludro-bike classes in response to de- sion of the managers’ meeting, those mand. in attendance applauded, something A family fun night at the pool is that rarely, if ever, happens at meetalso being planned. ings of the Board of Directors. Website update -- Wilder an“I was kinda embarassed, but Serving Ocean Pines Since 1985 nounced that he and Phillips would very appreciative of the way resiresponded us,” she said. soon be making a formal recommenAdditions,dents decks, porches,togarages,

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OPINION

COMMENTARY

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 49

Slip-sliding on the road to Karen-ville

ust when it seemed possible that the Board of Directors might be able to persuade property owners that a targeted amendment to the Declaration of Restrictions might be a good way to rein in a few bad actors in the short-term rental sphere in Ocean Pines, out comes Director Colette Horn with a suggestion that could muck it up. At the very least, it makes it easier for OPA members, especially those who own long-term rentals, to oppose any infringement on the liberties of their cousins in the short-term market. The occasion was the recent Town Hall on short-term rentals and follow-up remarks made during the June 16 Board of Directors meeting. Local property manager Bill Hayes at the Town Hall told the board that “nuisances that shortterm rentals get blamed for what is a community problem.” He said short-term rentals are not the cause of those problems, which exist on longterm rentals and owner-occupied lots as well. “You can’t pick on short-term rentals and not pick on everybody else,” he said. In response to Hayes’s remarks and similar remarks by others, Horn seemed to agree that short-term rentals were being unfairly targeted and she said she would have a solution to that. That “solution” if you want to call it that emerged during the board’s June 16 meeting, when Horn said she would be introducing a motion at the board meeting in July to in effect pick on everyone else in Ocean Pines for increased oversight and regulation, apparently limited to noise and trash complaints, according to Director Frank Daly. That, at least, is where it would start. But will it be limited to trash and noise? Perhaps, but details matter, and you will have really to read and digest the fine print once it’s available for perusal. Then again, is there really time to put together a proposal that is detailed, coherent and sensible between now and then? One can only hope that there won’t be. Daly, the architect of the board’s approach of letting property owners decide whether they want to give enhanced enforcement authority to the OPA to regulate short-term rentals, wisely resisted Horn’s “friendly” amendment to add longterm rentals to his motion to proceed with the process giving property owners the opportunity to decide whether to amend the Declaration of Restrictions in their sections. Daly told Horn he wasn’t sure that OPA members who might support his proposed method of regulating short-term rentals by incorporating language from county ordinances regulating noise and trash would be as willing to support similar enhanced authority for longer-term rentals. He was right to be skeptical. Rather than take the hint, Horn doubled down and said she would be ready in July with a proposal to go after nuisance properties, apparently without regard whether they’re short-term rent-

als, long-term rentals or owner-occupied homes. Daly’s short-term rental proposal would give, if property owners approve, the OPA the authority to impose fines on problem short-term rental properties, and could also result in a property owner who’s a repeat offender losing the right to engage in short-term rentals for up to 60 days. It’s unclear what Horn’s remedy will be -- fines and a prohibition to visit one’s own property? Probably not. Horn is an intelligent person, well-intentioned if misguided at times, who’s unlikely to attack property rights so blatantly. But if behooves anyone with an interest in basic property rights to read the fine print on her motion that she said she will offer at the July meeting. Perhaps she will sensibly think twice about offering anything at all, because the path she’s on could easily kick up resistance to the far more supportable Daly proposal on short-term rentals. Here’s how it could go down. A property owner who owns one or more rental properties leased out by the month or year and who believes existing OPA enforcement authority is adequate to handle problems that occasionally arise with long-term rentals might decide to vote against any regulation on short-term rentals in solidarity with his market cousins. Similarly, an OPA member who doesn’t currently own a rental property might decide, in solidarity with those who do, that the current enforcement protocols in Ocean Pines work reasonably well, even if they don’t always produce instant gratification. To send a message to those who would upset the status quo, this owner might decide not to give his consent to even the relatively modest change envisioned in Daly’s short-term rental approach. There is something off-putting about Horn’s inclination to add more layers of enforcement in Ocean Pines, including fines. As noted by both Daly and Horn, her proposal of several year’s ago

