May 2017 ocean pines progress

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May 2017

www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress

443-359-7527

THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY

AGING LANDMARK

Planned traffic circle could stimulate OPA action on iconic entrance

W

After an orchestrated outcry of opposition to an announced “Family Fun Night” at the Yacht Club “Oasis” pool on Sunday nights this summer, the Ocean Pines Association administration with Board of Directors’ concurrence has returned “family fun” activities to its traditional time on Wednesday nights. County planning and zoning administrators Ed Tudor and Jennifer Keener signed off on a proposed schedule for the Yacht Club pool prior to an April 29 board meeting, during which Acting General Manager Brett Hill asked the board to approve a schedule of family hours at the otherwise adults-only pool.

~ Page 11

North Gate bridge replacement gets flicker of board interest By TOM STAUSS Publisher hile it’s hardly a rush to judgment, stampede or even an emerging consensus, there does seem to be some interest among Ocean Pines Association directors in replacing or perhaps renovating Ocean Pines’ ‘iconic’ North Gate bridge entrance. During a board work session April 24 about the bridge and main entrance into Ocean Pines, not once did any director refer to the North Gate Bridge as iconic, a word often used by those who would hate to see it replaced by something more modern and, dare it be said, more inviting and welcoming. The closest anyone came to invoking iconic status for the aging landmark was Director Cheryl Jacobs, who said that it’s been described in town meetings as “the epitome of Ocean

‘Family Fun’ moved back to Wednesdays

Pines.” She herself didn’t adopt that description as her own. She added that “a lot of people would be distraught if it’s torn down,” acknowledging the reality of a pitched battle that would likely ensue if the directors moved replacement to the front burner. Jacobs began the discussion by suggesting that at the very least the area around the North Gate needed beautification, citing the presence of weeds and the need for “flower replenishment.” As it currently stands, the landmark falls short of living up to the description of a “premier community” in the OPA mission statement, she said. Director Pat Supik piled on, advising her colleagues that “on a good day the bridge needs to be demolished” by a couple To Page 37

Board opens vote to limited transparency

The Board of Directors at its April 29 regular meeting voted 4-3 to open the counting of ballots in annual Ocean Pines Association elections to anyone attending the meeting of the Elections Committee, but stopped short of voting for full transparency by withholding the results of the election until the annual Saturday meeting of property owners in August. The vote in favor of amending Board Resolution M-06, in a version proposed by Director Dave Stevens and based on a draft prepared by the Elections Committee, was unanimous.

~ Page 24

Parks announces board candidacy

With a filing deadline of May 10 and a newly reconstituted Search Committee scrambling to ensure that at least four candidates run for the Board of Directors this summers, only two candidates had filed or announced their candidacies as of the first week of May. Former Director Martin D. “Marty” Clarke was the first to file, and Director Doug Parks confirmed that he will be seeking a full three-year term on the board. Parks chairs the Technology Task Force that has been working to improve high speed Internet connectivity between OPA departments and to upgrade Ocean Pines accounting software.

The iconic North Gate bridge dates back to the 1970’s

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May 2017

OCEAN PINES

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

An ad that recently appeared in a local weekly publication was headlined by a call “To All Women. Now Is the Time to Come to the Aid of Your Community. Needed - Women to Serve on the Ocean Pines Board of Directors.” The ad, purportedly placed by an anonymous group calling itself the Concerned Citizens for a Better Ocean Pines, raised the hackles of Ocean Pines Association President Tom Herrick. “I find it hard to believe that since this Board of Directors terminated the prior GM, who had continually neglected to focus on updating our major amenities, and quickly approved and took action on projects to upgrade the Cove Restaurant, Beach Club bathrooms, Golf Club, Manklin Creek Playground, all in just a few month’s time, with additional plans to completely redo the Administration Building in the next fiscal year, needs a specific group of one particular sexual orientation to “Come to the Aid of our community,” Herrick wrote in an e-mail to the Progress. Herrick said the current board “has accomplished this with no increase in our annual assessment with a still sufficient amount of funding in our reserves for future needs. The current Board has already come to the aid of this community,” he added. Herrick said the time when aid was

needed for the community “was last year” and much needed fixes have “already happened.” What he didn’t say but could have is that the current seven-member board has two women serving on it.

tise in course maintenance, I see good things happening this season. Hope is eternal!” Herrick said.

Herrick touts reduced golf membership rates

The Aquatics Advisory Committee, in recent months meeting without the attendance of Aquatics Director Colby Phillips or board liaison Doug Parks, will have both in attendance at the committee’s May 15 meeting, barring unforeseen emergencies. Both Phillips and Parks advised the committee that they would be attending the meeting. Phillips in particular has been cleared to attend, an apparently reversal of policy by Acting General Manager Brett Hill. Committee members had urged Hill and the board to relent because Phillips’ presence has always led to a free flow of information, which enabled the committee to do a better job in its core mission of advising the Board of Directors. While some advisory committees apparently have broken the prohibition against attempting to direct the activities of department heads who attend their meetings, the aquatics panel has never been accused of that since Phillips’ take-over of the position about two years ago.

OPA President Tom Herrick has issued a statement reminding the Ocean Pines Association membership that as of May 1, new, reduced golf membership rates went into effect. “All full memberships, including allday and afternoon, enjoy the benefit of a large bucket of range balls (one per day) in addition to the 20% discount in the pro shop, and extended tee time reservations,” he said. “Also, any child 16 and under play for free with a full paying adult after 3 p.m.” Herrick said that in his opinion “the board made great strides in helping to improve our golf amenity this season. I would like to see these new rates being promoted particularly with families. I am hopeful the free child promotion will bring in the younger golfer to our course. With the improvements to the downstairs (of the Country Club), especially the Terns Grill, coupled with (Course Superintendent) Andre Jordan’s exper-

Aquatics director, liaison to attend panel meeting

Several years prior to that, however, the committee was suspended for a summer because one of its members had delved too deeply into an issue that its then board liaison considered inappropriate. Then OPA President Tom Terry agreed and imposed a time-out that didn’t particularly bother any committee members as the suspension occurred during the summer. Several recent issues have percolated up to the board without any committee input, and Hill and the board seem to recognize that most committees will in most cases be more effective if they can be given information by department heads, from which recommendations can be made to the board.

Former board candidate hits 20 percent discount

A candidate for the Board of Directors last summer, Tom Janasek, recently praised the seven-member policy-making group for moving aggressively and effectively to renovate the Yacht Club, Country Club and Beach Club. But at the April 29 meeting of the board, during the Public Comments segment, he questioned the wisdom of Acting General Manager Brett Hill’s decision to offer a 20 percent discount off the tab at any of Ocean Pines’ four food and beverage venues.

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From Page 5 Janasek said he could support the policy in effect during the off-season, when OPA restaurants are often underutilized, but he said it makes a lot less sense on summer Friday and Saturday nights when the Yacht Club is jamming. “The food and service is getting better,� and the result is growing revenues, Janasek said. But as a businessman, he said he doesn’t think giving back 20 percent of the gross makes good business sense when there is no shortage of customers at the amenity.

Former director urges Wood Duck island markers

Former OPA Director and President Doris Lloyd took to the podium during the Public Comments segment of the April 29 Board of Directors meeting to warn the OPA and residents of a “dangerous situation� caused by an island located on Manklin Creek in the vicinity of Wood Duck Isle I and II. The island is above water at low tide but is not visible at high tide, and Lloyd said a lot of new boaters in the area might not be aware of it. She urged the board to install markers as a way of deterring boaters from the island.

OCEAN PINES On another matter, Lloyd urged the board to consider raising the height of all the bulkheads in Ocean Pines. “With 12 miles of canals, we’re going to have to do something about (damage to property during storms),� she said, urging the board to “plan for the future.�

Anna Foultz: Board should install County Club elevator

With the OPA about to begin a long-anticipated renovation of the Country Club second floor, at least one Ocean Pines resident, Anna Foultz, urges the Board of Directors not to forget the importance of the elevator – actually, what’s there now is more appropriately called a lift rather than an elevator -that takes those with trouble climbing stairs from the entrance landing to the upper level. “I don’t know if you considered that,� Foultz told the board during its April 29 regular meeting. She said that she hopes the renovation will turn the Country Club back into a beautiful building “for everybody,� including those elderly Ocean Pines residents who are members of her bridge club. Acting General Manager Brett Hill said there are no plans to install a new elevator as part of the renovation, but that a new outside ramp is part of the plans, something that didn’t seem to impress Foultz because a ramp isn’t going to be easy to navigate for some of her el-

derly bridge club members.

Seafarer property owner complains of poor drainage

The owner of a home at 52 Seafarer Lane appeared before the Board of Directors at its April 29 monthly meeting to complain of drainage problems at his home, which at times of heavy rain can cause water to rise within one foot of his home’s crawl space. The owner had pictures to show the directors. He said the issue can be solved if the OPA is willing to commit to investing in pipes sized large enough to move water off his property, something he said that OPA officials to date are reluctant to do. He said that if the OPA continues to ignore his pleas for remediation his next step might be to bring his lawyer to a board meeting to demand action. “That’s not a threat,� but a promise, he added.

White lounge chairs on order for Oasis pool

Ocean Pines Association director Cheryl Jacobs wanted to know whether Acting General Manager Brett Hill has ordered the higher, more comfortable white lounge chairs for the Yacht Club’s Oasis pool this summer. She posed the question to Hill during a Board of Directors’ work session April 24. According to Jacobs, some of the chairs that were available at the Oasis

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Director Cheryl Jacobs recently complained about the condition of the gazebo at the Swim and Racquet Club – she said a seat is in a state of disrepair – and Acting General Manager Brett Hill he would immediately put in a work order to have it fixed. “First I’m hearing about it,� he told Jacobs. She also expressed the opinion that all of Ocean Pines’ parks should have picnic tables available, a matter that Hill also said he would look into. Jacobs’ remarks were made during the Board of Directors’ April 24 work session.

Pirate ship playground still not firmly moored

It would appear that not everyone in Ocean Pines is comfortable with the idea of the pirate ship playground equipment not yet completely installed on the

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pool last summer were “deficient� for people with disabilities or for “older people� who have difficulty climbing in and out of lounge chairs. Hill offered reassurance to Jacobs. He told her that 20 of the higher, more accessible lounge chairs are on order and will be deployed to the Yacht Club pool this summer.

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OCEAN PINES OCEAN PINES BRIEFS From Page 6 Yacht Club deck. Perhaps there’s still a way to stop it from weighing anchor permanently at its new home? During the April 24 Board of Directors’ work session, Director Cheryl Jacobs asked Acting General Manager Brett Hill whether the new amenity is covered by the OPA’s liability policy. She expressed “concern” about injuries that could occur when parents and grandparents sip cheery libations at the nearby Tiki bar. She asked Hill for a written report that her concerns about safety and liabilities had been adequately addressed by staff. Without promising to produce anything in writing, Hill said the pirate ship amenity “is not finished yet” and recently had been shifted 45 degrees to better fit the space. He said the OPA wants to be sure there’s enough rubberized mulch delivered to the site to protect against injuries. “Especially here, you don’t want to be in the position of being negligent,” he said. He said the pirate ship is fully covered by the OPA’s liability policy, but that didn’t seem to satisfy Director Slobodan Trendic, who said he wanted to see evidence in writing that the new

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS playground is fully covered by the OPA’s insurance carrier. Director Pat Supik said the OPA is supposed to review its liability coverage once a year, and that perhaps the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee should be given that task. Hill said Director of Finance Mary Bosack completed the policy’s renewal recently with “any number of changes.” Supik suggested that Hill present a copy of the policy’s declaration page for evidence of what’s covered. “It’s about 20 pages,” Hill replied.

Public Works yard reopens this month

The Ocean Pines Public Works yard will be open to residents May 1-27 from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Only loose yard debris (leaves, limbs, etc.) will be accepted. Items may also be placed in paper bags. Plastic bags will not be allowed. The Ocean Pines Public Works yard is located at 1 Firehouse Lane behind the south gate fire department. Additionally, Republic Services customers may place up to four bags of leaves or yard debris curbside for each scheduled pickup. Republic will also pick up branches if they are tied in bundles no longer than four feet and weigh-

7

ing no more than 50 pounds. These are in addition to regular trash pickup. Trash collection days for residents south of Route 90 are Tuesday and Friday. For residents north of Route 90, the collection days are Monday and Thursday. Ocean Pines residents interested in enrolling with Republic Services should call 410-749-1551.

highly recommend that all adults wear an approved bike helmet,” Ocean Pines Police Chief Dave Massey said. “A helmet saved me from a serious head injury in my accident.” Free children’s bike helmets can be picked up at the Ocean Pines Police Department, located at 239 Ocean Parkway, Ocean Pines, MD, 21811.

OPPD offers free kids’ bike helmets

Men’s President’s Cup May 13 at OP Golf Club

Head injuries and falls from bicycles are one of the leading causes of emergency room visits among children, especially during the summer months on Delmarva. The Ocean Pines Police Department is pumping the pedals on an initiative intended to increase safety awareness during National Bike Safety Month. The police department will be distributing new, high-quality helmets to children in need throughout May. Helmets are required by law for anyone under 16, but all bicyclists, regardless of age, should help protect themselves by wearing properly fitted bicycle helmets every time they ride. Bike helmets should be level and snug and should not shift while riding. “Although adults are not required to wear helmets, as a victim of a serious bike accident some years ago, I would

Ocean Pines Golf Club will host its annual President’s Cup tournament on Saturday, May 13, with a 9 a.m. shotgun start. The event is open to all men who are members of the Ocean Pines Association or the Ocean Pines Men’s Golf Association. The tournament format will be individual stroke play. Players will be assigned flights based on May 1 handicaps, and tee assignments will be determined by flights. The entry fee, payable online at OceanPinesGolf.org no later than May 6 at noon, is $35 per person, which includes prizes, range balls, coffee and donuts before the event and lunch (including soda and beer) after. Applicable greens/cart fees may be paid at the golf shop the day of the event. A special rate of $35 for greens fee and cart is available to non-members.

8March Ocean3,Pines 2017PROGRESS

The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch

May 2017

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OCEAN PINES

9

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPA meeting deadlines for completing amenity renovations the Tern Grille. “We brought bathrooms that were 40 years out-of-date into modern appearance with all new tile and stone work,” Hill said. The Tern Grille at Ocean Pines, in particular, received a lot of attention. It was renovated to improve efficiency and expand dining options. The preexisting bar was replaced with an extended bar. “There’s a beautiful new bar with almost double the seating capacity,” Hill said. “We now have ten high-definition televisions broadcasting 4K. After you’ve finished your 18th hole, come up for a cold beer.” The Tern Grille has a new tap system, featuring six beers. Also on tap is a new lineup of weekend entertainment. In the summer months, Hill said the Tern Grille will feature Friday and Saturday night entertainment. “I think it’s exciting seeing all of the activities on the course,” Hill said. “I am very confident in Andre’s ability.” He was referring to new course superintendent Andre Jordan., whose job it is to keep the course in good playing condition. According to the facilities department in Ocean Pines, more than two thirds of the greens have been seeded and aerated. Fairways have all been aerated with a verti-quake machine. The plan is to update and add color

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to landscaping on the golf course and to redesign the front lawn landscape. It is an ongoing project that should be completed by the end of spring, Hill said. Bulkhead repairs are also scheduled for holes 9 and 18. “The fact that Ocean Pines has more control over the course, we’re seeing a lot more activity in bringing projects, which were not prioritized in the same fashion with the previous manager, to fruition,” said Hill.

The building’s second floor is now ready for a reconfiguration project. A new conference room and deck are included in the final floor plan. The new Manklin Meadows playground, with construction by River Valley Recreation, a division of River Valley Landscapes Inc., opened for use for children under 12 years old in early-May after a ribbon-cuttng. A new playground for toddlers to

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he Ocean Pines Association has announced the completion of a series of capital projects ahead of the summer season, from taking a step toward making bridges in Ocean Pines safer to renovating dated bathrooms and locker rooms within key amenities. “It shows we have a board that is committed to change and to completing much-needed projects,” said Brett Hill, acting general manager of the Ocean Pines Association. “We took fiscal responsibility of the budget and managed to update every major asset within our current inventory.” After being on the table for years in Ocean Pines, bridge work to Ocean Parkway and Clubhouse Drive will soon be completed. “Despite the aggravation with the lane closures, we’re seeing that project come close to an end,” Hill said. “The entire project should be done by Memorial Day.” Work to both bridges began on July 12, 2016. Other recently completed projects include new construction of the standalone bathhouse at White Horse Park, replacement of the gymnasium floor at the Ocean Pines Community Center and major renovations as well as structural repairs to first floor of the Ocean Pines Country Club, including an expansion of

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May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 11

By TOM STAUSS Publisher fter an orchestrated outcry of opposition to an announced “Family Fun Night” at the Yacht Club “Oasis” pool on Sunday nights this summer, the Ocean Pines Association administration with Board of Directors’ concurrence has returned “family fun” activities to its traditional time on Wednesday nights. County planning and zoning administrators Ed Tudor and Jennifer Keener signed off on a proposed schedule for the Yacht Club pool prior to an April 29 board meeting, during which Acting General Manager Brett Hill asked the board to approve a schedule of family hours at the otherwise adults-only pool. The board unanimously accepted Hill’s proposal, drafted by Aquatics Director Colby Phillips, that asked the board to endorse the same family events at the Oasis pool that were in place at the end of last summer. Family Fun Night, which Hill had announced would move from Wednesdays to Sundays this summer, will resume June 21 on Wednesdays from 6-8 p.m., with the pool closing at 5 p.m. to allow staff to prepare. Late last summer, Phillips inaugurated family hours at the Oasis pool on Monday nights from 5 to 8 p.m., with family members of all ages permitted to use the pool. Adults using the pool beginning at 5 p.m. would not be asked to leave to accommodate the family hours. The directors agreed that the Monday night family hours will be continued this summer. Contrary to a statement made by him earlier in the month to the effect that member-only hours at the Oasis pool from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. daily could not be continued, Hill announced at the April 29 board meeting that the county had signed off on early morning hours. The approved changes in schedule also mean that the Swim and Racquet Pool, where Hill had envisioned adults-only swimming from 1 to 7 p.m. on Sundays, will remain open to swimmers of all ages seven days a week. Still to be determined is whether beer and wine sales will be permitted at that venue this summer. The return to the status quo ante was made possible by the county officials’ agreeing to the hours of operations at the Yacht Club that earlier had seemed to be in jeopardy. Previously, Hill in effect said that the OPA has been operating in violation of its operating permit for the Yacht Club since its opening in 2012. To restore good relations with county officials, Hill said he wanted to comply with the terms of the operating agreement, specifically the schedule of operation for the pool. The agreement calls for the pool to close at 6 p.m., too soon to accommodate the traditional family fun night on Wednesdays. It also said the pool wouldn’t open until 10 a.m. every day. In a meeting with Keener and Tudor, Hill, Phillips and Public Works Director

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‘Family Fun’ moved back to Wednesday nights at Yacht Club’s ‘Oasis’ pool County accepts proposal by Aquatics Department that allows last summer’s schedule to remain in place Eddie Wells were told that to restore the traditional Yacht Club hours, including early morning members-only use, they needed to request a variance from the existing agreement, which previous OPA

management had never bothered to do. Hill said that the OPA’s administrative variance request was favorably looked upon by Tudor and Keener because the OPA recently had remedied

Americans with Disabilities Act violations at the Yacht Club’s parking lot. County inspectors had visited the site to verify that certain ADA improvements had been made. “That was their #1 problem with us,” Hill told the board. That the county seemed relatively eager to agree to the OPA’s variance requests administratively somewhat contradicts Hill’s more pessimistic assessment of the chances of that occurring. After an April 13 special meeting, Hill told the Progress that he feared that the county might insist that the OPA tear out the second floor kitchen as a way of complying with the original operations

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12 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

May 2017

Retired nurses’ donation

The Retired Nurses of Ocean Pines recently presented a check for $1,000 to Colleen Wareing, vice president of patient care services at Atlantic General Hospital, benefiting the James G. and Nancy W. Barrett Nursing Scholarship Program. The Retired Nurses of Ocean Pines have contributed a total of $9,000 to Atlantic General Hospital’s nursing scholarship program since 2008. Pictured, left to right, are Wareing, Retired Nurses of Ocean Pines officers Jean Beatty, secretary; Ellen Yannuzzi, president; Elaine Gilgenast, vice president; and Joyce Brittan, treasurer.

