JUNE 21 CANDIDATES FORUM

Elections Committee questions

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer

The four candidates seeking to win a seat on the Board of Directors in this summer’s Ocean Pines Association election drew numbers to answer questions posed by the Elections Committee and then fielded more questions from in-person audience members during a June 21 forum.

This year’s slate of candidates, Elaine Brady, Jeff Heavner, John Latham, and Jerry Murphy, discussed issues like enhancing the amenities, curtailing property violations, assessment increases, boat ramp access, and the role of advisory committees and their Board liaisons.

Following a brief introduction by the candidates, they each drew two numbers and responded to the corresponding questions on a pre-screened list of queries that had been submitted by OPA members to the Elections Committee. With four candidates, only eight of 14 potential questions were asked.

In making their opening statements, the candidates lobbied for OPA members’ votes.

“If elected my goal will be to simply make a great community even better. I’ll use my business background and leadership, communication and financial acumen to help drive the decisions that are most important to our com-

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OPA member questions

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer

Following a series of pre-approved questions submitted to the Elections Committee, audience members had an opportunity to query candidates Elaine Brady, Jeff Heavner, John Latham, and Jerry Murphy during the June 21 candidates forum.

Ocean Pines Association members in attendance were given the option of asking questions of a specific candidate or all candidates, but some just wanted to share their thoughts on issues.

“The Ocean Pines of 1970 is not the Ocean Pines of 2023. It’s a different community,” said Tom McElroy. He lamented the loss of the original concept for Ocean Pines when it was a summer community and said that is not the community today.

“All you have to do is look at Food Lion shopping center over there and envision what was like 20 years ago,” he said as an example of the significant changes around Ocean Pines.

His question for candidates, which only Murphy answered, was what they intend to do to keep the “concept of Ocean Pines as it was initially intended” rather than having the community become just another suburb.

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Elections Committee

From Page 1 munity and will be in the best interest of our entire community of Ocean Pines,” Latham said.

Murphy said he has been a property owner for decades and “now I have an opportunity now to serve the community that served me so well for the last 49 years.” He said he feels his previous experience serving on Boards with be a benefit to the OPA if he is elected.

“The decisions that are made at this level are those things that affect our everyday lives,” Brady said. She suggested that her experience drafting and negotiating contracts and budgeting during a career in newspapers will help her serve the OPA as a Board member.

“I stand for kindness. I stand for unity. I stand for integrity. And I stand for conviction,” Heavner said. He called himself an independent thinker and said he would be focused on what’s important to the association while maintaining a strong financial position.

It took a while to get to the first candidate response, as the question presented a lengthy hypothetical scenario.

“The GM presents the Board with a community project that requires extensive decking. A deck made of pressure-treated lumber can last anywhere from 10 to 30 years. Decks made of composite materials can last as long as 50 years, but the initial cost is 35 percent more than pressure-treated lumber. Using the current favorable financial status of the OPA budget, which would you most likely favor for this project: the less expensive pressure-treated wood decking, which degrades and requires maintenance, or would you favor investing in the more expensive maintenance-free composite decking, which has a much longer shelf life?”

Latham, who has a background in procurement and financial automation, drew the question, which was longer than his answer. Latham said he would look at all of the potential options for such a project, including the total construction cost and anticipated maintenance over the life of the item, and weigh whether it is better to pay more upfront than later. He said he would want to understand how long the product would last and anticipated maintenance costs over the life of each type of material.

When asked if he would support efforts to limit access to Ocean Pines’ boat ramps to only residents and guests and/or charge a fee, particularly, for commercial use, Murphy said use of the boat ramps by outsiders has been a long-standing problem. He said he would be open to exploring the options but said right now the negatives would outweigh the benefits. For example, he wasn’t sure distribution of “slide cards” for access by residents would work.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to outsiders paying a fee to use our marinas, our boat docks but at the same time I think this is something that really needs to have further discussion with the marine [activities advisory] committee,” Murphy said.

The first question to Brady asked her to identify the decisions/actions of the current Board that she agree with, those she would have proposed handling differently and how she would have handled them. She didn’t give any specific examples of any Board decisions about which she had an opinion one way or the other.

“I haven’t had a real problem with some the of decisions that our current Board has been making. Not that I might have had a different way to go about it or a different opinion, but I’ve recently found that our Board seems to be able to work together to offer their differing opinions and come to some sort of consensus,” she said, adding that’s how she likes to work on a Board.

When asked what role advisory committees should play in support of the Board of Directors and OPA staff, Heavner said they are just that, advisory committees. The Board makes the final decisions, but ought to listen closely to the advice of the committees, he said.

“Our committees are one of our most valuable assets that we have. These people volunteer their free time. The should be experts in the subject that they are serving within and they (the Board) ensure that they are before they grant them permission to be on those teams,” Heavner said. He advocated for a presence and regular reports from the committees at Board meetings as a way to support transparency and encourage more residents to attend meetings.

