May 2014 ocean pines progress by Ocean Pines Progress

May-Early June 2014

Vol. 10, No. 2

410-641-6029

www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress Terry: Yacht Club opening on track

THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY

Stevens launches comeback bid Calls for Board of Directors to reassert control over general manager By TOM STAUSS Publisher contest for control of the Board of Directors and through that, the Ocean Pines Association, has suddenly become possible. That there even could be a contest for control is itself a departure from the usual playbook, in which the complexion of the board and its controlling bloc changes little from year-to-year, even as a few faces change most years. There’s a reason that Tom Terry is in his fourth year as president of the OPA. Former Director Dave Stevens, term limited after six years on the board last year, has announced his intention to seek a new three-year term on the board in this summer’s annual elections. He was to make it official by filing his application with the OPA executive secretary on the afternoon of May 9. Stevens isn’t any officially teaming up with any other candidate in his reelection bid, but unofficially it might appear that way when the signage wars heat up in next couple of months.

Mumford’s Pool fix won’t be complete by Memorial Day

Dan Moul

Dave Stevens

“It wouldn’t surprise me if my signs are side by side with Pat Renaud’s,” Stevens said. At the same time, he said he could work with Jeff Knepper, a recently appointed director who is seeking reelection this summer in his own right. Renaud announced his candidacy in March and he was profiled in the April-Early May edition of the Progress. [See www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress for an archived copy.] Knepper disclosed his intent to file when he was appointed over the winter to fill the unexpired term of former director Dan Stachurski.

Jeff Knepper

Pat Renaud

Knepper voted with the board majority to increase the general manager’s base salary to $165,000 per year as part of a three-year contract extension. Stevens disagreed with that vote, calling $165,000 too high a salary for a homeowners association in Worcester County. Sitting directors Jack Collins and Marty Clarke voted against the new contract, which was adopted 5-2 in mid-April. A fourth candidate has filed for one of the two board seats to be contested in this summer’s election. He’s Dan Moul, To Page 19

Thompson contract divides OPA board Clarke, Collins vote against three-year extension

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establishes a $165,000 base salary and a path for an additional $40,000 in incentive payments, were OPA President Tom Terry and directors Bill Cordwell, Sharyn O’Hare, Terry Mohr and Jeff Knepper. Knepper is seeking reelection to the board this summer. Opposing the new contract were directors Jack Collins and Marty Clarke, both of whom thought it was too much money for a manager of a community on the Lower Shore, especially when compared to the salary of Ocean City’s town manager and Worcester County’s coun-

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By TOM STAUSS Publisher n a decision that divided the Board of Directors and created an issue that could be debated during this summer’s Ocean Pines Association election, a supermajority of directors in midApril voted 5-2 to approve a three-year contract extension for General Manager Bob Thompson. Voting in favor of the contract, which

Not hearing anything to the contrary from the Ocean Pines Association general manager during the first week of May, OPA President Tom Terry said he believes the new Yacht Club will be open as anticipated Memorial Day weekend. The same applies to the swimming pool, he said. Planning is under way for a Grand Opening party at the new facility the first weekend in June. The OPA’s Web site, oceanpines. org, will continue to post updates as they occur.

ty administrator, both of whom manage budgets that greatly exceed that of the OPA. While Collins’ evaluation of Thompson’s three-year-plus tenure basically is that his new salary and incentive package is too high for the area, Clarke takes it a step or two further by contending that the general manager’s financial stewardship of the OPA has not been successful. “There was a news release sent out on April 16, 2014, regarding the GM’s new To Page 20

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Major repairs at the popular Mumford’s Landing swimming pool won’t be completed by the traditional Memorial Day weekend reopening but could be done by the latter half of June if the Board of Directors agrees to $35,000 in an emergency no-bid expenditure. General Manager Bob Thompson informed the Ocean Pines Association’s Aquatics Advisory Committee in late April that he had received a letter from the contractor hired to do the repairs that fixing cracks in the pool and applying a new Diamond-Brite finish coat is more complicated than originally anticipated. ~ Page 6

Board approves new Casper golf contract

In the end, six of seven Ocean Pines Association directors were unwilling to cut the cord with Billy Casper Golf, the management company that has been running the Ocean Pines golf course for the OPA, at least for another full season. In early April, the board voted 6-1 to extend the management contract for another three years, effective May 1, with an easy optout clause that could be invoked later this year should BCG fail to meet or come close to meeting a $95,000 loss target. ~ Page 3

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OCEAN PINES

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Board approves Casper golf contract extension

OPA president says while he wants to give golf course management firm every chance to meet financial goals, and hopes it will, a -member board team will be investigating lease alternatives should financial performance fall short by year’s end As a practical matter, it’s what a board majority would decide at the conclusion of the calendar 2014 golf season that will tell the tale on how much of a loss will be tolerated. As one director, Terry said he is prepared to ask the company to depart in the November-December time period if the $95,000 loss target for the fiscal year appears to be out of reach. In the coming months, Terry said he and team of directors including Jack Collins and Jeff Knepper will be meeting with parties who previously expressed interest in leasing the golf course from the OPA. The objective would be to have a lease option ready to implement should BCG not succeed in reaching the targeted deficit, Terry said. “I certainly hope they succeed and they deserve to have every opportunity to do so,” Terry said. “But if it doesn’t happen, language in the new contract allows the board in its sole authority to get out of the contract.” There will be no financial penalty to the OPA if the opt-out clause is invoked

after Dec. 1, and it’s conceivable that it could be invoked even sooner without penalty if budget performance falls well short of expectations. “It puts us in a powerful position,” Terry said. The OPA president said one key difference in the new contract versus the old one is there are no non-compete provisions that could prevent the OPA from hiring BCG personnel, such as well-regarded pro John Malinowski, should the management contract be cancelled. “We have the right to retain key personnel during a transition,” Terry said, “so we would not be left without a team in place” if the contract is cancelled. He emphasized that a decision on whether BCG should be retained will be more than simply a financial calculation. “It isn’t just numbers,” he said. “They also have to treat the members appropriately, take care of the course and pursue regional marketing strategies,” the latter of which was one of the leading reasons that the OPA hired the firm

more than three years ago. Terry said in recent discussions with BCG executives there was no attempt by the OPA to reduce the management fee of roughly $6000 per month. He acknowledged that it probably would have been a deal-killer if the OPA had insisted on it and that the BCG provides a variety of functions to earn that fee, including a lot of back-end office functions. While extending the Casper contract has for some appeared to be the way management of the golf course would be handled over the summer and fall month, Terry has said previously that the OPA will continue to build on recent discussions with parties who have expressed interest in leasing the course. “While we attend to the current season, we must continue to build a positive alternative should our golf usage not return to trends that could lead us having a much improved financial story,” Terry wrote in a document released March 19 that summarized discussions he had with those parties.

By TOM STAUSS Publisher n the end, six of seven Ocean Pines Association directors were unwilling to cut the cord with Billy Casper Golf, the management company that has been running the Ocean Pines golf course for the OPA, at least for another full season. In early April, the board voted 6-1 to extend the management contract for another three years, effective May 1, with an easy opt-out clause that could be invoked later this year should BCG fail to meet or come close to meeting a $95,000 loss target. In an interview with the Progress in late April, OPA President Tom Terry said that the terms of the new contract call for a monthly fee of $6,000 or $72,000 over the next year. But he said there is language in the agreement that allows the board of directors, on its sole authority, to cancel the contract if BCG fails to meet financial objectives. While the targeted loss to stay in the good graces of the OPA is $95,000, Terry acknowledged that the budgeted golf loss for the new fiscal year that began May 1 is $73,300. The contract in effect says that the board will tolerate a loss that falls short of the budgeted goal by $21,700.

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4 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

May - Early June 2014

Board approves new general maintenance building

Mohr lauds committee’s Bainbridge Park project

The Recreation and Parks Committee is engaged in a variety of efforts that will help to enhance the Ocean Pines Association’s parks and could build new revenue streams. Director Terri Mohr,

OCEAN PINES BRIEFS who serves as the board liaison to the committee, presented an update on its efforts during an April 23 Board of Directors’ work session. Mohr said the committee members have each adopted a specific park in Ocean Pines to evaluate and report on their physical condition. “They’re good stewards of the parks of Ocean Pines,” she said. Improvements to the trail system in Bainbridge Park has been a major undertaking for committee member Tres Denk, a bicycle enthusiast who has spearheaded an effort to create bike trails in that park. “He has been working at Bainbridge Park to fix up the trails so kids can bike around Bainbridge. He has completed that project,” Mohr said, adding that he undertook a “phenomenal amount of work” and enlisted the help of volunteers, largely local kids, to clear and create the bike trails. “He rounds up a bunch of kids and makes them go out and do hard labor for the weekend,” Mohr said. But ultimately that has resulted in those youths taking ownership of that park, she added.

The committee is also focusing on improving the hiking and biking trails in Robin Hood Park and lighting of the ball field at Manklin Creek Park. A study by Brian Lewis of West Recreation, Inc. has been completed to evaluate the playgrounds and playground equipment to determine what equipment needs to be replaced and the quality of playground surface in regards to

Casper contract From Page 3 The decision to sign a new contract with BCG was a political and management victory for OPA General Manager Bob Thompson, who had argued strenuously against exploring any lease option, expressing concerns that it will send the wrong message into the marketplace at a critical time of the golf season. At the March 19 meeting of the OPA Board of Directors, Thompson presented data indicating that in the March through June period, bookings on the course had reached 3,037, compared to 740 in 2013, 134 in 2012 and 2,053 in

preventing injury to children playing on the equipment. The parks are not at present time accessible for those who are disabled. The study of the playgrounds found that they need to be made accessible for the disabled, and the mulch in them needs to be deeper to comply with safety codes. Another issue is the suitability of the OPA’s various ball fields for play by different age groups. Mohr said the size of a ball field determines who can

onstruction of a new Ocean Pines Association general maintenance building at the public works complex was approved on April 23 by the board of directors. General Manager Bob Thompson presented three bids for the project, which was budgeted at a cost of $50,000 and essentially involves placing a pole building on the site. He recommended and the board approved awarding the project to the low bidder of Tull Lumber Sales at just $262 over budget. The other two bids came in at $3,000 and $10,000 over budget. When asked by Director Marty Clarke about funding for the project, Thompson responded that it is included in the fiscal year 2014-2015 budget. However, he said he wanted to proceed with ordering it ahead of time so that it could be built early in the new fiscal year.

2011 for the same period of time. During the board’s March 5 work session, Thompson said that even discussion of a lease option could jeopardize those bookings. Terry’s written summary indicated that he is more receptive to the notion of a lease arrangement than Thompson. In an early April follow-up interview, Terry said he didn’t think a lease arrangement would occur by May 1 but seemed more practical after the conclusion of the prime golf season, especially if BCG is falling behind optimistic budget forecasts for the coming fiscal year. He repeated that assertion again in the late April interview.

OCEAN PINES OCEAN PINES BRIEFS

February May - Early - Early March June2014 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES BRIEFS

Ocean Pines Yacht Club pool. Funding for the pool furniture is included in the current year’s budget, and the OPA received bids from a number of sources, General Manager Bob Thompson said. He recommended and the board approved awarding the contract “I did notFurniture, see to it that thea proprieties to Admiral with bid $1,200 were taken care of,” amount. Moore said. under the budgeted He said the When queried aboutpurchased the issue association has further previously by property owner Joe Reynolds during items from Admiral Furniture and has the public comments of the meetbeen pleased with itssection products. ingThompson agenda, Moore heperformed did inquire an as saidsaid staff to whether or not the county would have extensive review of all of the bids subpaid forfor the easement. He said County mitted the pool furniture, including Attorney Sonny Bloxom said the county materials and design, and ultimately would not have purchased thechairs easement selected a design for the pool that from the OPAcross for astraps. variety of reasons. incorporates Moore said under county zoning regHe said that strap design dispersulations side, “It front and rear es weightthere moreare evenly. strengthens yard setbacks anddon’t the subject easement them more. They sag as much,” he would have met the county’s definition said of the chairs. of aStaff side yard also setback. repeatedly measured the If Ocean pines to available space to would ensurehave that refused there was grant the easement andnew the deck county had plenty of room for the furnientered domain ture andinto that an theeminent OPA didn’t orderprotoo ceeding to acquire the land, there many or too few pieces. “With this would much not haveforbeen any value to the land bemoney furniture, I just wanted to cause it is not area under the make sure thatbuildable we measured one more zoning Thompson code, Mooresaid, said.adding that he time,” saidstaff that wasFurther, out with Moore recreation justforcing before Worcester County into an eminent dothe meeting to evaluate the space one maintime. situation would not have benefited last theOnce OPA’s thethere commistherelations order is with placed, is a sioners. four week delivery time for the new fur-

From Page 4 play there. Recreation and park staff has been working to reevaluate the ball fields throughout Ocean Pines. Recommendations the committee has Tom Terry the made resident for board action includeduring budgeting Feb. 5 meeting of the of enough funds to replace the Board lights at Directors admitted he made Manklin Creek ball field; that to replace the a mistake when signed over an easegym floor in the he Community Center; to ment on Ocean Pines Association-owned resurface the four courts at the platform land tocomplex Worcester without first tennis andCounty to provide lighting getting the approval of the board. at night so people may walk safely along theTerry paths signed in WHP.the paperwork giving theTocounty a 10-foot wide easement on help pay for recreation and parks the OPA’s Sports Core propertythe adjacent improvements and activities, comto TaylorisBank in order mittee studying theto accommodate potential for water and wastewater garnering sponsorships, infrastructure Mohr said. that is being member extended Skip from Ocean Pines Committee Schlesinger to businesses Route 589. is leading theacross charge to garner spon“Ifor should have tofields the board besors areas liketalked the ball and the fore I signed Center that document,” Terrywhere said. Community gymnasium, He said could he had all of their the necessary inbanners display advertising. formation on thehave issuepeople but “the reality is “We actually very interI made mistake andMohr will try real hard ested inaadvertising,” said, adding not tothe docommittee it again.” is “working on a plan that OPA Attorney Joe Moore said he was to do that.” partially to blame as well because after he reviewed the easement documents OPA opts foralong double he passed them to OPA General Manager Bob furniture Thompson, telling him strap pool that they needed to be signed by the The board of directors on April 23 OPA president then sent to the comapproved an and approximately $75,000 missioners. expenditure for new furniture for the

or the press during that meeting, but simply said that she was “just making the public aware of this.” Mohr said the form records the date, time and location of meetings, the purpose of the closed session. motions that are made and how each board member stockpiles place already andclosed feels votes so it in becomes part of the comfortable that there will not be a meeting record. propane for tool this for region any “It’s ashortage very good us,”atMohr point this winter. said, adding that the board has been using it for some time now in closed meetGillis changes plan ings. Clarke wanted to forDirector utilityMarty line location know if the form couldGillis be used reguDeveloper Palmer hasatapparlar meetings, ently opted totoo. reroute the utilities for saidoffice she doesn’t of any theMohr medical complexknow he plans to reason why that could not be done. construct adjacent to the North Gate, Thegeneral form does not, however, say exOPA manager Bob Thompson actly what was but of will cite said during the discussed Feb. 5 Board Direcvague descriptions such as “personnel tors meeting. matters.” Thompson said Gillis approached OPA President Tom had Terry said he the OPA about the possibility extendwanted to “cut through all theofmystery” ing added the water andspecific wastewater utility and that the issue that at lines was for his project ofbehind the North hand discussion the general manGate pond, around the Ocean Parkway ager’s contract. pond and over to aI’m nearby pumping sta“That’s where coming from. Why tion. we say so?” Collins responded. don’t He said heduring met with to discuss Terry said the Gillis contract discusthe proposal the developer sions with theand general manager elected it was “not to take that path attention across ourthat propbrought to the board’s it erty.” to formalize the public reporting needed Thompson he believes deprocess aroundsaid its closed sessionthe meet-

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OPA appoints members Terry admits he signed easement without board OK to advisory committees

Bob Thompson during his Feb. 5

Closed meetings general manager’s report said there is unlikelyunveiled to be a propane shortage for form

residents of Ocean this about winter. the He In response toPines queries said some residents had the expressed closed meeting in which board ofcondicern about the continued of rectors discussed renewalavailability of the Ocean propane given the nature of the Pines Association’s contract withwinter Genweather. eral Manager Bob Thompson, the board of directors theChesform Thompsonrecently said herevealed contacted they use to track just what goes on at apeake Utilities regarding the issue those hush-hush meetings. and was told that the company has no Duringabout an April 23 meeting, Direcconcerns meeting the demand for tor and based BoardonSecretary Terri usage Mohr propane local customer’s discussed a form that winter. the board uses even with the extended during its closed session She He said the company meetings. has propoane never offered copies to either the public

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With concurrence from the full board of directors, President Terry Additionally, he saidTom there is a made beneappointments to several Ocean Pines fit to Ocean Pines to having the properAssociation advisory committees during ties in the area of Pines Plaza with sepan April 23 connect work session. tic systems to the county’s water appointed Roy Foreman to the andTerry wastewater system. Recreation Advisory Com“I believeand thatParks the safe environmenmittee third term,that Daleare Ashservice to the tal usefor of aproperties Tennis Committee a third areas toAdvisory the community is anfor important term Jenny Cropper-Rines benefitand to the community,” he said.to the Communications Committee for a first No term.danger Also, Bill of Wentworth was appointed Elections Committee propane shortagechairman.