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Family Fun Night From Page 11 permit. In a memo to the 11029 Racetrack Rd. board sent prior to anBerlin, April 24 work session, 1 1029MD Racetrack Rd. Hill said the 21811 revised family fun schedule “would have Berlin, MD 21811 one hour less impact than last summer’s activities, and help promote sales at the restaurant on two of the three slowest nights of the week.” The decision to return to the status quo ante was made after the board, in the special meeting April 13, voted 5-2 to rescind Hill’s Sunday Fun event, announced in the OPA’s Spring Activities Guide published on the OPA Web site a few days before. Voting with Hill to retain the revised schedule was Director Pat Supik, who said she didn’t think Hill’s decision to shift family fun hours from Wednesday to Sunday amount to a policy change. During that special meeting, Hill was roundly criticized by opponents of the Sunday family hours for imposing them without board input. Some directors, especially Slobodan Trendic, made it clear that they thought Hill had exceeded his authority in making the changes without consulting his board colleagues. Opponents contended that allowing people of all ages to use the Yacht Club pool on a busy weekend afternoon amounted to a fundamental change in the adults-only character of the pool. Hill countered that Sunday afternoons is one of the three slowest periods of the week at the Oasis pool, but the 100 or so

vocal opponents of family pool hours on Sunday had a louder voice that carried PRSRT STD the day. PRSRT STD USPOSTAGE Director Dave Stevens took a middle USPOSTAGE PAID ground, saying that while he thought Hill PAID should have consultedMAILMOVERS with the board before revising the schedule, theMAILMOVERS governing OPA document governing amenities use, M-2, was sufficiently vague that Hill was well within his rights to conclude he had the authority to make the change in pool hours without obtaining board approval. To remedy what he regards as a defect in M-2 language, Stevens presented for first reading an amendment to M-02 during the April 29 regular meeting that says “the established use for an amenity [e.g., adults-only pool] shall not be changed without the explicit approval of a majority of the Board of Directors.” The board debated the proposed amendment but didn’t vote on it, which allows Stevens to bring it back for a second reading and an approval vote whenever he likes. Director Doug Parks said the Bylaws and Resolutions Advisory Committee could be asked to look at M-02 for other possible changes. When Director Cheryl Jacobs said she was “confused” about why Stevens had submitted the amendment for first reading, he responded that it was designed to clarify an ambiguity in the language and to make sure that resolutions are consistent with other OPA organizational documents. Director Slobodan Trendic suggested that other committees be asked to weigh in on the proposed change to M-02.

May 5, 2017

The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Page13 55

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14 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

May 2017

Manklin Creek playground reopens

by Ocean Pines resident Barbara Kissel and fellow volunteers helped to build the structure. A commemorative wall of handprints, which was built along with the original playground, will also grace the new playground. The completed project, located in the Manklin Meadows Sports Complex at 11443 Manklin Creek Road, features multiple play structures such as slides, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) appropriate swings, climbers and wood fiber surfaces. Acting General

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he Ocean Pines Association was scheduled to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its newly installed 14,600-square-foot Manklin Meadows Park replacement playground, located along Manklin Creek Road in Ocean Pines, on Saturday, May 6, at 1 p.m. It opened to the public for use shortly thereafter. The park was closed to the public in November of last year after its deteriorating condition led to safety concerns. Restricted access to the playground was put in place strictly out of caution. Now several months later, the park is back open with a new playground. “The association is always looking to bring the best we can in regards to safe, clean and enjoyable amenities,” Aquatics and Recreation Director Colby Phillips said. “It’s extremely exciting to see this playground come to completion, especially before the summer season heats up. Families will be looking for outdoor adventures and Manklin Meadows Park will be their first stop.” A $212,577 playground proposal that was presented to the Ocean Pines Board

of Directors was approved at a Jan. 28 board meeting. The proposal was submitted by River Valley Recreation of Wrightsville, PA and featured more play equipment and slides than other proposals.

“We will keep a piece of the past park by placing the existing Gazebo in the center of the new playground,” Phillips said. The original playground was completed in September 2003. A community-wide fundraising effort led

Manager Brett Hill, Recreation Manager Debbie Donahue, Marketing and Public Relations Director Denise Sawyer, and Recreation and Parks Committee Chair Tim McMullen were preparing brief remarks at the ribbon-cutting.

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OCEAN PINES

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 15

Interest limited in OPA’s ‘real’ member forum By TOM STAUSS Publisher he launch of an Ocean Pines Association members’ forum on the OPA’s Web site initially produced limited interest, but the number of registered users and topic threads have increased since the launch in March. As of March 26, there were eight members registered, with five topic threads. As of Monday, April 3, there were 75 active members and 14 group forums on the site. Of those 75 members, five or so appeared to be OPA staffers or board members. As of May 1, that number had increased again to 98 active members, eight or so with an OPA affiliation, with 15 group forums active and 21 topics. There was one new thread opened in April – launched by the Ocean Pines resident Anne Ferris, on the topic of the Oasis (Yacht Club) pool – with the rest opened in March. She wanted to know why the Family Fun Night scheduled for Sunday nights this summer had been cancelled, to which the OPA administration responded. Essentially the reason given was the opposition that surfaced

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in the community against the shift from Wednesdays to Sundays. Called the “real” Ocean Pines forum to distinguish it from a private site managed by Ocean Pines resident Joe Reynolds, oceanpinesforum.com, the OPA forum was initiated by Acting General Manager Brett Hill and Denise Sawyer, the OPA’s new director of marketing and public relations, in March. It’s accessible by a single mouse click on the home page of oceanpines.org, the OPA’s Web site. It can be accessed directly at RealOPforum.com. Its purpose is to allow for OPA members to contact the OPA administration and obtain accurate answers to any question they might pose. Judging by early postings, the forum will also allow the OPA administration to initiate topic threads or to post press releases, most of which appear elsewhere on the OPA Web site. OPA President Tom Herrick said he enthusiastically supported the launch because it provides another way for Ocean Pines property owners and residents to obtain accurate information “directly” from the OPA. “It might some time for interest to build and for people to learn of the site,” he said. He said Joe Reynolds’ well-establishedo ceanpinesforum.com site often delivers information in the form of com-

mentary, in which fact and opinion are interwoven. But he said he believes the OPA’s forum and Reynolds’ independent forum are complementary. “I look at (Reynolds) site because it shows what people are interested in and is “the pulse” of Ocean Pines,” Herrick said. During the first week of operation for the OPA forum, the lead topic thread was initiated by the OPA administration, containing two press releases relating to golf. One was the official OPA press release announcing the return of golf operations in Ocean Pines to inhouse management. The other was a press release from Director of Golf John Malinowski announcing a junior golf scholarship program. A second thread initiated by the OPA pertains to next year’s 50th anniversary. It, too, contained a press release, the one announcing the board’s support for the 50th anniversary committee. The thread also contained a question from a local newspaper asking about the committee’s next scheduled meeting. The committee chair responded that it was March 27 at 10 a.m. A third thread, initiated by member Danny Vargas, was misleadingly labeled membership assessments. Actually the topic is an Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce raffle, with the payment

of the annual lot assessment listed as one of the raffle prizes. The OPA moderator provided some information about raffle prizes and included a link to the Chamber of Commerce Web site. Vargas expressed appreciation for the link but said the Chamber site didn’t include information about the raffle. A fourth thread, initiated by resident Anne Ferris, complains about the condition of cluster boxes in Ocean Pines. Both Vargas and the OPA responded, with Vargas pointing out that the Ocean Pines post office was responsible for maintaining the cluster boxes. The OPA moderator said the OPA was informed that anyone with a cluster box complaint should make it directly to the post office, which would send out someone to deal with it. Ferris’ last comment suggested that she believes a repair in one instance was shoddy. She went on to opine that all cluster boxes in Ocean Pines are in poor condition and need to be replaced. There’s been no response from the local post office. A fifth thread, initiated by member Ted Moroney, asked the OPA to post a copy of a recently completed engineering report on the condition of Ocean Pines’ bulkheads on the OPA Web site. Moroney indicated that the report was supposedly completed by mid-February. He also asked that the OPA post any

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16 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

May 2017

Stevens appoints group to formulate updated capital improvement plan Departure of Facilities Manager Jerry Aveta won’t significantly delay process, director says By TOM STAUSS Publisher group of six individuals have agreed to serve in a small group of people who will scrub last year’s reserve study of outdated data before coming up with a draft of a new capital improvement plan for the OPA. In a May 1 telephone interview with the Progress, Stevens said that five individuals recently met in its first meeting and that a second meeting was held May 3. The group includes Stevens, OPA President Tom Herrick, OPA Treasurer Pat Supik, Bylaws and Resolutions Committee and former Director Martin D. Clarke, Budget and Finance Advisory Committee member John Viola, and contractor Ted Moroney, a late additional who has not yet attended a meeting. Stevens said his original goal was six members. At the group’s May 3 meeting, the OPA’s new facilities manager, Kevin Layfield, attended on behalf of the OPA

administration. Stevens said while initially Layfield is just trying to get his head around the scope of the task at hand, he appears “to be a quick study” and an “excellent hire” that Stevens said will be able to assist in the process leading to a draft CIP that he hopes to complete by August, the end of his current board term. Stevens said the first objective is to make sure that everyone on the panel has access to the same documents, and the second task will be to update the information contained in last year’s reserve study by DMA Associates. After that, he said the group will be in a position to identify those capital projects that will need to be addressed in a oneto ten-year timeframe. He previously has said that projects that could be added to the CIP include drainage improvements on holes eight and nine of the Ocean Pines golf course. At an April board meeting, there was

also renewed interest expressed in renovating or replacing the landmark North Gate bridge when the state decides to add a round-about traffic circle to facilitate in and out access to Ocean Pines and the nearby medical complex. Stevens, who was unable to gain much traction in an effort to produce a new CIP when he served as OPA president two years ago, received the blessing of OPA President Tom Herrick to form a committee back in February. Acting General Manager Brett Hill was initially skeptical, telling Stevens and other directors that he and his staff, particularly former Facilities Manager Jerry Aveta, was already working on updating the reserve study data. But Herrick and other directors seemed OK with Stevens making good on his idea for an ad hoc group to draft a new CIP. Stevens said that he hopes there will be a draft ready to submit to the board for review and action before

Online forum

an annual swim, tennis, platform tennis, pickleball or golf membership.) A Beach Club parking pass with a weekly pool membership purchase is $55. (This price is only valid with the purchase of a weekly pool membership.) A daily Beach Club parking pass is $30 for residents and non-residents. The site also details renter/landlord packages. A six-week package costs $600 and includes a Beach Club parking permit and four swim passes valid at any Ocean Pines pool. A 12-week package costs $1,000 includes Beach Club parking permit and four swim passes valid at any Ocean Pines pool, with any week over 12 costing $80. This, too, includes a Beach Club parking permit and four swim passes valid at any Ocean Pines pool. The post notes that Beach Club parking spaces are not guaranteed on any given day; spots are given on a firstcome, first-served basis. Street parking (either metered or free) may also be available; Beach Club parking passes are not required for street parking. Another thread initiated by the OPA administration is labeled Mumford’s Landing in Ocean Pines. It contains an OPA press release about the Ocean Pines Police Department’s safe ride program, offered on the day of the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Ocean City. The administration also posted a news release on OPA elections, listing Election Committee dates for this year. May 10 is the application deadline for candidates, June 10 is the drawing for ballot position, July 1 is the eligibility deadline to receive a ballot, July 11 is the date ballots are to be mailed, Aug.

10 is the ballot deadline, Aug. 11 is the vote count, and Aug. 12 is the annual meeting. A topic thread labeled 2017-18 budget, posted by the OPA administration, contains a short press release on the budget’s approval and a link to the approved budget and relevant department schedules. A “public security” thread, dated March 13 and begun by the OPA administration, contains a press release on Ocean Pines ranking as the state’s safest city based on crime statistics compiled by a trade association. A pickleball thread includes a short OPA press release on pickleball rates for

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From Page 15 new request for proposals for new bulkheading on the OPA Web site. The OPA response, or non-responsive response, was that RFPs can be found at oceanpines.org/forms-docs-cat/rfp/. The problem was that no RFP for bulkheading replacement or repair appears on the OPA Website, which prompted Moroney to ask whether that meant that no RFP had been issued. He also repeated his request that a copy of the report by DBF Engineering be posted on the OPA Web site. There was no immediate reply to either by the OPA. By April 3, the initial five threads had expanded to 14. The new “lead” thread on the site pertained to Beach Club parking, summarizing a change in the parking pass policies for 2017. It was posted by the OPA administration. According to the post, Beach Club parking pass rates have been set for 2017. An annual Beach Club parking pass is $200 (for those without other OPA amenity memberships). This price includes family photo ID cards (a family is defined as two adults living in the household and dependent children ages 5-17 and college students up to age 22 with proof of college enrollment) for the Beach Club Pool ONLY or a $120 pre-paid, re-loadable debit card that may be used at ALL Ocean Pines pools. A Beach Club parking pass with a full membership purchase is $100. (This price is only valid with the purchase of

he retires from the board this August. Subsequent to the February meeting, Aveta resigned at the urging of Hill. He was replaced by Layfield, who Stevens said probably will need some time to get acquainted with the OPA’s capital needs. Layfield’s first day on the job with the OPA was March 20. Based on what he observed at the May 3 meeting, Stevens said it won’t take Layfield as much time to get up to speed as he (Stevens) initially thought. Back in March, Stevens hadn’t made much progress on assembling his group, but he said he thought it would be put together within the “next several weeks.” March and April board meetings passed with no public reference to the ad hoc group, but Stevens was working behind the scenes to populate the panel. Not everything that happens within the Ocean Pines Association is announced at board meetings. Referring to Hill’s earlier comments that staff had done a lot of reserve study scrubbing, a polite of saying that a lot of it was out-of-date, OPA Director Slobodan Trendic said during a March board meeting that Hill had produced no information about when the reserve study scrubbing would be completed or when the board might be able to review To Page 18

2017-18. Ocean Pines Pickleball Club members, who have objected to drop-in rates at the Community Center even for those with annual memberships, have not posted to this thread. Another thread, labeled GM search, includes no activity at all, not even a press release from the OPA. Reynolds, the Ocean Pines Forum moderator, posted a thread called Best Wishes, with a local weekly seconding that sentiment. Perhaps the least significant of any thread is one labeled spreadsheets, in which the poster is seeking advice on how to convert a Lotus 123 spreadsheet into an Excel file. No one has replied.

