October 2016 ocean pines progress by Ocean Pines Progress

October 2016

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THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY

COURSE CORRECTION? Board adopts Hill recommendation to jumpstart Country Club repairs Directors seem to be leaning in favor of a phased repair and renovation rather than a new building By TOM STAUSS Publisher etting aside at least temporarily a more vexatious debate on whether to build a new Country Club or renovate the existing one, the Board of Directors in September seemed inclined to accept a recommendation by Acting General Manager Brett Hill to begin significant repairs instead, perhaps to be followed by some sort of planned, phased renovation that occurs over a number of years. In a lengthy discussion at a Sept. 19 work session, Hill identified long-deferred maintenance that needed immediate attention, with mold remediation, water mitigation, and a failed HVAC system topping the list. The mold remediation and water mitigation issues involve major roof repairs, to plug various leaks that have contributed to the mold issue. The HVAC system is basically shot, needing complete replacement, according to Hill. Some water mitigation on the exterior of the building has already occurred, begun during the tenure of the previous general manager, Bob Thompson. Ongoing repairs are addressing flooding in the women’s locker room and the office of Director of Golf John Malinowksi. “There is damage inside caused by problems outside,” Hill said. The Public Works Department has been deployed to fix the exterior leaks, he said, also noting that OPA employees have made some other cosmetic improvements to the lower level. New wrought-iron furniture has finally arrived for the covered patio area just outside the pro shop, and the dreary meeting area attached to the Tern Grille has been opened up. Dark blinds from the windows have been removed and old carpeting removed, which has had the effect of creating an almost new, brighter space with a good view of the pond. Hill has identified more problem areas that he said need

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immediate attention, all identified in an updated engineering report by the Becker Morgan engineering firm of Salisbury. He said some mold remediation, which he authorized under the general manager’s $15,000 spending authority, has already occurred, but he said the mold will return if the OPA does not repair all the areas where there’s been water intrusion. A leaky roof is a major source of water intrusion, he told his board colleagues. Hill’s approach to the Country Club appears to deviate significantly from that of Thompson, who seemed unwilling to spend large sums of money repairing a building that he thought should be replaced with a smaller, more golf-centric building, combined with a cart barn on the lower level. Hill said there is a lot of long-deferred maintenance of the building that can no longer be ignored. “We don’t need a replacement (Country Club),” he said, staking out a position polar opposite from that of his predecessor. “But we need to invest a lot of money to fix” a laundry list of items identified in the updated Becker Morgan report. The acting general manager told his colleagues that the report emphasizes the need to completely replace the electric, plumbing, and HVAC systems in the building, and “the roof needs replacement.” The HVAC system alone will cost $150,000 to replace, he said. “We’ve got to get the mold out” and repair all the damage caused by leaks and prevent the leaks and mold from returning, he said. The question will be “how much do we want to spend” to restore the building to full functionality, Hill said. He said the board will need to “identify uses” for the building going forward and these uses will help the board in deciding what kind of renovation that needs to be done. The board will need to develop a plan for the various repairs and To Page 31

Beach Club project downsized by board The Board of Directors during a September work session accepted a recommendation from Acting General Manager Brett Hill to abandon two possible options for dealing with poorly maintained Beach Club bathrooms, a major renovation or a new, separate building. Instead, the board opted for cosmetic improvements costing $200,000 or less to be accomplished in-house by the Ocean Pines Public Works Department. New flooring and showers are among the improvements expected for completion by next Memorial Day weekend. ~ Page 12

Directors suspend bulkhead program The Ocean Pines Association’s decades-old bulkhead replacement program has been temporarily put on hold while the Board of Directors re-envisions the ongoing effort to maintain the support structures along the community’s waterways. During a Sept. 24 regular meeting, directors voted unanimously to suspend the program and redirect funding designated for bulkhead replacement in the bulkhead and waterways reserve to the general operating fund, where it will be used for any emergency bulkhead repairs. ~ Page 16

Board temporarily halts road repaving Repaving of roads in the community has been temporarily halted by the Ocean Pines Association in favor of making repairs to streets that have been cut during utility work. The Board of Directors during a Sept. 24 regular meeting unanimously approved a motion by Director Brett Hill, who is also acting as interim general manager, to halt the road repaving program and reallocate associated funds for repair work instead. ~ Page 22

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OCEAN PINES

October 2016

Huntington Park field conversion begins

Conversion of the seldom-used baseball fields at Huntington Park to soccer and lacrosse fields is about to begin. Director Brett Hill, acting general manager of the Ocean Pines Associatgion, during a Board of Directors meeting Sept. 24 announced that the contractor would be working on the field conversion this month. Hill said Public Works crews have removed the playground equipment from the park in preparation for the field work.

OCEAN PINES BRIEFS Earlier this year, the former OPA general manager, Bob Thompson, recommended and presented bids for refurbishing of the existing fields. At that time, Hill, who was then running for a seat on the board during the summer election, took issue with the bidding process. In Public Comments at a board meeting, he said the OPA was required to secure three bids for the work but only had two. He also argued that the two bids that were received

were not comparable. In response to Hill’s concerns, Thompson pulled the project from consideration by the board, only to be revived by Hill as acting general manager, with multiple bids fully vetted and comparable. The Ocean Pines Department of Parks and Recreation intends to set up league play for soccer and lacrosse in coming months.

Repairs to begin on two Pines bridges

Contractors were scheduled to begin making repairs to the Ocean Parkway and Clubhouse Drive bridges in Ocean Pines this month. During a Sept. 24 Board of Directors meeting, Brett Hill director and interim general manager, provided an update on the project, which has been on the drawing board for years. Work on each bridge will take about six weeks. Hill said the contractors will start work on the Clubhouse Drive bridge with two weeks of work on the underside of the structure occurring first. Then in mid-October work will begin on the upper structure and will require temporary lane closures to traffic. In early November, contractors will shift to working on the underside of the Ocean Parkway bridge near Route 90. By early December they will be repairing the top of the bridge and will be im-

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plementing temporary lane closures. Repairs will address safety concerns and are expected to extend the useful life of the bridges. Ultimately, the OPA anticipates replacement for the bridges based on state and federal funding availability. However, the repair work will improve the bridge’s rating on the scale used by the state to justify spending on bridges. The improved rating could mean it takes longer to secure funding for bridge replacement. In response to a question from Director Slobodan Trendic, Hill said all issues regarding the location of utilities, including county water and wastewater infrastructure, has been addressed. Modified hangers will be used to contain the utility lines.

County reviews water, wastewater projects

The Worcester County Commissioners during an Oct. 4 meeting reviewed a trio of water and wastewater projects in Ocean Pines. Public Works Director John Tustin requested an extension of the existing contract for phase 5 of Ocean Pines water line replacement project along Ocean Parkway. WM Water and Sewer, LLC has agreed to maintain its original proposal in the amount of $900 for service lines crossing Ocean Parkway and $550 for short side service lines. The next phase of the work involves replacement of service lines from

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From Page 4 Manklin Creek Road to the southern end of Ocean Parkway. The contractor will replace the five short side service lines for $2,750 and 53 long side services for $47,700 for a total of $50,450. Funding for the work comes from the 2013 bond issue that included a construction budget of $300,000 for service line replacement. A $9,300 change order for pump station F work was also presented. While completing the construction at Pump Station F in Ocean Pines, a 3-inch vacuum line was exposed and found to be leaking. This line is approximately 15feet deep and enters the pump station in the area of the discharge pumps. The change order will cover the cost of repairs. In addition, the contractor is requesting a time extension of three days. The depth of this line makes the repair impossible to be safely completed by staff at the Water and Wastewater Division. Therefore, if the line is not repaired by the contractor currently on site, another outside contractor would need to be brought in. Funding for the work is available from contingency funds in the 2013 bond issue. Finally a contract for fence replacement at pump stations C and G was reviewed at a cost of $23.315.The Water and Wastewater Division recommended the use of wooden fences for these sta-

tions because of the lower initial cost, lower ongoing maintenance cost, ease of repair, and consistency throughout the service area.