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6 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

May - Early June 2014

Major Mumford’s Landing pool repairs won’t be done by Memorial Day General manager says full grinding of pool surface before Diamond-Brite would cost another $35,000

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would make that recommendation in a memorandum to the board. OPA President Tom Terry, who was attending the advisory committee meeting as a substitute for board liaison Sharyn O’Hare, said he would fast-track an emergency spending request from Thompson by asking to approve it in an email vote. To conduct a board vote via email, all seven directors would have to agree to conduct board business in that way. If even one director dissents from an email vote, there would have to be a special meeting called to deal with the issue in open session. Thompson said dealing with the emergency spending request in expedited fashion could mean that the Mumford’s pool will reopen by the latter part of June. If the request is not handled in that way, he said it might not be possible to reopen the pool until later in the summer. The advisory committee initially voted unanimously to endorse the additional spending and to complete the work as quickly as possible. Committee member Kathy Grimes, a pool manager who operates numerous pools in Ocean City and elsewhere in the area, said she thought $35,000 was a “little high” for the additional grinding work and that, if it’s approved by the board, Thompson should also make sure that the resurfacing include a good bond coat over the concrete before the Diamond-Brite surface is applied. A few days after the committee’s unanimous vote, however, members began having second thoughts about the

By TOM STAUSS Publisher eeded repairs at the popular Mumford’s Landing swimming pool won’t be completed by the traditional Memorial Day weekend reopening but could be done by the latter half of June if the Board of Directors agrees to $35,000 in an emergency nobid expenditure. General Manager Bob Thompson informed the Ocean Pines Association’s Aquatics Advisory Committee in late April that he had received a letter from the contractor hired to do the repairs, Pools and Spas Unlimited of Milford, De., that fixing cracks in the pool and applying a new Diamond-Brite finish coat is more complicated than originally anticipated. Instead of merely cutting out and grinding the cracks, as called for in the original bid specifications, Thompson said the contractor now recommends grinding out the entire pool surface before applying a new Diamond-Brite surface. If that isn’t done, he said, the contractor won’t guarantee the finished product. The cost for grinding out the entire pool rather than the areas with cracks is an additional $35,000, Thompson said. The original bid for the pool repairs was $50,300, so the emergency spending, if approved, would boost the total project cost to about $85,300, with another $1,000 or so authorized for pressure-testing of pool infrastructure. Thompson told the committee members that if they agree to recommend to the Board of Directors that the repairs be made as the contractor suggests, he

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May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 7

OCEAN PINES Mumford’s Pool From Page 6 wisdom of trying to do major pool repairs in season. The committee discussed the issue via email and telephone and a committee majority was no longer willing to endorse the emergency spending. Instead, the committee in a memo to the board will say the full grinding of the pool surface should wait until the fall, and that the pool should be patched where needed to make it possible for it reopen for the Memorial Day weekend.

Meanwhile, other approved work at the Mumford’s either has been completed or is near completion. A ramp to make the baby pool Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant has been installed, along with new fencing to accommodate the baby pool’s new sloped “zero entry” ramp. To pay for the Mumford’s pool project, the board of directors approved the reallocation of $60,000 that had been budgeted last year for repairs at the Sports Core swimming pool to the Mumford’s Landing facility instead. The project was designed to fix a floor

crack running the entire width of the pool and several vertical cracks on the pool walls running from the floor to the coping tile. One of the cracks involves a pool skimmer. The contractor also was tasked with addressing an expansion joint that adjoins two separate sections of the pool and to re-tile the affected areas. The entire pool then was supposed to be resurfaced with a Diamond Brite finish. Thompson has said the main crack is actually caused by a defect in the pool’s expansion joint “that really should not

have been quite finished the way it was.” As initially conceived, pool repairs were to include hydraulic pressure injection of concrete sludge slurry under a section of the pool that has subsided. But there has been recent concern that such an injection might cause other problems, so it was not included in the approved project. The board also voted to include a pressure test of the pool infrastructure to determine if other problems exist. It’s not clear whether a pressure test had been completed as of the first week of May, according to committee sources.

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8 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

May - Early June 2014

Thompson says pools’ IT issues have been successfully addressed GM says ‘signal boost’ to microwave transmission has cured Sports Core line-of-site interference By TOM STAUSS Publisher n the face of criticism that the OPA is continuing to lose revenue that should be collected in daily user fees at Ocean Pines swimming pools because of information technology failures, General Manager Bob Thompson recently said that the Ocean Pines Association has taken steps to remedy what he acknowledged had been a problem. Ocean Pines resident Randy Romblad, a former member of the OPA’s Aquatics Advisory Committee, raised the issue of lost revenue stemming from failing technology during an April 23 Board of Directors meeting. Citing the Sports Core pool in particular, Romblad said “people have been able to get in for free” because the microwave system that tracks pool entry often is not functioning. The Sports Core tracking system is linked by miocrowave with the OPA’s Public Works Depart-

ment, but line-of-sight issues caused by tree growth has occasionally interfered with transmission. He said similar problems have affected data transmission from the Mumfords Landing pool to the Yacht Club. When the microwave systems are down, pool attendants are forced to manually keep a list of individuals with prepaid electronic swipe cards who have entered the pools. That information then has to be physically transported to the membership department so that the electronic cards can be electronically debited by staff. Often, Romblad said, that data handoff simply doesn’t occur. The result is individuals who can access the pools without charge. Romblad said the problem with failing technology has not been solved since he first raised it as a committee member in July of last year. “It’s hit or miss,” he said of continuing problems with the microwave system, adding that suggested alternatives, such as data transfer by telephone or Internet, have not been implemented. Romblad asked whether anyone knows “how much money is being lost” because of the outdated microwave sys-

Ocean Pines Neighbors: A new board of Worcester County Commissioners will assume authority in January of 2015. Their experience and actions will have a profound impact on the life of citizens and the future of our county. Friends have encouraged me to seek the ofﬁce being vacated by Commissioner Judy Boggs. Among my core beliefs are that freedom is a gift of our creator and the most essential duty of government is protection of individual rights. I believe that local government should be limited to constitutional authority, committed to promoting free enterprise and dedicated to the defense of individual liberty. I am compelled by civic duty to serve as County Commissioner. I moved to Ocean Pines 23 years ago after serving 24 years on the Corporate Engineering Staff of the Bell Atlantic Telephone Company. Since retirement I’ve been an independent contractor and self-employed with real estate investments. I’ve been active for 40 years in community affairs and my biography and priorities can be viewed at GrantHelvey.com. Through observing County Commissioner meetings, scrutinizing the county budget, studying the County Development Plan and lobbying in defense of individual property rights, I have developed a keen understanding of the commissioner responsibilities. I want to bring the beneﬁt of corporate management experience and civic involvement to the new board. In asking for your trust, I vow to govern by the consent of the people. I will defend individual liberty and personal property rights against oppressive regulations and oppose non-essential spending or a tax increase. Yours Truly

tem. He further wondered whether anyone among the directors was interested in correcting the problem. OPA president Tom Terry, who was liaison to the aquatics committee when the issue was first raised by Romblad last July, responded that he was the individual who initially suggested the possibility of telephone data transfer as an alternative to the faulty microwave system. He told Romblad that the issue deserved some follow-up and that he would talk to the general manager about it. He said the manual transport of swipe card information to the membership office was supposed to have been an interim measure only. The interim solution “possibly hasn’t been successful,” he told Romblad. At the April 30 meeting of the aquatics committee, Thompson came out swinging, telling the members and Terry, who was substituting for committee liaison Sharyn O’Hare, that “none” of what Romblad said at the board meeting was factual, other than that there was an issue with the microwave system last summer. Thompson said the line-of-sight issue at the Sports Core pool has been

resolved by “boosting” signal strength and that any revenue loss before that occurred was minimal. He said that of ten to 12 individuals whose cards had not been debited by the membership office, all but two were “billed” for their visits and paid up. “A few people got an extra (free) swipe,” Thompson said. The general manager said a longer term fix for the transmission issue may be to go to full-time Internet, either through cable or wireless. “We haven’t done it yet,” he said. Any longer term fixes await the hiring of an information technology consultant who will make recommendations on the OPA’s IT needs, Thompson said. “There are a lot of moving parts” to the OPA’s IT situation, he said. Terry said he was “in sync” with Thompson’s thinking about the need to hire an IT consultant to offer advice on the types of systems to be purchased, including “cloud-based” solutions that don’t require heavy equipment purchases. Once new systems are in place, then Thompson and Terry said the OPA can consider hiring the right person to manage them.

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May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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Perry concedes difficult working relationship with general manager Former aquatics director gives himself a B-minus grade and says he was not ‘nudged’ out of his job By TOM STAUSS Publisher ormer Ocean Pines Aquatics Director Tom Perry initially thought he would have two weeks of transition to help his successor, Colby Phillips, ease into her new role. That was cut back to two days in mid-April because, he said, General Manager Bob Thompson said she was “a quick study” and wouldn’t need the hand-holding during a transition. Perry and Thompson weren’t in sync on that particular issue, and perhaps that was fitting denouement to Perry’s tenure in Ocean Pines. They weren’t in synch very often during Perry’s three plus years as aquatics director, either. The relationship was not acrimonious, but in a recent Progress interview Perry said Thompson’s management stylewas oddly laissez-faire except when he received complaints about Perry’s sometimes brusque treatment of contract instructors or temperamental pool users. “Then he’d have me in for a talk,” Perry said, and it seemed to him that the general manager would consistently take the side of those with complaints rather than his aquatics director. For the most part, though, the former director said Thompson left him alone, rarely micromanaging. But the flip side of that is that when the aquatics director wanted the general manager to intervene, perhaps to apply some gentle pres-

sure on the Public Works Department to respond quicker to a pool-related work order, he said his emails and phone calls to Thompson were simply ignored. “Ninety-mine percent of my emails (to the general manager) went unanswered. That was perhaps my biggest frustration,” he said. He mentioned that to the general manager in their exit interview, and Perry said the general manager’s reaction was not particularly enlightening. He said he still doesn’t know why Thompson felt it was acceptable management practice to ignore emails. “He basically said it was my department to run and that he had relied on me to do it,” Perry said. Because he felt he didn’t have the support of Thompson when it was needed, Perry said he was not as effective as he could have been in his role as director. Perry freely admitted that the general manager’s assessment of his performance as aquatics director had some basis in fact. “I really wasn’t very good at the touchy-feely aspects of the job,” he said, recalling that in his first year on the job especially, there was a steady stream of pitched battles with pool contractors on coordinating limited space at the indoor Sports Core pool and occasionally at the outdoor pools. Veteran pool users can recall a particularly upsetting incident involving Perry and his successor, a veteran water aerobics instructor who didn’t take kindly to Perry’s attempts to manage space at the Sports Core pool. Voices were raised, and the pool users were acutely uncomfortable when the two aired their differences in public. These differences eventually were

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May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

From Page 10 patched up, and in the latter half of his tenure arguments over pool usage receded. “If I had to do it, I’d give myself a grade of B-minus (as aquatics director),” Perry said. “My inability to be ‘Mr. Touchy Feely’ caused some people to chafe, although it got better over time. In the end I think people realized there had to be some structure and they simply weren’t going to get their way all the time.” He said his greatest accomplishments were in the area of managing personnel – he’s proud of the team that Phillips has inherited – and in upgrading the credentials of the guard staff. He said he made a major effort to bring Ocean Pines into compliance with Health Department regulations with respect to the numbers of guards on duty at any given time and the need to have a certified pool operator on hand at all times. There perhaps has been a downside to all that personnel, however, and that’s been deficits in the aquatics operation that are trending upward. Through March, the second-to-the-last month in the 2014 fiscal year, aquatics had generated $188,709 in losses, with April numbers, due out in mid-May, unlikely to reverse the trend. Aquatics losses easily could exceed $200,000 for the year, almost twice the budgeted $119,000. Perry said the aquatics deficit is embedded and structural, with no easy fix. He said Thompson’s “open for business” philosophy has contributed to the problem, by keeping pools open for use when patronage is minimal. The former director said he supported an idea that has floated around Ocean Pines for years that would change the way amenities such as aquatics are paid for. He favors allocating a portion of the annual assessment to aquatics department as revenue, in turn opening up the pools to use by all property owners at times when the pools are under-utilized. Perry said he was not ‘nudged out” of the aquatics directorship by Thompson. “I resigned,” Perry said, citing two former department heads, Mike Howell in Parks and Recreation and Joe Reinhart in food and beverage, who were “nudged out” the door by Thompson. “I chose to leave when I did,” he added. The primary reason was that he wanted to devote all of his energies to a lifeguard business he purchased last summer in North Bethany Beach, De. With Thompson’s concurrence last summer, Perry said he devised a schedule that had him working in Ocean Pines in the mornings, driving up to North Bethany in the afternoons, and then returning to Ocean Pines in late afternoon or early evenings. The “secondary” reason he resigned, however, was the feeling that he didn’t really have Thompson’s whole-hearted support as aquatics director. “In the end, it was just too frustrating,” Perry said.

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The Ocean City Power Squadron pledged its bridge officers for 2014 at the annual Change of Watch Ceremony on May 3. The Squadron has been active for 33 years offering boating education and safety classes and engages in variety of community service events and social activities. Pictured are the incoming Bridge officers (left to right): Bill Killinger, treasurer; Stuart Glassman, executive officer; Ginny Rush, flag officer; Mort Brown, education officer; Sterling Wyand, commander; Linda Hess, administrative officer; and Bonnie Curro, secretary.

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OCEAN PINES

May - Early June 2014

Improvements to greet users of Swim and Racquet Club pool

sers of the Swim and Racquet Club pool that will open Memorial Day weekend will notice some significant landscaping improvements at the facility. Shortly thereafter, pool users of a certain age will be able to experience the new splash pad features that are replacing the baby pool there. Ocean Pines Association Public Works crews have already added what’s been billed, somewhat inaccurately, as a handicap access ramp from the pool’s main deck to the new splash pad. It actually might be better described as a baby stroller access ramp, because it will allow parents with very young children easier access to the splash pad area. The landscaping improvements, part of a mid-April tree and shrubbery planting exercise by local intermediate school students coordinated by the OPA’s Public Works Department, has resulted in 40 new trees and 34 new shrubs throughout the Swim and Racquet Club complex. The trees are a mix of cedar, loblolly and holly, and the shrubs include bayberry/wax myrtle and high tide bushes. The landscape improvements were the product of a collaborative effort by the OPA’s Environmental and Natural

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By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer ith all seven members present this time, the Board of Directors on April 23 revisited the issue of extending the terms of three members of the Ocean Pines Association’s Communications Advisory Committee, and this time the motion to do so passed unanimously. When the issue was brought before the board in March, at the request of Director Marty Clarke who was absent from the meeting, it died in a 3-3 vote. Clarke, the board’s liaison to the committee, made the motion again on April 23 to extend the terms of a long-standing trio of outgoing members beyond the six year limit imposed by resolution because their terms expired before new members could be brought onto the committee due to an association error. And this time he got it through with support from all directors. The motion extends the terms of Don Clagett to July 23, Don LaFond to Sept. 23 and Margaret Long to Nov. 23. Other sitting members of the committee are Chairman Bernie Flax, Elaine Brady, Suzanne Brooke and Jenny Cropper-Rines, who was also appointed at the April 23 meeting. Another member is being vetted and likely to be appointed to the committee in May.