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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18 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

May 2017

Parks joins Clarke as candidate for Board of Directors Filing deadline May 10 for this year’s annual election; two seats to be contested

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Capital plan From Page 16 a draft capital improvement plan. “Let us agree” on a way forward, he said, not mentioning that Herrick had agreed to let Stevens lead the effort to produce a usable CIP. Stevens jumped in to say that he “wouldn’t give you my excuses” as to why he had not yet formulated his group. He told his colleagues that he wanted to appoint a group of six individuals, whose tasks would include documenting all relevant work done to date, scrubbing last year’s reserve study of all out-ofdate information, and then proceeding with the development of a new CIP. He said the updated CIP would reflect recent actions by the board, including an $800,000 renovation of the Country Club that is under way and a pending reconfiguration of the administration building/police station later this year, and other projects in the pipeline. Bridge repairs, the addition of pickleball courts, an upgrade to the Ocean

Pines Beach Club, a new playground in the Manklin Creek recreation complex, are other projects that have been, or are about to be, crossed off the to-do list. “We don’t have a $3.5 million replacement of the Country Club (in the works), and (proposals for new racquet courts at) Manklin Creek has significantly changed,” Stevens said, suggesting that the resources needed to finance future capital expenditures in Ocean Pines have been substantially reduced by board action since this past August. Director Cheryl Jacobs was not necessarily convinced of that, asking “what else is looming out there in the five or ten-year” timeframe that has not yet been identified. Stevens also said that the OPA needs to have adequate reserve funding to do a much better job of maintaining assets than has occurred in the past. Hill, also an OPA director, told his colleagues that about two thirds of last year’s reserve study has been validated, and that the previous facilities manager kept saying that “two more weeks” and

Progress, Parks said that “serving as a member of the Board of Directors has been both a rewarding, and at times, challenging experience. My rationale for running again is based on the desire to continue the work that has been started, and to create a level of consistency going forward as this board can essentially remain intact as a team and work together to serve the Association.” He highlighted two issues that he said “need to be addressed in the upcoming year.” These are two issues that Clarke also has emphasized. “The first is the annual budget,” Parks said. “The $791,000 in additional labor costs were a concern, especially given the advice from the Budget and Finance advisory committee regarding the overly optimistic revenue projections used to then another two weeks were needed to finish the job. With Layfield joining the OPA on March 20, and Layfield working in tandem with the new director of finance, Mary Bosack, Hill said “we’re at the point” where work on updating the reserve study could be achieved. Stevens said “that at the end of the process of drafting a new capital improvement plan, the board will be in a position to answer the question of whether OPA reserves are “adequate” and how much and when additional resources might be needed. In a March 26 telephone interview, Stevens said he was thinking that OPA Treasurer and board member Pat Supik would be a good choice, if she was available. He also said that former OPA Director Martin D. Clarke, an announced candidate for the board this summer, has also volunteered to serve. Clarke currently is chairman of the Bylaws and Resolutions Advisory Committee. The appointment of Viola and Moroney would fix the group at six individuals.

support a portion of those increases. We may have an opportunity to be a little more conservative and perhaps could have put ourselves in a position to reduce the annual assessment. I am confident that next year’s budget preparation efforts will benefit from the experience of preparing this year’s budget.” Parks said the second important issue driving his campaign is the financial condition of the Ocean Pines Yacht Club, now known as the Cove at Mumford’s. “I am a proponent of making an honest attempt to finally operate our beautiful amenities in a sensible and businesslike manner. We have more than ten years’ worth of financial data that shows consistent operating losses at the Yacht Club during the off-season months. Furthermore, despite the quality, and quite frankly, marvelous effort the acting general manager and his team put forth to reinvigorate the building and business management of the Cove, we still showed significant operating losses.” Parks said that “if that level of effort and creativity didn’t produce the desired results, it’s proof enough that we need to simply shut down the operation as a prudent business decision” during the winter months. Clarke has said the same thing during in his years in the spotlight on and off the Board of Directors. Clarke, critical of the OPA budget adopted in February, said it collected too much in lot assessments to fund a reserve fund component once called the five-year plan. Clarke has said that supplemental reserve is not needed, and that eliminating it would save OPA property owners almost $80 on their annual lot assessment. He also said the increases in employee expense was inflated and amenity revenues overly optimistic. In voting against the budget, Parks made similar arguments, although he did so in more muted tones.

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By TOM STAUSS Publisher ith a filing deadline of May 10 and a newly reconstituted Search Committee scrambling to ensure that at least four candidates run for the Board of Directors this summers, only two candidates had filed or announced their candidacies as of the first week of May. Former Director Martin D. “Marty” Clarke was the first to file [April, 2017, Ocean Pines Progress], and Director Doug Parks confirmed that he will be seeking a full three-year term on the board. Parks chairs the Technology Task Force that has been working to improve high speed Internet connectivity between OPA departments and to upgrade Ocean Doug Parks Pines accounting software, among other Parks’ record as a director suggests technology tasks. Parks, who ran for the board last he would find agreement with Clarke on summer, was appointed to fill a vacancy some high profile issues should Ocean created by the resignation of former di- Pines property owners elect both of rector and OPA President Pat Renaud, them this summer. In a prepared statement to the who had a year remaining in his term.

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OCEAN PINES Doug Parks From Page 18 Parks more recently expressed some skepticism about Acting General Manager Brett Hill’s decision to offer a 20 percent discount off OPA member checks at Ocean Pines’ food and beverage venues. He stopped short of opposing it, but his comments suggested that he wants to put the policy on a short leash, advising Hill “to make sure it’s yielding the intended benefit.” He said the acting general manager should have “plan B in place … if we don’t get the results,” and that the OPA needs “to be able to act to take corrective action” quickly. Parks was the director who offered a motion to cancel Hill’s planned Sunday Family Fun Night at the Yacht Club’s Oasis pool, agreeing with opponents who said that the acting general manager should have consulted with the board, advisory committees and the community before making that decision. Similarly, he said that while he is “fundamentally OK” with the concept of selling beer and wine at the Swim and Racquet Club pool this summer, subject to the OPA’s ability to obtain a county permit, it should have been presented to the Aquatics Advisory Committee, of which he is the board liaison, for review and a recommendation before the decision was made to seek the permit. Parks was among the minority of directors who originally endorsed the proposal of the Elections Committee to announce the results of the annual election on the same Friday in August that the committee counts the ballots in a meeting now open to the OPA membership. In that position, he was four square in the camp of Director Slobodan Trendic and the Elections Committee on the issue of when election results should first be disclosed. A board majority, however, favored waiting one day to announce the results at the annual meeting of the OPA membership. Parks in late April went along with an amendment to a board resolution offered by Director Dave Stevens that incorporated majority sentiment, as a way to codify greater transparency in the election process, even if it didn’t go as far as he wanted. Parks, since taking a seat on the board in late August, is firmly in the camp of those directors who have embraced the current board’s renovation strategy as a way of upgrading aging but still serviceable OPA amenities and assets. Clarke is of a similar mindset. Early in his term, Parks expressed interest in a proposal by Trendic to begin exploring the possibility of leasing out the Ocean Pines Yacht Club as an alternative to continuing to lose substantial amounts of money in operations. Clarke’s preferred approach has been to close the Yacht Club soon after Labor Day, not to reopen until late spring, as a

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS way of avoiding losses in the winter. As the filing deadline of May 10 was approaching, members of the recently reconstituted Search Committee were meeting and attempting to ensure that a sufficient number of candidates – two more than the number of a vacancies, according to OPA election rules – were willing to run. At the April 29 Board of Directors’ meeting, Herrick disclosed that the Search Committee, which it seemed would not be functional this year because of insufficient interest among OPA residents to serve on it, has been populated by five members, who were appointed by Herrick with board con-

currence. “I originally put out a personal plea at the regular board meeting in January, to the entire membership, imploring any, and all, to consider to volunteer for this committee. I also enlisted the assistance of our marketing director to publicize this need and that was done. In addition, I personally attempted to recruit as many individuals as I could, with little or no avail,” Herrick told the Progress in a recent e-mail. “Board discussion during that January meeting revolved around stripping this committee of a board liaison. This action was supported by our by-laws committee. I believe this discussion had

a negative influence on attracting members to the committee,” he added. Herrick went on to say that “one of the two members who were appointed to the committee specifically mentioned this as one of the reasons he subsequently resigned from the committee,” he said. Herrick said “last-minute recruiting efforts” resulted in five volunteers who agreed to serve. “Unfortunately, the filing deadline is May 10, which gives the committee a short time to meet, form a plan of action, recruit candidates, and schedule informational meetings for prospective candidates. A daunting task, to say the least,” he said.

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OCEAN PINES

May 2017

Lengthy timeline for hiring new GM worries Stevens Parks will discuss speeding up process with Novak Group

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ed to offer a new general manager candidate a salary in the range of $150,000 to $170,000 per year. With benefits and other payroll costs, the cost to the OPA for the position would most likely exceed $200,000 per year. While a board majority seems to be comfortable with that, at least so far, Director Slobodan Trendic has told his colleagues that it’s much too high when compared to similar executive positions on the Lower Eastern Shore. Parks said he would ask the company whether there would be any way to expedite the hiring process but offered the opinion that the company probably would want to continue with the agreed upon schedule. More than 40 applications were received and Novak Consulting Group

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By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer weeks-long activity gap in the process of searching for the Ocean Pines Association’s new general manager has at least one OPA director concerned the process will drag on too long and may not wrap up before a new Board of Directors takes office in August. Director Dave Stevens has expressed worry that the Novak Consulting Group, the company hired to help the OPA find its new head executive, built too much time into the candidate review schedule. “To me this is an inordinate amount of time,” he said of the schedule, which doesn’t have the board making an offer to a candidate and bringing the new general manager on board until at least July. But even that isn’t guaranteed, as first choice candidates don’t always accept an offer of employment. He said it is important for directors to make a decision regarding the top candidate before the new board takes office. Stevens didn’t offer an explanation for that, but it probably is related to the fact that he retires from the board in August. Director Doug Parks, who is serving as liaison to the Novak Consulting Group, said during an April 29 board meeting that the OPA engaged the firm to conduct the search for the new general manager and concurred with the timeline the company proposed. He said it has been moving forward “very aggressively” to solicit applicants, including placing advertisements in national publications, Web sites, and social media. Additionally, it posted the position with municipal leagues in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, and the International City/County Managers Association. It was the ICCMA site that first disclosed that the board, in consultation with the Novak organization, had decid-

Easter basket donation

The Republican Women of Worcester County donated Easter baskets to two families in Worcester County. The baskets, containing clothing, books, toys and of course, Easter candy, were presented by Vera Beck, chairperson of the Caring for America program of the RWWC.

Shepherd’s Nook consecration

On March 19, a crowd gathered for the Consecration Service for the recently expanded Shepherd’s Nook and Sarah’s Pantry at the Community Church at Ocean Pines. The ceremony was officiated by the Rev. Boyd Etter. In attendance were e Ernie Stiles, vice-chair of the Board of Trustees, facility managers Charlene Mertz, Johanna Hurd, Judy Stinebiser, B.J. Hupman and Ken Waters, and guests including State Del. Mary Beth Carozza and State Se. Jim Mathias. The 1700 square foot expansion provides an entrance for food distribution and storage, a clothing sorting area, 2nd floor storage and more than double the amount of retail space.

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May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Technology work group closing in on issuing RFP to improve OPA connectivity Panel also close to choosing vendor for financial management software By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer

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Request for Information re-

garding network connectivity for the Ocean Pines Association’s facilities turned up just three responses. A Technology Work Group appointed by the Board of Directors to assess the current network environment and identify appropriate improvements will review the submitted documents and make a recommendation regarding solicitation of a full Request for Proposals, work group chair Doug Parks said during an April 29 board meeting. The Technology Work Group has been tasked with determining what immediate improvements can be made to improve connectivity while concurrently investigating long-term projects that support the OPA’s business operations requirements. The group is assisting the board and general manager with conducting a needs assessment and analysis of current industry trends and recommending technology solutions to meet the func-

tional needs and budget considerations of the association. The goal is to address network connectivity issues between all locations within the OPA. Initially, the effort is focusing on building connectivity between anchor facilities and amenities, like the administration building, golf club, Yacht Club, and Community Center. The RFI asked companies to provide a general overview of the alternatives for accomplishing that task in order to best leverage technology to provide high-speed connectivity for business operations. Parks said the group met with representatives from Mediacom on March 17 to review its existing network infrastructure and has asked the company to provide a recommendation in response to the RFI. “It gives us a good understanding of what Mediacom has in the ground,” he said. Among the other three responses to the RFI, one was presented in a format traditionally reserved for responses to a

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Request for Proposals and included detailed pricing and schedules. Parks said that will be the next step, soliciting an RFP based on the information received through the RFI process. Meanwhile, the work group is assisting the finance department staff in its search for a new financial system and evaluation of potential platforms. Parks said the OPA’s existing financial system is inconsistent and inefficient. The work group sought information from potential vendors and narrowed its

focus to three companies that it worked with finance department staff to test using software demonstration packages. Those vendors are Buildium, IBS-Imperium and Northstar, Parks said. Director Brett Hill, who is also serving as interim general manager, said the goal is to select a vendor within 30 to 45 days and present the purchase request to the board for approval. He said the system can be installed and implemented at mid-year when financial operations slow down for the OPA.

GM timeline

He said it would be sometime after July 10 before an offer is made to the top candidate and, if the offer is accepted, details of the hiring are worked out. Parks agreed to discuss the concerns about the timeline with the Novak Group to determine if it is possible to expedite the hiring process. However, he pointed out that much of the remaining timeline is predicated on the board’s candidate review meeting scheduled for June 22. He said it is “up to us to make it happen sooner” if that is what a board majority prefers. He said the board should allow the organization it hired to properly review the candidates and then interview them in the manner described in the consulting contract. Then the “responsibility falls on us to vet, discuss, debate, decide” which candidate to hire as the OPA’s next general manager, he said.

From Page 18 was scheduled to begin vetting them on May 1. That process is expected to take through mid-June, when the company will present its recommendations for candidates to interview to the board. Directors have scheduled a June 22 candidate review meeting to select applicants they wish to interview and to review logistics for interviews, which will take place on July 6 and 7. Following the interviews, the board will meet to reach a consensus on the top candidate. Parks acknowledged the board “did go back and forth with Novak” on the timing but the consultants recommended the current approach and the board concurred. Still, Stevens suggested finding a way to shorten the process if possible.

22 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

May 2017

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May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

23

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

May 2017

Board votes for limited transparency in election vote counting process Majority still wants results to be held over for one day until annual meeting By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Board of Directors at its April 29 regular meeting voted 4-3 to open the counting of ballots in annual Ocean Pines Association elections to anyone attending the meeting of the Elections Committee, but stopped short of voting for full transparency by withholding the results of the election until the annual Saturday meeting of property owners in August. The vote in favor of amending Board Resolution M-06, in a version proposed by Director Dave Stevens and based on a draft prepared by the Elections Committee, was unanimous. Even so, three directors were on record as preferring full transparency – announcing unofficial votes on the Friday before the annual meeting when the ballots are opened and counted. Stevens and directors Slobodan Trendic and Doug Parks, during extended debate at an April 24 work session, argued for fuller transparency but couldn’t convince the other four directors. OPA Pres-

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ident Tom Herrick, Acting General Manager Brett Hill, as well as Cheryl Jacobs and Pat Supik, supported waiting one day to the annual meeting to announce election results. Stevens accepted the slightly watered down version of transparency because other changes in the M-06 resolution had the full support of the Elections Committee and he did not want to forgo progress in improving the OPA election process. Trendic gave the same rationale for supporting the revision. As a result of the unanimous vote, Jacobs withdrew her own motion to approve a stripped down version of M-06 that included a reference to an open vote count and restricting biographical and issue statements by candidates in published election materials to 200 words. She said that Stevens’s revision, which in turn was a “friendly amendment” to a motion offered by Trendic for full vote count transparency, was an acceptable outcome to months of debate. The vote approved the amended M-06

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on second reading, so that means the new resolution will govern this summer’s board election. Under a recent opinion by the OPA attorney, a motion to change a board resolution doesn’t require a formal vote on first reading – it mere- Brett Hill ly has to be presented and discussed – for it to be subject to a formal vote on second reading. The amended version of M-06 did not go as far Stevens, Trendic and Parks had wanted and left procedures for a recount on the request Tom Herrick of an unsuccessful candidate somewhat unresolved. They argued that allowing election results to be announced on the day of

the vote count facilitates a candidate asking for a recount. The approved M-06 adds a 200-word limit on biographical materials provided by candidates for publication in election materials sent to property owners. The revision also incorporates other changes in M-06 that the Elections Committee and the Bylaws and Resolutions Advisory Committee agreed to after months of meetings. The OPA’s Bethesda-based lawyer also was involved in the process. In March, the board discussed but couldn’t agree on a version of M-06 on first reading. With only five directors voting, a version of M-06 including full transparency failed 2 to 3, with neither Parks nor Hill participating. Jacobs, the liaison to the bylaws and resolutions committee, took it upon herself to tweak the Elections and Bylaws committees’ version of M-06 that had called for disclosing unofficial results on the Friday ballots are opened and counted. “They had a different take on it,” Jacobs said during the April 24 work session, adding, “it was a very simple solution to remedying” the language on the one area where there has been disagreement between the board and the relevant committees. Stevens said that the version of M-06

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2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Committee recommends open vote count in May OPA elections

Vote count By TOM STAUSS

From Page 24 Publisher offered by hen Jacobs stillcandidates had issues because two for the it failed toBoard come up with a suitable way of Directors last sumto handle recounts should a candidate in mer called for a vote count a close election or tie vote ask for one. open to the membership, successfully Trendic said on that theway Jacobs’s draft using the issue their to winning rejected a key recommendation of seats on the board, it seemed morethe or Elections Committee with respect to the less inevitable that both would press for recount issue, and the result is that the more transparency in board elections OPA will be treating unofficial results once taking office. in a manner inconsistent with local, Neither candidate, Brett Hill or Slostate and national elections, in which bodan Trendic, have pressed the issue totals are announced as soon as they are publicly in board meetings since August, known. butSteve the resignation of the former elecTuttle, chairman of the Elections Committee, committee and replacement tions said its that the comwith an draft all-new panel suggested that mittee’s incorporates 40 individusome reforms might be afoot. al changes in the text or 90 percent of Committee Steve broke those suggestedchair by the OPATuttle attorney. theHe ice said with announcing a presentation to the board unofficial vote in a work session Dec. 5. He would was introcounts at the Friday meeting give duced to theaboard Trendic, board he lia candidate day tobydecide whether aison the committee. or sheto would ask for a recount. Tuttle said thethat committee is day workTuttle argued waiting a to ing through numberdoesn’t of changes the announce thea results give atocanelectionwho process to improve transparendidate wants a recount adequate cy. The will beaincorporated in time to changes decide request recount before proposed results amendments to board resoluunofficial are certified. tionBut M-06 governs elections in by that the April 29 how meeting, Tuttle Ocean Pines are be conducted. had decided thattogetting most of what theendorsed most visible the thePerhaps committee in achange final draft committee recommends is opening up was better than nothing. That same logthemotivated vote count, whichTrendic traditionally has ic Stevens, and Parks been done in closed session by the Elecin their votes. During the April 24 work session, the directors debated whether additional Fire Department, LU a amendments could be offered before revised M-06 would be voted on. contracts to be reviewed Parks suggested that an amendment specifying a recount procedure could be during budget process offered, but Herrick didn’t seem to be it’s far too soon to know willing to hile entertain any. whether this the for Ocean “We’ve how been ordiscussing the Pines Association’s last couple of months,” he said,contracimplytualthat agreements withprepared the Ocean ing he was fully for aPines vote Volunteeramendments Fire Department and without to move theLandprocess along. scapes Unlimited will be affected, there it turned out, that the board subseareAs early indications both will requently voted on and than approved Stevens’s ceive more scrutiny usual as part “friendly” amendment to Trendic’s of the 2017-18 budget review processmoset tion andinthen the Trendic motion as to begin January. amended, with both motions passing OPA General Manager Brett Hill unanimously. asked to meet in closed session with the Theofapproved of 9M-06 Board Directorsnew afterversion the Dec. regleaves for another day resolution the ular meeting to discuss these twoofconrecount issue. tracts and their impact on his work preParks “driving issue” that paring thesaid draftthe budget for board review. hadWhile separated the board involves a reas usual directors are tightcount a close election and in that the lipped inabout what occurred closed committee-supported version of full session, OPA President Tom Herrick transparency confirmed thatwould OPA have local brought counsel “us Join compliance the bylaws” they seph E. Moore with has been asked toas attend relate to meeting recount requests. a closed of the board on ThursHe said of these M-06 day, Dec. 15,any at 9final a.m.version to review ought to include newthe recount contracts with Hilla and board.procedure. The current OPVFD agreement was Hill wasn’t buying the argument negotiated by the former general manthat allowing unofficial election results ager and OPVFD officers some years to be announced on the day before the back. Its basic provisions govern how OPA annual meeting would resolve the much money the OPA allocates to the recount issue. OPVFD each year for operations. “Regardless of what we do with M-06, There are performance provisions in less than 24 hours (to decide whether to the LU that could affecttime,” the golf ask for contract a recount) isn’t enough he budget next year. is the management said, adding that LU “what Cheryl presentcompany thatproblem. operatesLet’s the Ocean Pines ed solves the get it done.” golf course for the OPA. – Tom Stauss