Bertino lauds better OPA, county relations

At his Oct. 1 town hall meeting in the Ocean Pines library, Ocean Pines County Commissioner Chip Bertino said that relations between Worcester County government and the Ocean Pines Association had already improved. He singled out Tom Herrick, the OPA’s new president, in attendance at the town hall, as one of those individuals responsible for the improved tone. What remains to be seen is how the improved atmospherics will play out in one particular issue that has been a thorn in relations for two years or more – parking deficiencies at the Yacht Club. Some county officials have said inadequate parking had been exacerbated by the OPA squeezing more parking spaces at the Yacht Club and adjoining Mumford’s Landing parking lots than allowed by code. Acting General Manager Brett Hill has retained an engineer to look at the parking lot to see how many spaces can realistically fit in the space in accordance with the code. Some reconfiguration may result. Fewer parking spaces may result, too, the price to be paid for better relations between the OPA and county government. One consequence of a shortage of

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parking spaces is that the spacious outside deck at the amenity can’t be used to its fullest extent, as seating allowed by code is directly tied to parking spaces. Currently there are tables and chairs in the covered area and around the tiki bar near the pool, but for the most part the decking represents a lot of expensive unused real estate. Another consequence is that the Aquatics Department has been informed that lighting at the Yacht Club, which would allow for night special events and parties at the pool, may have trouble making it through the budget process. The difficulty is that both the Yacht Club and the pool compete for parking spaces, without many too spare on busy summer evenings.

out-sourcing some OPA management functions and said Carmine’s pending retirement will give the OPA an opportunity to fully explore alternatives. While Trendic said it is possible that some “back-office functions” such as payroll management can be outsourced, there could be a benefit to retaining a controller or some other individual who is responsible for generating monthly financial reports for the OPA. When asked whether outsourcing is in the mix of possibilities to replace at least some of the duties performed by Carmine, Hill demurred. “At this point, Art is still a full time employee of OPA, and a retirement date has not been set,” Hill said in response to an email query.

Carmine tells OPA of plans to retire

Platform tennis courts at Swim and Racquet?

Long-time Ocean Pines Association controller Art Carmine has informed OPA officials of his long-expected intention to retire, sources say, perhaps as soon as the end of the year, though by no means is there a date certain for his pending depature. OPA Director Slobodan Trendic told the Progress recently that Carmine has informed Acting General Manager Brett Hill that he is flexible on his departure date and wants a smooth transition to a new controller or to whatever structure the new OPA Board of Directors comes up with to manage OPA finances. Trendic has been a proponent of

With the Ocean Pines Association moving ahead with repurposing two Ocean Pines tennis courts for pickleball, along with repairs to playground equipment at the Manklin Meadows recreation complex, no decision has been made on whether to find room there for additional platform tennis courts, as long sought by the Racquet Sports Advisory Committee. OPA Director Slobodan Trendic threw out another possibility during the Board of Directors’ Sept. 24 meeting – the possibility of repurposing some of the free tennis courts at the Swim and

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From Page 5 Racquet Club for platform tennis. Repurposing one or two of the free courts for pickleball had been suggested earlier this year, but the committee and OPA management decided it against, in part because wind conditions at the facility were said to be problematic for pickleball. In addition, there was the issue of controlling access to the facility. Whether any of those factors will work against platform tennis at Swim and Racquet is to be determined. The directors have said that the platform tennis issue will be addressed by the board during the 2017-18 budget review process. The racquet sports committee will have an opportunity to offer its recommendations. There is $140,000 included in the current fiscal year’s capital budget for resurfacing the four tennis courts at the Swim and Racquet Club. Facilities manager Jerry Aveta told the board during a Sept. 19 work session that two of the courts can be repaired at a relatively modest cost while two others need resurfacing.

Hill eyes consolidation of food, beverage purchases

Acting General Manager Brett Hill recently indicated that the 2017-18 fis-

from past budgets assembled by his predecessors. When asked by the Progress following the Board of Directors’ Sept. 24 monthly meeting what he meant by that statement, made in open session, Hill allowed that perhaps what he had in mind wasn’t quite as radical as it had might have sounded. During the meeting, Hill said that he was looking at consolidating all OPA food and beverage purchases under a single department, possibly having a single individual coordinate purchases for all OPA department with food and beverage components. He said he wasn’t sure whether there would be food and beverage line items in each department where such activity occurs at the present time. Under the existing structure, golf, aquatics, the Beach Club and Yacht Club all have embedded food and beverage operations, with the latter two all about selling food and drink to the consuming public. Golf and aquatics, in contrast, are primarily sport activities, with ancillary sales of food and drink.

Hill will have to convince at least one director, Dave Stevens, about the wisdom of eliminating a food and beverage line income and expense line in the golf budget in particular. Stevens told Hill that the Tern Grille

OCEAN PINES is an integral part of golf operation and that he would need some convincing to go along with eliminating it from the golf budget.

Gomsak denies he said GM ouster ‘will not stand’

In a letter published in the September 2016 edition of the Progress, former OPA Director and Assistant Treasurer Pete Gomsak said that since it was clear the Board of Directors had decided to terminate the former general manager’s employment contract, delaying an announcement for months would have been unfair to both the former general manager, Bob Thompson, and negative for the OPA. His additional point was that once the decision has been made and announced to the community, it was important for both the community and Thompson to move on. He also said that Thompson himself would benefit from a new start. Elsewhere in the publication, however, Gomsak was reported as telling assembled golfers at the Country Club when he heard the news of Thompson’s firing that the board action “would not stand.” It was also reported that Gomsak heard the news directly from Thompson. Gomsak said he simply told the assembled golfers of the news and that he never said the board action “would not

stand.” He also said he first heard the news from someone other than Thompson. He said he subsequently texted Thompson to say he was “sorry” to hear the news but that it represented an opportunity for a new start.

Pines’ Golf course to host special event for residents

Ocean Pines residents can take advantage of discounted golf, food and fun for adults and kids, including a chance to win $1 million, at Ocean Pines Golf Club’s Residents’ Day on Sunday, Oct. 23. All golf rounds at the Robert Trent Jones championship course will be $25 that day, cart included. Although the regular advance tee time booking window for discounted rounds is five days, the course is accepting tee times effective immediately for this day only. Golfers can also participate in a $1 million shoot-out on one of the course’s par-3 holes. The player closest to the pin will win a shot at $1 million at a future date. The contest is free and open to all golfers who play 18 holes that day. Additionally, residents wishing to use the club’s practice facilities will receive a $1 discount on all buckets of range balls, and hot dogs, draft beer and fountain drinks can be purchased for $1 apiece all day long.