for a more sweeping regulatory push, including the authority to impose fines on offenders, was met with community-wide push-back. And Horn was the architect of the much-maligned and failed Board Resolution B-08, governing board ethics and conduct, that was just repealed on a motion by Daly. Even By-laws and Resolutions Advisory Committee members didn’t want to bother with the onerous task of trying to amend it. You can hardly blame them. For volunteers, there may not be enough hours in a day to work through all the flaws in that benighted resolution, now relegated to the trash heap. What’s clear is that Horn’s latest musings demonstrate the slippery slope argument. It starts out small, but then grows and metastasizes into something barely recognizable. What kind of community do we want Ocean Pines to be? Horn’s latest intentions could lead to a community of Karens in which, some day, property owners are fined for the most trivial of infractions. Don’t think it can happen here? Even Daly’s targeted proposal will be complaint-driven if it finds majority support in section-by-section elections. Some complaints are legitimate to be sure, but we also know the world is filled with chronic complainers. Get comfortable with the idea of fines for the few and then, a few years down the road, fines for the many. Oh, wait. Those “few years down the road” may already be here, if Horn introduces what she says she will at the July board meeting. If she does, then it will be up to her colleagues to resist the slippery slope to Karen-ville. If that fails, there’s always a flat NO when the OPA comes asking for a Yes on changing the DRs, any DRs. The answer: A section-by-section rebuke of hubris.-- Tom Stauss

A respectable year despite covid

ll things considered, the OPA had a real good year in 2020-21 despite the ravages of a covid-inspired economic downtown. But as most know, federal aid in the form of covid relief assistance saved OPA’s bacon. Payroll protection program funds and the CARES Act provided the OPA with almost $1.5 million in revenues to offset real covid-inspired downturns in certain operations, notably Aquatics and beach parking. Without PPP and Cares Act, the OPA would have generated a deficit of roughly $250,000. The OPA was not the cause of shutdown mania. Despite the good-hearted opposition of some OPA members, who believed and perhaps still do that the OPA should not have taken the money, it would have irresponsible not to take advan-

tage of the lifeline offered. The OPA scrupulously followed the program rules. As a result, the OPA ended the year with a $1,275,298 still-to-be-audited year-end surplus, probably the best ever generated in any fiscal year in the history of Ocean Pines. Yes, to be sure the OPA took advantage of a program that everyone should know was overly generous. The PPP protected the jobs of every OPA employee, many of whose jobs were not in serious jeopardy, but that is the way the geniouses in D.C. designed it. Now, with covid in the rear view mirror, early indications are that OPA members are rushing to get back into a more normal life. Amenities membership is surging. It’s going to be a banner year, without the crutch of PPP. -- Tom Stauss

50 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021

OPINION

An over-the-top conspiracy theory

ou really have to feel sorry for Esther Diller, the former OPA director, founder of the Get Involved Facebook Page, and wife of OPA Board of Directors candidate Stuart Lakernick. Not that she’s looking for sympathy, of course. According to a conspiracy theory that surfaced recently on oceanpinesforum.com, she’s a Cruella DeVille-like villainess who wants to take over and control the Ocean Pines Association through her husband and his apparent running mate, Rick Farr. You really can’t make this stuff up. Once her anointed candidates emerge victorious, according to this theory, the new board majority of Lakernick, Farr, Parks and Janasek will team up to elect a new president and vice-president, not quite sure who would be doing what but Larry Perrone would definitely not be president and Colette Horn would not be vice-president. OK, but it’s a good bet that neither will be serving in their current roles after August even if Lakernick and Farr aren’t elected this summer. Best bet: Frank Daly as president if he makes it across the finish line first or second this summer. If he doesn’t, and Lakernick and Farr win, there’s slim chance that Perrone will be president again even if he wants the job, and there’s some reason to believe he’s not particularly obsessed with holding on to it. Where the conspiracy theory really falls off the rails is the fantastical speculation that Cruella (that’s Esther) in cahoots with Colby Phillips, the former OPA department head who’s happily employed down in Captain’s Cove, will be engineering a coup against General Manager John Viola, who presumably will resigns should Lakernick and Farr get elected, in order to avoid the ignominy of being fired. Motive for the sad state of affairs: Vengeance, for the year and a half of employment hell that Phillips experienced under Viola. This conspiracy theory was thoroughly demolished in posts by John O’Connor, a former member of the Budget and Finance Committee, and Phillips. She wrote: “Anyone who knows me knows I am not someone who seeks revenge. I do not wish any-