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Jacobs said her version of M-06 dressed,” after which Trendic said that moved the process along and in no way Jacobs’ draft, unlike the committees’, Board to consider revisions to M-06 resolution “denigrates” the hard work of the com- left it unresolved. mittees. Supik seemed to leave the door open tions Committee on the Friday before answers to a series questions. But she said the process of allowing to an amendment to Jacobs’ version of the annual meeting of the association. Tuttle said the committee is suggestfor an open vote count would “bog down” M-06 at the April 29 meeting. Election results would be posted imme- ing that M-06 be amended to allow for if the board didn’t vote on her proposal. Trendic said he would be offering a diately in the administration building electronic voting in addition to balloting Jacobs then attempted to explain her “friendly amendment” to Jacobs’ draft at and on the OPA Web. Election results by mail. He said the committee is not concerns about a tie vote in board elec- that time. would no longer be used as leverage to suggesting that the 2017 board election tions, failing once again to explain how The gist of it is that it would have entice OPA of members to attend be conducted electronically but thatelecthe her version M-06 would solve the thatanis- allowed the committee to announce nual option would available in vote the future sue. meeting of the association the fol- tion results onbe the day of the count lowing day. Pines’ 50 years of existence, as when theoftechnology is available for that In Ocean a way accommodating a recount reHe also said that a 50-word statepurpose. there never has been a tie vote. quest. A candidate would have overnight ment allowedPat eachSupik candidate thecould OPA to make Director and OPA Vice-President Director said inshe a decision to request a recount election newsletter would be expanded Dave Stevens, who has said he will not “support Cheryl’s approach” but that under this scenario. to 200-word statement, in addition to be Parks running for reelection when his term thea recount issue “still needs to be adindicated that he would sup-

port that amendment because Jacobs’ approach only would solve two of three is up next year, said he thought the recoutstanding issues – a vote count open ommendations were well thought out. to the membership and limits on the He asked whether the proposed changes numbers of words in biographical inforto M-06 would be ready for a board vote mation. in January. As it turned out, what the board votTuttle said he thought they would be. ed on was a Trendic motion to approve Trendic said the committee hadM-06, done committee-endorsed changes to a “tremendous job” so far in arriving at a with a friendly amendment by Stevens consensus for election reforms. He said to announce election results for the first the committee hadmeeting. looked at the last time at the annual election and the community’s interest In a subsequent e-mail to the Progin a more open process and had acted ress, Herrick indicated that he didn’t accordingly. think the recount issue is all that imNo director spoke out in opposition to portant because a recount has never the proposed changes. been requested in an OPA election.

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26 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

May 2017

Board gives Hill authority to seek bids for two new platform courts

By TOM STAUSS ation complex on Ocean Pines’ South Side, off Manklin Creek Road. Hill told Publisher the board that the two new courts aren’t fter years of waiting for included in the current 2016-17 capital long-promised new platform tenbudget nor in the new 2017-18 capital nis courts, it appears that Ocean budget that began May 1. Pines’ platform tennis club soon will “They’re not included in any year’s have two new courts to play on as a rebudget,” he said, adding “do we want to sult of a consensus that emerged during Dentist proceed or just let it go.” an April 24 Board of Directors’ meeting. Lawn Care As the new courts would be unbudActing General Manager Brett, folCounty says some stormwater mitigation will be required geted, Hill told his colleagues that he lowing up on a recent request by DirecHe said that Facilities Manager Kev- tion called “sheet flow stormwater mit- wanted to see if there was a board contor Dave Stevens for Hill to come back with a status update, told the directors in Layfield had checked with county of- igation” will be required as part of the sensus to proceed with soliciting bids on the court despite that. As it turns out, that two new platform courts would cost ficials on whether the OPA would need project. Serving Ocean Pines, Berlin & West Ocean City The two new courts would be added there was little concern expressed, with the Ocean Pines Association roughly to provide storm water mitigation as $120,000, including storm water mitiga- part of adding the two new courts. The adjacent to the existing courts at the Stevens saying that the platform courts answer according to Hill is that a solu- Manklin Meadows tennis and recretion.

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Hill says new golf course greens haven’t been well maintained Will take two years of TLC to bring them back to top condition

By TOM STAUSS Publisher n what caught some observers by surprise and wondering how it ever could have been allowed to happen, Acting General Manager Brett Hill recently let slip that he thinks the Ocean Pines’ golf course’s greens aren’t in good shape. The surprise comes because it’s not been that many years ago that the Ocean Pines Association spent almost $1

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Platform tennis From Page 26 have been long promised and that it was time for the OPA to, at long last, deliver on that promise. Director Pat Supik asked during discussion whether the courts “would be used” if the OPA built them. Hill said that since he’s not a platform tennis player, he would have “to plead the fifth” about whether the courts would be used. Stevens said if “you go back far enough, (the budget dollars are) in there (for platform tennis.” He said the requirements justifying the new courts have been established, but previous boards “never followed through” on promises made to platform tennis players in Ocean Pines. Hill seemed to favor the board reaching an informal consensus on the question as opposed to a formal motion. OPA President Tom Herrick agreed. Director Slobodan Trendic suggested that Hill obtain “final feedback” from the platform tennis club before a board vote, but Hill said that already has been done. “The platform tennis president (recently) came to Colby (Phillips, director of aquatics and recreation)” to request the courts, Hill said in response to Trendic.

million on new greens, with state-of-theart subsurface drainage infrastructure that was supposed to keep the greens in pristine condition for years to come. The OPA board at the time opted not to deal with a serious issue of poor grass conditions on the greens by simple re-sodding, a solution that would have been much less expensive. Hill, also an OPA director, described the current situation as fixable through improved fertilization measures. He offered his remarks on the state of the greens during a Board of Directors work session April 20, when he told his colleagues that course superintendent Andre Jordan was requesting a riding mower to cut greens in lieu of two new beverage carts. Hill said the course could make do with only one new beverage cart, freeing up the cash for a new riding green mower. Hill said the purchase could save the OPA roughly $20,000 in staff costs in the new fiscal year, because a riding mower allows the golf course maintenance staff to cut the greens in roughly three hours, much less than if each green has to be trimmed with a hand mower. Tee boxes also are cut with these riding mowers, Hill said, While very high end golf courses use only hand mowers to cut greens, Hill said that a riding mower produces adequate results and that roughly two thirds of all golf courses use riding mowers to cut greens. At the April 29 board meeting, Hill upsized that to 90 percent, citing Jordan as his source. He said that almost all local golf course use riding mowers on greens and tee boxes. Hill said the low bid for a new Triflex riding mower came in at $19,999.02, submitted by Finch Services of Westminster, Md. It can be used to cut both greens and tee boxes. He said that about $22,000 remains in reserve from a Land-

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scapes Unlimited transition fund. LU is the former golf course manager whose management contract with the OPA was terminated earlier this year. The board approved the low bid for the new riding green mower at the April 29 regular meeting, with six votes in favor and Director Slobodan Trendic abstaining. There was some push-back against the idea during the board’s April 24 work session. Director Cheryl Jacobs, trying to recall board discussions about golf course mowers last year, said there were reasons offered for why a riding green mowers weren’t such a good idea. “If we’re going to ruin the course (by using riding mowers on the greens), I’m not in favor of that,” she said. Hill responded that riding green mowers don’t ruin courses. During discussion at the April 29 meeting, he said new models have wider tires and lighter engines, which disperses weight to make the mowers have less impact than a golfer walking on a green. He said that Ocean Pines’ greens have deteriorated somewhat related to soil balance and improper fertilization. “We need two years to get them back where they should be,” he said, adding that “damage from (riding) mowers is the least of our concerns.” Director Slobodan Trendic asked Hill whether LU had requested the riding mowers, and Hill said, “I can’t answer that.” Director Doug Parks asked Hill to quantify labor savings, and Pat Supik wondered whether there was anyone other than Jordan that the OPA could talk to for advice. Hill said that Jordan “is the expert here” but that didn’t immediately satisfy the directors. Parks suggested that the board needed a “second opinion” and OPA President Tom Herrick suggested that Hill ask the Golf Advisory Commit-

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

27

tee for advice. Stevens didn’t like that suggestion, questioning the committee’s expertise on this particular matter. He added that he didn’t think the expense of a new riding mower was “worth it.” Hill said that Jordan was an “experienced, qualified course superintendent”who has been employed by the OPA for about 30 years. Herrick said that in light of the fact that a substantial majority of golf courses use riding mowers for greens, and that it would save the OPA money in labor costs, he was “not opposed to” the proposed riding mower. But Jacobs was not ready to embrace it, urging her colleagues to “go back and take a look” at last year’s board discussion. She also suggested that the board consult with the Golf Advisory Committee and the Golf Members Council before making a decision. Hill said “time is of the essence” and that too much delay would affect hiring decisions. But Trendic said consulting with the golf committee could be accomplished quickly by e-mail, in time for the April 29 meeting during which Hill would ask the board for authority to solicit bids for the riding mower. “I agree with Ms. Jacobs,” he said, suggesting contact with the committee via e-mail to gauge its opinion. Stevens then reversed himself and suggested that solution as well. Trendic volunteered to send the e-mail request to the golf committee for comment. Herrick then jumped in again, framing the issue before the board as one in which the directors have to decide whether “to follow what (most) other courses and pass the savings on to members” or to engage in more discussion. When Hill brought the matter up for a formal vote during the regular April 29 meeting, Jacobs changed her vote from a likely no to a cautious yes because in addition to Jordan recommending the riding mower, so did Director of Golf John Malinowski. “A deciding factor for me is that our golf pro is in favor,” she said. Trendic abstained because he said his research indicated that riding mowers are subject to hydraulic leaks that q

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Thompson Thompson contract contractterminated terminated

What What caughtcaught many inmany Ocean in Pines Ocean by Pines by surprise, surprise, however, however, was the fact wasthat the the fact that the BOARD OF DIRECTORS 28 Ocean Pines PROGRESS May 2017 axe fell axe asfell soonasassoon it did.asThe it new did. board The new board Stevens motion Stevenspasses motion4-3, passes over 4-3, Jacobs’ over Jacobs’ ‘emotional’ ‘emotional’ objections; objections;Brett BrettHill Hill named named acting acting GM GM reorganized reorganized itself with itself an election with anofelection ofof ofceived majority board support for the fices in fifiring ces a meeting inofa this meeting Aug. 22. Aug. H 22. H individual. three options. three options. tors torswho who voted voted for forit,it,Jack Jack Collins, Collins, was was By TOM STAUSS By TOM STAUSS ill’s motion ill’s toTrendic go into to closed go into session closed sessionto Hadmotion brought a motion Newly elected Newly elected director director Brett Brett Hill, Hill, who who defeated defeated in in his his election election bid bid this this summer, summer, Publisher Publisher on Aug. on 26 Aug. after26 the after open the session open made session made discuss Hill’s possible ouster as acting offered motion the motion to go to into go into closed closed ses-ses- with withhis his contract contract extension extension vote vote a possia possiclosed meeting closed that meeting beganthat with beganoffered with the no mention no mention of possible of possible termination. termination. general manager in closed session to sion, in prepared sion, in prepared remarks remarks explaining explaining hishis ble blecontributing contributing factor. factor. the intended purpose the intended of reviewing purpose of reviewing Trendic told the Progress thehave Progress several several theTrendic table, ittold would been countered motion said motion that said fi ve that board fi ve board members members rereAlso Also voting voting for for the the extension extension was was General Manager General Bob Manager ThompBob Thompdays after daysthe after decision the decision to terminate to terminate was was cently had cently discovered had discovered “many “many disturbing disturbing Dave DaveStevens, Stevens, who whowasn’t wasn’t on on thethe ballot ballot by Hill, who told his colleagues that he son’s employment son’s employment contract, including contract, including mademade that “absolutely” that “absolutely” there was no fitness in-was no inwanted a discussion of there his to confactors surrounding factors surrounding the handling the handling of the of the this thisyear year but but isn’t isn’tknown known as as a Thompson a Thompson what one director whatdescribed one directorasdescribed “disturbas “disturbtention tention or expectation expectation by board bygeneral the ma- board matinue toorserve as the acting managGM(for bonus the(for 2015-15 the 2015-15 fiscal fiscal year),” year),” fan. fan.Both Both Collins Collins and andStevens Stevens explained explained er to occur in public “in the interests of ing factors” involving ing factors” a involving $30,900 abonus $30,900 GM bonusbonus jorityjority of Herrick, of Herrick, Trendic, Trendic, Stevens and Stevens and well as as “adjustments well as “adjustments already already made made to to their theirvotes votes as as the thebest bestdeal deal possible possible for for transparency.” for better-than-budgeted for better-than-budgeted amenity finanamenityas finanHill that HillThompson’s that Thompson’s contract would contract be would be this budget year’s budget related related to the to the bonus bonus the theOPA OPA given given that, that,atatthethe time, time, therethere cial performance, cial performance, ended up with ended a highup with athis high-year’s Trendic quickly replied thatAug. discussterminated terminated in the closed in thesession closed Aug. session 26. 26. that would that would have have made made it much it much was wasaasolid solid majority majority ofofpro-Thompson pro-Thompson di- di- ing Hill’s removal was not the intended ly contentious ly4-3 contentious vote to terminate 4-3 vote to terminate the clauses” the clauses” He and He other and directors other directors declined an declined an Board votes not to go into closed session to discuss personnel matters easier for easier Thompson for Thompson to earn to earn a bonus a bonus re-re- rectors rectorswho who could couldhave haverenegotiated renegotiated the the purpose of his motion to meet in execucontract and contract Thompson’s and Thompson’s employment employment emailemail invitation invitation by the Progress by the Progress to disto dislated meeting. to lated amenity to amenity performance performance thisthis year. year. cal contract contract to to make make ititeven even more more lucrative lucrative tive session. Oceanwith Pines the Association. Ocean Pines Association. By with TOMthe STAUSS closed Doug Parks abstained. resident who’s cuss how cussand howwhy and thewhy decision the to decision terto terHillpurpose explanation in his explanation said thatthat thethe aforfor Thompson. Thompson. Hecontract said because his intentions Publisher The Hill intended of thesaid closed sesfriend to both, Director BrettDirector Hill was Brett chosen Hill wasbychosen by in his minate minate the the contract occurred,occurred, citing the citing were the board board an“has obligation an obligation to discuss to discuss Stevens Stevensbacked was was participating participating in in the the to discuss recent developments involved effort by board Director Slobodan was“has to discuss recent personnel de-a a Trendic the nboard majority the to serve majority astointerim serve as sion interim confidentiality confidentiality of closedofmeetings. closed meetings. morea objective measure measure of bonus ofmanager bonus calcucalcu- off meeting meeting viaintentelephone, telephone,and and saidsaid laterlater OPA personnel, the Maryland HomeTrendicgeneral toorreplace the acting gen- apending cisions bymore theobjective acting general of hisvia or acting acting manager general pending manager Association Act clearly states press The press release release announcing announcing the the lation, so lation, a notifi so a cation notifi cation of a of (reopened) a (reopened) he he might might have have voted voted differently differently had had he he Theowner eral manager with the recently and not his removal, Trendic said. tions to seek Hill’s search for a replacement. search for a replacement. that the privacy rights of indecision decision saidprotecting only said that only the that contract thewas contract was appointed of afinance failed to contract negotiation negotiation wouldwould befor inbe in the best best ouster. When a motion to adjourn athe closed Instead, he totohash been beenatat the the person person hash outout the the de- deAt a director special At meeting special of meeting the Board of the contract Board dividuals is ameaning proper meaning reason to go the into gain traction with his colleagues in late session to discuss employees and persaid he wanted made made for convenience, for convenience, that the that interest interest of all parties of all parties to avoid to avoid further further isistails tails of of a a renegotiation. renegotiation. of Directors Aug. of Directors 26, theAug. directors 26, the votdirectors votclosed session. April. sonnel appeared on the April 29 meeting to go into closed boardboard majority majority was not was alleging notany alleging sort any sort sues future sues in years.” future years.” Elections Elections have have consequences, consequences, and and ed 5-2, with directors ed 5-2, with Patdirectors Renaud Patand Renaud andin After Trendic explained whythat he An expected motion to go into closed agenda, there was reason to believe that session to discuss of wrong-doing of wrong-doing on Thompson’s on Thompson’s part that part A decision A decision to revisit to revisit the contract the contract by by with with the the election election of of Hill Hill and and Slobodan Slobodan Cheryl JacobsCheryl dissenting, Jacobs dissenting, to go intoto go into wanted to go into closed session, OPA session after the April 29 regular meet- Trendic intended to use the close meetrecent personnel wouldwould have justifi haveedjustifi a termination ed a termination for for the Aug.the 31Aug. deadline 31 deadline wouldwould havehave opened opened Trendic Trendic itit was was apparent apparent that that Thompson Thompson closed sessionclosed to discuss session to Thompson’s discuss Thompson’s President Tom Herrick said that if Trening of the board to discuss recent person- ing to advocate for Acting Maninvolving cause.cause. a two-month a two-month window window for General the for board the board andand matters nonolonger longer had had aa solid solid majority majority of supof supcontract, which contract, had been which extended had been for extended for Slobodan Trendic wanted to obtain more information nel decisions made by the acting gener- ager BrettThompson Hill’s Ofon ThedicThe termination termination for convenience for convenience Thompson to removal. renegotiate, to renegotiate, something something Hill. porters porters onparticuthe the board. board. three years onthree April 28. April Cheryl 28. about any recent personnel matters, he al failed in a 4-2 vote,years withononly But after a private meeting between lar interest was the recent resignation means means that Thompson that Thompson will reap will a generreap a generthat Thompson that Thompson probably probably would would have have Indeed, Indeed, there there was was an an expectation expectation atUndisclosed theintime at thethecontract timeathe Hill contract could ask Hill for it. JacobsUndisclosed joining Trendic pushing for and Director Dave Stevens and a lo- of long-time Beach Club manager Linous severance ous severance package, package, including including salary salary welcomed. welcomed. Back in Back April, in April, he offered he offered to to in in the the community community that, that, at at some some point, point, extension wasextension made public was made was public a pro-was a proHerrick offered his comments before da Huettner that she, in a letter to the and benefi and ts benefi for nine ts for months, nine although months, although drop drop amenity-based bonusbonus incentives incentives in in Thompson’s Thompson’s contract contractprobably probably would would be be vision that allows visionthe that“new allowsboard” the “new – in board” – inamenity-based board, effectively said had been forced opening the floor for discussion after apparently apparently he no motion longer he nowill longer be been eligible willseconded be eligibleby exchange exchange forhea contended. more for a more predictable predictable incenincen- by terminated terminated by by the thenew newboard. board. In pubIn pubthis case, the board this case, that thehad board three that new had three new Trendic’s had one percent,” Hill. Golf course mowers for any for bonuses. any bonuses. tive package, tive package, but the but board the board at the at the time time lished lished accounts, accounts, Thompson Thompson himself himself said said members as amembers result of as this a result summer’s of this summer’s Hill responded that newer models Trendic also was concerned about an- Jacobs. Nine months of salary ofworks salary outworks toprovided out toor voted 6-1 voted to extend to extend the contract the contract for for an-an- other hehewas was expecting expecting the board board to move to move in a in a Nine months From Page 27 –OPA OPA election to revisit electionthe – tocontract revisit theexcontract ex-less “It’s either already been have of a6-1problem with hydrauBeach Clubthe personnel matter, this $123,750 $123,750 work forthat work need that not be need pernotfor be that,” perother three years change. change. new newdirection. direction. alleged insubordination cantension, cause whether serious problems youfor can contact the acting GM andyears are without even without equipped with time involving tension, to renegotiate whetheronto greens. renegotiate it or ter- lic it other orleaks ter- three formed. formed. Newthan anointed New OPA President President Tom Thompson served served sixsix years years as generas reportgenerHeminate also said hiskeep research shows the as written. he said, adding that if Trendic wanted alarms can anointed cutOPA off engines when aTom by aThompson Beach Club employee who it, or minate it in it, force or keepasitthat written. in force The veildeliberations over deliberations in closed in closed Herrick was wasonly the only director to vote to vote edly alalmanager, manager, and and that’s that’swell well within within labor The savings is much less than promotgo over into closed session to press for the leak occurs. Hethe didn’t back offdirector on claims posted comments critical of the Hillthe on Thetoveil contract The specifi contract ed anspecifi Aug. ed 31 an Aug. 31 Herrick against against the extension. the extension. One One of the of the direcdirecaverage average time time of of service service for for managers managers of of ed.deadline for making removal of the acting GM, “then I’m opthat riding mowers can save roughly 20 oceanpinesforum.com. deadline afordecision making aondecision the on the