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OCEAN PINES BRIEFS From Page 6 Golfzilla will also be taking up residence on the driving range. Young golfers will have fun hitting balls into the mouth of the 20-foot inflatable monster. Free golf cart rides will also be offered to kids. Although tee times will be available for Ocean Pines residents and non-residents that day, only Ocean Pines residents with an Ocean Pines resident’s identification card will receive discounted prices. Ocean Pines residents who do not already have a card may obtain one at no charge at the Ocean Pines Administration Building. Ocean Pines Golf Club is the only Robert Trent Jones championship course on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It is open to the public year-round and offers annual memberships for individuals, families and juniors. More information about Ocean Pines Golf Club’s Resident’s Day is available

OPA sponsoring Halloween events

Area residents will find a few tricks and a lot of treats at Halloween activities sponsored by the Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department. Pumpkin artists are invited to Family Fun Night Pumpkin Painting on Friday, Oct. 21, from 6-8 p.m. at the Ocean Pines Community Center. Attendees may bring their own pumpkins or purchase one at the event for $6 (limited quantity available). All decorations and paint will be provided. The cost is $5 for Ocean Pines residents and $6 for nonresidents. Then on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 1-4 p.m. Ocean Pines will celebrate the holiday in spooky style with its annual Halloween Fall Festival in White Horse Park. Admission is free and open to the public.

Costume contests, carnival games, face painting, pony rides, candy, a haunted hay ride, crafts, refreshments for sale and more will be part of the fun. Admission and games are free; there will be a fee for some attractions. The event will also include a chance to vote for the contestants in the “Pup of the Pines” dog and puppy photo contest. The winner of the contest will be the 2017 face of the Ocean Pines Dog Park and will receive a free dog park registration. The winner will be announced at the Hometown Christmas Tree Lighting on Nov. 26. Volunteers and candy donations are needed for the Halloween Fall Festival. More information is available at the Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department at 410-641-7052.

OPA sponsoring free financial seminars

The Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department will sponsor three financial seminars in October at the

Ocean Pines Community Center. How to create a personal financial plan is the topic from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 20. William G. Ryon, III and Daniel W. Rowles from Compass Investment Advisors will explain the fivestep process you need to know. State Farm Agent Greg Reddell will discuss estate planning and long-term care on Wednesday, Oct. 12, from 3:30-5 p.m. and 5:30-7 p.m. He will cover retirement realities and how to remove risks that can derail plans. Identity theft will be the topic of a seminar on Friday, Oct. 14, from 6-7 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 22, from 10-11 a.m. Robert Mullen will share how thieves obtain personal information and how to reduce risk. Although there is no cost to attend these seminars, spaces are limited and advance registration is required. To register, call the Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department at 410641-7052.

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OCEAN PINES

October 2016

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OPA, BJ’s join forces to benefit vet memorial

BJ’s Wholesale Club is once again partnering with the Ocean Pines Association to bring a special membership offer, effective Oct. 14-28, to benefit the Worcester County Veterans Memorial at Ocean Pines Foundation. In addition to offering special membership benefits, BJ’s will donate $5 of each membership fee to the foundation. The offer, which is available to new and renewing members, is not available for purchase online or at any BJ’s location.

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Other benefits include receiving $15 off the BJ’s $50 Inner Circle membership fee or $25 off the $100 BJ’s Perks Rewards membership fee, one additional free month of membership and a free second membership card for a household member. With this offer, 13 months will be added to the expiration date of a current BJ’s membership, regardless of when the membership was last renewed. This special promotion is only offered through Ocean Pines two times a year. The next promotion will be in April of 2017. Current BJ’s members whose memberships will expire before then are encouraged to renew during the fall offer.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

October 2016

Hill quietly seeks Yacht Club advice Acting GM reaches out to experts on amenity operational issues By TOM STAUSS Publisher cting General Manager Brett Hill has quietly “reached out” to a “few individuals to get feedback on plans for the Yacht Club” as the amenity enters the slow season when revenues traditionally plummet and summer surpluses evaporate. Hill is downplaying this informal group of advisors and is declining to identify who they are. “I would prefer that my advisors remain confidential, as would they,” he said in reply to an inquiry from the

Progress in late September. Hill said he had “reached out” to a few individuals “as I am not expert in the hospitality business. Any good manager would seek advisors who are experts in their respective field when faced with an unfamiliar challenge.” He declined to call it a working group or a task force, which would probably require board approval to create. During a board meeting in September, Hill said he had been in contact with some successful restaurateurs in Ocean City for advice on how they cope during the off-season.

Hill told the Progress that he had been looking for operational advice on such items as building a menu and setting prices, rather than big picture issues. Big picture issues would include whether to close the Yacht Club during the winter months when business is usually slow or whether the OPA should out-source management rather than keep it in-house, whether by leasing or some other approach. As of the first week of October, Hill said that one meeting of the informal group had been held. Sitting on the

meeting at their request was Board member Slobodan Trendic and Steve Lind, a candidate for the board this past summer who has a particular interest in Yacht Club issues. Hill said in a quick conversation with the Progress before a board special meeting Oct. 7 that it might not be necessary for the informal group to meet again, as fall operational issues have been addressed. A new menu, pricing and hours of operation for the fall have been put in place by Hill working with Jerry Lewis, Yacht Club manager. Trendic said that he and Lind attended the informal meeting with Hill as interested homeowners only. Trendic, too, said the meeting covered operational matters as opposed to strategic issues such as management structure, which he said he hopes would be addressed by a separate task force or ad hoc committee that he has proposed to look at the entire OPA organization. Outsourcing management of the Yacht Club is one of the issues he hopes this ad hoc committee will explore if and when the board chooses to create it. As a board candidate this past summer, Trendic ran on a platform that advocated out-sourcing of certain OPA functions, with the Yacht Club high on his list of amenities that could benefit from a new approach to management. In particular, he has favored leasing out the amenity as an alternative to inhouse management. “I haven’t changed my mind on that,” he told the Progress recently. Lind is also in the pro-leasing camp. Former OPA Director Marty Clarke has also offered advice to the new board on what to do with the Yacht Club as it enters the slow season. Clarke, when he served on the board and ever since, has been a consistent advocate of closing down the amenity immediate after Labor Day and winterizing it and laying off staff, as a way of preserving surpluses recorded during the summer. Clarke told the Progress in early October that he hasn’t backed off of that preference. “I’ve been told that the reason they don’t want to do it is (banquet and special event) bookings, and that Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve parties are always sold out,” he said. “The numbers of people who attend these things are less than one percent of the OPA membership base. “I’m really not sure how many weddings take place this time of year,” he added. “Better just to shut it down right now and reopen it when the summer residents are back in town,” describing the dwindling number of regular or potential Yacht Club patrons after Labor Day as retirees on tight budgets, unable or unwilling to spend much money at the Yacht Club. Shortly after Labor Day, the Yacht Club went to a Thursday through Sunday dining schedule. Among the offerings to bring people in are trivia nights and well-known live music acts on week-

10 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

October 2016Ocean Pines PROGRESS 11

BOARD OF DIRECTORS From Page 10 end evenings on the upper level. Buffet brunches on Sunday continue. The kitchen is not open on Monday but the bar remains open. Lind, in comments to the Progress, said he agreed with a theory proffered by a reporter that Hill was giving the current Yacht Club management an opportunity to succeed unencumbered by micro-management that might have been a factor prior before Hill arrived on the scene as acting general manager. “That’s what I think is happening,” he said. “It’s a window of opportunity” that might not remain open after the new year if there isn’t a turn-around, he suggested. Lind said that while he believes the right course of action might be to close the amenity over the winter to give the OPA time to consider a new approach, including the leasing option he champions, he continues to believe that under the right management “with skin in the game” the Yacht Club should be able to attract enough business to stay open year-round. He said that the downstairs bar and dining area should be reconfigured for a larger bar area, with more big screen televisions for sporting events. “The recent addition of ten or so high top tables and chairs is a start,” he said.