OCEAN PINES

May - Early June 2014

Board flips previous vote on temporary members for communications panel Clarke prevails on proposal that previously died in a 3-3 tie Clarke said he made the request for term extensions on behalf of the committee. “They’re the ones who want this to happen,” he said. The OPA has a resolution in place that specifically establishes the procedure for the appointment and reappointment of advisory committee members. If a member who has reached the term limit, which is six years cumulatively, that person simply has to be off of the committee for one year and then can be reappointed for another full term. Clarke said the resolution, C-01 Committee General Policy, states “that notwithstanding the term limit provisions, through a majority vote the board can request a member continue to serve on the committee for a specified period of time.” “I think this meets it (that test),” he said of his proposal. The goal of implementing term limits for the advisory committees

was to make sure that their membership was open to all property owners. The resolution specifies that a member’s first term will be for three years unless different term limits are set by the OPA charter, by-laws, or the board during the establishment of the committee. The second term is for two years and the third term is just one year. Prior to passage of that resolution, members served on the committees for 20 years, and no one else was given the opportunity to participate. Clarke said the problem with the communications committee was that five of the eight sitting members “disappeared,” including the chairman, and the new chairman is a member who had not even been on the committee for a year yet. “We gave her the keys to the bus with no gas and no tires,” he said. Last month board members were split on the issue of extending com-

mittee terms. The six directors on hand for the meeting were divided 3-3 on the issue, with Jack Collins, Bill Cordwell and Sharyn O’Hare in favor and Tom Terry, Jeff Knepper and Teri Mohr opposed. In 2012 the board opted not to extend the appointment of Dave Blazer to the Environment and Natural Assets Committee beyond the six years of continuous service currently mandated by OPA resolution. Although she was absent from the meeting when that proposal was discussed, it was Mohr who asked that Blazer’s term be extended for a period not to exceed two years. Her motion failed to garner any support among the other six board members and was unanimously defeated when put to a vote. At that time directors said that extending Blazer’s term would set a precedent for similar requests from other members of the OPA’s advisory committees and that it would be difficult to determine when it is a good idea to extend someone’s term and when it is not. Clarke argued that the rules allow the board to look at each instance where committee term extensions are requested on an individual basis. He said granting term extensions to the outgoing communications committee members is not q

14 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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From Page 14

precedent setting. “We’re setting a precedent if we say ‘well, we didn’t do it the last time so we can’t do it this time’,” Clarke said. “That’s setting a precedent.” Mohr, who opposed the motion in March, said it is time to move past the issue that she “had a whole committee of people I couldn’t make this happen for.” She said she didn’t think it was fair that one committee couldn’t have term extensions and another could, when both were “for good reasons.” Now, however, she said the board should “just turn the corner and follow those rules and regulations,” so she voted in favor of Clarke’s motion. She said she hopes in the future similar requests will be given the same consideration. Director Sharyn O’Hare asked about the maximum number of members who can serve on the committee. Clarke responded that a committee can have up to nine members. So, even with the reappointment of the outgoing members, the addition a new one and one pending, there is still room for another member if a volunteer steps forward. The purpose of the communications committee “is to advise the

board of directors and the general manager in facilitating the exchange of information about all areas of Association activities, with and between the membership.” It has been the driving force behind projects like the health fair, seminars, and focus groups. OPA President Tom Terry said that even after their terms expire, former committee members can continue to attend each meeting and offer comments; then after one year they can then be reappointed if a seat is available. “It’s not like if you’re not on the committee you can’t be there,” he said. “That’s not how it works.” Mohr said the ability for the board to make an exception and extend the terms of committee members was included in the resolution for a reason, to retain valuable members whose expertise the OPA does not want to lose. In the case of Blazer, the Environment and Natural Assets committee was left without a chairman for more than a year when the board declined to reappoint him, she said. Clarke said the Environment and Natural Assets committee is “still not happy” with the board about its decision not to extend Blazer’s term. “I know they’re not,” Mohr responded.

Gillis seeks increase in number of offices for North Gate medical office complex County approves zoning code change lifting special exception cap on size of allowable units By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer

eveloper Palmer Gillis says the delivery of health care in America is changing and Worcester County’s zoning code needs an update to accommodate the new way doctors are working together to serve their clients. The Worcester County Commissioners agreed unanimously and in April approved legislation that changes zoning doctors’ offices in C-1 Neighborhood Commercial District. Gillis is moving forward at a glacial pace with his efforts to develop a medical campus on a 22-acre parcel adjacent to the North Gate entrance into Ocean Pines. To allow for the most efficient and transparent use of the space, he approached the Worcester County Commissioners in April with a request to change the zoning code. He asked the commissioners to revise the gross floor area and unit number restrictions as-

sociated with neighborhood retail and service businesses allowed by special exception in the C-1 Neighborhood Commercial District. Gillis said that the 15 to 16 acres of developable land available on his parcel ultimately translates into 80,000 to 100,000 square feet of medical office space. He plans to build one building at a time depending on demand, with build-out occurring over as long as 15 years. The initial development on the site is for his proposed 20,000 square foot Ocean Pines Medical Center. The developer wants to be able to alter the interior of that first building to accommodate the spatial needs of the four doctors whose offices will be located there as well as to include a central admissions area. Those changes would not require alterations to the buildings’ overall size, facade or traffic patterns, but they are

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OCEAN PINES

May - Early June 2014

From Page 15 still not permitted under the current zoning code. Ed Tudor, county director of development review and permitting, said under the current law that a maximum of two business establishments of no more than 2,500 square feet each are allowed in that zoning classification. Those numbers can be increased to four business establishments of no more than 5,000 square feet each by special exception, which is reviewed and granted by the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals. The proposed legislation would change the zoning code by removing the four-unit cap on separate business establishments on a single lot for doctors’ offices and clinics for human medical treatment. Approval would still need to be granted via special exception from the BZA. The commissioners conducted a public hearing on Bill 14-3 during which only Gillis and his attorney, Mark Cropper, offered comments. Cropper said the legislation could more accurately be described as a clarification rather than a substantial change to the zoning code. He presented a rendering of a 20,000 square foot building to illustrate his

Arbor Day ceremony

On April 10, the Ocean Pines Garden Club hosted its annual “Arbor Day in the Pines” tree-planting ceremony in recognition of Arbor Day and in memory of friends and loved ones who passed away in 2013. Attendees gathered in Pin Tail Park for the ceremony. Pictured are Arbor Day committee members Suzanne Zogran, Barbara Ferger, Gail Jankowski, Meg Herrick, Suzanne Brooke, Margaret Yates, Mary Wentworth, and Lilly Cordwell. point. He said that currently four doctors’ offices are permitted by special exception to occupy no more than 5,000 square feet per office. Under the current code the square footage of each office space cannot be altered to provide more space for one office and less for another or event to provide for a central admissions area.

As a result, Cropper said the county’s current code severely restricts the way a medical facility can be operated. Tudor said his staff spent a significant amount of time working with Cropper to revise the attorney’s originally draft text amendment to protect the integrity of the C-1 zoning district. The Worcester County Planning Com-

mission also gave the final draft bill a favorable recommendation. Gillis can’t request a special exception for more flexible office square footage until 90 days after the text amendment change goes into effect. Because of that, it would appear that no construction on the site could begin until sometime in late summer or early fall.

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

18 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

May - Early June 2014

OPA preps amenities for a busy summer season By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer

ith the official opening of many of the community’s amenities less than a month away on Memorial Day weekend, Ocean Pines Association has been busy sprucing up for the 2014 summer season. Bob Thompson during his April 23 general manager’s report told the board of directors that many of the OPA departments are wrapping up projects that will improve the appearance and function of the amenities. At the Beach Club, the Public Works Department has made improvements both upstairs and downstairs. Thompson said the first floor bar has been refinished. The copper bar became tarnished and covered with marks from years of use, but employees were able to buff and clean it up. An acrylic lacquer coating will seal the bar and help to prevent similar damage in the future. On the second floor of the Beach Club, where the OPA last year installed a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, the old wooden bar has been completely sanded and refinished.

Thompson said that bar “hadn’t been used in years” and was in very poor condition. In preparation for the opening of the new Yacht Club, which could be delayed beyond Memorial Day weekend, Public Works has been dressing up the banquet chairs from the old Yacht Club. “We pulled all the chairs out. They are down at public works getting touched up,” Thompson said. In addition to a fresh coat of paint, the chairs are getting new seat cushions to match the decor of the new facility. Repairs and improvements are under way at the OPA’s Mumfords Landing and Beach Club swimming pools, too. Contractors are repairing cracks in the Mumfords Landing pool and resurfacing the amenity with a Diamond Bright finish. At a meeting of the OPA’s Aquatics Advisory Committee in late April, Thompson disclosed that the needed repairs won’t be completed by Memorial Day weekend and that the pool won’t reopen until the latter part of June, at the earliest. [See separate story in this edition of the Progress for details.] Additionally, construction of a new

handicap ramp at the Swim and Racquet Club is complete, and permits have been received for conversion of the baby pool to a splash pad. Thompson said there was some question initially as to whether the splash pad project would be considered new construction or a redesign. Ultimately, the permitting agency passed it through as a redesign of the existing baby pool in order to comply with new regulations requiring a zero entry access, he said. The Yacht Club marina reopened for the season on May 1 for boating access and fuel sales. Thompson said parking will be challenging there for the first few weeks of operation until the Yacht Club construction nears completion. He encouraged patrons of the marina to park near the Mumfords Landing pool in the meantime. Crews are running cables from the main building to the marina dock to allow for the direct transmission of data as well. Thompson said the cabling is part of a larger connectivity project that is about to get under way in Ocean Pines. The information technology project was delayed “just a little bit the last couple of months” because of other priorities, Thompson said. But the infra-

structure upgrades that will link all of the OPA’s facilities is about to get started, he said. To fund the IT project, the OPA will forgo the purchase of a dump truck in fiscal year 2013-2014 and then direct more money in fiscal year 2014-2015, for a total of nearly $200,000, to cover the cost of the improvements. “So that combination is what’s going to upgrade our (IT) infrastructure,” Thompson said. Another project this season is to convert an old box van to a more-user friendly refrigerating vehicle that can be used to transport food from the new Yacht Club to offsite venues for catered events. Thompson said one box van in which people can easily stand up, scheduled to be replaced, has relatively low mileage. So the OPA opted to keep it and repurpose it for cold storage of food. He said crews have stripped the inside of the van and will line it with insulation before installing a chilling unit. He said the cost of the conversion is only about $1,200 but was not a budgeted project. Additionally, he said the association is considering wrapping the van with advertising as a way to promote the

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OCEAN PINES From Page 1 a non-resident Ocean Pines homeowner with a primary home in Gettysburg, Pa. Moul’s a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. In announcing his reelection bid, Stevens, who served as OPA president for a year during his previous six-year stint as a director, framed this summer’s election as one that he hopes will be focused on reasserting the primacy of the board in the policy-setting arena relative to the general manager.

Seasonal projects From Page 18 OPA’s catering operation. The OPA is battling a rash of graffiti, particularly in the Bay Colony neighborhood, Thompson said. “We think there are kids out there doing it,” he said. “Those things will happen.” The Ocean Pines Police Department is following up on the problem. Thompson said the OPA has submitted plans for the reconstruction of the White Horse Boat ramp to Worcester County for approval. Permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Maryland Department of the Environment are already in hand. “We’ll get county approval, then we’ll

The intent isn’t to fire Thompson, Stevens said. “I believe, first of all, that as you gauge the attitude of OPA property owners toward board management, there is a lot of disaffection,” Stevens said, citing last summer’s election results in which Terry barely survived his reelection bid, “winning by just 77 votes over a relatively unknown candidate.” Stevens said the “fundamental problem” with OPA governance is the “relationship between the GM and the board.” He called it “twisted, dysfunctional,” with too little oversight of the general manager “and “no consequenc-

es when the general manager has exceeded his authority.” He said too often the directors have not received enough information from the general manager before being asked to render a decision. Sometimes certain board members receive more information than others, and sooner. “Sometimes board members have to struggle to get information,” he said, referring specifically to Clarke, who has been the most persistent critic of Thompson since Stevens’ retirement from the board last August. Stevens said that when he last served on the board, he was sometimes criti-

develop an RFP to put out for bid, put it out for bid, award the project and it will be a fall project that will actually replace the White Horse boat ramp,” Thompson said. “So it was good that we received those two approvals - that’s what we’ve been waiting on.” Contractor Fisher Marine is just about finished with this year’s bulkhead replacement program, Thompson said. The wet weather delayed the work for awhile, but now Public Works crews are backfilling behind the new bulkhead and putting down sod. “It’s hard to backfill and lay sod without ruts and doing more damage,” Thompson said. Meanwhile, all of the streets in Ocean Pines have been reviewed and

prioritized for resurfacing by staff, and an engineer is helping to draft a request for proposals for necessary improvements, Thompson said. Once the RFP is complete, bids will be solicited from contractors to complete the repaving work this fall. Other projects mentioned by Thompson during his report included the start of this season’s grass cutting, and lighting of the marquees along Ocean Parkway and replenishment of the stone dust on walking trails throughout Ocean Pines. To help residents with their spring clean-up, the Public Works yard will remain open Monday through Saturday until the end of May for the collection of yard debris.

cized by Thompson and his supporters for being negative. “It’s all well and good to be positive, but it’s not helpful or useful for the board to be positive when members don’t have the information they need to make policy,” he said. Stevens did not lay all the blame at the feet of Thompson; he said it’s also the fault of the OPA president for not demanding more information from the general manager. As one example, he cited November’s release of a draft ten-year capital improvement plan by Thompson, including a so-called rack-and-stack of projects that the general manager identified, along with rough cost estimates. Stevens said the draft CIP was inadequate, delivered at least six months after the original board deadline and containing very little support documentation for any of the proposed projects. “No one has held him (the general manager) for a work product that was not responsive to the board’s intent,” he said. Other examples of the general manager’s “failure to supply complete and accurate information” to the board and the OPA membership involved the offer to purchase the Pine Shore Golf property, kitchen equipment for the new Yacht Club and some conflicting statements about whether the old Yacht Club pool “was filled or not filled” with water prior to the storm that destroyed it, he said.

Stevens files

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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Thompson contract From Page 1 contract. In the news release composed by Teresa Travatello it states that “Mr. Thompson has been serving in his role since August of 2010 and, despite the challenging economy, has maintained a positive variance to budget three of the last four years,” Clarke told the Progress recently. “Well, on Mr. Thompson’s watch, he has indeed presented four budgets, but only two have had the performance stand the test of an audit, 2012-2013 and 2011-2012,” Clarke said. “Should anyone take the time to visit the Ocean Pines web site” and check out the OPA’s audited financial statements, “it would be apparent that the audited bottom line operational results” under Thompson’s tenure “actually add up to a $749,458 deficit. Not exactly a positive variance to budget three of the last four years,” Clarke contended. For five of the seven directors, however, Thompson’s tenure is seen as mostly successful, highlighted by his role leading up to a favorable referendum outcome that led to the approval to build a new Yacht Club and overseeing a construction project that is expected to result in the new amenity open for business Memorial Day weekend.