LIFE IN THE PINES An excursion through the curious by-ways and cul-de-sacs of Worcester County’s most densely populated community By TOM STAUSS/Publisher thing but good things for John and OPA. Holding onto anger and resentment would be a huge waste of my time and I have a lot of great things to focus on at Captain’s Cove. As painful as my last year and a half was in OP, it made me stronger and opened the door for the opportunity I have now. I LOVE going to work. “I also think if Rick and Stuart get on the board, you will be surprised to see that they will work well with John. John will probably be happier because he won’t have someone down his throat trying to [dictate] all the time. “Doug [Parks, when he was president] let him do his job. That’s what he needs. I understand that more than ever because my boss here [Cove Association President Tim Hearn] lets me do my job and just offers support.” Kinda hard to argue against any of that. Of course the subtext is clear: Ettu Larry Perrone, bane of her existence! And then this from O’Connor, who disputed the notion that Viola will resign if the two candidates he most likely prefers, Frank Daly and David Hardy, aren’t elected. “Viola is strong enough to offset any short-term board anti to him, especially with his great track record with the financials and great team effort with his management staff and employee morale. “Keep John Viola as GM and get rid of off-beat board members or want-to-be’s.” Wonder who he has in mind. In another post O’Connor wrote: “Why would he [Viola] resign?” Why indeed. The only reason to resign would be if there was a board stacked against him and locked and loaded to create conditions that make resignation a front-burner option. At the June 9 candidates forum, Farr in particular went out of his way to state that he was looking for a partnership with the GM should he be elected. Is this the profile of someone who wants Viola out of there? Lakernick has also said he’s not

out to oust Viola, and Diller has said the same thing more than once to the Progress. It’s possible that was on her agenda at one time or another -- it was according to Viola -- but conditions and minds can change. Right now there’s far more going right in Ocean Pines than the other way around. That creates conditions for a contract renewal if Viola wants it. If Farr and Lakernick are elected, there simply would not be the votes to remove Viola -- or grounds to do so. Nor not to negotiate a new contract with him if he wants one. Viola’s current employee agreement expires in June of next year, and unless hell freezes over there’s no reason to think a contract extension won’t be successfully negotiated by Viola and the board, whomever happens to be on it. This particular conspiracy theory makes Diller out to be this puppet-master out to control Ocean Pines and, by implication, her husband and preferred candidate Farr two mindless rubes doing her bidding. That’s nonsense. Both had reasonably competent performances during the candidates forum, as did Daly. All three showed ability to think on their feet and answer questions put to them by the Elections Committee and property owners. Any of these individuals would be credible directors, and no pot-stirring conspiracy theory is going to change that. Dave Hardy is heavily credentialed and probably would make a good director, too, at some point. But his lack of knowledge about the intricacies of Ocean Pines governance at times came across clearly during the forum.

A very odd motion goes down to defeat

It was a very odd motion that went to defeat 3-4 at the June 16 board meeting. So, too, was an oddball comment by one of the opponents.

The motion dealt with memorializing or documenting, but not accepting, the results of the recent referendum on limiting Board of Directors spending authority. What the motion’’s author wanted was a vote to acknowledge the results. Exactly why was not made clear at all. Don’t the referendum results speak for themselves? Won’t an amendment to the by-laws be filed in the OPA’s repository of official documents in Snow Hill? Aren’t records of the results contained in meeting minutes already? Self-evidently yes to all of those rhetorical questions. But Doug Parks seemed determined to proceed with his motion while acknowledging that, yes, it wasn’t really necessary. The motion’s oddity was matched by opposition to it when Larry Perrone said he was “personally offended” by the motion as an Ocean Pine homeowner. Huh? Why take a simple house-keeping motion so personally? How is it possible that this motion evoked such an emotive response in someone normally so level-headed if not stoic in demeanor? Lotsa oddity to go around. In the end, though, not a huge deal either way.

The Ocean Pines Progress, a journal of news and commentary, is published monthly throughout the year. It is circulated in Ocen Pines, Ocean City, Berlin and Captain’s Cove, Va. 127 Nottingham Lane Ocean Pines, MD. 21811 PUBLISHER-EDITOR Tom Stauss stausstom@gmail.com ADVERTISING SALES Frank Bottone 410-430-3660 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Rota Knott 443-880-3953 Susan Canfora 410-208-8721

July 2021 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 51

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52 Ocean Pines PROGRESS July 2021