“But it’s not enough.” Lind had been recommended to fill a possible vacancy on the Clubs Advisory Committee by Trendic, who had proposed creating that vacancy by not reappointing the current chairman, Les Purcell, to the committee last month. When OPA President Tom Herrick decided not to ruffle feathers by appointing Lind rather than Purcell, Trendic withdrew Lind’s appointment because there was no longer a vacancy. Herrick also later decided to appoint Dave Stevens as the board liaison to the clubs committee rather than Trendic, his initial appointment, as a way to soothe ruffled feathers. Lind and Purcell had been vocal antagonists while on the clubs committee before Lind had enough and resigned. Stevens recently told the Progress that he detected some “snarkiness” on the part of some committee members with respect to the new board, adding that he believed he had “set them straight” on how they could improve their effectiveness as a committee. He also said the panel had requested operating data about the Yacht Club from previous OPA management, only to be rebuffed. Stevens said he believes the panel will be given the information it needs in order to better do its job as an advisor to the board on food and beverage issues, particularly at the Yacht Club.

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OPA braces for impact of federal overtime law on payroll expense New regulation scheduled to go into effect Dec. 1 By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association is evaluating pending changes to the nation’s Fair Labor Standards Act that could force the OPA to pay overtime to certain key employees who previously have been exempt, the Progress has learned. The topic of FISA’s impact on OPA payroll costs was cited by the Board of Directors as a reason to go into closed session after its regular monthly meeting Sept. 26. The subject involved a discussion of specific personnel who might be affected when scheduled changes to the FLSA law go into effect on Dec. 1. Unless Congress succeeds in delaying the scheduled start date for a new overtime rule, the OPA will be subject to a higher salary threshold for workers to qualify as exempt from overtime beginning Dec. 1. According to a published

Final Rule for FISA, the salary threshold increases from $455 per week, or $23,600 per year, to $913 per week, or $47,476 per year, on Dec. 1. According to published reports, the higher threshold will result in some employees getting raises, as employers try to avoid paying overtime to some employees whose pay is close to the new, higher threshold. Others, who under the previous, lower threshold could not receive overtime, may now be eligible. Both possibilities could have an impact on OPA payroll costs. Published reports also say that the situation is complicated because the FISA allows certain employees to be exempt from overtime if they are paid at least the minimum threshold, are salaried and hold certain kinds of “high-level” executive positions. Whether OPA department heads might qualify for this exemption is a question that has been

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By TOM STAUSS Publisher oor number one was a $1 million-plus major renovation, door number two was a new building, also costing seven figures, and both would have been accomplished by an outside general contractor. Door number three was cosmetic improvements costing $200,000 or less to be accomplished in-house by the Ocean Pines Public Works Department. Doors number one and two had a raft of issues, including likely change orders that could have boosted the final cost and the likelihood that neither would be completed by Memorial Day weekend next year. Door number three should be accomplished by Memorial Day weekend without too much difficulty. In the end, the Board of Directors informally decided – no votes were taken -- for door number three, as recommended by Acting General Manager Brett Hill in a board work session Sept. 19. The choices for dealing with the downstairs bathrooms at the Beach Club in the end didn’t seem to cause much heartburn among the directors, who seemed inclined to go along with Hill’s recommendation for the lower cost solution. 11029 Racetrack Rd. Hill, who’s also an OPA director who Berlin, MD 21811 can vote on his own proposals as acting GM, began the discussion by informing his colleagues that he couldn’t recommend either a substantial gutting of the downstairs at the Beach Club and subsequent major renovation, or a separate new building. The OPA, after a request for proposals was issued in early summer, only received three bids for the project, one for the renovation and two for a new building. Hill said that acting on only one bid would violate OPA’s three-bid rule for major expenditures. “All three were within $50,000 of each

other and all three have large potential for change orders,” Hill said, adding that prior management had set up this outcome by recommending and following through on a design-build approach to the project, an approach that gave contractors substantial leeway on what to propose as a solution. It turned out that design-build offered too much flexibility, to the point that some contractors who might have bid on a more specific scope of work opted not to participate, Hill said. By telling the board that there was no way that a major renovation or new building could be completed by next Memorial Day weekend, the traditional reopening of this popular amenity, he was implicitly criticizing the late posting of the RFP by prior management. Former director Jack Collins earlier this year was highly critical of former General Manager Bob Thompson for issuing the RFPs in late spring, with a return date for bids in the summer, because he said it would not allow enough time to vet competing proposals and award a contract. Thompson had said it was a “fall projPRSRT ect” and that an RFP for it didn’t need to be issued in April in accordance with an USPOS earlier timetable. PAID Collins thought differently, and it turns out his concern was well-founded. MAILMO The more ambitious full renovation of the bathrooms that Collins had called for and spearheaded as a director won’t occur, but neither will Thompson’s alleged preference for a new building. Instead, Hill and the board will opt to fix what can be fixed in the bathrooms without spending seven figures. “We’ve had engineers look at it” and it appears that the building and its systems are sound, Hill said, although “we still don’t have all the information we need” to determine exactly what “deferred maintenance” must be addressed. Because of change orders that likely

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From Page 11 posed but not yet answered. If not, the OPA may be forced to pay over-time to certain individuals who work more than the typical 40-hour work week. According to sources, the board is considering hiring a lawyer or law firm experienced in FLSA law to assist in its evaluation of the impact of the new, higher threshold. Another option will be to move quickly to hire a human resources individual or firm to assist the OPA in navigating FLSA’s legal complexities. There is still a chance that the Dec. 1 start date for the higher threshold will

12 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

13 October - Early November 2015Ocean Pines PROGRESS 9

BOARD OF DIRECTORS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Beach Club

October 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

detail condition street of Beach Club Property ownerEngineers is fed up with neighbor’s parking

report on the condition of the Ocean Pines Beach Club completed in September by Davis, Bowen and Friedel, an

the board. Resident accuses selective enforcement engineering firm withOPA offices of in Salisbury and elsewhere in the Mid-Atlanticasked region, makes clear that the Ocean