Trendic effort to oust A acting A general manager fails to gain traction

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

May 2017Ocean Pines PROGRESS

29

Trendic, Jacobs criticise discounts at Ocean Pines’ food and drink venues Director says policy could lead to $317,000 potential loss of revenue

By TOM STAUSS Publisher cting Ocean Pines Association General Manager Brett Hill in March announced a 20 percent reduction in the cost of all food and beverage purchases at the OPA’s four food venues, available to all Ocean Pines property owners, long-term renters, anyone who purchases a $250 associate membership, and even non-resident guests of an OPA member provided that it’s the member who pays the bill. The 20 percent discount is in lieu of a happy hour discount at the Yacht Club and is much more comprehensive and will be in effect until further notice. It’s in effect at the Yacht Club and the Country Club’s Tern Grille, and will apply at the Beach Club and the Swim and Racquet Club when these amenities open for the season. Not everyone is happy with the discount, however. At the Board of Directors’ April 24 work session, Director Slobodan Trendic said any decision with such a potentially huge impact on OPA finances and budget should have been cleared first by the board. He said the discount if it remains in effect throughout the summer could produce a potential revenue loss of $317,000, that could only be “made up by a 25 percent increase” in volume at the various Ocean Pines food and beverage venues. Trendic said that given the history of the Yacht Club’s financial performance, he’s concerned about any policy change that further contracts the margins of revenue over cost that govern the success of any restaurant business. Trendic said the board was not informed of “the process the GM used” to arrive at the 20 percent figure and he’s “not comfortable” with the impact the discount will have on the Yacht Club’s bottom line, which has racked up an $185,693 loss through 11 months of operation in the 2016-17 fiscal year. “I’d like to know what (OPA Treasurer Pat) Supik and what (OPA Director of Finance) Mary Bosack think about” the discount, Trendic said. He later told the Progress that he understands that Bosack is concerned about the potential budget-busting implications of the discount and was not consulted by Hill before the discount policy was announced. But he said he believes Bosack would be reluctant to make any statements confirming her skepticism about the policy out of loyalty to her immediate superior. Director Cheryl Jacobs joined Trendic in criticizing the discount, expressing concern that “we’re finding out about it after the fact.” She said it should have been brought up during budget deliberations in January and February. “It certainly impacts the budget” approved just a few months prior to the implementation of the discount policy, she said. Hill said the discount was designed to be a “reward to the people” -- Ocean Pines property owners – “who subsidize losses at the Yacht Club. He said the discount “grew out” out of a staff discussion of alternatives to the Yacht Club’s happy hour policy. “This is best compromise we could come to,” he said, adding that “there has been a better than 25 percent increase in revenues since the discount policy has been in place.” Trendic later told the Progress that if the margins are reduced too low, it won’t matter how much additional revenue is brought in. Director Dave Stevens expressed a more forgiving attitude toward the discount policy, saying the board could debate the merits “all day” and still not know whether it’s a good idea. “I don’t know if there will be a budgetary impact,” he said. “I don’t know if it will work,” adding that the board reduced golf membership fees this year in the hopes of stimulating memberships. “Doing nothing guarantees the same result,” he said. “We’ll find out” whether both policies will have the desired effect. Director Doug Parks seemed inclined to put the policy on a short leash, advising Hill “to make sure it’s yielding the intended benefit.” He said the acting general manager should have “plan B in place …if we don’t get the results,” and that the OPA needs “to be able to act to take corrective action” quickly. Supik, challenged by Trendic to state her views on the issue, said the acting general manager “has to make the budget work” and that the OPA

Kiwanis donation

Pictured (left to right) are Ocean Pines Parks and Recreation’s Jessica Conaway as she accepts the annual $300 donation from the Kiwanis Club President Barbara Peletier in support of the Ocean Pines’ Summer Concerts In The Park.

GM ouster From Page 28 posed” to that. Hill said he would be “happy” to provide any additional information on any personnel matter but if Trendic really intended to press for the acting general manager’s removal, he wanted to have that discussion in public to defend himself against any untrue or unfair allegations. “It’s not related to the replacement of the GM,” Trendic repeated. Stevens said that while Trendic indicated the closed session was not related to the issue of Hill’s removal, Trendic’s supporting commentary for his motion for it made a reference to Hill’s parttime status. That reference made Stevens wonder if the intent of the closed meeting was to replace Hill with someone full-time. “Tell us what you expect” to accomplish with a closed meeting, Stevens said. “I don’t know how six minds think,” Trendic replied, adding that he therefore couldn’t anticipate what might happen in closed session. But he said it was his “fiduciary duty” as a director to ensure that the association’s conduct of personnel matters be done in accordance with the OPA’s employee handbook and in compliance with the Maryland Homeowners Association Act. Stevens then asked rhetorically whether anything “improper” had been done with respect to the Beach Club employee who Hill, in a memo to the board, had said he would terminate for insubordination with the concurrence of at least four directors.

“I don’t think so,” Stevens said, answering his own question. Trendic appeared nonplussed that the board would be discussing a personnel matter in public. “I believe (this discussion) should be done in closed session,” he said again. Jacobs, joining Trendic in supporting a closed session, called it “curious” that some directors had “so much question on a motion to go into a closed session. (To discuss personnel is) why you go into closed session,” she said. After Herrick repeated his earlier assertion that directors can ask Hill directly for information about a personnel matter, Hill said he was objecting to Trendic’s motion because it related to him and his “performance” and “the public has the right to know, and I have the right to respond” to criticisms. Parks said he was “on both sides” of the issue and promoted the idea of improved communication among directors. “If we have the opportunity to consult, we should do it,” he said. “We should exchange openly” among ourselves. Trendic then jumped in to say that if he had any issues with Hill’s performance as acting general manager, “I would be happy” to discuss them in public, as he has done often since Hill assumed his current role in late August. Director Pat Supik said that as Trendic’s motion to go into closed session “doesn’t seem to be (seeking) any particular action,” she was not inclined to support it. She said Hill had acted in ways that he thought were “in the best interests of the association.” Trendic’s motion failed 4-2, with Jacobs in favor and Parks abstaining.

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30 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

May 2017

Pickleballers boycotting indoor gymnasium Club members engage in ‘mass exodus’ to Ocean City in protest By TOM STAUSS Publisher embers of the Ocean Pines pickleball club are voting with their feet against new rates for drop-in pickleball at the Community Center gymnasium that went into effect May 1. According to pickleball club member Janis Green, she would have been playing at the indoor courts on the rainy afternoon of May 5 but “there is no one there, because they are angry” and have driven into Ocean City to play on indoor courts available there for less money than what the Ocean Pines Association is charging.” She said her indoor fees when combined with an annual membership “would result in payments to the OPA from $150 a year to $322 a year if I play indoors three times a week for five winter months. This is why people are angry!” For someone who doesn’t go to Florida in February like she does, the cost would be even greater, she said. Club member Neil Gottesman in an e-mail to the Progress said that non-resident pickleball players are experiencing a sharp increase in rates because they must first purchase a $250 associate membership fee before purchasing an annual pickleball membership of $100 for an individual or $150 for a household. “If a member wishes to play indoors, it is $3 per session on top of amenity fee. Resident non-members pay $5, and non-resident non-member pay $7. All this adds substantial cost to any member versus what we previously paid. Playing indoors on only two courts increases the wait and dramatically cuts down on an individual’s court time. With other indoor venues around at a cost of only $3 resident or $4 non-resident, and a minimum of six courts, you can see why the exodus,” he wrote, adding, “the board keeps saying we reduced our amenity cost by 30 percent, but in reality anyone playing through the colder months and using the inside courts would find substantial in-

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crease over last year’s fees, which included in and outdoor play with no additional drop-in fee.” In a recent e-mail to OPA President Tom Herrick, Green described the apparent boycott of indoor courts as “a problem that is not going away. You are seeing a mass exodus of people that want the former pricing back,” both for members and non-residents. She called it “a sad thing when I cannot find three other players on a rainy day to play. People are arranging car pools to OC. This situation is distressing. She described new outdoor pickleball courts as “a great amenity” but said they are unusable on cold, windy and rainy days. Herrick had previously responded to Green, telling her that the Board of Directors earlier this year “lowered the membership rates for our pickleball amenity that includes the unlimited use of outdoor pickleball courts for this fiscal year. The Board also approved, at the direct request from the pickleball membership, eight new dedicated outdoor courts expressly for the pickleball players’ enjoyment. These courts are now in the final stages of completion,” Herrick wrote. “In the meantime, the temporary outdoor pickleball courts are still available for use. With the beautiful weather we have been experiencing in the past few weeks, I am personally hopeful the pickleball membership will show support for this investment the association has dedicated for their enjoyment by increasing play on these outdoor courts,” he told Green. Her response in effect is to suggest that the outdoor courts are great when the weather permits, but Mid-Atlantic weather in the spring is notoriously fickle. Pickleball club officials also recently warned the board that pickleball memberships would decrease because of the new drop-in rates for play at the Ocean Pines Community Center. With new fiscal year starting May 1, it’s too soon to know whether that prediction will prove to be true.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Discount policy From Page 29 “stop the program” within two months or make other changes to the budget to produce the desired outcome. “The key is that it’s the GM’s budget to manage,” she said. “I really hope it works.” Jacobs complained that the board doesn’t have a paid, professional general manager to hold accountable if the discount policy fails. “We find about this after the budget is approved,” she added. “It boggles the mind to say there’s no budget impact.” When President Tom Herrick said “no one knows whether the discount” will work as intended, Jacobs replied that consistent service and decent prices “don’t cost anything.” She said the OPA still is receiving complaints about poor service” even with the 20 percent discount in place. Trendic said he “continues to be surprised by what’s coming out of the GM’s office” with respect to policy changes, and he said this one in particular could have a “sizable” impact on OPA finances. He said that if in three months the policy turns out to have failed, “it needs to altered or stopped” altogether. Hill said the financial impact won’t be as extreme as Trendic and Jacobs fear because the OPA had many other discounts in place that weren’t very well tracked by the OPA’s point of sale system. He said the only “problematic” impact of the policy is on Thursday’s Trivia Night, where participation is relatively static from week to week. In a recent telephone interview with the Progress, Hill said the theory behind the discount is that it must be significant enough to attract customers who might otherwise dine or drink elsewhere, in numbers sufficient to offset less profitability per check. He said the OPA’s food and beverage operations are business amenities, not necessarily intended to break even, but he said he wants to get as close to that as possible. Hill said that the idea for the discount was developed by himself, newly appointed OPA food and beverage manager Brian Townsend, and Denise Sawyer, the OPA’s marketing and public relations director. Hill said it evolved from an initial idea to offer some sort of loyalty discount to customers after reaching a certain level of spending. “Our POS (point of sale) system doesn’t have the capability of storing frequency information, but it can handle discounts,” Hill said. Herrick told the Progress in late March that he was very much in favor of the new discount because it’s a way of the OPA giving back to property owners who subsidize amenity operations that don’t make money for the OPA. He said it’s consistent with a move by this year’s board of directors to make some amenities more affordable, citing reductions in golf membership fees as a way of encouraging more participation.

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

31

32 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

May 2017

OPA targets more unregistered vehicles

Directors cancel work sessions for remainder of current board term

Board votes VW bus for expedited treatment By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer ag it or move it – that’s the message the Ocean Pines Association is sending to property owners who have an unregistered vehicle on their lots. During an April 29 meeting, the Board of Directors reviewed requests from the Department of Compliance, Permits and Inspections for action on ten alleged violations of the restrictive covenants. Six of the cases were for unregistered vehicles parked on numbered lots in the community. While directors forwarded most of the cases to the OPA attorney for issuance of the standard letter giving the property owner ten days to bring the property into compliance before taking legal action to remedy the situation, they wanted one particularly persistent offender addressed immediately. The owner of 8 Willow Way has several unregistered vehicles, including a VW bus that is making a return appearance, located on the lot. According to CPI documentation, the property owner claims the vehicles belong to her grandson, who had a suspended license until May 5 and a broken finger and can’t drive, thereby making him unable to drive and to be able to remove the vehicles. The owner requested an extension of time to relocate the unregistered vehicles, but CPI denied the request because of a history of similar violations. The OPA took the issue to court in December 2014 and the judge issued an order for removal of the VW bus at that time. It was removed, but now it’s back. After Director Brett Hill offered a motion to find the owner in continuous violation of the restrictive covenants and to forward the issue to the OPA attorney for a letter, other directors said more immediate action needed to be taken. Director Cheryl Jacobs offered an amendment to the motion to immediate file with the court for an injunction seeking removal of the vehicles. Jacobs said she has been working with a neighboring property owner, who has been subjected to the violations on the subject lot for 17 years, since late 2016 to try to resolve the issue. While the vehicles were removed in 2014 under the threat of court action, Jacobs said, “Here we are right back in the exact same situation.” “I agree with Cheryl,” said Director Dave Stevens, who offered a second to the motion, which passed unanimously. Directors also found the property owners of 2 Whitesail Circle, 15 Rockside Road, 6 Seagrave Lane, and 7 High Sheriff Trail in continuing violation of the restrictive covenants for unregistered vehicles and forwarded those

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cases to the OPA attorney for a ten-day letter and then legal action if the owners do not comply. A violation at 87 Martinique Circle was rectified so no board action was taken on that property. Hill said in the case of 2 Whitesail Circle, the property owner is five or more years behind in payment of property assessments and owes the OPA $8,318. Similarly, the owner of 7 High Sheriff Trail owes the OPA $5,093.97, he said. The board also reviewed and sent to legal counsel a violation at 48 Camelot Circle for an unpermitted recreational vehicle that is parked on the lot. In December, the vehicle’s owner, who rents the home, applied for a permit for permanent RV parking but did not send the OPA the appropriate payment. Attempts to contact the RV’s owner have not resulted in resolution of the matter. In other CPI matters, the board found a continuing violation at 14 Drawbridge Road for lack of property maintenance, including a damaged dock, missing facia, overgrowth and debris, and molding on the siding. Directors voted unanimously to authorize the Public Works Department to enter onto the property to remove debris, clean up the property, make necessary repairs, and bill the owner. Director Slobodan Trendic said the property was recently taken over by a financial institution. According to CPI documents, the property owner died, but staff was able to speak with the owner’s son. The son reported that the property disposition is being handled by the Howard County court system, and he has

OPA returns to traditional schedule of one regular board meeting per month By TOM STAUSS Publisher t was a grand experiment that in the end Ocean Pines Association directors decided wasn’t working as intended. OPA Vice-President Dave Stevens confirmed in a May 3 telephone interview with the Progress that the board decided, in a recent e-mail exchange, to cancel work sessions for the duration of the current board term. The board will return to a single regular meeting every month, with the next one scheduled for Monday, May 22, at 9:30 a.m., in the Assateague Room at the Ocean Pines Community Center, unless changed by the board because Stevens has a doctor’s appointment and can’t make it. Special meetings still can be called by two members of the board for a specified purpose. The original intent of the work sessions was to allow the board to fully discuss an issue in a somewhat informal setting and then to cast deciding votes at the following regular meeting. The regular meetings were supposed to be much shorter affairs than the work sessions, but it hasn’t always worked out that way. Often, some of the same points made by directors at work sessions were repeated at the regular meetings, prolonging them. Since the intended purpose hasn’t been fulfilled, Stevens said the directors decided just to combine the two meetings into one, perhaps saving time in the process. Stevens also said the board will have a busy schedule in June with meetings intended to result in the hiring of a new general manager to replace acting General Manager Brett Hill. Stevens said that Herrick suggested to his colleagues that the work sessions be cancelled and that there was no push-back.