“The majority of the board likes Bob and thinks he’s doing a good job,” Terry said in an April 30 interview with the Progress. The contract, that raises the general manager’s base salary to $165,000 from $150,000, includes a nine-month severance package that guarantees salary and health care benefits. Terry said the board can terminate Thompson’s contract “without cause or at our convenience” at any time but that the OPA would be liable for his salary and health care benefits for nine months after the official termination date.

The incentive package is complex, with Clarke shortly after the announcement of the extension telling the Progress that he was having difficulty understanding it. Terry said Thompson can earn an additional 25 percent of his base salary, or roughly $40,000, by meeting certain performance standards. Of that $40,000, $30,000 could come from meeting amenity targets and another $10,000 could be earned by meeting a set of performance objectives that haven’t yet been drafted by the board. Terry said that the performance

benchmarks should be adopted by the board by June. Clarke said he believes the benchmarks will not be particularly challenging and that Thompson is virtually guaranteed an additional $10,000 “just by showing up for work.” The amenity incentives, however, would seem to pose a real challenge. The contract specifies that five amenity operations together – golf, the Yacht Club food and beverage, aquatics and Beach Club food and beverage – are the measures against which Thompson’s perfor-

Stevens files

Stevens also criticized Thompson’s oversight and management of the Yacht Club “three years after firing a manager who had the best bottom line performance in Ocean Pines’ history.” He said that in the three years that followed the departure of former manager Joe Reinhart, “service at the Yacht Club has been as inconsistent as ever, with a conspicuous lack of control and training, and pedestrian bar fare.” He wondered how a new building would change any of the management deficiencies at the Yacht Club. Stevens, a long-time member of the Ocean Pines golf club, said he did not favor a referendum on whether the Ocean

Pines golf course should be closed and possibly converted into a park. “I don’t think that’s possible or a good idea,” he said, but he said it’s clear that golf operations lose too much money and that alternatives need to be explored. Stevens said he has had some meetings with Renaud and believes he would be a good addition to the board. There appears to be some daylight between Renaud and Stevens with respect to golf operations but some common ground as well. Renaud told the Progress there needs to be a community dialogue on whether the OPA should be in the golf or the restaurant business.

From Page 19 Stevens said that the general manager routinely fails to provide management reports three days prior to board meetings, doesn’t produce financial tracking reports, misses deadlines for planning and engineering reports and doesn’t provide “accurate updates” on ongoing negotiations. He said the general manager failed to provide requested profit-loss data for the Java Bay Café, didn’t produce a detailed business plan for the old Yacht Club, and hasn’t produced timely reports from Billy Casper Golf on golf course operations.

20 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES Thompson contract From Page 20 mance will be compared. Specifically excluded from the benchmark calculation will be tennis, Beach Club parking and marinas. That’s because their financial results can’t really be influenced by the general manager, Terry said. Together, these included amenities are budgeted to lose $97,000 for the fiscal year that began May 1, with one caveat. The approved Yacht Club budget for the year calls for break-even operations, while Thompson’s original draft called for a loss in the neighborhood of $97,000. For purposes of establishing a bonus benchmark, the board elected to use Thompson’s original Yacht Club number rather than the board’s zeroed-out Yacht Club budget. To earn the first $10,000 amenity incentive, Terry said that Thompson will need to achieve “90 percent’ of the deficit target of the five amenities combined, which happens to be a loss of $97,000. Thompson will earn that first $10,000 if the combined loss in the five departments is $109,000 or better. “It’s like in school, when 90 percent is an A,” Terry said. To earn a second $10,000 bonus, the contract says that that Thompson would need to trim $50,000 off that $109,000. A third $10,000 would be earned if the deficit is trimmed by another $50,000, Terry said. “Essentially, he gets the full bonus if these five departments are close to break-even,” he said. The incentive package was specifically designed to avoid payouts for separate amenity departments, Terry said, because that might allow the general manager to focus on several of the amenities rather than the amenities in totality. The package won’t deliver for Thompson if any of the five included amenities produce substantial losses relative to budget, Terry said. Just one poorly performing amenity will probably be enough “to prevent Thompson for any bonus incentive, he added. “If golf doesn’t improve substantially, for instance, he gets nothing.” Terry defended the $165,000 base salary as appropriate despite widespread criticism that it’s substantially higher than what top governmental executives in Ocean City and Worcester County and Wicomico County are paid. “We didn’t feel it was appropriate to compare the GM’s salary to what local government officials are paid,” Terry said. Instead, he said he looked for a comparable position in homeowner associations across the state, finally settling on Montgomery Village in the Washington, D.C., suburbs as a suitable starting point. The state’s largest HOA, Columbia, pays its general manager $238,000, plus bonuses, Terry said, while Montgomery Village’s general manager is paid about

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS $152,000. “We thought Montgomery Village was the closer fit,” he said. Terry said that Ocean City’s yearround population is less than half of Ocean Pines’ and that the town’s previous city manager made $170,000 per year, with his successor starting at $150,000. Montgomery Village was chosen as the initial benchmark because it seemed like the HOA in the state closest to Ocean Pines in its scope of operations, although even then “it was no apples to apples comparison,” Terry said.

“The GM there doesn’t oversee restaurants, police or roads,” he said, “or a golf course and marina.” At the same time, the Montgomery Village HOA operates more community centers and two more swimming pools than in Ocean Pines, he added. The Montgomery Village golf course, according to its Web site, is privately owned, apparently outside the purview of the HOA. Though aware that Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest counties in the nation per capita, with many concentrations of extreme wealth, Terry

said the OPA obtained data that show that Worcester County’s cost of living is only three percent lower than Montgomery’s. “We added about $10,000 to what Montgomery Village GM’s salary because of the additional moving parts here compared to there,” Terry said. The OPA president also said that if Thompson’s predecessor were still on the job, cost of living increases would have boosted his salary today to about $162,000. “$165,000 isn’t so far from that,” Terry said.

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OPA president pooh-poohs Facebook goose-kill rumors Demise of Pines resident waterfowl is not on the horizon

NARFE guest

NARFE Chapter 2274 had as its April meeting guest speaker Rebecca Skorobatsch, RN, joint replacement and spine navigator at Salisbury univesity. Ms. Skorobatsch gave a talk on Living with Arthritis and Joint Pain complete with handouts. Pictured are NARFE Chapter 2274 Vice President Eleanor Kaul and Rebecca Skorobatsch. All active and retired Federal workers are invited to NARFE’s monthly meetings. The next meeting will be a picnic May 22 at the White Horse Park pavilion in Ocean Pines, starting at 11 a.m. Interested persons can call Arlene Page on 410-352-3749 for more information.

he hyper-active geese rumor mill in Ocean Pines just won’t quit. Mother Goose isn’t the only one telling tales, according to Tom Terry. The Ocean Pines Association president during an April 23 Board of Directors work session said someone has been propagating untruths about the potential demise of the community’s Canadian geese via social media outlets. “Somehow, someone apparently last week decided to go on a Facebook page somewhere and re-announce that we were going to kill the geese,” Terry said during the president’s remarks section of the meeting agenda. Terry tried once again to squelch the rumors that the OPA is going to use lethal means to control the growing goose population. “The only thing we have looked at since the meeting in December is non-lethal solutions to the goose situation. That is the only thing we have looked at,” he said. He said that there have been no motions put forth to the board for consideration regarding eliminating the geese, and to date there have been no

actions taken by the OPA to control the problem waterfowl. “And I am told the reason we don’t see the geese now is they are nesting because they are going to bring us even more little geese very soon,” Terry said, indicating that their lack of presence around the ponds of late is likely what sparked the rumor that the OPA was killing off the geese. Of the goose discussion, he said that it is “one of those issues that keeps on giving.” He repeated that, “We have not voted, there is no motion and the only work staff is doing is on non-lethal solutions” to reduce their population. He said he doesn’t know why somebody would put the misinformation on Facebook. Director Teri Mohr complimented those residents who contacted board members or the association office to find out what is really happening regarding the geese. She said people have called wanting “the facts” because they are not going to “take what was said on Facebook” as the truth. In December 2013, the OPA’s environment and natural assets committee presented a report to the board saying that something needs to be done about

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OCEAN PINES

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

By TOM STAUSS Publisher hen General Manager Bob Thompson presented his proposed capital improvement plan in November of last year, including a socalled rack-and-stack of proposed capital projects for the next ten years, it was met with deafening silence by the Board of Directors. He gave copies to the directors with no accompanying public commentary and grudgingly released a copy to a local reporter who requested it. He’s never hosted a town meeting on the contents of the draft report nor asked for any community input on its specifics. The plan has never been posted on the Ocean Pines Association Web site. It’s been fleetingly mentioned from time to time during board meetings but that’s about the extent of it. Since details of the plan never have even been publicly discussed by the

Goose control From Page 22 the Canadian goose population, which has gotten too large to be sustainable and is causing damage to the ponds. Those waterfowl are fouling up the area around the Worcester County Veterans Memorial, causing traffic jams and polluting the water at the ponds. The committee investigated the various options for controlling the goose populations and suggested euthanizing some of the geese and using them to feed the homeless as one alternative.

Terry says board will deal with GM’s ‘rack-and-stack’ plan before year’s end OPA president will ask Bob Thompson to submit a revised capital spending blueprint once the new Yacht Club is up and running board, let alone approved, it can’t be considered official OPA policy. It’s almost as if the report never existed. OPA President Tom Terry, in a recent Progress interview, said the board will address the draft plan before year’s end, perhaps with an eye In response to resident outcry about the potential killing of the geese, the OPA board and administration opted to investigate other methods of deterring the waterfowl from hanging around the Pines ponds. Staff has been looking into several methods of goose control including sound machines that emit naturally recorded bird distress calls and predator cries that frighten, confuse and disorient pest birds, use of dogs to scare away waterfowl, wires across waterways to prevent the geese from landing and chemical repellants.

to approving it in a revised form by November. “Our first priority and the GM’s first priority is to get the new Yacht Club open,” Terry said. “I’m not going to ask

him to discuss or consider the rack-andstack until the Yacht Club is up and running.” He said the draft CIP has not disappeared; it’s just not on the front burner. But once the Yacht Club is fully operational, Terry said he will ask the general manager to update the rack-and-stack from last November. “I probably would say July for an updated rack-and-stack from Bob,” he said. “I would hope by November we will have taken a vote on its contents.” Although never approved by the board, the November draft included rack-and-stack items that Thompson included in his proposed capital budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year that began May To Page 26

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24 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

May - Early June 2014

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

May - Early June 2014

From Page 23 1. Most of them were approved by the board this past February and could be funded over the next 12 months. While the draft CIP isn’t official policy, it nonetheless is a guide to what Thompson believes should be funded in the short-, mid- and long-term. “At some point we really do need to decide what’s next,” Terry said. The OPA President said he has not come to a conclusion about whether the draft plan, which he agreed is a “living document” that is subject to change year-by-year, should be put to the test in a referendum vote of OPA members. Former OPA Director Dan Stachurski, whose motion was the original impetus behind the plan, has said the plan should be voted on by property owners once it’s been approved by the directors. Terry said while he’s not sure a referendum is the best way to solicit community opinion on the draft rack-and-stack, he’s very much in synch with the idea that community input is a vital component of the process. “I’m just not sure how to do it,” he said. November’s draft plan includes a ta-

ble of proposed projects and their estimated costs projected over ten years. If all the projects are funded – and that’s a big if – the OPA would be spending $16,832,060 in today’s dollars for them. That number in all fairness to Thompson is very much a rough number, a moving target, subject to change over time as the board changes the project list. The proposed rack-and-stack at some point will become board policy. The last time the board approved a similar list was in June of 2011, on a motion by then board member Les Purcell. That 2011 rack-and-stack is very much out-of-date but technically probably still can be considered official OPA policy The plan, which Thompson and Facilities Manager Jerry Aveta have been writing for about a year, is conveniently divided into sections that correspond to time periods in which they envision the OPA would tackle certain projects, subject to referenda when costs exceed 20 percent of the OPA’s annual lot assessment collections. The first time period addressed in the plan is the current Fiscal 2014-15, called a transition year and which bypasses the plan’s otherwise more bureaucratic review processes which are supposed to kick in later.

Thompson indicated that the project expenditures listed in this transition year will be included in the draft Fiscal 2014-15 budget that he submitted to the board in early January. The plan includes expenditures estimated at $1,575,000, with about a third of the identified projects aquatics-related and recommended by the Aquatics Advisory Committee. The list includes repair and resurfacing of the Mumfords Landing adult pool ($50,000), bringing the baby pool at Mumfords into American with Disability Act (ADA) compliance ($30,000), resurfacing the Swim and Racquet Club pool and pump room repairs ($45,000), a new splash pad for the Swim and Racquet Club to replace the baby pool ($175,000), Sports Core pool repairs, including resurfacing, skimmer repairs, new coping, tile repair ($100,000), and Sports Core deck repairs ($50,000). Also on the list are engineering support for bridge repairs ($20,000) and contracted bridge repair ($150,000) of OPA-owned bridges on Ocean Parkway, near Clubhouse Drive, and another on Clubhouse Drive near the Country Club. The Recreation Advisory Committee had two of its recommended projects on the proposed capital expenditure list

OCEAN PINES for next year -- $65,000 in Community Center gymnasium floor repairs and $175,000 in replacement lighting for the Southside ballfield. The recreation panel, along with the Marine Activities Advisory Committee, has been recommending a replacement boat ramp at White Horse Park for some time, and that’s been funded in the plan at an estimated cost of $225,000. The Tennis Advisory Committee was similarly rewarded for its labors. The plan includes four pickleball courts and two new platform tennis courts for the OPA’s Manklin Meadows tennis complex in South Ocean Pines. The remaining proposed projects in the plan in the transition year are listed as OPA staff-generated as opposed to advisory committee recommendations. The list includes a Section 3 storm water management study ($30,000), upgrading and improving the OPA’s computer infrastructure ($125,000), facilities master planning for the Beach Club and Country Club campuses ($75,000), OPA facilities’ baseline assessments ($25,000), engineering support for future capital projects ($25,000) and upgrading fuel lines at the Yacht Club marina. The plan also lists about $238,000

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26 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Capital plan

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Pines Plaza service area hook-ups begin; PNC Bank and McDonalds first in line