Pines Association has deferred a lot of routine maintenance on the building. Janasek said the OPA should not pick and choose provisions in the decInspections offi ce wentManager after Janasek “shall be” parked on any Acting General Brett Hillhicle told the Board of Directors in street a Sept.in19 work sessionwhich that the Public Works and his trailer. under Eddie Wells has already the subdivision. said he needed wantedrepairs. to laration of restrictions it is going to enDepartment begun work He on making He said received a letter from CPI know why CPI wasn’t enforcing that re- force and which it won’t. He pointed out Thehe report concluded that: the restriction against parking on with a photo of theor offending trailer on striction. • deflection sloping of the second floor may be due to settlement or deflectionthat of framing members. the streets is in the same section of the his property to to have it re- floor“What do Iand have to do to to with • The telling interiorhim stairs the second guardrail handrail doget notCPI comply the building code. covenants that prohibits parking trailmoved • because it violates the declarawrite the same letter” to his neighbor The condition of the deck guardrail system will likely not support the loads required by the building code. tion of restrictions. that department wrote to him, he • The deck stair stringer connections willthe likely not support the loads required by the building code. “The•reason my trailer wasexterior parkeddeck framing, stairs and guardrail is estimated to be 5 years with continued The service life of the theremaintenance, was so the gentleman at 7 Park repair and replacement. Place would stop parking on my grass,” The engineers recommended that: Janasek• told board. and He said the maThe the guardrail handrail of the interior stairs to the second floor should be improved to comply with the neuver worked, sort of – the neighbor building code. parked • his carbeam in front of someone else’s The along the interior stairs leading to the lower level should be replaced or reinforced. Pristine 3 Bedroom, 3 Bath condo, ocean block, 62nd driveway instead of Janasek’s house. • The deck guardrail system should be repaired and reinforced to comply with the building code.geographically situated Street, steps from the beach, He argued that the OPA’s governing • Uplift connectors should be installed on deck joists where missing.midway between North and South Ocean City with documents specifi thatconnections no ve• The deckcally stairstate stringer should be reinforced. quick access to Rt. 90 bridge. All appliances, gas fire• Flashing around the piling on the deck should be replaced. place, large balcony, storage closet, fully furnished, 2 • The entire exterior deck should be considered for replacement within five years. assigned parking spaces, private coded entrance to elLot assessment • The corroded sprinkler line under the exterior stairs should be addressed bystairs. a fire Quality suppression contractor. evator and construction, great location From Page 8 exterior door under the exterior stairs should be repaired or replaced. • The for beach-goers. Andrew E. Welch, associatehe with Davis, Bowen and Friedel, cautioned that his company had only conducted a the assessment might be.an Moreover, assessment” ofbeen the Beach said “condition OPA budgets have never built club and had not assessed its structural integrity. structural analysis has with the“No current lot assessment asbeen the performed on any building component or assembly,” he said in a letter. starting point. Ocean Pines South Gate - 11001 Manklin Meadows Lane, Ocean Pines MD 21811 “That would be inappropriate,” he acting GM, he had hired an engineer- systems in the downstairs don’t need [see separate story for details]. Public 410-208-3500 • 1-866-666-1727 (Toll Free) said. ing firm, Davis, Bowen, and Friedel, to immediate replacement, he said. Works has already begun work on those, Collins in a subsequent conversation conduct an engineering appraisal of the ©2015 BHH Afﬁliates, LLC. An independently owned and operatedHill franchisee of BHH Afﬁliates,guardrails LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeThe firm also surveyed the condition said, citing and handwith the Progress stuck by his view of Services and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal building. of Housing the building rails on the exterior stairs. Opportunity. and uncovered some exhow the budget is built. The conclusion was that the existing terior problem areas that need fixing



From Page 12 would occur if the OPA would attempt a full-bore renovation, he said a “better decision” be to replace flooring By ROTA L.would KNOTT and make other cosmetic changes at the Contributing Writer facility to make more user-friendly. rritated that it the Ocean Pines Associ“We can it having back,” he said. on “I ation citedscale him for a trailer don’t howwon’t we can gut and about replace his see lot but do anything a everything andinsists have on it all done by neighbor who parking hisMecar morial Day,” adding that theofless on the grassy area in front his ambiyard, one property complained to the tious approachowner means that the project Board have of Directors during thethe Sept. 24 won’t to comply with latest board meeting. building code provisions that a full gutDuring the public probably commentswould segting-and-replacement ment of the meeting, OPA member Tom require. Janasek said has had ongoing probHe said thehe intent would be to make lemsdownstairs with a neighboring owner the nicer andproperty more functionparking on the side of theboard road that on Park al for users, telling the his Place in front home he owns.new He preliminary listofofa repairs include said he has the offending neighflooring, newasked showers and a face-lift bor repeatedly to stop parking in that within the existing layout. spot damages the grass and Hebecause said a itmore complete “laundry the grass cutters can’t work there review with a list” will be determined for board car in the way. and action as quickly as possible. Because the neighbor hasn’tthat been reThe Progress has learned local sponsive, contractor he turned to the OPA for help building Marvin Steen has but didn’t any resolution eioffered his get services for free to there help the ther. determine a scope of work. OPA So, said he took matters his own Hill the intent is tointo use in-house hands and parked a trailer in that spot labor to make the repairs. blocking neighbor parking (that a car “Therethe are chunksfrom of flooring there.come But instead of the OPAbathroom, citing the have off) in the ladies other property owner form parking on and one of the men’s showers isn’t even the street inheviolation of the restrictive functional,” said by way of examples. covenants, Compliance, Permits and Hill saidthe that within his authority as

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By TOM STAUSS Publisher he new board is taking up a vexing issue left over from the previous board – how to deal with abandoned and neglected homes in Ocean Pines that opinion leaders fear could be dragging down property owners or at least not allowing them to appreciate as much they could otherwise. During discussion at the Board of Directors’ Sept. 19 work session, OPA President Tom Herrick framed the issue as one of degree. “How aggressive do we need to be” to solve the problem, he asked his colleagues. Director Brett Hill, the acting general manager of the Ocean Pines Association, said he needed help in resolving the issue so that Ocean Pines Compliance, Inspection and Permits and Public Works departments can be effectively deployed to deal with abandoned and neglected homes. Director Cheryl Jacobs, who worked the issue in the previous board term with former director Tom Terry, said a complete rewrite of board resolution M-1 is almost done, and that will help clarify what the OPA can and will do to expedite enforcement actions or, in some cases, enter onto properties to clean up eyesore or nuisance conditions. She said that Glenn Duffy, chairman of the Architectural Committee; Jim Trummel, a member of the Bylaws and

New OPA board picking up where the old one left off: Deciding what to do about abandoned, neglected homes

Jacobs said group is close to completing revised draft of M-01 resolution that will expedite enforcement Resolutions Advisory Committee; and Terry have been involved in the M-01 rewrite. Under the new M-01, it will no longer be necessary “to send letter after letter” to offending properties. She said that repeat offenders – homeowners who remedy a complaint, and then go out and offend again – will be dealt with differently than they have previously. She said another board resolution, M-04, gives the general manager some flexibility in dealing with abandoned or neglected properties, while M-01 is being rewritten so the general manager doesn’t have to go back to the board as often to take action. Some critics of what Jacobs and her group are attempting to accomplish say that the general manager already has “fast track” authority but has been reluctant to use it.

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Shortly after assuming the role as acting general manager, Hill took quick action to resolve to resolve a compliance issue at a vacant home on Westfield Circle, deploying Public Works personnel to the home to trim shrubs and dump weed kill on weeds growing through driveway pavers. At the same time, a home on Bramblewood Drive in an older section of Ocean Pines continues to be an eyesore, with the roof particularly in bad shape. Jacobs said that M-04 gives the general manager flexibility but that it will be a board decision on “how far do we go” in dealing with homes that are substantial in need of repair. Herrick responded that it partly depends on what the infraction is. He said the GM can authorize crews to enter a property and cut weeds that exceed

ten inches in height -- no board action required -- but that removing rubbish from a property requires a board vote. “How aggressive does the board want to be (in going beyond weed-cutting or rubbish removal),” he said, again framing the issue for his colleagues. He said that if the board decides it wants to be much more aggressive in repairing houses that have deteriorated, it will have to consider putting liens on homes faster and budgeting for the cost of entering property to make repairs, then billing property owners, assuming they can be found, for the cost with no guarantee that repayment will result. Jacobs said the board should be fully prepared in many cases not to recoup the cost of repairing or cleaning up neglected homes, because there “won’t be enough money to get the money back.” Hill said in some cases a home targeted for action by the OPA already has “four, five or six” liens filed against it. Director and OPA Vice-president Dave Stevens said his understanding of M-04 is that it requires a two thirds board vote – five of seven – to authorize trash removal from a property, but he’s not sure there’s any resolution that specifies what the OPA can do, for instance, about green mold growing on a roof or home exterior. Stevens said he was “not sure” the OPA has the authority to deal with situations “where the appearance is not sig-