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nothing to do with it. Hill confirmed that the property is “technically upside down as far as the mortgage is concerned,” but said the OPA has first position lien on the property and does have the ability to collect on back dues, which total $16,532.25, and related charges. At 41 Tail of the Fox Drive, the board found a continuing violation for the lo-

cation of two sheds on the lot instead of the allowable one. Hill said legal counsel will pursue removal of one of the sheds. The owner is also delinquent in annual assessments by $10,641.89. A violation at 118 Robin Hood Trail for lack of screening around a propane tank was rectified and removed from the agenda.

Arbor Day remembrance

The Ocean Pines Garden Club held its annual Arbor Day memorial tree planting ceremony on Thursday, April 13, at Pintail Park in Ocean Pines. Loved ones who passed away in 2016 were memorialized at the event with the planting of a tree. Worcester County Commissioner Chip Bertino and Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors Vice President Dave Stevens were guests. Stevens presented an official proclamation from the association in recognition of the day. Lunch was held at The Cove at Mumford’s in Ocean Pines following the ceremony. Pictured (left to right) are Bertino, Ocean Pines Garden Club President Meg Herrick, Stevens and Bickerstaff.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Herrick amendment earns majority vote By TOM STAUSS Publisher espite the effort of Ocean Pines Association Director Cheryl Jacobs to strip a board liaison from the candidate Search Committee tasked with developing a slate of candidates for the annual Board of Directors election, the board has voted to continue the liaison position. Jacobs offered a motion for second reading at the April 29 board meeting to remove the board liaison from the Search Committee, while OPA President Tom Herrick proposed an amendment to Board Resolution M-09 that allowed for the board liaison to continue in the role with the caveat that he or she could not be running for reelection to the board. Herrick had proposed the same amendment to Jacobs’ proposal at the March board meeting. Jacobs tabled her proposal so she could take it back to the Bylaws and Resolutions Advisory Committee for consideration. According to a recent opinion by the OPA’s attorney, Jeremy Tucker, a proposed change in a board resolution can be voted on and approved on second reading if it isn’t voted on or accepted on first reading. It needs only to be discussed to be eligible for approval on second reading. The vote to continue the board liaison’s role occurred at the board’s April 29 regular meeting after Jacobs presented her motion to eliminate it and Herrick offered his amendment to continue it. The effect of the April 29 vote means that Herrick is continuing his role as liaison as this year’s Search Committee completes its task of ensuring that there are enough candidates to run for the board this summer. The filing deadline is May 10. Under applicable OPA bylaws and resolutions, the Search Committee is charged with ensuring that there are two more candidates running for the board than available seats. This year, since there are two openings on the board to be contested, the committee is charged with ensuring that at least four candidates are running. During the April 29 board meeting, directors unanimously approved five Ocean Pines residents – Thomas Piatti, Peggy Turner, Ken Koroknay, Catherine Gallagher and Kevin Mealia – to the Search Committee, roughly two months later than the panel should have been filled. Herrick said the committee’s task to organize and canvas for candidates will be especially daunting this year because it only has about a week and a half to complete its task. During board discussion at the April

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24 work session, Jacobs said she brought Herrick’s proposed amendment to the committee for consideration but that members voted unanimously against it. The committee’s position is that “there should be no board liaison” to the Search Committee, she said. Herrick responded that he respected the opinion of the committee but that his suggestion had been that “the liaison shouldn’t be running for the board.” Jacobs suggested that Herrick put his proposed amendment in writing prior to a board vote on the 29th. He did, and it passed 5 to 1, with Jacobs opposed and Director Dave Stevens abstaining. The underlying motion then passed 4 to 2, with Jacobs joined by Slobodan Trendic in opposition and Stevens abstaining Committee member Jim Trummel told the board during the work session that the liaison position should be eliminated to ensure there is no “perceived conflict” or influence on committee activities by a sitting member of the board. Hill came to Herrick’s defense, suggesting that if the Search Committee liaison was eliminated as proposed by Jacobs and the committee, M-09 would be in conflict with Board Resolution C-01, which calls for OPA advisory committees to have board liaisons. “I support Tom’s amendment to avoid the conflict,” Hill said. Trummel responded that he strongly disagreed with Hill’s assessment. “I simply don’t agree that C-01 has to

be controlling,” Trummel said. Herrick contended that despite fears of collusion or unseemly influence by a board liaison over Search Committee activities, there is no evidence that has ever occurred. “There is no interaction or perception (of a conflict of interest),” Herrick said. “To suggest otherwise is unfair.” Parks also wondered how much interaction occurs between the board liaison and Search Committee members. “I don’t see how having a liaison allows a point of contact,” he said. The Search Committee’s function is to canvas for potential candidates which doesn’t involve much interaction with the liaison, he added. Trendic suggested that he could “go either way on the issue” but said he could see a need for a “separation” between the board and the Search Committee. He said he was inclined to support the opinion of the Bylaws and Resolutions committee in support of the Jacobs’ proposal. Herrick pushed back and said if that kind of separation was needed, would Trendic be in favor of stripping the Elections Committee of its board liaison? “The Elections Committee needs a degree of interaction with the board,” he replied. “I can see a difference between the two committees.” The debate at the April work session and regular session continued the discussion about the search committee

liaison that took place at the March 25 board meeting, when the board opted to table consideration until the Bylaws and Resolutions Advisory Committee reviews the proposal. Jacobs said it is inappropriate for the board to have a liaison to a committee charged with soliciting and evaluating the candidacy of individuals seeking election to that same body. The role of the committee is outlined in resolution M-09, which outlines the responsibility of the general manager and staff to provide support throughout the process. But, unlike resolution C-01, which establishes general guidelines for OPA standing advisory committees and their board liaisons, nowhere does it specify that a board representative is appointed to support the Search Committee, she said. Particularly when a sitting director is running for re-election and serves as a liaison to the Search Committee, there can be an air of impropriety, Jacobs said, adding that the director could garner knowledge of other candidates that could be used to improperly gain an advantage in the election. Herrick, the current board liaison to the Search Committee, said resolution M-09 calls for appointment of the Search Committee by Feb. 1 of each year. The role of the committee is to stimulate interest in the forthcoming election, solicit candidates from a broad spectrum of Ocean Pines property owners, provide information about the application process, and assist candidates with applying to run for election. Any Ocean Pines property owner need not receive the approval of the committee, or even interact with it to any significant degree, in order to run for the board. In recent years, many if not most candidates emerged without being solicited by the Search Committee. q

Board rejects Jacobs proposal to eliminate board liaison to candidate search committee

33

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34 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

May 2017

Questionnaire not sent out with lot assessment notices Board to determine ‘best’ way to get the survey in the hands of property owners By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Board of Directors and Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee did not achieve the objective of sending out a community survey with the annual lot assessments, which arrived in property owner mailboxes in March. But that doesn’t mean the whole enterprise is dead, according to Ocean Pines Association President Tom Herrick. “(OPA Director) Dave Stevens is seeking input from the committee to advise the board on the best method of return and processing of the information received. Staff and management are also exploring different options. “All information will be presented to the board at our next meeting (in May) for consideration and possible determination,” Herrick told the Progress in a May 2 e-mail. Stevens in a May 3 telephone interview said that questions that remain to be answered include “how do we get the survey out” to property owners and “what do we with the results once they come in.” Stevens said there probably will be multiple ways to distribute the survey but that the primary means will be some sort of electronic means involving the

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OPA Web site, with the OPA’s quarterly report as another way of getting the survey in the hands of property owners. The preferred method of inputting responses will be online, but Stevens said property owners without computer access will be permitted to send surveys completed by hand. That will require some staff time to manually input the results into the computer database. Stevens said the larger issue will be how to handle the survey results and to compile them in a usable form. He said that he and Acting General Manager Brett Hill have said the task of compiling results, including write-in responses that are likely, will be daunting, perhaps beyond the capability of the committee to handle expeditiously and efficiently. As an alternative, he said that he and Hill have kicked around the possibility of asking the Zogby organization, which conducted a survey about ten years ago for the OPA, to compile the results in a usable form. Stevens said that Hill is looking into the cost of hiring Zogby or other survey organizations, with the results expected as early as the May board meeting. Committee chair Frank Daly said several months ago that, after directors exchanged copies of proposed survey questions following a joint meeting of

the board and committee this past November, the number of questions have been whittled down from 42 to 28. The questions with board comments were forwarded to the committee by Stevens in December. In an early January meeting, the committee went through roughly two thirds of the 28 questions, arriving at what members hoped would be the final version of those questions. Later that month, the committee met again to scrutinize the remaining questions and board comments, Daly said. After compiling all the questions into a final draft, Daly said the committee forwarded them to the board for a final review. “Even if there are some additional changes at that point, we expect we will have a survey ready to be mailed out to property owners with the annual assessments in March or whenever they’re sent out,” Daly said at the time. Stevens told the Progress back in March that he’s satisfied with the final draft and that unless any directors want to do additional tweaking, he believes they’re ready to be sent out. “I might reduce the number of questions by half, but at this point I’m not sure it’s worth the effort,” he said. “As drafted, I believe the questionnaire could produce some useful information.” Stevens said he wanted to consult with his board colleagues on the best

way to solicit property owner responses. He suggested posting the questionnaire on the OPA Web site, or perhaps the OPA’s new members’ forum. Property owners would be encouraged to fill out the surveys by press releases and through e-mail blasts. A decision also needs to be made on whether to mail the questionnaires to property owners using the U.S. postal service, he said “I personally don’t have a problem with the cost of doing that,” he said, adding that another possibility would be to mail out the survey with the annual OPA election materials in July. Another issue yet to be determined is what software will be used to compile the results. The committee has suggested Survey Monkey as an on-line platform that would allow property owners to fill out the survey on-line, cutting down on OPA staff time required for manual inputting of paper surveys. Hill has suggested using a module available in existing OPA software. Committee members advised that whatever software or method of inputting was chosen, property owners without computer access or savvy be given an opportunity to fill out a paper survey. Previously, Daly said that the committee is agnostic on which method the OPA employs to compile survey data. At the November meeting, the committee had proposed Survey Monkey for that purpose, at a cost of $300 for a licensed copy. Hill recently said he had not proceeded to send out the questionnaire with the assessment notices sent out in March because he was not sure the board hadsettled on the final list of questions.

Directors question Swim and Racquet beer and wine license Aquatics Advisory Committee to be asked to offer recommendation By TOM STAUSS Publisher wo Ocean Pines Association directors are questioning the decision by Acting General Manager Brett Hill to seek a beer and wine license for the Swim and Racquet Club pool this summer. During a work session of the Board of Directors April 24, directors Slobodan Trendic and Cheryl Jacobs said Hill should have obtained more feedback from the community before unilaterally making the decision to see the beer and wine license.

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Search committee

From Page 33 Herrick argued that resolution C-01 calls for the president to appoint board liaisons to the committees, and that the Search Committee should be no different. He said the directors do not serve as members or provide direction to the committees; they simply provide a direct link to facilitate the flow of information.

Hill recently said the application for a license is pending before the county’s liquor control board later this month. The application was originally conceived as a way to help foster an adults-only swim period at the Swim and Racquet Club pool on Sunday afternoons this summer. But that adults-only event has been cancelled in the reshuffling of pool schedules related to the restoration of a Family Fun Night at the Yacht Club’s Oasis pool on Wednesday evenings this summer, beginning June 21. Hill’s announced intentions had been to schedule Family Fun Night at the Yacht Club pool this summer on Sunday nights, shifting adults-only swimming to the Swim and Racquet Club from 1-8 p.m Sundays. With Sunday adults-only swimming no longer in the cards for Swim and Racquet, there perhaps is less of a rationale for a beer and wine license than there was previously. But during the April 24 work session, Hill offered no comment about his inten-

tions but the application for a license is pending. Trendic opened the discussion by telling his colleagues that “before something this occurs, I would like to see the Aquatics (Advisory) Committee involved. Does it make sense?” He said a decision of this magnitude should not be made by one individual, the acting general manager, but by the board after consulting with the aquatics committee. Director Dave Stevens pushed back against Trendic by asking “what does ‘make sense’ mean?” Trendic responded that beer and wine sales originally were proposed in the context of a Sunday adults-only swim time at Swim and Racquet. With that no longer scheduled, Trendic said the committee should be asked whether it believes beer and wine sales should be introduced. Stevens said so far there has been no push-back against the idea by either the Aquatics or Clubs advisory committees. Director Doug Parks, the liaison to

the aquatics committee, agreed that the beer and wine sales “should be bounced off the committee” and he wondered whether it would “cost anything” to implement. But he went to suggest that the OPA should “try it, see if it yields the benefit. Let it gestate. I’m fundamentally OK with it,” adding that there should be oversight on whether the sales are “yielding benefit.” Director Cheryl Jacobs questioned whether the decision to go with beer and wine sales at Swim and Racquet “was one-man’s opinion” – by that she meant Hill’s – and that “maybe you need more feedback – what is the pulse of the community?” – before allowing beer and wine sales. “We should be getting community input on whether this a good thing to do,” she said. The Aquatics Advisory Committee’s next meeting in scheduled for Monday, May 15, at 1 p.m. The proposed beer and wine application likely will be on the meeting agenda.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Board not ready to abandon indoor pool enclosure expansion