By TOM STAUSS Publisher ver the winter months, construction crews of A.P. Croll and Sons of Georgetown, Del. completed about $530,000 in water and wastewater infrastructure improvements in what’s informally known as the Pines Plaza Service Area, west of Ocean Pines New shopping center owners expected to revitalize and Route 589. The new service area encompasses a commercial strip, aided by equity contribution fees portion of Cathell Road and a section of Route 589 beginning at Adkins Co. and over 15 years approved by the county commissioners ending at the Ocean Pines McDonalds Restaurant. within the service area can now make Ocean Pines. Were no equity contriIt connects to the Ocean Pines Ser- connection arrangements with the coun- bution charged, all the costs of mainvice Area through an easement that ty’s Water and Wastewater Division, taining and operating the treatment runs along the Ocean Pines Taylor Bank said John Ross, the county’s assistant plant would be borne by OPSA ratebranch and the two-acre property owned public works director, in late April. A let- payers, a result that would be unfair by the Ocean Pines Association west of ter will be sent to the affected business- to them and politically unpopular the Ocean Pines post office and library es in May detailing connection costs to among Ocean Pines residents who branch. be passed on to service area businesses, care about such matters. Businesses in the Pines Plaza service including an upfront charge of between The financing mechanism, aparea include the Pines Plaza Shopping $5,200 or $5,300 per equivalent dwell- proved last year by the Worcester Center, which was purchased by Pikes- ing unit, Ross said. County Commissioners, specified ville, Md., developer America’s Realty “That number is being finalized now,” that the project construction funding in March; the building occupied Hile- he said, based on final construction costs was to be borrowed from the county’s man Realty, Copy Central and other of about $530,000 and another $50,000 general fund and repaid by the upbusinesses; the building occupied by or so of associated engineering costs. front one-time EDU payment. Mamma Dellas, Catering by Ali and Croll’s original bid was for $451,569 but At build-out, the county expects other businesses; the 5-L building, home change orders boosted the final cost and the new service area to comprise to Mattress Masters, a pet grooming the upfront EDU charges tied to it. Last about 110 EDUs. business, a consignment shop and oth- year, the estimated upfront EDU charge Equity contributions totaling er businesses; the Auto Plus auto parts was $5,100. $1.44 million will be financed by the store; the Ocean Pines 7-Eleven, the Re/ Ross said the state of Maryland has OPSA with a term of 15 years and an Max real estate office, PNC Bank and grant money in its abandoned septic interest rate of 3.25 percent, resultMcDonalds. tank program available to help busi- ing in an additional quarterly charge It also includes the parcel at the nesses with these upfront charges. He of about $305 per EDU to be levied northwest corner of Cathell Road and said that businesses interested in ap- on properties located in the service Route 589, the site of a vacant real es- plying for the grants should contact Bob area in addition to quarterly comtate and construction office that will be Mitchell, the county’s director of envi- mercial usage fees. the future location of a new Walgreens ronmental programs, at 410-632-1220 These contributions will flow into Pharmacy. for assistance. OPSA reserves that are earmarked With the completion of the new serBusinesses that connect to the new for capital expenditures, which othvice area’s infrastructure, businesses 05-09 Oasis-Ad_01-03 4/30/2014 AM Page 1 would be the responsibility of service areaAdolfo's-Ad will also pay what’s 9:09 called erwise an equity contribution to the Ocean OPSA ratepayers. Pines Service Area, because wastewater “It’s like found money,” Ross said, Capital plan from the new service area will be pro- adding that a steady flow of equity cessed at the OPSA’s treatment plant in contributions over the course of 15 From Page 26

in maintenance projects for next year, including playground improvements ($5,000), ballfield parking ($24,000), basketball courts ($37,500), fences ($75,000), for a total of $74,000 in proposed Parks and Recreation maintenance spending. The $238,000 total includes $40,000 in aquatics projects -- $35,000 for paving the Sports Core parking lot and $5,000 for pump house repairs at the Swim and Racquet Club. Also proposed are sprinklers at the tennis complex ($17,000), fuel pier flotation at the marina ($5,000), a $2,000 water heater at the Beach Club and $10,000 for a new entrance sign at the Yacht Club. This year’s projected spending for golf operations and golf maintenance total $70,000. The proposed list includes $12,500 in ladies lockers, $20,000 for a golf school structure, $4,500 for golf school heaters, $19,000 for golf bunkers, and $14,000 for water pump station repairs. Most of these items can be found in the approved capital expenditures list for the current fiscal year.

years means “we won’t be tempted to spend all the money at once. That’s probably a good thing.” With current estimates of $580,000 in upfront engineering and construction costs and another $1.4 million in equity contributions, total project costs are close to $2 million. The first two businesses to connect to the service area were PNC Bank and McDonalds, Ross said, with discussions under way with McDonalds and the 7-Eleven. He also said he recently received a phone call from area environmental engineer John Salm on behalf of Pines Plaza, the struggling shopping center that can be redeveloped and upgraded now that public water and wastewater services are available from the county. Pines Plaza is currently receiving wastewater treatment services through an emergency connection to the nearby lift station that serves Pennington Commons Shopping Center. It supplies its own water from wells that are decades old. America’s Realty, the Pikesville company that bought Pines Plaza for $2.4 million, specializes in turning around distressed shopping centers. Carl Verstandig, president of the company, said shortly after the purchase was announced in March that the intent of the developer is to bring in a national grocer to anchor it. Facade work, landscaping and lighting improvements at Pines Plaza were expected to begin within 30 days, according to Verstandig. As of May 1, there had been little evidence of cosmetic improvements and no announcement has been forthcoming about a new anchor store. The developer is likely to discover that development and redevelopment in Worcester County is a protracted process, with no fast track in evidence. Ross said Salm’s recent phone call involved issues related to how Pines Plaza could be integrated into the new service area. “It really isn’t all that complicated from

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28 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

May - Early June 2014

Paver ceremony

On Saturday, April 19, a ceremony was held at the Worcester County Veterans Memorial in Ocean Pines honoring Gilbert Wascak (retired USAF) and Albert Mauerhan, (deceased). Albert Mauerhan served in the US Army in the Vietnam War for several years and Gil Wascak is a part time resident of Ocean Pines who served 21 years in the US Air Force. The ceremony was hosted by Betty Dodson (daughter of Albert) and Brenda Wascak (daughter of Albert and daughter-in-law of Gil). The ceremony included an invocation by Chaplain John Vaughn (Chaplain, American Legion Post 166 and VFW Post 8296) and music provided by Bill Magargle who played his bagpipe. Nancy Mauerhan, wife of Albert and daughter Jeanie Mauerhan were escorted by Bob Gilmore to place an engraved paver in the ground in front of the Army wall to recognize Albert’s service. Barbara and Gil Wascak placed his paver in the ground in front of the USAF wall to honor his 21 years of outstanding service. Brenda Wascak stated that by having Gil place his own paver, it gave the opportunity for people to realize that they don’t have to wait until a veteran is deceased to honor them. Seated left to right are Betty Dodson, Nancy Mauerhan, Barbara Wascak, and Brenda Wascak. Standing from left: 4th position, Chaplain John Vaughn; 6th position, Jeanne Mauerhan; 7th, Gilbert Wascak; 10th, Bill Magargle; and 11th, Bob Gilmore. Those interested in creating a ceremony to honor a veteran should call Doug Slingerland, 410-208-1287.

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Pines Plaza From Page 27 an engineering standpoint,” he said. Previously, Ross said that upfront EDU charges could be allocated as they’re needed by the developer and businesses. But that doesn’t necessarily explain who will pay them and when. If the developer elects to pay them, they will add significantly to redevelopment costs. If the developer attempts to pass these costs on directly to potential future tenants, it could make it somewhat more difficult to attract quality tenants. As of the March purchase date, America’s Realty owned 226 shopping centers throughout the country that were 98 percent leased. Currently, Pines Plaza is about 25 percent leased. Its most prominent businesses include Whisker’s Bar and Grill and Family Dollar, with a Chinese carry-out and a lighting company in the mix. Another major tenant is Atlantic Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine. Family Dollar is expected to expand into an adjacent space once redevelopment begins. Following a public hearing in early November of last year, the Worcester County Commissioners unanimously agreed to create the Pines Plaza Service Area and to include the Hileman Real Estate building and Adkins Company properties within it. Debbie Hileman, owner of Hileman Real Estate, spoke up during the public hearing and asked to have her property on Cathell Road be placed in the service area and designated for eight equivalent dwelling units (EDUs) of capacity. “I’m asking to be included. I definitely want water and sewer,” she told the commissioners. Richard G. Holland Jr., of the Adkins Company, said that his business also “would like to be included in the service area for the purpose of two EDUs.”

Attorney Mark Cropper, representing the owner of Auto Plus, and a number of other property owners within the Pines Plaza service area, said there is some concern about the ultimate cost of connecting to the system for property owners. However, he said county staff has been “more than helpful” in describing the possible cost and the potential for acquisition of grant funds to mitigate the expenses for property owners to tap into the system. Cropper said the property owners are looking forward to completion of the system and the elimination of septic tanks in that area. He said doing so is of benefit to the property owners, the environment and the community at large. “Anything you can do to expedite the process we would greatly appreciate it,” Cropper told the commissioners. A total of 100 EDUs was originally allocated to serve businesses in the area that is currently served by failing septic systems. With the inclusion of the Hileman and Adkins Company properties, the service area now includes a total of 15 properties with about two dozen septic systems scattered across them. Commissioner Jim Bunting supported including the Hileman and Adkins Company properties in the service area, saying the “pipe stopped short of these properties” so adding them shouldn’t be a problem. “I think it’s the way to go,” he said. The result was a slightly higher cost, initially estimated at $510,000. The project was bid on a per linear foot basis so it will be easy to determine that additional cost based on the length of pipe run to Hileman and Adkins. He said the extended prices to serve the two additional properties will be about $70,000, for a total of about $580,000 spread across the 110 EDUs. Financing for the project was originally based on 100 equivalent dwelling units of capacity. That will increase to 110 EDUs, with the addition of the two properties at a total of 10 EDUs.

OCEAN PINES

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPA falling short on frustrating compliance issues Attorney Joe Moore to be invited to a future board meeting for a refresher course on available enforcement mechanisms

The long-abandoned home at 3 Bramblewood Drive near the Ocean Pines North Gate has seen better days. A winter storm in February delivered another blow when a tree through the roof. The home apparently is bank-owned, according to a notice on the front door, and yet the Ocean Pines Association has been unable or unwilling to force the owner to remedy unsightly conditions. erties are in ownership limbo, occupants having moved out and the home somewhere in the process of foreclosure. It’s hard to know who to send an enforcement letter to if the ownership is in a state of transition.

In addition, CPI inspectors are loath to enter onto an abandoned property for remedial action without court approval, despite wording in the restrictive covenants that give the OPA the authority to do so. They remember a court decision

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By TOM STAUSS Publisher staple of regular monthly meetings of the Board of Directors are compliance issues brought to the directors for action by General Manager Bob Thompson on behalf of the Architectural Review Committee and the Department of Compliance, Permits and Inspections. Ocean Pines Association officials will tell anyone who cares to listen that most alleged infractions of restrictive covenants and ARC guidelines are handled routinely, with property owners coming into compliance after a letter from CPI or OPA attorney Joseph E. Moore’s office. Board action is needed to trigger enforcement letters from the OPA attorneys. Some issues are apparently so intractable that frequent communications from the OPA enforcement gendarmes fail to bring about property owner cooperation. Certain addresses are known as frequent offenders, almost as if property owners are making a game of it. A junked vehicle is removed or covered and an unkempt yard is taken care of, only to recur at a later time. Some prop-

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PIZZA By the slice..............................................(Toppings .25 each)......$2.25 Whole 12”...............................................(Toppings 1.00 each)......$8.00 TOPPINGS: Green Peppers, Onions, Mushrooms, Tomatoes, Pepperoni, Bacon, Ham & Sausage

We Have Take-Out Kettle Fried Chicken 8 pc. $1099, 12 pc $1699 9636 Stephen Decatur Highway, West Ocean City • 410-213-9204

30 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

May - Early June 2014

OPA FINANCES

OPA records modest negative variance for March

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association’s financial report for March, 11 months into the 2013-14 fiscal year, showed a modest operating loss for the month, breaking an eight-month streak of consecutive positive variances to budget. Because the OPA budgeted for a closeto-break-even operational bottom line for the year, the cumulative variance at the end of 12 months will translate into the OPA’s operational surplus or deficit at the end of the year on April 30. At the 11-month mark, it would appear virtually assured that the OPA will generate an operational surplus for the year, even while certain departments, notably golf and aquatics, are substantially off budget. General administration, compliance and permits, fire and

ambulance, police and recreation are on a path to performing better than expected relative to budget by substantial margins. March’s operating variance to budget was a negative $5,804. Revenues were under by a negative $43,601 while total expenses were under budget by a negative $37,796. According to the financial summary for March prepared by OPA Controller Art Carmine and distributed to the Board of Directors in mid-April, the variance to budget through March 31 of this year is a positive $139,275. That’s based on revenues under budget by a negative $439,340 and expenses under budget by a negative $589,623. New capital expenditures that come out of operating funds rather than allocated reserve funds are over budget by $11,008 for the year. All of the fee-based amenity departments lost money in March, as is normal for this time of year, but marina operations, which are shut down for the winter but still record some financial activity, managed a $1,806 positive variance to budget. All other amenity departments recorded negative variances to budget for the month, with golf

operations leading the way followed by Aquatics and the Yacht Club. Golf operations, including food and beverage services at the Terns Grill, lost $75,012 for the month, with a negative variance to budget of $47,189. Through 11 months of the fiscal year, golf has lost $310,293 and has a negative variance to budget of $124,804. It’s the worst-performing amenity in the OPA by far, relative to actual losses and negative variance to budget. The year-to-date loss probably means that the golf deficit forecast at the three-quarter mark in the fiscal year by Carmine and OPA General Manager

Bob Thompson will prove to have been overly optimistic. This past winter, they estimated that the loss would turn out to be about $235,000 for the year. OPA Director Marty Clarke recently said he believed the actual loss, despite the earlier management forecast, would be closer to $400,000 than $235,000. By mid-May, when the April numbers are released, it will be clear whose forecasts were more accurate. Aquatics, the second worst performing amenity relative in March, lost $41,163 for the month, with a $13,213 negative variance to budget. It now ap-

Compliance

couldn’t act without the approval of a higher authority, declining to specify on the record who that might be. In late April, it appeared action had been taken on the matter. A vehicle seat cushion that occupied the front lawn of the house had disappeared, and there were signs of a general clean-up of the premises. The Progress received a phone call from a long-time Ocean Pines property owner in late April about a long-abandoned home close to the North Gate at 3 Bramblewood Drive in which a tree has fallen through a portion of the roof. That tree has been there since February, after a particularly windy winter storm, the caller said, with no one from the OPA taking any action. “I don’t know who owns it but no one has lived in the house for many years,” she said. “Why should the neighbors have to live with a junk house right next door to them? As an association, we need to do a lot better job keeping the community looking first class.” She was unaware of the mechanism in place that asks property owners to call the CPI Department with specific complaints. “It shouldn’t require a phone call from a resident for someone from the OPA to notice,” she said.

From Page 29 which the occupants of 8 Willow Way are probably not violating any OPA regulations remains to be seen. The board acted similarly against a trailer parked illegally at a home on Battersea Road. A drive-by of that home revealed that any trailer that might have been parked there at one time was no longer there. After Clarke, as he has often intimated that the OPA doesn’t aggressively use the tools at its disposal to enforce community guidelines, OPA President Tom Terry said he would invite Moore to attend a future meeting of the board for a refresher course on what the OPA can and cannot do about enforcement issues. The process is bureaucratic. Thompson recently told an Ocean Pines property owner who raised an issue about the condition of 26 Footbridge Trail, a home that is currently unoccupied and said to be in foreclosure or already bank-owned, that the first step is to make a formal complaint to CPI. The board had voted for enforcement action at this address last fall. When contacted, a CPI inspector replied that he was well aware of the unkempt condition of 26 Footbridge but

Golf deficit is at $310,000 for the year while the OPA as a whole is $140,000 ahead of budget, with one month remaining in the fiscal year

Ask me about the Vanishing Deductible

Therese Tyndall

Sales & Service Advocate BUS TRANSPORTATION FROM THE OCEAN PINES LIBRARY IS AVAILABLE FOR AN ADDITIONAL $12.

On Your Side Center - Ocean City 12216 Ocean Gateway, Suite 200 Ocean City, MD 21842

410-213-2241 • Fax 410-213-1267 tyndalt1@nationwide.com

OCEAN PINES

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPA finances From Page 30 pears that this amenity will lose more than $200,000 for the fiscal year, the first time ever this has occurred in the history of Ocean Pines. Aquatics produced an $188,709 operating deficit through the end of March, with a negative variance to budget of $65,509. The Yacht Club, closed pending the opening of the new facility Memorial Day weekend or later, generated no revenue during March but nonetheless produced an actual loss of $19,723. The negative variance to budget for the month was $9,275. Through 11 months of the year, the Yacht Club has produced an actual loss of $148,764 and a negative variance to budget of $19,724. Tennis, marinas, Beach Club parking and Beach Club food and beverage operations are for the most part closed for the season, and Carmine’s report shows only minimal or no financial activity for them. Status of reserves – The reserve summary released as part of the March financials shows that the OPA’s allocated reserve balance stood at $3,365,417, a substantial decline from February’s balance of $3,998,678 and January’s $4,508,280 balance. Expenditures related to the new Yacht Club account for the steady erosion. Lot assessment dollars flow into the reserves at the beginning of the new fiscal year in May, boosting reserve totals that then decline over the course of the fiscal year as expenditures occur. The balance in the roads reserve through March 31 was $67,034, virtually unchanged from prior months. The bulkhead and waterways reserve through March stood at $716,918, a slight decline’s from February’s $723,351 balance. The golf drainage reserve carried a $679,324 deficit through March, virtually unchanged from February. The future projects reserve was $60,052 in the red, and the operating recovery reserve stood at zero, changed little or not at all from the previous month. The major maintenance and replacement reserve remains as the OPA reserve most flush with earmarked assessment dollars. Its March 31 balance was $3,320,841, down from $3,946,999 in February and January’s $4,444,051 balance. The $3,320,841 balance was comprised of $5,193,273 in funded depreciation (the so-called “historical” funding stream) and a $1,872,432 deficit in the five-year-plan’s revenue stream. This reserve will be substantially reduced by the end of the year as expenditures related to the new Yacht Club continue. Status of the balance sheet – The March balance sheet showed operating cash in the amount of $1,514,682 and short-term investments totaling $2,043,047. The OPA had $36,301,511 in total assets as of March 31, with liabilities and owner equity to match.