14 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Neglected homes From Page 14 nificant enough to detract from property values.” Trummel, a former chair of the bylaws and resolutions committee who was recently reappointed to the panel after a year hiatus, said M-04 language is tied directly to language in the restrictive covenants and that the board “shouldn’t try to extend (enforcement authority) beyond the DRs (declarations of restrictions).” Stevens said he wasn’t trying to do that, but he continued to question just how far the board could go in expediting enforcement actions. Trummel said the DRs are very clear about unsightly weeds and rubbish on properties. Jacobs said that M-01 will spell out how far the OPA can go to deal with repeat offenders and entering on property to fix problems a homeowner won’t repair. Hill repeated that he needs board direction on the issue raised by Stevens and Herrick – how far does the board want him to go – and that executive secretary Michelle Bennett has been doing an “excellent job” in referring complaints to Public Works for resolution. Director Slobodan Trendic said the board should be considering “long-term

Board determines priority items for coming year, specific goals not set Yacht Club, Country Club, neglected properties, status of reserves and the budget process head the list near future. As an example, Trendic cited a comment by a Landscapes Unlimited executive at a September work session suggesting a new business model was needed for golf in Ocean Pines. “The question that should be asked is do you have the right model,” Trendic said. “That’s not an operational issue, but more on the strategic, policy level … The question is how do we compete” against all the other golf courses in the area.” He later said the same sort of question needs to be asked of the Yacht Club, where he has said previously that the OPA should be out-sourcing management, most likely through some sort of leasing arrangement. Leasing or outsourcing was not specifically on the menu during the Oct. 7 special meeting, but Trendic suggested the hiring of a consulting firm that could help the board with developing specific information and advice on that option. Brett Hill, the acting general manager, said he was already developing tools to measure how successful the Yacht Club is on a micro level – from special solutions” to the problem without continuing to tax Public Works to deal with it. He suggested a working group of Ocean Pines property owners who would canvas Ocean Pines “to identify problem properties” in a more “systematic way” than occurs now. He said that this working group could do title searches to ascertain current ownership of a problem property, and if turns out that the home is owned by a bank, especially one that is prominent, its officials can be contacted and leverage applied. “There is a public image concern” that banks might have if they’re identified as owner of a property in a poor state of repair, he said. Current practice is that Public Works generally waits for complaints to materialize before acting, while CPI inspectors will initiate enforcement action if they see some infraction from the street while canvassing the community. Jacobs said the OPA has “no leverage” to make Trendic’s idea work, but he pushed back against that opinion. “It’s been done in other communities,” he said. “To me it’s worth trying.” Hill said in some instances it would be worthwhile for the OPA to acquire a property that is in foreclosure and in poor condition, spending money to fix it up and then putting it on the market for resale, as the OPA did last year.

events to a lunch shift on a particular day. He said that “going outside” by hiring a consulting firm to evaluate the out-sourcing model “was not appropriate now.” OPA President Tom Herrick said that once the board agreed on the five areas of priority for the coming year, he didn’t see a need to get too in-depth in in trying to set goals for the coming year. Supik mentioned that the fourth and fifth items – the status of reserves and the budget process – were linked together. Hill said that the budget process “is nowhere as bad as you might think” given recent OPA management changes. Budget development “is ahead of schedule,” he said, “not a dire situation” at all. The only missed deadline so far is the Sept. 28 deadline for board budget guidance. On the third priority, dealing with neglected or abandoned homes in Ocean Pines, Hill told the board that he has had discussions with Chief of Police David Massey about greater involvement of the police department in enforcing rules managed by the Department of Compliance, Permits and Inspections. Hill told his colleagues that Massey said that because of lack of resources and rules against police entering on private property without cause, police officers can only do “drive-by” inspections of problem properties. At the same time, Hill said he thought the police department could be of greater assistance than it has been previous with CPI enforcement. The objective will be to construct an enforcement policy that is less reactive to complaints, he told the board. Herrick said that if the OPA does decide to be more aggressive in enforcing the restrictions and the guidelines based on them, he said he hoped the OPA approach would be tilted more to encouraging compliance than penalizing homeowners financially. While the OPA has no power to fine residents, for such items as failure to cut grass, the tab is $50 for mowing with another $125 process fee added on, Herrick said. If there are three infractions over the course of a summer, he said, that adds up to $525 that the owner is billed. Director Cheryl Jacobs expressed a somewhat less sympathetic attitude. “Homeowners will have an opportunity to cure” a problem identified in an enforcement letter, she said. She alluded to an effort now under way to revise board resolutions M-01 and M-04 to speed up the time needed to deal with enforcement issues. Previous-

ly she has said these proposed revisions will deal with the problem of repeat offenders who cure problems only to reoffend after a period of time. During the Oct. 8 meeting, the board also dealt with the issue of delinquent assessments, the meeting schedule for the rest of the year, email response policy, the budget review calendar, attorney representation, the Beauchamp Road boat ramp, and media relations. Delinquent assessments -- As part of a beefed up effort to collect delinquent lot assessments, Hill said that the staff will need roughly 60 to 90 days to come up with detailed information on each of the 319 properties in arrears, to help the board to determine which properties are worth a collection effort. “We’re going to go into detail about whether the OPA might be able to get paid” by vigorous pursuit of delinquent accounts, he said. At stake is roughly $1.182 million owed by property owners to the OPA. “We’ll have the information you need (to make more informed decisions),” Hill told the board. Meeting schedule – The board informally agreed to keep to the Monday work session – Saturday regular meeting schedule that had been adopted for the first three months of the new board term, with some exceptions. Herrick said the Monday-Saturday schedule has worked well so far. The Saturday regular meeting gives non-resident owners more opportunity to attend board meetings, he said. In addition to work sessions in January on the budget, the board agreed to hold a work session on Monday, Jan. 23, followed by a regular board meeting and budget presentation by the general manager on Saturday, Jan. 28. In February, to avoid a conflict with President’s Day, the board will have a work session on Friday, Feb. 17, and a regular meeting on Saturday, Feb. 25. March dates are the 20th and 25th, April’s are 24th and 29th, May’s are the 22nd and 27th, June’s are the 19th and the 24th, and July’s are the 24th and 29th. The annual meeting is set for Saturday, Aug. 12. Budget review – The first look at the OPA budget for 2017-18 will occur on Jan. 11 and 12, when the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee is scheduled to review the draft budget prepared by the acting general manager and his staff. Hill will present the proposed budget to the Ocean Pines community on Jan. 28, at the regular monthly meeting of the board. Those dates were set by the board at their Oct. 7 work session. Not yet set are board meetings in which the budget will be reviewed by the directors. Those normally occur the week after the B&F Committee review occurs. E-mail response policy – Herrick raised the issue of how directors should respond to e-mail inquiries or comments sent to the board. The consensus was that all communication to the board deserves a response from at least one director.