Another lengthy question began by saying “Ocean Pines has been fortunate to be able to hold and/or reduce assessments during the Viola GM tenure. However, rising costs from wages, Police Dept retirement incentives, infrastructure needs, and the impact of general inflation on the cost of goods and services will begin to catch up and offset the tremendous operating efficiencies our GM has enacted. In the past OPA fell into disrepair by deferring or ignoring maintenance by board members simply to maintain low assessments.”

The question asked the candidate, Murphy, whether he would “have the fortitude to raise assessments, if, and/or when necessary, to maintain and enhance the community.”

Murphy responded that he would but said raising the property assessment rate would be a last resort. He cited a variety of projects and expenditures pending for the OPA including a new Southside fire station.

“That’s going to be a very expensive undertaking,” he said, adding that it is important to seek other funding mechanisms like grants to help cover costs. He said the current Board and the general manager are doing a good job of covering necessary costs and take into consideration factors like inflation when making funding decisions.

Brady was asked about electronic signs at the entrance to Ocean Pines. The question noted that the OPA Communications Committee has recommended replacing the old North Gate sign board as a pilot project and asked if she would support replacing the North Gate sign with a digital equivalent sign

“This actually is a fairly easy question for me because I did serve on the Communications Committee when this

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OPA members

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“I know what you mean,” Murphy said. He noted that he has owned property in Ocean Pines for nearly 50 years, beginning back when the roads were dirt roads and there were no road signs.

He said Ocean Pines was built as a recreational community but during the 1980s people started come to the community at times other than during the summer. Now, he called it an “evolving situation” and said “I don’t know that we can do much to stop the urban sprawl.”

He did say it is important for Ocean Pines leadership to work with the county to ensure infrastructure is in place to handle continued growth.

“I don’t think we will ever go back to that little quaint community where people came down in the summer only,” Murphy said. “I think we’re approaching the big city.”

Another audience member who didn’t give her name just wanted to talk about the amenities, particularly racquet sports where she has a membership. She said the OPA is likely to soon face major expenditures at the racquet complex to support growing membership and alluded to discussions about a new racquet center building and the need for more parking.

“I think the concern is that people on the Board before they go and commit to anything they really understand what is needed, what is wanted, and that does take an awful lot of looking at surveys, talking to people, coming out to see it,” she told the candidates. She said she just wanted to make a comment about that topic.

When pressed by the Elections Committee for a question for the candidates, she asked what the process is for approval of a new capital project. She wanted to know how a project moves from being an idea to a capital budget item.

Heavner pointed out that the OPA has a strategic plan that clearly specifies the need for and timing of those

Elections Committee

From Page 2 first came up,” Brady said. She acknowledged that some people are concerned about the potential for light intrusion on residences, but the committee has worked hard to develop solutions to minimize the impact with suggestions such as white-only lighting and overhangs. types of projects.

Brady said she feels the OPA should test use of an electronic sign at the North Gate entrance and possibly the South Gate. She cited the challenges of maintaining and changing the signs, and the limited messaging that can be placed on the existing marquee signs, as reasons for their replacement.

When asked how he would view his role as a liaison to an advisory committee, Heavner said the job of the liaison is to ensure that the committee understands the issue that its working on for the Board.

He said the OPA has major projects ahead to address deterioration of existing assets. “We want it to be premier resort community” so those improvements will be necessary, he added.

Another audience member, who also didn’t give her name, just took the microphone during the meeting to say “From Brooklyn, New York to Northern Virginia to Ocean City to Ocean Pines, this is the best.”

Former OPA board member Amy Peck directed a question to Brady about enforcement of restrictive covenants. Peck mentioned run-down homes and possibly changing the restrictive covenants to allow for levying of fines for violations. She asked Brady to elaborate on that topic.

Brady responded that for years people have complained about properties that surround them falling into disrepair, whether the owners are part-time residents who aren’t around to maintain their homes of people who just don’t take good care of their properties.

“It’s just not really the kind of community we want,” she said.

She said she lives in a section of Ocean Pines with a secondary homeowners association that does allow for fines and many of those sections are aging well as a result of that additional enforcement authority.

“Done reasonably,” she said the ability to levy fines for violations could “make the whole community look better.”

Donna McElroy also asked about enforcement of violations of the restrictive covenants.

“Right now I as a neighbor have to squeal on my neighbor about what is wrong with the property and my observations of their non-compliance when I know that what I’m looking at has an impact on the value of my property,” she said.

She asked candidates what are alternatives methods of identifying violations that the OPA can implement to

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“By no means should the liaison drive their decision-making process. Period,” he said.

Heavner said the liaison should transmit information from the committee to the Board but not intervene on the committee’s processes.

Latham was asked a question about a proposed roundabout to improve traffic flow at the north side entrance and Route 589. “Why do you think there is sharp division on the topic, and what are your thoughts about the efficacy of roundabouts?”

He said he previously lived in communities that had roundabouts, and they seemed to work, but he said he would want more information about the proposal on Route 589. He said Route 589 is already a busy highway with lots of traffic and a roundabout may or may not fit at that location.

He said he would support it if the data shows it will help address traffic safety around Ocean Pines.