OPA Net Financial Operations through March 31 2014

32 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

WORCESTER COUNTY

May - Early June 2014

Animal Controlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Facebook page boosts animal adoptions

AROUND THE COUNTY ful Friends, A Friend of Mine, Delmarva Cat Connection and Lost Pet PR. They can also get to know Worcester County Animal Control mascots Harley and Mia. Anyone who is searching for lost pets is invited to post photos of his animals on the Facebook page to seek the publicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assistance in finding and bringing them back home. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Believe it or not, there are still many citizens and visitors who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know we offer pet adoptions,â&#x20AC;? Glen Grandstaff, Worcester County Animal Control assistant chief, said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also in the business of reuniting lost pets with their families. Both avenues are not only part of the WCAC mission, they also bring a smile to our faces, because thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just nothing better than seeing that transformation an animal makes from being fearful, lost and lonely to happy, healthy and trusting.â&#x20AC;? Since January 2014, 47 cats and dogs at WCAC have been placed in loving, adoptive homes or with partnering agencies, like Delmarva Cat Connection, to

increase their chances of being adopted.

International company moves to Bishopville site

CP Cases, an international company, has opened a new Bishopville location that will serves as its first operations office in the United States. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re thrilled to have played an active role in helping bring this globally respected company right here to Worcester County,â&#x20AC;? Bill Badger, Worcester County Economic Development director, said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have great expectations that CP Cases will see significant growth in employment in the near future.â&#x20AC;? CP Cases specializes in worldwide design, manufacturing and servicing of high-performance, ruggedized cases and 19-inch racks used for transport. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our unique product range offers operation and storage of essential equipment for commercial and military applications,â&#x20AC;? Bruce Blackway, CP Cases general manager, said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are very pleased to be located in Worcester Coun-

Coastal Bays Program updates management plan

The Maryland Coastal Bays Program is seeking community input on the updated Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan that addresses current and emerging issues impacting water quality and the health of the bays and waterways behind Ocean City and Assateague Island. In April MCBP held two workshops on the plan, including one in Ocean Pines. The CCMP is a 15-year culmination

Shades of Spring

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ty, Maryland. I want to thank the WCED Office, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development and the Small Business Technology Development Center for their assistance in helping us establish our business location at the Todd Industrial Park.â&#x20AC;? The Bishopville location is headquarters for CP Casesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; U.S. operations, and its opening resulted from an expansion of CPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s North American operations. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Although our presence is small now, we expect to grow rapidly, as we gain market share in the United States,â&#x20AC;? Blackway said.

orcester County Animal Control has created a new Facebook page designed to boost animal adoptions and reunite lost pets with their owners. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Facebook lets us reach out to a much larger audience and provides animal enthusiasts and concerned citizens alike with another great resource,â&#x20AC;? Susan Rantz, Worcester County Animal Control chief, said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This type of close and immediate partnering between citizens and government dramatically increases the chances of our four-legged friends securing safe, dependable, loving families, whether that is through adoption or a lost pet being found. Kindness matters, and Facebook offers tangible opportunities to show these vulnerable pets that we care for their needs.â&#x20AC;? Facebook friends can find and post information about lost pets and view adoptable cats and dogs, comment on Worcester County Animal Control happenings, and learn about upcoming spay and neuter programs and microchip clinics at the shelter. Friends will also find links to partnering organizations, including both the Worcester and Wicomico County Humane Societies, and pet rescue organizations, like Faith-

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WORCESTER COUNTY AROUND THE COUNTY From Page 32 of technical and community involvement to protect the future of the bays. It is a plan of action items created for MCBP by local individuals, community groups and government agencies. The original plan was finished in 1999 and is being updated as a ten-year compilation of management recommendations from scientific studies, new local, state and federal initiatives and the continuation of older successful outreach efforts to watershed residents.

Library Foundation selling cloth bags

The Worcester County Library celebrated Earth Day 2014 by introducing a new, re-usable cloth book bag for sale in all library branches. The sturdy blue bags will be a smart choice for library users to carry books, CDs and DVDs from and to the library. The bags can also serve as convenient totes to use as an alternative to plastic bags at grocery stores and other retailers. The bags are a project of the Worcester County Library Foundation and are selling for $5 each, tax included. “Libraries are one of the great re-cycling centers in any community so the celebration of Earth Day is a natural,” Library Director Mark Thomas said. He said that by using these cloth bags, people can reduce or eliminate their use of plastic bags, a source of litter and a long-term problem for landfills.

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Assateague seeks input on parking and picnic area

Assateague Island National Seashore is planning for a more resilient Bayside Picnic and Parking Area and is asking the public to help the park define both the natural and cultural values and characteristics important for protection of this area. To do this, the National Seashore will host three public workshops: at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13, at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 14 and at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 7. The three workshops will be held in the park’s Environmental Education Center at 7206 National Seashore Lane, Berlin. The workshops are the first step in the development of a new environmental assessment to evaluate a more sustainable location for the facility. “We really want to work with the public to understand what they value about Bayside peninsula,” park Superintendent Debbie Darden said. “We hope the public will tell us what they feel would make a great location for a new Bayside Picnic and Parking Area.” The new plan, the Bayside Picnic and Parking Area Relocation Environmental Assessment, will look at a broad range of alternatives. “Nothing is off the table. We’d like to hear as many ideas as we can for making this important park day-use area more functional and less susceptible to damage from erosion while safeguarding bird and animal habitat,” Darden said.

The environmental assessment will look at the area’s natural and cultural resources, to be sure that they are protected as a part of the study. “We will be asking the public to share their knowledge about this special area with us as a part of the work,” Bill Hulslander, chief of resource management, said. Previously, the NPS had looked at two alternatives for the area in the Bayside Picnic and South Ocean Beach Parking Areas Removal and Relocation Environmental Assessment, 2013. At the end of that process, in March 2014, the NPS announced that it would repair the current Bayside Picnic Parking Area in its current location, substituting a clay base and clamshell surface so that during future storms, asphalt is not washed into the bay.

Two Worcester County Bridges to be replaced

The Worcester County Department of Public Works is implementing plans to replace two county bridges within the next several months, the Millville Road Bridge and Nelson Road Bridge. These bridges were scheduled to be replaced after earning unsatisfactory bridge sufficiency ratings during the county’s annual bridge inspection program. The two-span, timber-beam Millville Road Bridge is located approximately 1.25 miles south of Route 12 and crosses Furnace Branch. The three-span, timber-beam Nelson Road Bridge is located approximately 0.15 miles south of Swamp Road and crosses Careytown Branch.

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WORCESTER COUNTY

May - Early June 2014

Unger says his ability to negotiate and mediate prepares him for role as county commissioner By SUSAN CANFORA Contributing Writer s a police office for more than a dozen years, Ray Unger learned the art of negotiation. It has helped him in his political career, for six years as a member of Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors, and he is confident it would be as beneficial as a Worcester County Commissioner. That’s why the 73-yearold Pines resident filed as a candidate for the District 5 seat being vacated by longtime Commissioner Judy Boggs, who is not seeking re-election this year. Unger, a Republican, is competing with three other candidates, fellow Republicans Grant Helvey and Chip Bertino and Democrat Tom Wilson. The primary is June 24 and the general election is Nov. 4. A native of Baltimore, Unger, who has been director of security at the Grand Hotel in Ocean City for 13 years, has always aspired to be a commissioner. He served on the Ocean Pine board for two three-year terms between 2001 and 2010. He’s a member of the Mary-

land Sheriffs’ Association and Maryland Crime Prevention Commission. He was formerly a member of the board of directors for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Eastern Shore and the Worcester County Board of Education’s Business Advisory Board. Ten years ago, he was president of the Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce. He has the time necessary to fully serve county residents, his campaign literature states, adding he isn’t a politician but “a citizen for Ocean Pines.” Unger’s literature focuses on the county’s tax rate being lower than it is in Wicomico, Talbot, Queen Anne’s and Dorchester counties. Worcester’s income tax rate, he said, is 1.25 percent, with a .77 percent property tax rate. To keep it low, Unger said, “the commissioners have to take a real look at the budget and the requests that come in every year, and cut the fat.” Compared to Worcester, he said, Wicomico’s income tax rate is 3.10 percent with .9086 percent property tax rate; Talbot’s is 2.25 percent with .512 property tax rate; Queen Anne’s is 2.85 percent with .8471

property tax rate; and Dorchester’s is 2.62 percent with .976 percent property tax rate. Unger said he is focusing his campaign on “a conservative and positive agenda for Worcester County and Ray Unger Ocean Pines.” His goals, he wrote in a campaign hand-out, are to “ensure Worcester County continues to receive all pass-through roads funds from the state of Maryland, maintain current tax rates, health services and sewer and water services.” “We need to continue our excellent education system and promote tourism (and) work to make Worcester County more attractive for new business growth and to evaluate and streamline the budget process,” he wrote. “I want to keep good civility on the board,” he said one recent afternoon, when he was at the Ocean Pines library. “I always had the reputation to mediate, to stop whenever there was any fighting and say, ‘Look, why are we here? We are here to get these things done. As a cop, you learn to listen,’” he said. “I decided to run for the Ocean Pines board, and eventually things were accomplished that I wanted to see done. From way back I wanted a new yacht club. We started working on it ten years ago,” he said. Now, the new structure is under construction and scheduled to open Memorial

Day weekend. “We’ve got one of the best educational systems in the state, but when our kids go off to college, they don’t come back to Worcester County to work because there is no industry. So it’s important that we have good high schools to prepare them for college. It is so important, and we are fortunate to have such an excellent school system,” he said. He is in favor of spending more than 50 percent of the county’s annual budget to fund education. “That has worked well for us,” he said. Concerning development, he likes the open spaces in Worcester and believes most residents do, too. Unger said big businesses that would demand massive acreage aren’t showing interest in the area. Board of Zoning Appeals members, he said, have opinions about how new businesses should look “and have justification for their reasons. “They don’t stop businesses from coming in,” he said. The candidate, who moved to Ocean Pines in 1995 and enjoys living in the community, sees Worcester as lovely. “We have everything down here. We don’t have mountains. We have a few hills, but it is a beautiful county. We have one of the prettiest counties. We are very fortunate to live where we live, even weather-wise,” he said, glancing out a window at snow still on the grass, from one of several early spring storms. “Oh,” he said, smiling. “A little snow doesn’t hurt anything.”

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WORCESTER COUNTY

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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WORCESTER COUNTY

May - Early June 2014

Wilson focuses on making government more open and accountable By SUSAN CANFORA Contributing Writer f Tom Wilson is elected Worcester County Commissioner, he would be one of several new faces on the board, due to retirements of longtime commissioners Jim Purnell, District 2; Louise Gulyas, District 7; and Judy Boggs, whose District 5 seat Wilson is seeking. The 67-year-old Democrat is running against three other newcomers for the June 24 primary election. They are Ray Unger, former Ocean Pines board member; Chip Bertino, publisher of the Courier newspaper; and Grant Helvey, who runs a private mortgage lending company. The general election is Nov. 4. Wilson carefully outlined his goals in an Action Plan printed in the Vote Tom Wilson pamphlet, with a photo of him on the front, standing in front of lush foliage, smiling. “A stronger voice for Ocean Pines and a better Worcester for all of us,” it states in green lettering. Points of the plans are: *To make county government more transparent, accountable, efficient and effective *To attract employers who will provide year-round jobs for decent wages *To protect the natural beauty of the county, and improve water quality in coastal bays *To improve transportation and reduce congestion in the Ocean Pines area and on Route 589, and *To defend and promote the interests of Pines residents. First, Wilson said, he would focus on accountability. “I want to see the government open to all people,” he said, adding commissioners meetings should be on the Internet and commissioners and constituents should know requirements and achievements of performance goals for every county department, “so we can also reward people who really perform well.” He would like more businesses attracted to the county, like D-3 Corporation and ancillary health services. “This is the perfect location for a lot of businesses. I don’t think we’ve made much of an effort. In my career I have helped to create jobs. It isn’t rocket science. The county could spend more money for training,” he said. It’s also important to improve attitudes to bring businesses to Worcester, he said. “I have seen the adversarial approach between cities and Worcester County and Snow Hill. You look for areas of common ground. You can’t just sit there and call each other names,” he said. Concerning the environment, he wants to see the bays protected. “One reason people come here is because it’s beautiful. Some development is inevita-

ble. There is no way to avoid it. I think we should concentrate development in towns and villages. South of Route 50 is pretty empty,” he said. Coastal bays provide opportunities for boating, fishing and swimming, he said, and that’s why he is worried about their condition. “The St. Martin River received a grade of D+ in the most recent evaluation, scoring either poor or very poor in every category of water quality. The Isle of Wight Bay received a grade of C,” he wrote in the pamphlet. He said more preservation and protection are needed, along with responsible development. Wilson disagrees with the commissioners recent vote against a major renovation of Route 589, to make it a fourlane, divided highway with bike paths sometime in the distant future, dependent upon state funding. They rejected it, saying it was too big, he said. If he is elected, he said he would work to reverse that decision, work with state officials “and move ahead promptly with the plan developed by the SHA.” “I think we can get it done. The state pays for land it takes away. I’ve talked to some of the business owners, and they say they will be happy to contribute a piece of land if they could get zoning. We have to improve it. The State Highway Administration projects that by 20162017, there will be 40,000 trips a day on Racetrack Road. That is three times what it is now. Now it’s about 13,000. That’s a lot for a little road. And it’s the only evacuation route we have,” he said. Worcester depends heavily on the

work to see roads around the community improved, increase county funding for roads and first responders, prioritize renovation of Showell Elementary School and “ensure that our needs get fair consideration in Snow Hill.” A Pines resident for 10 years, he has been on the board of directors of Diakonia five years and is now its president. He worked for the Goddard Space Flight Center as a computer programmer, in the days when “a computer was as big as this house,” he said, raising his Tom WIlson arms to gesture. In his 20s, he assumed there was no future in computers, he able result is a high level of food and said, talking about his campaign in the housing insecurity among a significant cozy little room that was once a one-car part of the local population. The coun- garage in the home he shares with his ty needs to make a stronger and more wife and campaign treasurer Patrice effective effort to attract year-round Zmitrovis. They have three daughters employers who offerWe good jobsthe thatbest can prices and three have on grandchildren. support families,” his election pamphlet Most repairs and sales of cars andof his career was with the federstates. al government, in account and finance, Only 10 minutes fromworking as finance director for Wilson wants to trucks. be a stronger voice including for the Pines and Ocean said he’sPines concerned the Peace Corps and executive officer of on 113. “sometimes we are shortchanged by the the African Development Foundation. county government.” “The goal was to find people jobs. I got As a commissioner, he said he would summer resort industry, he said, and that’s why the county has the lowest average wage of any jurisdiction in the state. From November to April, it also has the highest unemployment rate. “The predict-

36 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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WORCESTER COUNTY

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

No increase in water, wastewater fees proposed in OPSA

atepayers in the Ocean Pines Service Area most likely will see no changes in their quarterly bills for water and wastewater in the new fiscal year that begins July 1. As part of the fiscal year 2015 budget process, the Worcester County Water and Wastewater Division is proposing to maintain the current rates for service, including both usage and equivalent dwelling units (EDU) charges. The Worcester County Commissioners in March reviewed the fiscal year 2015 enterprise fund budgets for water and wastewater, which will be officially approved in June. The commissioners discussed the proposed operating budgets for the OPSA and the ten other service areas operated by the Worcester County Department of Public Works, Water and Wastewater Division, assessments, user charges and other charges. In addition to user fees, EDU assessments will be levied in the Ocean Pines service area and sub-service areas to make infrastructure debt payments. The total revenue for the OPSA is anticipated to be $6.12 million for FY 15, including $5.57 million in charges for water and wastewater service, $75,000 in penalties and interest, $166,000 in other revenue and $309,000 in transfers from reserves. The domestic minimum water and sewer charge in the OPSA will remain at $133 per quarter. The fee includes a $99.75 fee for wastewater service and a

Tom Wilson From Page 36 to travel extensively,” he said. He retired in 2002. Growing up in Washington, D.C., he kept a close eye on governmental workings and was president of the local Democratic Club. “At Diakonia, I see the results of government. I see the things that go on here at all levels of government, and it’s embarrassing at times,” he said. He is confident his success at Diakonia would benefit the county. Diakonia has received grants, is helping prevent homelessness, assisting veterans and building a new facility. Wilson is also on the board of the Lower Shore Land Trust and has done training for the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore. “I’m interested in how things work in Worcester,” he said. “I feel that I can have an impact on the county as a whole as a commissioner.”