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Board of Directors in an informal special meeting Oct. 7 determined five priority items that it intends to address in the coming year, with the Yacht Club the top priority, followed by the Country Club, neglected properties, the status of reserves and the budget process. The special meeting, held in the bridal suite on the upper level of the Yacht Club, took the place of the traditional orientation meetings for new board members, that in some years have taken up two or three days. Directors went on a tour of the OPA’s major building amenities – the Country Club, Beach Club and Yacht Club – ending up at the Yacht Club. As they went through the agenda, that including setting meeting dates for the rest of the board term through July, Yacht Club manager Jerry Lewis and staff delivered samples of new menu items available at the Yacht Club. No one offered comments, good or bad, about the samples provided them for lunch but the extra effort was appreciated. While the board agreed on the five priorities for the year, the directors did not set specific, measurable goals with respect to these five items. Director Slobodan Trendic told his colleagues that goals needed to be specific, measurable and tied a set deadline. He suggested that work sessions would be the appropriate venue to develop more specific goals. He later told the Progress that he would be adding specific goals for consideration at board work sessions in the

October 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 15

16 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

October 2016

Directors suspend bulkhead replacement program for one year By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer he Ocean Pines Association’s decades-old bulkhead replacement program has been temporarily put on hold while the Board of Directors re-envisions the ongoing effort to maintain the support structures along the community’s waterways. During a Sept. 24 meeting, directors voted unanimously to suspend the program and redirect funding designated for bulkhead replacement in the bulkhead and waterways reserve to the general operating fund, where it could be used for any emergency bulkheads repairs. Director Brett Hill, who is serving as acting OPA general manager, offered the motion during a Sept. 24 meeting to suspend the bulkhead replacement program for the current fiscal year, in order for the OPA to develop an scope of work and to bid, evaluate and award a contract for the program next year. Hill’s motion called for the transfer of capital funds that have been accumulated in the bulkhead reserves to the Public Works operational budget. He said those funds will be used to cover cost of repairs on bulkheads that are not being replaced this year, including time, materials and subcontracted services. Hill said the purpose of his motion was to properly solicit bids for work that, at about almost $900,000, amounts to more

Waterfront differential ‘holiday’ could be debated in next year’s budget, as two years of replacement funds have accumulated in the bulkhead and waterways reserve than five percent of the OPA’s annual budget. During the public comments section of the Sept. 24 regular board meeting, resident Richard Neimann approached the board and asked that it consider eliminating the bulkhead differential from the OPA assessments next fiscal year. He said there is already two year’s of reserves in the bulkhead replacement fund. He argued that there is no need to collect the funds if the association is not actively replacing bulkheads. It remains uncertain whether a board majority would be willing to reduce or eliminate the waterfront differential paid by most Ocean Pines waterfront owners as part of their annual lot assessments, until such time as a new replacement program is up and operating. Hill said the original 35-year bulkhead replacement program, now well past that, is effectively over. And yet the funding mechanism for it has been on auto-pilot. “A complete scope of work has not been generated for over ten years,” Hill said. The most recent contract with Fisher Marine is dated 2010 and expired in 2013; the OPA simply contin-

Board creates IT work group, Doug Parks to lead initiative Board delays vote on new recreational department software

some cases affecting the OPA’s ability to support critical business functions. The OPA is looking for “well-qualified volunteers to serve as members and assist with this strategic effort,” which is to be led by Parks. Participation on the work group requires a relevant background and hands-on experience in information technology. Members are needed who can effectively participate in evaluating the use of technology both now and moving forward, Parks said. The OPA’s goal is to get the work group’s efforts under way in October. Anyone interested in serving as a member of the work group should contact Parks at dparks@oceanpines.org. Parks told members of the Aquatics Advisory Committee in early October that good candidates have already come forward. Aquatics is one department that is in need of technology upgrades, as its computer system that tracks member visits and other information at pool check-in desks frequently breaks down, requiring manual data entry. Parks said it appears as though some of the initial information gathering related to current technology has already

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer hile at least one Ocean Pines Association department has a critical need for new software to manage its programs and operations, the Board of Directors opted not to take immediate action but rather to form a work group to study and develop a plan of action for system-wide technology improvements. Directors discussed the long debated and delayed technology infrastructure and software improvements at a Sept. 19 work session and “authorized the creation of a work group to address the current technology issues faced by the association” in a formal vote Sept. 24. The work group is tasked with undertaking a thorough evaluation of the use of information technology solutions to support OPA’s business and operational requirements. Director Doug Parks offered the proposal to create the work group to investigate the OPA’s current use of technology and recommend improvements. He said there are known limitations to the functionality of the current technology platform used by the OPA and that is in

ued to use the contractor via work order riders with the same linear foot price for bulkhead replacement. The board discussed the bulkhead replacement program at length during a Sept. 19 work session. During that meeting Hill said, “I feel strongly that the whole project needs to be rebid.” Hill argued that environmental laws and construction regulations have changed since the last time the OPA developed a scope of work and bid the project. As a result, the OPA needs to re-envision its approach to bulkhead replacement program, he said. Additionally, he said there are a variety of installation methods and materials available for use in bulkhead replacement that were not options when the program was last put out for bids. Using an alternative method, such as vinyl bulkhead instead of the traditional wood, could allow for a longer useful life, Hill said. “By suspending the program for one year the association will be able to properly evaluate the best long-term construction strategy, obtain competitive pricing and bolster reserves to continue this ongoing maintenance for next year,” he said. That language suggests that Hill may not be inclined to reduce the waterfront differential for one year. In the interim, public works staff and sub-contractors will respond to repair requests and maintain the integrity of the existing bulkheads. Hill said the OPA will be putting out a request for bids for an emergency maintenance contract. That will provide a safety net for OPA should a bulkhead failure occur in the meantime. Hill anticipated that the contract for

Board priorities From Page 15 In some cases, the director who serves as liaison to the advisory committee of jurisdiction over the topic raised in the email will write a response. In other cases, the directors will decide among themselves who will draft responses. Michelle Bennett, the board’s executive secretary, will in many cases be the first responder, acknowledging receipt of an email and informing the correspondent that a more detailed response will be forthcoming. Any director who wants to respond may do so, but the procedure is designed to ensure that at least one substantive response is sent. Herrick questioned whether the task of ensuring a response would default to him, and no one disagreed. Attorney representation – Hill acknowledged that the board previously had decided to keep Joe Moore and his

emergency maintenance services would be bid and awarded by the end of September. “We would not be at risk of having something sit for long period of time,” he said. Then to address the long term need for bulkhead replacement, Hill suggested the OPA retain an engineer to properly document the scope of work required and provide accurate drawings for contractors to bid. He said that process will likely take three to four months. “That would put us in place for the next fiscal year to start delving into that contract and whatever bulkheads would be in line for replacement,” he said. Hill said the OPA’s bulkhead replacement program has been primarily calendar driven, meaning that sections of the waterfront structures were simply scheduled for replacement, with emergency repairs added as necessary. Board member Slobodan Trendic said discussion of the bulkhead replacement program is long overdue. He said the OPA needs to determine how to take a physical inventory of the condition of bulkheads and develop a proactive approach for scheduling replacement. He asked if the OPA kept any records that indicate when each section of bulkhead was last replaced. Hill said there is a baseline established in a reserve study of OPA assets, but it is based on contractor reports rather than a physical inspection of the structures. OPA President Tom Herrick also supported a proactive approach to bulkhead repairs. He said currently the Public Works staff is “just keeping up with what goes wrong.” Trendic suggested that the Marine Activities Advisory Committee help with inspecting the bulkheads and setting priorities for replacement. Herrick said that committee hasn’t met for several years, but he is trying to revive it. law firm on retainer as OPA counsel on some matters while outsourcing to other firms when appropriate. The board has retained a law firm on the Western Shore to help the OPA navigate new rules governing overtime pay that go into effect Dec. 1. Boat ramp – Hill said he has some discussions with county officials on how best to regulate the White Horse Park boat ramp, located off Beauchamp Road. Though privately owned by the OPA, the ramp is used by some boaters who neither live nor own property in Ocean Pines, and the OPA is trying to figure out a way to stop that from happening. Options all involve the county in some way, Hill said. One option would be to erect a gate to restrict entry to Ocean Pines property owners or residents, with some staffing requirements. Other less costly mechanisms would be ticketing or towing, with county approval required before the OPA could employ those methods, Hill said.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