35

No plans were presented to the board at the April 24 work session or the regular meeting April 29. The Aquatics Committee meets again May 15, with the room extension a likely agenda item. Phillips said the plan is to seek bids for a contractor to build the room, with Aquatics director opts for original stand-alone building at Sports Core because of cost the Ocean Pines Public Works DepartBy TOM STAUSS Hill asked the board for a consensus him to seek bids on a new room addition, ment finishing the interior, including on the smaller room, with the expecta- the project would have to be “pushed painting and carpeting. Publisher espite indications that the Ocean tion that he would be able to deliver at back” to the summer of 2018. “It’s a stand-alone structure. HowevOcean Pines resident Gary Miller, a er, there would be an enclosed hallway Pines Aquatics Department is least three quotes on the build-out of the member of the aquatics committee, sug- (connecting the room with) the pool, as fully prepared to throw in the room at the board’s May meeting. Director Slobodan Trendic was one gested that the board talk with Phillips people would be going in and out detowel for a major enlargement of the Sports Core indoor pool this summer, director unwilling to immediately ac- and the panel before making a decision pending on the program/event. So it members of the Board of Directors ar- cept the staff recommendation to return on which option to pursue. would be connected, but would be its In a recent e-mail to the Progress, own room,” she added. en’t quite ready to abandon expansion to the smaller room. He wanted to know what the OPA Phillips said her department was abanplans in favor of a smaller room roughly The smaller room means that the “would be compromising” by abandoning doning the larger expansion project be- possible addition of a fitness center at one third the size. At the directors’ April 24 work ses- the larger expansion, telling Hill that he cause “Aquatics isn’t looking to go that the Sports Core will no longer be possision, Acting General Manager Brett should come back to the board with “the far into debt again, which is why we are ble. Never fully fleshed out or approved Hill advised the board that the Aquatics differences in scope” between the two al- looking at a single room rather than by the board, the fitness center was an pushing the current structure out. We idea that Phillips and her staff had constaff would like to go back to the original ternatives. After Director Doug Parks echoed need more space and need the room to sidered for the much larger expansion plan for a smaller room roughly 25 by 40 feet in size, a little more than 1,000 Trendic by saying he wanted more “tan- accommodate our needs but want to do that had been on the table. gible information” to help make an in- it at a cost we can hopefully ‘recoup’ in a square feet. In her e-mail, Phillips said she is still The staff made that recommenda- formed decision, Hill responded that the few years,” she said. considering the fitness center but more “In that room we will host private in her role as the person in charge of tion because expansion of the existing larger expansion would make it possible parties, training and an after-school administration and budgeting for the enclosure structure by more than 3,000 to expand the pool in the future. He also said it would it easier to store aquatics program. Funds (will be) going Department of Parks and Recreation. square feet would cost almost twice the to aquatics as the programs will be run Phillips is the defacto rec department $225,000 in the capital budget for 2017- some new pool equipment. But he said the smaller room off to by aquatics staff, and programs will be director. 18, Hill said. It was the acting general manager the side of the enclosure would meet kids’ water aerobics, kids’ aqua tramRegarding the $225,000 in the budwho upgraded Aquatics Director Colby the “original desired need” taking into poline and swim lessons, among other get for additional Sports Core space, it Phillips’s original plan for a small annex account some “attic space” that could be things,” she said. should be sufficient to cover the cost of Private parties, lessons and af- a meeting/party room as currently enviinto a more elaborate expansion, before added to it. Trendic said he would have liked to ter-school programs are all fee-based sioned by Phillips. the cost came in at more than $400,000. Hill said the smaller room would still hear the Aquatics Advisory Committee’s and would generate revenue that over No director raised objections to this be able to accommodate after-school pro- take on the issue before deciding how to time would cover the construction cost. budget item during the budget review The plan still is to complete construc- process, and the proposed expenditure grams, parties and lifeguard training proceed. “Maybe (the proposed expansion) tion this summer and have the room made it into the final capital budget apsessions as originally proposed. He later added that storage of new needs to evaluated and rebudgeted at available for fall programming. The proved by the board in February. OPA’s new facilities’ manager, Kevin aquatics equipment would continue the higher cost,” he said. In Ocean Pines’ two-step process for Director Pat Supik also questioned Layfield, is drafting plans for the room, capital expenditures, budgetary approvaround the perimeter of the pool, rather than in the larger expansion area. Some the smaller room addition, after which in the hopes of having them ready for al simply gives the general manager the storage could also be accommodated in Hill told his board colleagues if they review at the Board of Directors’ later in authority to solicit bid proposals for varweren’t prepared to vote to authorize April, Phillips said. attic space above the room addition. ious projects. Once staff recommends a particular proposal from among the minimum of three bids that are supposed to be obDON'T WAIT tained, the board has final authority SPRAY NOW! Designing effective, environmentally over whether to authorize the spending. sound weed control programs for • Enjoy a weed free property all summer long If property bids owners exceed budgeted amount, Delmarva for 30the years! (No more pulling weeds) • Eliminate hiding places for Lyme Disease carrying or410-742-2973 for any other reason, the directors ticks, rodents and snakes would not have been obligated to autho• Reduce weed pollen and related allergy symptoms • More time for summer fun (fishing, golfing, beach, etc.) rize the project’s go-ahead. • Driveways Staff apparently realized that the Look WhatYour Your Neighbors Look What Neighbors • Stone Yards likelihood of the expansion being apSayingAbout About Our Our Service... AreAre Saying Service ... • Sidewalks & Patios "Very pleased with thethe service, our yardour is free of weeds proved was not great given the cost that “Very pleased with service, yard is free & brush, our property looks great, very dependable..." • Shrub Beds of weeds & brush, our property looks great, very WeedPRO Owner - Jim Samis came back. Bob Conti - Ocean Pines, MD dependable ...” Bob Conti, Ocean Pines, MD Locally Owned & Operated • Serving Delmarva for 30 years • Natural Areas Licensed & Insured • Certified in MD, DE & VA A New-England based company, "WeedPRO provides top notch reliable service. A great • Parking Lots Chuck reliable Dashiell - Salisbury, MD A value..." provides top notch “WeedPRO service. Structures Unlimited, built the Sports We Accept • Storage Yards great value&... ” Chuck Dashiell, MD "Friendly knowledgable, wish we had Salisbury, tried them sooner..." Molly Rinaldi - Ocean Pines, MD Core pool enclosure roughly ten years • Fence Lines “Friendly & knowledgable. Wish we had tried them Free Estimates • Guaranteed Results sooner ... ” Molly Rinaldi, Ocean Pines, MD ago for a little over $1 million. • Community Streets • Phragmites Hill recently said he and his staff • Poison Ivy were determining whether the addition DON'T WAIT • Woody Brush Control would require the same company to do • Wherever weeds are a SPRAY NOW! the expansion, or whether some other Designingeffective, effective,environmentally environmentally Designing sound problem (except lawns) soundcontrol weed control programs for contractor could accomplish it. • Enjoy a weed free property all summer long weed programs for Delmarva Delmarva property owners for years! 30 years! (No more pulling weeds) property owners for 41 He said the goal was to accomplish Eliminate hiding places for Lyme Disease carrying New Customer •Discount 410-742-2973 410-742-2973 the expansion this summer, at the same ticks, rodents and snakes • Reduce weed pollen and related allergy symptoms time the pool would be closed for its • More time for summer fun (fishing, golfing, beach, etc.) semi-annual closure for cleaning and water replacement in late August or Look What Your Neighbors We Accept AreCoupon Saying About Our Service... September. On placed 10/30/17 • Present Coupon after Free Onall allorders orders placed by by 9/30/06 • Present Money Mailer after FreeEstimate Estimate "Very pleased with the service, our yard is free of weeds He envisioned a two-week closure, & brush, our property looks great, very dependable..." WeedPRO Owner - Jim Samis with Ocean Pines’ four outdoor pools ADVERTISE WITH MONEY MAILER OF DELMARVA CALL (302) 629-8686 FOR RATES Bob Conti - Ocean Pines, MD AND INFORMATION 366-29-089-4A,4BLocally Owned & Operated • Serving Delmarva for 41 Years • Licensed & Insured • Certified Locally Owned OperatedDE • Serving in &MD, & Delmarva VA for 30 years available for use during that period. Licensed & Insured • Certified in MD, DE & VA "WeedPRO provides top notch reliable service. A great

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36 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPA FINANCES

May 2017

OPA closing in on operating loss for the year Yacht Club loses $40,000 in March; operating fund variance at a negative $329,000 with one month remaining in the 2016-17 fiscal year By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association remained in negative territory 11 months into 2016-17 relative to budget, with one month remaining in the fiscal year. March financial results indicated that the OPA has a cumulative negative operating fund variance to budget of $257,467, not including new capital expenditures. The negative operating variance to budget including new capital is $328,553 through March. At the end of the fiscal year on April 30, the cumulative operating variance is equivalent to the OPA’s profit or loss for the year, since the OPA traditionally projects a balanced budget with revenue and expenses the same. With the OPA falling well behind budget forecasts for the year, actual results indicate that the OPA is still in surplus after 11 months. The surplus is $531,850 through March, but April results will push the net results into deficit territory. With a deficit somewhere north of $300,000 likely for the year, the results represent a deterioration from projections offered by management in January. According to a document released as part of the draft 2017-18 budget on Jan. 11, management at the time was anticipating a $284,650 loss for the current fiscal year. The pending operating deficit was acknowledged by OPA Treasurer and Director Pat Supik at a Board of Directors’ work session April 26. She told her colleagues that options for dealing with it include raising the assessment next year to offset the loss, taking the equivalent amount out of reserves, or acknowledging it on the OPA balance sheet without taking either of those actions. She did not recommend any particular ac-

T

Source: OPA Director of Finance Mary Bosack

tion. She noted that the OPA’s cash position in April is flush because of the infusion of new assessment dollars for 2017-18. In March, the OPA recorded a $644,570 net operating loss, excluding new capital, behind the budgeted loss by a negative $31,942. With new capital over budget by $948, March produced a negative operating variance including new capital of $32,890. According to Director of Finance Mary Busack’s March report, the negative operating fund variance to budget for the month was driven by revenues under budget by $244, total expenses over budget by $31,698, and new capital over budget by $948. Through March, the cumulative negative operating fund variance of $328,853 was the result of revenues under budget by $225,885, total expenses over budget by $31,582, and new capital over budget by $71,386. The cumulative negative variance for the year resulted from revenues falling short of forecasts, expenses exceeding budget, and new capital expenditures exceeding forecasts. There are essentially three ways to look at OPA financial performance. One is to measure actual results against budget, with either positive or negative variances possible. Another is simply actual results, which can be surpluses or deficits. Both measurements are presented in OPA financial reports for a particular month and cumulatively for the entire fiscal year. The reports posted on the OPA Web site under documents, monthly financials, also include detailed break-outs for each amenity and assessment-funded department, along with year-to-date numbers for the current and previous year, making year-over-year comparisons possible. Year-over-year performance is the third way to measure financial performance.

The OPA runs its fiscal year from May 1 through April 30 of the following year. Amenity performance in March was typical for this time of year. All recorded modest deficits for the month. For the fourth month in a row, the Yacht Club racked up a substantial loss in March, on the heels of similar losses in December, January and February. The Yacht Club’s loss was $39,732 in March, an improvement over the $67,019 loss in February, and the amenity actually registered a positive variance to budget of $1,760. After recording modest surpluses in September and October, the Yacht Club slipped into a deficit in November, with a $38,298 loss, followed by a whopping $71,032 loss in December and a $71,847 loss in January. For the five months from November through March, the cumulative deficit was $287,928, wiping out a modest surplus through the end of October. For the year so far, the Yacht Club has run up an $185,693 deficit and is $228,984 behind budget. A year ago through March, the Yacht Club had an operating deficit of $34,657. That’s a year-over-year negative swing of just less than $165,000. Golf operations, recently brought back inhouse after an operating contract with an outside management firm was terminated, recorded a very slight negative variance to budget of $253 in March on an operating loss of $63,046. Golf operations are in the red by $207,802 for the year through March, compared to a $150,230 loss through March a year ago. All other major amenities remain in the black for the first 11 months of the year. Of the amenities that are open for business during the winter months, Aquatics remains the most profitable for the OPA, with a $12,486 surplus through March. A year ago, that surplus was $33,750

In March, Aquatics lost $26,515, missing its budget by a negative $3,494. With one month remaining in the fiscal year, Aquatics would need to keep its April loss to no greater than $12,500 to break even for the year. Last year, the department lost just over $10,000 for the year, its best performance by far in more than ten years. The Progress has learned that the Aquatics Department would be breaking even or better this year if the OPA Finance Department had allocated a portion of Aquatics Department director Colby Phillips’s payroll-related expense to the Parks and Recreation Department, of which she is the defacto director by virtue of oversight over its budget. Her salary will be split among departments beginning with the new fiscal year May 1. If adjusted to reflect her actual split duties since last fall, Aquatics still could show a surplus for the year. All three racquet sports were close to budget in March, with tennis losing $947, platform tennis in the red by $446, and pickleball with a $46 loss. All three are in the black for the year through March – tennis by $4,312, platform tennis by $1,382, and pickleball by $6,481. While tennis is behind budget for the year by $2,845, the amenity is outperforming last year’s results through March. A year ago, tennis had a $1,864 deficit through 11 months of the fiscal year. Platform tennis is $3,010 ahead of budget for the year through March, but is off last year’s cumulative surplus through March of $2,580. Pickleball is behind budget by $634 through March. Its surplus through March a year ago was $8,629. Three amenities that are shuttered for the winter all recorded robust surpluses during late spring, winter and early fall and for the most krpy those surpluses in the winter months, with some modest erosion. Beach Club parking through March is in the black by $391,066, marina operations are ahead by $210,560, and Beach Club food and beverage operations recorded a $128,183 surplus through March. Reserve Summary – The OPA through March 31 had $6.24 million allocated to reserves, a modest drop from February. The reserve balance was composed of $3.896 million in the Major Maintenance and Replacement reserve at the end of March, $1.83 million in bulkheads and waterways, little changed from February; and $508,672 in roads, also little changed from February. The operating recovery reserve was zeroed out in September. There are two components of the maintenance and replacement reserve. One, the so-called historical reserve, composed of funded depreciation, had a balance of $4,836,625 as of March 31. The supplemental legacy reserve, once known as the five-year-plan, carried a negative balance of $940,877. Balance Sheet – As of March 31, the OPA had total assets of $33.1 million, well above the $31.539 million for the same time in the prior year. The assets were matched by $3.221 million in liabilities and $29.879 million in owner equity. Cash on hand for operating purposes as of March 31 was $2.57 million, with short term investments totaling $5.56 million.

COVER STORY North Gate From Page 1 of sticks of dynamite. “The entire bridge just screams ‘I was built in the 70s and no one has loved me since,’” she quipped. Acting General Manager Brett Hill, who generally has been an advocate of renovation of aging OPA assets over replacement during his tenure, said the presence of weeds is the least of the bridge’s problems. He said flowers will be added and weeds removed in time for Memorial Day weekend. He said guardrails are “in bad shape,” caused by an accident last August. He advised his colleagues that he had “reservations about significant expenditures to fix guardrails” or making other improvements to the bridge “if in six months it’s going to be torn down.” He informed the board that he had discussions with the former district engineer of the State Highway Administration, Donnie Drewer, last year about the intentions of the state to replace the access to North Ocean Pines on Route 589 with a traffic circle. This improvement would also allow traffic leaving the adjoining medical complex under development by developer Palmer Gillis to turn into the circle, circumnavigating it. That would then allow taffic to head south with quick access to Route 90, he said. But he cautioned that despite those intentions “there’s nothing to talk about or over-react to” because since the first of the year, he’s not heard from the new district traffic engineer, whose name he said he didn’t even know.

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Hill added that if the state does indeed come forward with a plan for a traffic circle at the North Gate entrance, there may be money available from the state to help with a North Gate bridge redesign. “The state’s gonna do what the state’s gonna do,” he said, and when some sort of design for a traffic circle emerges of the SHA, “then we can react to that.” Jacobs said she agreed with Supik’s description of the bridge as “lost in time,” but then added that many people would be “distraught” if it’s demolished. She said she was just asking for beautification of the North Gate, such as weeding and flower enhancement, and not for bridge replacement. Director Slobodan Trendic seemed more in agreement with Supik on the need to replace the bridge, but he offered a more measured approach to it than Supik’s facetious stick of dynamite solution. He suggested that the board appoint a group of Ocean Pines residents to work up prospective designs for a new bridge “so that we will have something ready” when the state presents plans for a traffic circle. He said the “beautification group” could also look at other areas in Ocean Pines that “need a facelift.” Trendic, whose election campaign for the board last summer called for North Gate bridge replacement, as well as community beautification, reminded his colleagues “you only get one chance to make a good first impression.” He added that he wondered “what the first impression is” for newcomers to Ocean Pines when the cross the North Gate bridge for the first time. Rebutting the idea that the bridge

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Citizen of the Year

Mary Yenney, outreach coordinator for Ocean Pines Community Church for 15 years, was honored by the Maryland Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers as the 2017 Public Citizen of the Year. The award was recently presented at a luncheon at the Maritime Institute of Technology in Linthicum Heights, Md. She manages a church fund developed to help veterans on the Eastern Shore with overdue rent, housing security deposits, overdue car payments, utility bills and, when possible, obtaining furniture. The donations come from the church’s thrift shop, the Shepherds Nook, from local citizens, other churches and veterans service organizations such as the American Legion in Ocean City.

is a historic landmark, Trendic said that the North Gate bridge is neither the “Tower of London” bridge nor the “Bridge over the River Quai” in its historic significance. Trendic told his colleagues that “there was no need” for the North Gate

bridge with its guard station, not used since the days in the late 1960’s/early 70’s when there was a gated entry into Ocean Pines. He called the bridge a “bottleneck” that delays traffic out of Ocean Pines on summer days. Director Doug Parks asked Hill if he knew the timeframe – three months, 12 months, three years? – that the state SHA officials have in mind for the traffic circle. “I think it’s shorter term,” Hill replied, emphasizing that after a talk with the former district engineer nine months ago, he hadn’t heard anything since from the SHA. But Hill said that the developer of the medical complex adjacent to the North Gate, Palmer Gillis, is convinced that the state will proceed with a traffic circle at some point. Gillis in the not too distant past offered to replace the North Gate bridge at his expense in exchange for the OPA allowing him access to his medical complex from within Ocean Pines, a proposal rejected by then board of directors. Nearby residents didn’t like the strings attached to the offer. Gillis wanted to build a road from his medical comlex to Ocean Parkway, with the road close to the back hards of nearby homes. After a protest by neighbors most affected by the proposed road, the board told Gillis that the OPA wasn’t interested. That option for rebuilding or renovating the North Gate bridge was not discussed during the April 24 work session.

38 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Sunday, May 7 Annual Italian dinner, hosted by Ocean Pines-Ocean City Kiwanis Club, DeNovo’s Trattoria, Village Square Shopping Center, South Gate, Ocean Pines. Two seatings of 100 guests maximum, 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., on a firstcome, first-serve basis. Walk-ins if available, carry-out. $12 for adults and $5 for children under 12. Reservations recommended, Ralph Chinn, 410-208-6719. Monday, May 8 Geranium sale, Democratic Women’s Club, eight different colors in a 6-inch pot for $6 each. Pay by check to DWC, P.O. Box 1242, Ocean Pines, MD 21811, by May 1. Pick-up noon to 4 p.m., Ocean Pines Community Center parking lot. 301-651-3984. Wednesday, May 10 OPA Board of Directors, candidate filing deadline, 5 p.m., Administration building, White Horse Park. Thursday, May 11 Ocean Pines Women’s Club card and game party, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., OC Fish Company, West Ocean City. $25 per person. Canasta, Hand and foot, Mexican Train and other games. Includes lunch from a choice of entrees. Reservations, Susann Palamara, 410-208-2821 or smpal1@verizon.net. Saturday, May 13 Ocean Pines Anglers Club, monthly meeting, 9:30 a.m., Ocean Pines Library. Guest speaker, Capt. Brad McCabe of Bay Time Charters. Topics to include fishing charters, cruises, special event outings, boat coaching, and fishing the coastal bays with a focus on flounder fishing. All welcome. Monday, May 15 Democratic

Women’s

LIFESTYLES

May 2017

Club,

HAPPENINGS monthly meeting, Ocean Pines Community Center, Assateague Room, 9:30 a.m. coffee, 10 a.m. - noon discussion of Assateague Island Alliance. 410-9731021. Monday, May 18 Pine’eer Craft Club, monthly meeting, Ocean Pines Community Center, 9:45 a.m. refreshments, 10 a.m. business. Craft following meeting: Glass etching. Guests welcome. 410-208-3032 Monday, May 22 Regular monthly meeting, Ocean Pines Association, Board of Directors, Ocean Pines Community Center, Assateague Room, 9:30 a.m. Agenda posted on the OPA Web site several days before meeting. Work sessions cancelled for the duration of the current board term. Thursday, June 8 Ocean Pines Garden Tour, 9 a.m., Mumford’s Landing in Ocean Pines (Yacht Club), sponsored by the Ocean Pines Garden Club. $10 tour only / $30 tour and luncheon. Eight or nine gardens in Ocean Pines, open to the public. Optional luncheon at Mumford’s Landing in Ocean Pines. Tickets for the tour only available on the day of the event. Tickets for the tour and luncheon can be purchased in advance from Margaret Yates at 46 Boatswain Drive, Ocean Pines, MD 21811, e-mail magsyates@ gmail.com. Saturday, June 10 U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary boat safety inspections, 8 a.m., Ocean Pines Marina at Mumford’s Landing (Yacht Club), free. Sign-up in advance required at the marina gas dock.