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$33.25 fee for water service. The scale for usage per thousand gallons begins at 40 cents for 10,000 gallons or less for water and $1.20 for 10,000 gallons or less of wastewater usage. The rate structure for commercial users in the Ocean Pines Service Area is also holding steady. The cost is based on the number of EDUs for each commercial property and an average usage of 10,000 gallons per month in a building with 18 fixtures. One EDU would be $150, two at $210, three to 13 at $270, 14 to 24 at $400 and 25 or more at $500. There are no changes proposed to the hook-up fees in the OPSA, which vary depending on the section of Ocean Pines. In addition to user fees, EDU assessments will continue to be levied throughout Ocean Pines, with additional EDU charges in more recently developed sub-service areas, the so-called Balfour sections. An EDU is a measurement which is approximately the same amount of water and sewer flow for an

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WORCESTER COUNTY

May - Early June 2014

Worcester receives state waiver for snow days Last day of school for students is June 13

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Atlantic Physical Therapy The guest speaker at the March 12 meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines-Ocean City was Robert Hammond III, of Atlantic Physical Therapy, located in the Pines Plaza Shopping Center. Pictured (are Kiwanis Programs and Speakers Chair J. Graham Caldwell, Hammond, and President Dick Clagett.

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Worcester County Board of Education unanimously voted at an April 15 meeting to make Friday, June 13, the last day of school for students. Maryland regulations require students to attend 180 days of school within a 10-month period. Because students must also attend a minimum number of hours, for a total of 1,080 hours over the 10-month period, school systems that far exceed the minimum hours – such as Worcester County Public Schools – can count half-days toward the 180-day requirement. “Waivers to the 180-day requirement are typically requested when school systems make every effort to recoup the majority of school days missed due to inclement weather, while at the same time, trying to avoid extending the school year past mid-June,” said schools spokeswoman Barbara Witherow, who also facilitates calendar development for the school system. This school year, Worcester County Public Schools were closed for ten days due to inclement weather. Three inclement weather days were already built into the end of the calendar in the event of bad weather, leaving a deficit of seven days. The Board voted to turn two days – which were initially closed for students (March 28 and April 17) – into half days, thus recouping two days and leaving

tudents in Worcester County Public Schools finally know when they will be able to put away the pencils and books for the year; the last day of school has been set for June 13. Having received a four-day waiver from the state superintendent, the

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Wastewater fees From Page 37 average single family residence. The purpose of EDU assessments in the service area or sub-area is to collect funds to pay any debt related to the acquisition or construction of sanitary facilities. Standard assessments for debt service in the OPSA are $54 per equivalent dwelling unit per quarter. The additional sub-service area for debt service is $30 per equivalent dwelling unit each quarter. The county’s Water and Wastewater Division maintains and operates all of the infrastructure in 11 service areas, including repairing all water leaks, replacing wastewater holding tanks and installing water and wastewater connections. It reads more than 10,000 water meters county-wide for each billing cycle, oversees all capital improvements to the water and wastewater facilities and handles all required regulatory reporting to state and federal agencies. In Ocean Pines, the division staff also conducts meetings with members of an advisory committee that was created to provide input on service area issues, including the annual budget.

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WORCESTER COUNTY

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Women’s Club officers

School waiver From Page 38 only five days to make up. At the March Board of Education meeting, the Board approved seeking a three-day waiver and at the April 15 meeting, they accepted waiving a fourth day. With a four-day waiver granted by the state superintendent of schools, the last day of school was extended to June 13, accounting for the last make-up day. “Calendar modifications, coupled with the approved waiver, account for all ten inclement-weather school closings,” Witherow said. “Although calculating the number of days missed and recouped seems like simple math,” Jerry Wilson, Worcester County superintendent of schools, said, “the affects of the inclement weather are much more challenging, resulting in unavoidable disruptions to valuable instruction time. I think everyone is thankful that the signs of spring are blossoming everywhere, and we can move forward with a regular schedule.” Concurrent with the school board’s approval of the last day of school, the following calendar modifications are in effect: Wednesday, June 11 will be a full day of school and Thursday, June 12 and Friday, June 13 will be half days. Lunch time is scheduled during half

The Women’s Club of Ocean Pines recently announced its new officers for 2014-2016. Pictured (left to right) are Jeanie Christie, treasurer; Dianna Bolyard, second vice president; Joyce Piatti, first vice president; Pat Addy, president; and Irene Daly, secretary. The purpose of the Women’s Club is to promote civic and social activities, including educational and community outreach opportunities, for its members to benefit the community. In 2014, the Women’s Club awarded $2,500 in scholarships and donated $2,000 to community organizations. To become a member, call Joyce Piatti on 410-302-0559. The club meets the first Thursday of the month (except July and August). days and bus transportation will operate accordingly. There is no afternoon pre-kindergarten on the half days of school. For high school students, final exams will be administered on June 12 and June 13. In other school news, the Worcester County Youth Council recently reviewed

photographs associated with a new community awareness project called PhotoVoice. PhotoVoice is a process by which people can identify, represent, and enhance their community through photography and digital storytelling. The project has three main goals: To enable people to record and reflect their community’s strengths and concerns; to

promote critical dialogue and knowledge about important issues through group discussion of photographs; and to reach community stakeholders. The Worcester County Youth Council promotes acceptance, tolerance, and respect for others while seeking to eradicate substance abuse by the youth of Worcester County.

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CAPTAIN’S COVE

May - Early June 2014

Cove board considering calling in Utility Co. loan By TOM STAUSS Publisher A motion calling for the Captain’s Cove association to demand repayment of a debt owed to the association by the Captain’s Cove Utility Co. was offered and then pulled for lack of a second during the Cove Board of Directors April 24 meeting, but the issue may be revisited again when the board meets for a scheduled meeting in June. That, at least, is the indication from Cove board member Buz Williams, who initially suggested that the Cove association call the loan in the context of an extended discussion of rate increases that the utility is likely to be proposing in the near future. The debt is for $113,000 in principal plus unspecified interest charges. During discussion, Utility Co. president Tim Hearn, who also is president of the Cove association, disclosed that the utility company is weighing the possibility of bringing in new outside management to manage the utility company as a way of saving money. It was not clear whether that means a sale of the company or a more limited management contract. The alternative to bringing in outside management, he said, would be a rate increase request of about 20 percent. A lesser increase of about ten percent would not result in a fiscally sound utility company and therefore has all but been discarded, he said. Details about rate increase and possible management changes in the utility company will be detailed in a special meeting of the Cove board of directors in May, Hearn said.

Meanwhile, though, the idea that the Cove board is seriously considering calling in the utility company note is noteworthy, in part because three members of the seven-member board are utility company investors. Those three – Hearn, Michael Glick and Jim Silfee – would most likely have to recuse themselves from any vote the Cove board might take if the issue is revisited in June. Briefly, it appeared that Williams might have the votes to call in the loan from among the other four directors, but that prospect faded when the director who seconded Williams’ motion, Dave Kieffer, rescinded his second. Hearn and Glick pushed back hard against the idea that the utility company had the means to pay back the loan or that Virginia’s Corporation Commission would approve it. Hearn acknowledged that it might have been a mistake for a former Cove board to have made the loan. Glick said that if the Cove board votes to call in the note, other entities that are owed money by the company, including CCG Note, the Cove’s primary developer, might do the same. “We will end up with an insolvent utility company,” Glick said. When one property owner asked why the utility company should be able to escape loan repayment when the Cove is aggressively pursuing delinquent lot assessment accounts, Hearn responded that he, Glick and Silfee had all made additional investments in the utility to keep it operating and that they had had “no payback” since then. “The utility company doesn’t have the dollars” to write a check to the Cove

association,” Hearn said. Kieffer, who initially seemed to side with Williams on the issue of whether to call the loan, subsequently withdrew his second and offered up his own motion to table the issue. Kieffer said the board should wait until after the May special meeting to decide what position to take on the loan. “In light of the new information, it would be beneficial to table this to June,” he said, adding that he was not ready to vote on Williams’ motion. After initially indicating that he was disinclined to support the motion to table, Williams seemed to acquiesce, adding, however, that he still wants “to recoup that money.” It’s unclear whether Williams and Kieffer would have the support of the two other directors whose support would be needed to press the issue. Waterfront assessments – The Cove’s accounting firm has discovered another $240,000 in waterfront fund reserve funds that were improperly diverted for general fund purposes, Hearn said during the April 23 meeting. “We knew that $160,000 had been diverted over the past decade,” Hearn said, “but now we know another $240,000 had been diverted as well.” What that means for owners of bayfront or canalfront property in the Cove is that they will not be assessed higher annual assessments when compared to non-waterfront properties, Hearn said, for at least the next two years. During that period, the general fund will reimburse the waterfront reserve with assessment dollars, until the entire $400,000 fund is paid back, Hearn said.

“It (the payback) isn’t going to happen all in one year,” he said. Ward tossed – John Ward, a former Cove board member who is a frequent critic of Hearn’s and Billy Casper Golf, the management firm that runs the Cove amenities, including the ninehole golf course, has been removed from his advisory committee assignments by vote of the board during the April 23 meeting. The action was taken in the presence of Ward, who pressed Hearn to explain why he was being removed and on what authority. Hearn said that Ward had exhibited a pattern of harassing BCG employees, particularly BCG manager Tim Johnson, and that Ward had used his position on the advisory committee to press for information to which, as a typical property owner, he might not have the right to ask for. Ward denied he had harassed anyone and said he had the right to seek the information he was requesting. The vote to remove Ward from two advisory committees was made in a 5-1 vote, with one abstention. Williams was opposed and Kieffer abstained. Following the meeting, Ward said he is not convinced that BCG has been a good manager of Cove amenities and that the oft-touted financial benefits have been overstated. Hearn told the Progress that he generally has been pleased with BCG’s performance but that more recently the company has underperformed on the revenue side at the Marina Club restaurant. BCGF has been able to keep expenses within industry standards relative to revenue, Hearn said.

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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42 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

May - Early June 2014

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May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Saturday, May 10 Ocean Pines Anglers Club, monthly meeting, 9:30 a.m., Ocean Pines Library. Featured speaker, Scott Lennox, host of the TV show Hooked on OC. All welcome. Wednesday, May 14 Democratic candidate forum, Germantown School, 10223 Trappe Road, Berlin, 7-9 p.m. Democratic candidates for Attorney General and House of Delegates. Candidate remarks, questions and answers, and a 30-minute meet and mingle with the candidates. Hosted by Democratic Central Committee Worcester County (DCCWC). 410-208-0219 or 410-6415136.

HAPPENINGS Thursday, May 15 Pine’eer Craft Club, monthly meeting, Ocean Pines Community Center, 9:45 a.m. refreshments, 10 a.m. business meeting, trip to Lavender Fields in Delaware to follow. $17 Lunch, RSVP by 5-12 to Sharon, 410-208-3032. OC Ravens Roost #44 fundraiser, White Marlin Mall’s Five Guys, 4 -7 pm. Twenty percent of the sales will be donated to the Roost scholarship fund. www.ocravensroost44.com to download a voucher. Sunday, May 18 Mid-Atlantic Symphony, season finale, “An Organ Sensation,”

performed by Felix Hell, concert organist. Ocean Pines Community Church, 3 p.m.; pre-concert discussion, 2:15 p.m. $35 adults, under 18 free with reservation, www.midatlanticsymphony. org. Featuring Handel’s Water Music and Poulenc’s Organ Concerto in G Minor. International Museums Day, nine of 12 museums in Worcester County open, including Ocean City Lifesaving Station Museum (10 a.m.-5 p.m., free); Rackliffe House Museum (1-4 p.m., fee); Taylor House Museum (1-4 p.m., free); Julia A. Purnell Museum (1-4 p.m., free); Mt Zion One Room School Museum (1-4 p.m., free); Furnace Town Living

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History Museum (Noon – 5 p.m., free); Girdletree Historic Foundation (1-4 p.m., free); Costen House Museum (1-4 p.m., free); Sturgis One Room School Museum (free); Delmarva Discovery Center (1-4 p.m., fee) www.worcestermuseums.org and www.octhebeach.com/museum. Tuesday, May 20 Friends of the Worcester County Commission for Women and the Women’s Commission, meet and greet, 5-7 p.m., Assateague Room, Ocean Pines Community Center located at 235 Ocean Parkway. Light refreshments, members are asked to bring non-perishable food items to be donated to Diakonia. www. friendsofwccw.org or call 410-208-1272 or 410-208-6798. Tuesday, June 3 Democratic candidate forum, Ocean Pines library, 7-9 p.m. Democratic candidates for Governor, the U.S. House of Representatives, the State Senate and Comptroller. Candidate remarks, questions and answers, and a 30-minute meet and mingle with the candidates. Hosted by Democratic Central Committee Worcester County (DCCWC). 410-208-0219 or 410-641-5136. Friday, June 6 Wor-Wic Community College’s 13th annual golf tournament, Ocean Resorts Golf Club, Berlin. Registration 11 a.m., followed by lunch at noon and shotgun start 1 p.m. Dinner and awards 5:30 p.m. Proceeds benefit Wor-Wic’s child development center. www.worwic. edu or contact Paula Thomas-Shipley at (410) 334-2810. Friday, June 13 Ocean Pines Garden Club’s annual garden tour. The club is asking Ocean Pines homeowners to consider placing their garden on the tour. Large or small, cultivated or “natural,” formal or informal -- all gardens are given consideration. Homeowners will be given the opportunity to have an artist painting “plein air” in their gardens during the tour and will also be invited, as guests of the garden club, to the luncheon immediately following the tour. Those interested in placing their garden on the tour or with questions about doing so, contact Marian Bickerstaff, 410-208-2508. Ongoing Ocean Pines Ping Pong Club, Ocean Pines Community Center, Monday noon to 2 p.m, Wednesday and Friday noon to 3 p.m. In the summer schedule changes to evenings. All levels of players welcome. Neil Gottesman, 732-773-1516. The Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines - Ocean City meets every Wednesday at 7:45 a.m. in the Ocean Pines Community Center, except 3rd Wednesdays when it meets at Hall’s Restaurant in OC at the same time from June through September 2013.

44 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPA directors blunder on general manager contract

he OPA General Manager’s contract extension made the front page recently. The article quotes Tom Terry, the board president, stating that Bob Thompson will continue as the GM for another three years. I looked into this news further and have decided to share my findings with the readers of the OP Progress. This newspaper is an important voice and an objective information source for this community. Here are interesting highlights: •Bob Thompson’s new base salary effective May 1 will be $165,000. •Thompson can earn additional 25 percent in bonuses bringing his salary to $206,250. •Bonus may be paid even on a preagreed negative results (budgeted loss). Amenities included in the bonus structure are: Aquatics, Beach Club (less parking revenue), Golf, Marina and the Yacht Club. •The board executed the new contract two months before the old one was due to expire. •Only two board members objected and voted no, Jack Collins and Marty Clark. First, many of us are likely to thank Jack and Marty for demonstrating a sound business judgment. Second, after

GUEST COMMENTARY gathering reaction from many friends and residents, their consensus opinion about the board’s new GM contract can be described outrageous. This is the very reason I decided to write this commentary. My focus will be on two key questions: What is a fair base salary for the general manager position and is Bob Thompson deserving of the new threeyear contract? What is a fair base salary for the OP general manager position? In order to come up with an intelligent and objective answer we need some comparables. Here are my interesting samples: Ocean City’s city manager base salary: $150,636; Annapolis city manager base salary, $ 153,011; Wicomico County Director of Administration, $124,000. You may ask why an HOA example is missing from my list. I was unable to find one that meets two key criteria: proximity to a local job market and important similarities with Ocean Pines. I also decided against using national statistic for average salary as this is not fair. For example, US Bureau of Labor Statistics lists $52,610 as the national

average for community association managers. On April 16, I shared the above comparables with the board members in an open letter. I highlighted the fact that the annual operating budget for each of these municipalities is multiple times higher than OPA’s own budget. I also pointed out an important difference in the complexity and overall responsibilities of the above jobs. On April 18, Mr. Terry responded to my letter. He stated the board followed a lengthy evaluation of the situation and developed a new approach to the salary structure. Part of this evaluation included the board’s own research of comparable salaries. The board’s report concluded that Montgomery Village in Maryland is the closest organization for meaningful comparison. The same report states that this community pays its top guy, an executive vice president, a base salary of $152,000. In my subsequent response to Mr. Terry, I expressed my concerns pointing out the board’s report failed to take into account important demographic differences.

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Montgomery Village is in Montgomery County. The 2011 Census Bureau data ranks this county as the 10th wealthiest from over 3,000 counties in the US. Montgomery County is part of the Washington, DC metropolitan area. This region dominates the list of highest income counties in the US. Seven counties in this region made the US top 10 list. Comparison between our two subject counties (from 2010 Census data). In Maryland Montgomery is ranked 2nd and Worcester 13th out of 24 counties. Montgomery’s median household income is $48,357 and its per capita income is $48,357. Worcester County’s is $31,520 and $55,487, respectively. Apparently some OPA board members looked at the Cost of Living index (CoL). This was a good idea. Unfortunately, a comparison was made using Montgomery Village and Columbia with Ocean City, with a very small difference. However, I decided to compare Ocean Pines with Montgomery Village and the CoL difference is sizable, around 25 percent. As you see a market locality plays an important role in establishing salary guidelines or doing comparable analyses. So, what do I think is a fair salary for the OP’s general manager position? Taking into account the above information a base salary of $120,000 is more appropriate. This would also be influenced by a person’s skills, experience and his / her performance track record. Sadly, I soon discovered that five board members did not find my information a “game changer.” Instead, they stuck with their decision to give Mr. Thompson a base salary of $165,000. Is Mr. Bob Thompson deserving of the new three-year contract? Most of us realize this is a very subjective topic so the opinions will vary widely. We don’t see the world in the same way and we don’t always agree on everything. Some will say that Mr. Thompson is a very nice person that he tries his best and that he works very hard. Others will say that he has been given plenty of time to prove his competency and that his performance and achieved results are no longer acceptable. I hope that we do agree on one thing, that this is not a popularity contest. All of us observed several major decisions that resulted in big mistakes, hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial losses. For example the Java Café, Yacht Club swimming pool fiasco and ongoing problems with the golf course. We also saw a huge cost overrun resulting from an unplanned need to purchase new equipment for two kitchens at the YC facility. Few months ago I raised an issue with the board and the GM about their decision to invest in the second kitchen.

OPINION

May - Early June 2014

OPINION

May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Thompson salary and incentive package a likely election issue

n a confirmation that the law of unintended consequences is alive and well in Ocean Pines, the Board of Directors recently handed board critics an issue that can be used effectively in this summer’s board election and probably will be. Two sitting directors, Marty Clarke and Jack Collins, voted against the sweet compensation package for General Manager Bob Thompson recently approved by a board super majority. It appears that two announced candidates for the board, Pat Renaud, a newcomer to OPA politics, and Dave Stevens, a veteran director who is seeking another threeyear term after a year on the political sidelines, are joining Clarke and Collins as critics of the new three-year Thompson contract. They are competing for a seat on the board with recently appointed director Jeff Knepper, who voted for it and can’t escape that vote even if he wanted to. Criticism of the contract, particularly the $165,000 base salary, and another $10,000 virtually guaranteed bonus for meeting certain performance goals yet to be determined, is resonating throughout Ocean Pines. People can’t understand why the general manager of an HOA – granted, a large one – will be paid more annually than the city manager of Ocean City, the Worcester County administrator, and pretty much every other governmental or quasi-governmental executive on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The package is seen by some as evidence that a current board majority is out of touch with the financial struggles of many Pines residents, especially those on relatively fixed incomes, and ignores the relatively tepid economic recovery in Worcester County following the so-called Great Recession that started in the last decade. Supporters of Renaud and Stevens will be relentless in pressing the case for why the Thompson contract is too rich for Ocean Pines. If they are successful, they will join two other directors who, in varying degrees of intensity, believe the board has been too generous in extending the general manager’s contract. OPA President Tom Terry, in a recent interview with the Progress, offered two possible justifications for the package that might appeal to those who are more favorably disposed toward the general manager. The first rationale is that Thompson’s predecessor, with reasonable cost of living increases imputed over the past three years, would be making somewhere in the neighborhood of $162,000 were he still employed by the OPA. The other rationale is that Ocean Pines, with its restaurants and golf course and other amenities, is different from other area political jurisdictions; the board majority believes it’s fair and reasonable to compare Thompson’s compensation package to similarly sized HOAs, such as Montgomery Village near Washington, D.C., which (inconveniently) happens to exist in one of the nation’s wealthiest counties. Terry says research indicates that the cost of living in Montgomery County is only a few percentage points higher than in Worcester County; ergo it’s reasonable to use Montgomery Village as a suitable “comparable” to determine a reasonable salary and incentive package for Thompson.

COMMENTARY Rebutting these rationales is not too difficult. With a minimum $10,000 bonus likely to be tacked on at the end of the fiscal year, Thompson’s

operations by the general manager. There will even less if the OPA later in the year decides to lease it out the golf course or begin preparations to convert it into a park. Other than a Yacht Club restaurant operation, OPA’s departments and services overlap those of a

Rick Menard compensation is probably going to be $175,000 or so, not $165,000. Worcester County, for all its many virtues, is no Montgomery County; take away Ocean City’s high- and mid-rise condominiums and the concentrated wealth they represent and Worcester County’s per capita wealth and economic complexion is not substantially different from Somerset County, one of the poorest jurisdictions in the state. One of Ocean Pines’ major amenities, the golf course, is run day-to-day by an outside management firm that produces its own operating budget that has been adopted pro forma by OPA management. Perhaps that’s just as well, from Thompson’s perspective; the golf operational loss in the 2014 fiscal year probably will be closer to $400,000 than $300,000, hardly a performance the general manager would care to be judged by. There’s not too much heavy lifting required in golf

conventional municipality’s. The OPA budget is tens of millions of dollars less than Ocean City’s; and yet with its massive influx of summer residents and tourists, Ocean City is by far a more complex entity to manage. Its police department is much larger than Ocean Pines’; the town runs its own water and water system (Ocean Pines’ system is county managed); and the town operates a public transportation system that Ocean Pines can’t begin to replicate. The town manages its own planning and zoning affairs, of which there are very few in Ocean Pines; county government handles such matters in and around Ocean Pines when and if they need addressing. Yet the executive who oversees all this for Ocean City makes tens of thousands less than OPA’s general manager. Let candidates for the board this summer offer up their views and property owners can factor their responses accordingly when deciding how to vote. – Tom Stauss

Guest Commentary

Pines’ overall appeal to buyers. We have to do a better job in how our financial resources are used and to hold people accountable when mistakes are made. In summary, I believe the board’s newly established base salary of $165,000 for the general manager is too high. And the renewal of Bob Thompson’s contract for another three years is a mistake. I realize some of you will disagree with my views and I will respect your own opinions. Slobodan Trendic, Ocean Pines

From Page 44 I told them this is contrary to the industry practice because labor is the single highest recurring cost in any professionally managed kitchen. So, my answer to the second question is a simple NO. We all feel that Ocean Pines is a great community with a rich history. Its original developer had a bold vision that lives to this day. Unfortunately, like Ocean Pines, many aging communities are faced with the old infrastructure and a need to re-invent themselves. Furthermore, any strategic decision our Board makes has a direct impact on our property values and Ocean

He is a property owner and a part-time resident beginning in 2008 and a full-time resident since July of 2013.

46 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

May - Early June 2014

Aquatics facing some daunting challenges

ew Ocean Pines Aquatics Director Colby Phillips has exquisite timing. She takes over the program from former director Tom Perry, who resigned to devote full-time to his Delaware lifeguard business, just as it becomes clear that Ocean Pines Aquatics is facing more than its fair share of challenges. Welcome Colby! One challenge is financial. It can be summed up this way: Ocean Pines Aquatics has been losing money for five or six years, ever since the Sports Core pool was converted into an indoor, year-round facility. Until recently, the losses seemed manageable, if nothing to celebrate, usually somewhere less than $150,000 per year, or less than $18 per Ocean Pines property owner. Recently numbers, however, are far more troubling. As of March 31, with April numbers still to be reported, Aquatics had lost $188,709 for the year. April is the last month of the fiscal year, and it’s not difficult to imagine that April will shower the OPA with more red ink and an annual deficit north of $200,000 for the first time in Ocean Pines’ history. A year ago, the operating deficit was only $123,517 through March. Interestingly, expenses for the department are uncannily close to budget through 11 months of the year -- $716,112, or only $1,066 over budget. The problem is mostly on the revenue side, which is underperforming relative to budget by a substantial $64,449, most of it in membership dues that failed to materialize. At least some of that can be attributed to the fact that the new Yacht Club pool

be better to patch cracks and other defects in the pool before Memorial Day weekend to allow the pool to reopen as An excursion through the curious cul-de-sacs An excursion through theby-ways curious and by-ways and cul-de-sacs usual. of Worcester County’s County’s most densely community. of Worcester mostpopulated densely populated community. Similar patching by the Public Works By TOM STAUSS/ By TOM Publisher STAUSS/Publisher Department in May of last year made it possible to reopen the Swim and back. Here, the aquatics director can Racquet Club pool on time. The same was not open for much of last summer. The new aquatics director, of course, have influence. At the very minimum, needs to happen quickly at Mumford’s can’t do a thing about last year’s revenue all former aquatics members should be this month if the pool is to open when numbers and had nothing to do with contacted by letter or phone call from it should. More comprehensive repairs, assembling the new fiscal year’s budget the OPA membership department and/ projections. Although it’s not absolutely or the aquatics department, from a list including a complete abrasion of the certain that the Yacht Club pool will of former members that the OPA should pool surfaces down to the concrete, a open on time this season on Memorial be able to generate, even from its less- new bond coat and a Diamond-Brite finish coat, could await an RFP (request Day weekend, there’s a reasonably than-state-of-the-art computer system. Simply put, they needed to be for proposals) and bids in the summer, decent chance that it will. As this edition of the Progress was invited back – persistently. Fifty to with the work to be completed after the heading to the printers, the new parking 100 households rejoining will have a pool closes for the season. Pool companies are generally believed lot area for the Yacht Club pool was very salutary impact on membership to be hungrier for work in the fall, and unpaved but seemed well prepared revenues. As of the first week of May, prospects the OPA should reap the benefits of for an imminent coating of asphalt. Even if the new Yacht Club is not fully for the Mumford’s Landing pool opening lower costs. Prior to shopping the RFP to operational by Memorial Day, there’s date seemed murky at best. This, too, no reason the Yacht Club pool can’t be is beyond the control of the aquatics pool companies, Thompson needs director, although she would be well to accomplish a pressure test of the opened on time. The new aquatics director can’t advised to join the Aquatics Advisory Mumford’s pool to determine if there do much about that, either. That’s in Committee in urging General Manager are other problems there heretofore the hands of the OPA Public Works Bob Thompson to make the kinds of undiscovered. If any are found, these, too, can be Department, upon which aquatics decisions that will guarantee that this added to the RFP. directors always depend for many of the pool, too, opens on time. As an article elsewhere in this edition mechanical aspects of running the pools. And the county health department, of the Progress details, difficulties which might not allow the pool to open associated with late-starting and if there’s still a lot of dusty construction budget-busting repairs at Mumford’s occurring on the adjacent Yacht Club could delay the pool’s reopening to late June or even longer. A site. fter initially voting unanimously to With the Yacht Club pool available The Ocean Pines Progress, a journal for all or virtually all of the 2014 endorse completion of all the repairs, of news and commentary, is pubseason, there’s no reason why most of even if meant the pool would be late lished monthly throughout the year. the diehard aquatics members who in reopening, committee members It is circulated in Ocean Pines, Berlin, dropped out last year can’t be lured reconsidered, concluding that it would Ocean City, and Captain’s Cove, Va. Letters and other editorial submissions: Please submit via email only. Letters should be original and exclusive to the Progress. Include phone number for verification.

LIFE IN THE LIFE INPINES THE PINES

LETTERS

Off-limits

I had a pleasant walk around the south gate pond recently, including the new path at the Veteran's Memorial. The Memorial is an outstanding part of the Pines which we have contributed to. The entire path had only a few goose droppings, maybe enough to count on my fingers, not even any dog droppings which would be a much bigger problem. This leads me to believe that the goose thing is all a lot of hoopla. It would be sad if the price for this tranquil place is the banishment of the geese. We also don't need any wires that might break their wings, dogs running around to stress them, or obnoxious noises to disturb the peace. These migratory geese may have flown thousands of miles to get here and are a true wonder, we can put up with them for their brief stay. It might be that the field may

need some type of machine to clean it if it is to be used for some activities, but the path will be fine with a minimum of maintenance, (which it looks like it already has). We like the geese and hope that the OP board will soon declare that the geese are "off limits" for any future action. Hal Boyd Ocean Pines

Praise for Doug Gansler

I was very pleasantly surprised to see Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler knocking on doors in Ocean Pines on a recent weekend! He was energetically canvassing our neighbors, asking for their vote for Governor in the June Primary Election. I have been carefully watching the gubernatorial candidates for months, and strongly believe Mr. Gansler will make the best Governor. He is clearly a financial conservative,

advancing many intelligent programs for: Wooing out-of state manufacturers to locate, or in the cases of many who have left our state, re-locate, to Maryland, creating more jobs; providing free child care for low-income families, so that parents and single parents can find and hold jobs; implementing new job-creating ideas for prison inmates, to reduce Maryland's high percentage of criminal re-entry in the the rison systems. Doug Gansler has said publicly that he wants to win Ocean Pines, and Worcester County . He's the only gubernatorial candidate I've seen acting on that ambition by canvassing our neighborhoods for votes. And I believe he is the only candidate presenting intelligent and fiscally conservative plans to reduce our taxes by increasing state-wide employment. Tom Sandusky Ocean Pines

127 Nottingham Lane Ocean Pines, MD 21811

PUBLISHER/EDITOR Tom Stauss tstauss1@mchsi.com 410-641-6029

Advertising Sales Tom Stauss 410-641-6029

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May - Early June 2014 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

48 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

May - Early June 2014

K.C. COLGAN

JUST TEN MINUTES FROM OCEAN PINES

Work: 410-835-8338 Cell: 443-880-6250

Email: kc@prestonmotor.com

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