Ongoing

Free platform tennis clinics, Saturdays at noon, Manklin Meadows tennis complex. Bring sneakers, the rest is provided. Line dance classes, Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 -10:30 a.m., Ocean Pines Community Center. Beginners welcome. Betty Daugherty, 410-7261818, or bettydau@aol.com Pinesteppers. Ocean Pines Remote Control Sailboating Association, Monday and Thursday, May-September (weather permitting), 10 a.m. to noon, South Gate Pond, Ocean Pines. No motors or power allowed – only remote-controlled sailboats. Currently all members are sailing “Victoria” model boats. Commodore Ed Ryan, 203-249-7491 or J. David Lee, 240-593-2105, for more information. Square Dance Club, Wednesdays, 7-9 p.m., Ocean Pines Community Center with caller Dennis O’Neal. Visitors welcome. The group also hosts a dance the fourth Saturday of the month from 7-9:30 p.m., Ocean Pines Community Center. Guest callers lead the dancers with music and choreography. Mainstream/Plus square dancers welcome to join in. President Arlene Hager, 302-436-4033. Pine Tappers free adult tap dance classes, Tuesdays, 2-3:30 p.m., Ocean Pines Community Center. Exercise and have fun with choreographed tap dancing routines. From 2-2:30 p.m., brush up on basic techniques and a review of the routines, then join the regular class from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Every week or dropin as convenient. Lori at 410-251-2162 or tntandcompany@gmail.com. Ocean Pines Ping Pong Club, Ocean Pines Community Center, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, noon to 2

p.m. All levels welcome. Eric Bowers, 410-208-1794. Ocean Pines Plant Clinic, Ocean Pines Library, 11107 Cathell Road, every Tuesday 1-4 p.m. from the beginning of May until the end of September. Got bugs or other plant problem? Bring your bagged samples by and let our expert Master Gardeners find solutions to your question. The Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines – Ocean City every Wednesday at 8 a.m., Ocean Pines Community Center, 410-641-7330 or kiwanisofopoc.org. Star Charities -- Monthly meetings the first Friday of every month, Ocean Pines Library, 10 a.m. Anyone wishing to volunteer welcome to attend. Anna Foultz, president, 410-641-7667. Sanctioned duplicate bridge games, Ocean Pines Community Center, Sundays 1 p.m., Mondays noon, Tuesdays 10 a.m. Partners guaranteed. $5, special games $6. Third Sunday of every month is Swiss teams (no partner guaranteed for teams). Felicia Daly, 410-208-1272; Pat Kanz, 410-6418071. The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 12-05, meets the first Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the U.S.C.G. Station, Ocean City. Visitors and new members are welcome. Dennis Kalinowski, 410-208-4147. Web Site http:// a0541205.uscgaux.info. Worcester County Democratic Club meeting, fourth Thursday of each month, 7 p.m., Marlin Room of Ocean Pines Community Center. Club membership is not required. All those interested in Democratic platforms and agendas are welcome. Republican Women of Worcester County, fourth Thursday of each month, 11 a.m. meeting (doors open at 10:30), lunch at noon, local restaurants. For information, call membership chair Barbara Loffler at 410-208-0890. January through June, and again September and October. Dinner meeting in November.

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CAPTAIN’S COVE

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Think Big Networks confident it will reach subscriber goal High-speed Internet provider almost half way to numbers needed to break ground By TOM STAUSS Publisher hink Big Networks, the Chestertown, Md., -based Internet service provider that wants to provide high speed service to Captain’s Cove, is confident that it will be able to achieve the goal of 350 households needed to break ground. Sales Manager Judy Morgan said that as of late April, the company has 160 households that have verbally indicated interest in signing up for highspeed Internet service with Think Big Networks. That’s almost twice the number that were on board as of the March 23 meeting of the Cove’s Board of Directors, as announced by Cove Communications Director Justin Wilder. “And we haven’t really been there on site to talk to people,” she said, other than a weekend visit late last month that produced 25 new potential subscribers. She said the marketing effort will in-

T

crease in intensity once all the easement and other documents that will govern the relationship between the Cove property owners association and Think Big are in place. The documents are currently being reviewed by the Cove POA’s law firm, she said. Cove association President Tim Hearn said the document review is routine and he doubts that any significant dispute will arise over their contents. Once those documents are executed by both sides, and she said that should be accomplished very soon, then Think Big can have those who have indicated interest in the service sign actual subscriber agreements. She and her company are well aware that the Cove’s year-round population base surges during the summer months when second-home residents flock to the community. The non-resident membership of the Cove association is considered a solid market for high-speed Internet custom-

Cindy Welsh 302-381-6910 (cell)

ers because many of them have their primary homes located in areas where high speed service has been around for years and is almost taken for granted. They could also have higher disposable incomes than the more retiree-based year-round population, many of whom are on fixed income “We’re encouraged,” she said of the interest expressed so far in her company’s efforts to bring high-speed Internet, and the programming options its offers in a world that increasingly is becoming untethered to convention cable television, to Captain’s Cove. Think Big and its partner, FTS Fiber, are in a position to become the dominant provider of Internet-based programming to Cove residents. There is no cable television provider in the Cove, and Internet connections are generally at dial-up speed through Verizon, which doesn’t offer high-speed Fios. When line of sight permits, satellite dish installations through Directv and

39

Dish Network are possible in the Cove, but heavily wooded interior areas virtually preclude the satellite option. Greenbackville Post Office – Captain’s Cove association President Tim Hearn said in early May that the U.S. Postal Service is continuing to look for an alternative to the leased Greenbackville Post Office, with Captain’s Cove the preferred location. “They need to relocated very soon,” he said. Hearn said the postal service has concluded that the best site for a new post office would be on or within close proximity to State Line Road. That means that the postal service is negotiating with the Cove developers, Captain’s Cove Group Note, for space, either in an existing building or in a new building to be built. Hearn said that while he’s not involved in the negotiations, he’s updated frequently via e-mail. He said it’s his impression that if the post office can live with only 500 square feet of space, then it’s possible that room will be found in the developer-owned real estate office located just inside the main entrance into Captain’s Cove. Much of the upstairs of that building is unused, Hearn said. It’s unlikely that the postal authoriTo Page 41

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May 2017

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CAPTAIN’S COVE

May 2017 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Post office From Page 39 ties would be interested in a second floor location, so that option would include interior reconfiguration. If it turns out that the post office needs 1,500 square feet or more space, then Hearn said a new building close to the main entrance could be built and leased or sold to the postal service. Cove finances – With no board meeting scheduled in May – it looks

like sometime in June for the next one – Hearn said he is awaiting preliminary 2017-18 budget documents from the Cove’s financial management firm. The board will get its first look at next year’s spending plan at the June meeting, Hearn said. The Cove board has already set as a goal keeping next year’s base lot assessments at $1200 per year, which includes access to Cove amenities without additional fees, other than golf carts. The rate for canal-front owners is ex-

pected to be $200 to partially cover the cost of dreding in Captain’s Cove. Meanwhile, Hearn said that the Cove’s finances for the current fiscal year remain positive. He said that the Cove is close to $300,000 ahead of budget for net income, aided by 30 new dues-paying members in the last six months. He said those new dues-paying members are replacing properties that perhaps were in foreclosure, were owned by the developers (who don’t pay annual

lot assessments), or by owners who were delinquent. “It obviously helps everyone in the Cove if we can keep increasing the duespayers,” he said. He also said that new home construction remains positive, with 12 to 15 new homes under way as of May 1. Previously, Hearn has touted the fact that Captain’s Cove is the only community in Accomack County with any significant new home construction activity.

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42 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPINION

May 2017

COMMENTARY

Salary range for future GM is vastly inflated OPA should consider rotating ‘acting GM’ role among elected directors

A

great deal of what this current Board of Directors and Acting General Manager Brett Hill has done since August of last year is positive and in the long-term interests of the Ocean Pines Association membership. Completion of any number of capital projects – from the just reopened family playground in the Manklin Meadows complex to the renovation of the Country Club’s first floor – are moving the community forward. The preference for building new buildings over renovating the older and salvageable is now in remission. This preference for renovation is going to save property owners millions of dollars that would otherwise be wasted in the coming years on over-built and unnecessary replacements. But this isn’t to say that the current board has done everything well. The course it’s on to hire a new general manager, at a salary range of $150,000 to $170,000 per year, plus relocation expenses and the usual health and pension benefits, maybe even an overpriced SUV thrown in for good measure, is the very thing that mired the previous board in controversy and the low esteem of property owners. That level of compensation for what is still a homeowners association, in a part of the state not known for its per capita wealth, is inflated, intolerable and cries out for reversal before it’s too late. So far, among sitting directors, only Slobodan Trendic is openly resisting. Good for him; he’s living up to expectations of those who put him into office. There’s hope for Doug Parks, who’s running for the election to the board this summer. Hill reportedly has some reservations about it, too, as he recently indicated that he’s not really been a part of board deliberations on finding his replacement. That such a salary range was proposed by a head-hunting firm that is assisting the board in a search for a new general manager perhaps isn’t surprising. The higher the compensation, the easier it will be to find someone to fill the role in the 90-day window promised by the professional head-hunters. As anyone knows who’s ever been in a position of hiring personnel, credentials and the ability to interview well don’t mean much when the rubber hits the road on day one. For example, not too many years ago, one particularly glib spokesperson for Landscapes Unlimited spun a wonderful tale of what his company would do to boost golf membership in Ocean Pines. Plans to do so were initially hard to come by, never really materialized, and the membership

growth didn’t, either. Any new general manager won’t be worth the salary range and benefits promoted by the headhunters, no matter the credentials or prior management experience. Any new GM is going to require some time to learn the community, during which he or she won’t be eager to rock the boat. The real management of the community during the shakedown cruise will be done by department heads, who’ve been around long enough to know how to run things. That, at least, is the best case scenario. The worst case is that a new general manager will muck it up by thinking he or she knows better than inherited staff. Hill has assembled a strong cast of managers to run association affairs while he serves in a volunteer, part-time role overseeing them. While coming in for some recent criticism for perhaps failing to obtain board approval for some of his initiatives that arguably cross over into the policy arena, what’s undeniable is that most of his key hires have proven track records of success. Early indications are that his latest hire, Facilities Manager Kevin Layfield, is a knowledgeable, experienced asset manager. Colby Phillips’s expanded role as recreation director, in addition to her portfolio as aquatics director, was an inspired recombination of two positions that historically were filled by a single individual. She’s ideal for the role. The new director of finance, Mary Bosack, has impressed those who have gotten to know her, and Denise Sawyer is a solid upgrade in marketing and public relations. Her press releases are publishable as written, somewhat of a rarity in her profession. Rehiring Andre Jordan as the golf course superintendent brought someone with proven, hands-on experience back to where he spent many years honing the fine art of golf course maintenance. Oversight by a new general manager not as familiar with the community isn’t going to improve the day-to-day management of Ocean Pines provided by this strong cast of department heads. Rather than continue down the path of hiring an overpaid general manager from the outside, the board should consider promoting from within or even rotating the acting general manager role among elected directors. Hill has performed admirably in a lot of areas, but it remains to be seen whether some of his initiatives – from expanded hours at the Beach Club to a 20 percent reduction in all food and beverage tabs for OPA members at OPA restaurant/snack bar venues, will succeed. He needn’t apologize for his modus operandi,

but it’s clear he’s become a bit of lightning rod in his unpaid, volunteer role as acting GM. Moreover, his business interests as the CEO of a local technology company have suffered because of trumped-up conflict of interest concerns invited by his duo role. That’s unfair. Giving the “acting” GM role to another board member such as President Tom Herrick, or rotating it among those perhaps more willing to serve, such as Trendic, has several advantages. One, it avoids the grotesque overpayment of a new GM called for in the advertised salary range. Two, it allows department heads – the real backbone of the OPA’s management structure – to continue to do what they’ve been doing under Hill. Three, it could allow some time for a natural, home-grown permanent replacement to surface from among those now serving as department heads. Or, that same time-frame could demonstrate an effective, cooperative, multi-headed but decentralized administration that works well together. The department-head centric method of running a property owners association, overseen by a strong, de facto volunteer GM, works well in a large property owner association located just south of the Maryland-Virginia state line. In part, that’s made possible because the president of the Captain’s Cove association maintains an active oversight role while allowing department heads – from an in-house facilities manager, to an outsourced financial management firm, a communications director, and an amenities management firm, Billy Casper Golf, that once ran the Ocean Pines golf course – to manage day-to-day affairs. With an annual budget about a third of Ocean Pines’ and more than 7,000 fewer homes, Captain’s Cove might seem to be an unsuitable prototype of a management structure that can deliver effective administration. But size and budget don’t tell the whole story. Captain’s Cove proves that a property owners association similar in structure to Ocean Pines can be managed without a professional general manager. Not everyone is happy, of course, with the personalities running the show, but that’s true of almost any community. The structure itself is not the issue; it keeps the trains running on time, assessments reasonable, the budget balanced and a balance sheet on the mend. The current structure in Ocean Pines has been delivering for OPA members in ways that boards of recent vintage have not. If the current directors will allow themselves to think outside the box, they can continue to deliver, in a way that doesn’t mire the association with a substantial administrative cost that can and should be avoided. – Tom Stauss

OPINION

May 2017Ocean Pines PROGRESS

43

Nastiness over Yacht Club family hours

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he agreement between the Ocean Pines Association and Worcester County officials on the hours of operation of the Ocean Pines Yacht Club has made it possible to resolve recent controversy over family hours at the otherwise adults-only Yacht Club “Oasis” pool. As a result of this agreement, confirmed by Acting General Manager Brett Hill at the Board of Directors’ April 29 regular meeting, Hill with board concurrence has returned Family Fun Night to Wednesdays while retaining last summer’s Monday late afternoon family swim, which allows use of the pool for all ages on two of the three days when member pool usage is lowest. The county also is willing to allow continued early morning swim for pool members seven days a week. The Yacht Club itself isn’t open during those early morning hours, so county officials recognized there is no danger of the parking lot overfilling with the 40 or so pool members who take advantage of early morning swim time. Hill and to some extent OPA President Tom Herrick took a lot of abuse over Hill’s original proposal for a family fun event at the Yacht Club late Sunday afternoons. Much of it was personal, and to the extent that it descended to that level suggests a motive that didn’t have much to do with honest disagreement over Sunday hours at the Yacht Club. It had more to do with Ocean Pines politics – last summer’s election outcome, who isn’t OPA president in the current term, and who might be running the show after another election.

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

127 Nottingham Lane Ocean Pines, MD 21811

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

Advertising Sales Frank Bottone 410-430-3660

CONTRIBUTING WRITER Rota Knott InkwellMedia@comcast.net 443-880-1348

owner or class of property owners with standing to sue the OPA to give every household unfettered and unrestricted An excursion through the curious cul-de-sacs An excursion through theby-ways curious and by-ways and cul-de-sacs access to the Yacht Club pool. The original adults-only policy was of Worcester County’s County’s most densely community. of Worcester mostpopulated densely populated community. introduced in the mid-1970s, apparentBy TOM STAUSS/ By TOM Publisher STAUSS/Publisher ly without a formal vote of the Board of Directors. At the time, Ocean Pines’ At the special meeting in which toration of the status quo ante for pool population was much less than it is toroughly 100 residents (but fewer voting hours is an acceptable outcome. But the day. If the board truly wanted to reprehouseholds) turned out to oppose Hill’s residue of this controversy is that the sent the interests of all property owners, proposed Sunday Fun Day, one oppo- outcome did not necessarily serve the rather than the 100 or so individuals nent said that his assessments paid for interests of a majority of all Ocean Pines it appeased by voiding Hill’s proposed Sunday family hours, it would direct that pool and that his adults-only pref- Association members. erence should therefore prevail. That atThe vast majority of those who the OPA’s Bethesda law firm to examtitude and argument failed Logic 101. It turned out to the special meeting don’t ine whether the OPA, in maintaining a reflected a vexing entitlement mentality even use the Oasis pool on late Sunday (mostly) adults pool at the Yacht Club, that sometimes manifests with respect afternoons. Hill suggested that the OPA is in conformance with various federal to the Yacht Club, in a small subset of Aquatics Department has documenta- and state statutes and/or regulations reproperty owners, as evidenced by the tion that shows only a handful of OPA specting age discrimination. In addition, the board could ask the hyperbolic reaction to the pirate ship members who attended that special amenity several months previous. meeting were swiped in to the YC pool attorney to examine whether a “hybrid” What this Sunday Family Fun Day on Sundays with any regularity last schedule of mostly adults-only but some opponent conveniently overlooked is summer. According to actual data con- family swim hours every day would pass that everyone’s assessments paid for sisting of card swipes and manually legal muster. For instance, could the that pool, including parents with kids entered check-ins, necessitated by fre- OPA allow “family” use of the Yacht Club under 18 and grandparents with visit- quent computer glitches at the check-in pool seven days a week, from perhaps 5 ing grandkids who might want to use desk, the majority of Sunday usage is by p.m. or 6 p.m. to closing? Late afternoon family hours could the Yacht Club pool on a Sunday. daily or weekly pass users, which probHe’s entitled to prefer adults-only ably includes a fair number of weekly stimulate business at the Tiki bar, and usage on Sunday, for all the reasons he renters. The opponents inaccurately some families with kids might stay for and others offered in support of that depicted Sunday afternoon as a day of dinner. It would maintain the adults-onproposition. But his preference should heavy member traffic, when actual data ly character of the pool for most of the day, while opening up the possibility of not have outweighed the preferenc- shows otherwise. es of those who might not agree with These opponents seem blissfully un- increased Tiki bar and Yacht Club food him. Those people were not represented aware that the OPA, a 401(C)(3) corpo- and beverage business late in the day. It won’t happen this summer, to be at the special meeting. In the end, the ration, may not even have the legal auboard caved to those 100 individuals be- thority to maintain an adults-only pool sure. Nor should it. A policy change of cause they were loud, determined and in a community that is not age-restricted this magnitude should involve a lot of organized. All that proves is that orches- (such as the 55-plus Parke subdivision). community input, maybe even a refertrated opposition can at times rule the The Yacht Club’s adults-only pool policy endum of property owners. But 100 or so individuals shouldn’t day. That’s hardly the first time that’s arguably discriminates against property happened in the annals of Ocean Pines. owners with family members under 18. be setting OPA policy. The OPA memIn this instance, the subsequent res- All it might take is for some property bership deserves better.

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