October 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS rently being used by the recreation and parks department has not been supported by the original designer for three or four years and the OPA is rapidly losing functionality. She said there is no one to call for support any time staff has a problem with the software. She said aquatics, racquet and recreation programs will all be able to use the requested new software platform, ReTeck, which allows for room reservations, court scheduling, and league play. Ocean City Recreation and Parks has been using the system, which used web based and supported versions, for 20 years. A $65,000 quote for the software was received in March but Bounds said the price has likely gone up since then. Parks said that would be a significant expenditure, and he wants to see what other options are available that could satisfy the needs of other departments as well. He said the board has to look across the organization to ensure it is making smart investments in information technology. Director Slobodan Trendic supported looking at the community’s information technology needs as a whole. He said those needs have been neglected for some time. Director Brett Hill, who is also serving as interim general manager, said the issue for the recreation and parks department is immediate. He said the existing software is inhibiting the depart-

IT work group

From Page 16 been done. However, an assessment needs to be made of the OPA’s business requirements for each department, including interviewing staff about the functional requirements in each department. Only once those steps are completed can the work group investigate potential technologies for use in the OPA and applicable economies of scale for IT improvements across multiple departments, Parks said. In response to a question from the audience at a Sept. 19 work session, Parks said the OPA should be considering a managed or cloud-based system. “Unless we think we can do it better internally we need to consider that as our sort of goal,” he said. He said there are numerous advantages to using a managed system, including economies of scale related to staffing and support, disaster recovery and archives retention. Cloud-based systems also do not require the same level of hardware investment as in-house systems do. Meanwhile, Sonia Bounds, OPA parks and recreation director, during the Sept. 19 work session presented to the board a request for new software for her department. But the board opted to hold off, hoping to get some input from the IT work group. Bounds said the software cur-

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

October 2016

‘Third party’ management option on table for general manager’s replacement Board may appoint task force to explore alternatives By TOM STAUSS Publisher nyone who thought the Board of Directors would be in a hurry to find a full-time general manager to replace the recently departed Bob Thompson will need to reconsider. With a nine-month severance package requiring the OPA to pay the former manager for not showing up to work, it could be the directors want to avoid the ignominy of paying two general managers at the same time. Director Brett Hill has been filling in as acting general manager in the interim, on a volunteer basis, and his colleagues seem perfectly satisfied with letting him do the job until they can find a suitable replacement. At a Sept. 19 work session, the directors discussed ways to approach doing that, with the appointment of a task force the likeliest of options to assist the board in finding the way ahead. Newly elected Slobodan Trendic asked for the discussion of management options to be included on the work session agenda. He said that while a conventional request for applications has been posted on the OPA Web site for an-inhouse general manager, the issue of in-house versus outsourced management is on the table. “It’s what Tom Herrick recommended months ago,” Trendic said, a reference to a motion that Herrick offered earlier this year to explore outside management as an alternative to simply extending the contract of Thompson, as a slim majority of the old board decided to do. Herrick’s motion to explore outside management alternatives failed on a 4-3 vote, but it was one of the first indications that a solid minority of the old board was cool

toward Tbompson’s continued tenure as general manager. Trendic said opting for outside management of some but not all services provided Ocean Pines property owners by the OPA would result in a hybrid approach, something he has previously could be the model eventually approved by the board. To help the board decide the best course of action, Trendic suggested the possibility of the board appointing a task force to help it evaluate applications for a full-time in-house replacement and to help evaluate third party proposals. Director Dave Stevens agreed that the board should “look at options” and that Leggum and Norman, a homeowners association management company with offices in Ocean City, has effectively managed the Parke section of Ocean Pines, while supplying an on-site general manager. Hill said he wanted to be involved in whatever approach the board takes in finding a new general manager. “Before we decide on the direction we want to go, we have to decide what we’re looking for,” he said. Hill then went on to compare the Ocean Pines Association to a municipality, which to some extent seemed to suggest he would be open to exploring that option, which seems to emerge as a topic to be studied and ultimately rejected every five to ten years by boards of directors. Converting to a municipality, either to replace an HOA or in tandem with it, is a very complicated issue, fraught with perils almost every step of the way. “We’re beyond an HOA. We’ve evolved into much more,” he said, suggesting that the board “needs to revisit the role” it wants the OPA to play. Newly appointed Director Doug Parks said that a former city manager of Bowie, Md., now a resident of Ocean Pines, works for an entity called the Mercer Group. That individual has volunteered

to assist the board in sorting through possible changes in Ocean Pines’ management structure, Parks said. It later emerged that this individual has submitted an application for the vacant GM position, which could make his offer to serve on a task force or in some other role a bit more complicated. Hill said the OPA management structure does need to be looked at, citing “multiple” public works and food service functions throughout the organization. “We need to figure this out,” Hill said. Stevens repeated the need for the board to look at all options before deciding how to proceed. “We’re just drinking our own bathwater if we don’t look” to outside management as an option, he told his colleagues. He cited Leggum and Norman as having well-functioning financial systems available to run that side of day-to-day management of the Parke. “Let’s find what’s out there,” Stevens said, alluding to property management companies. “Is there anything out there that matches with our needs?” After Trendic repeated that a task force should be formed to help the board evaluate outside management companies, Director and OPA Treasurer Pat Supik said she was in favor of asking the Mercer Group to assist the OPA in a management search. Stevens posed the question about whether the board really needs professional help to decide the issue of in-house versus outside management, prompting Hill to say that he couldn’t answer that. “I need more time” to consider options including the appointment of a task force, he said. “It’s premature.” Stevens replied that “getting information is never premature,” after which Hill asked for a couple of weeks to reflect and come up with a proposed course of action he would submit to the board for consideration.

Crafter of the month

Lois Schultz has been selected as the Pine’eer Craft Club’s crafter of the month for October. Her crafts include bracelets, earrings, painted gourds, and Christmas ornaments. She has been doing Kumihimo, which is Japanese weaving, for about four years. She loves specialty beads, and makes earrings from recycled cans. The Pine’eer Craft Shop is located in Ocean Pines in White Horse Park. The shop is open all year on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

IT work group From Page 16 ment’s ability to function, and it can’t wait a year for a committee to make a recommendation. Bounds agreed, saying “we are losing segments of the program,” and cited the lack of availability of the departmental mailing list not to some staff members. She was also concerned that information is not backed up anywhere and could be lost completely. “If we do lose our lists, that’s going to sink a lot of programs if we can’t reach our past participants.” Hill asked that work group aggressively strive to validate the need for the recreation and park department’s software so that staff can bring the proposal to the board for consideration in October meeting. Whether that deadline is achievable remains to be seen.

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OPA calls a halt to road repaving, will focus on repairs instead

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer

cheduled repaving of roads in the community has been temporarily halted by the Ocean Pines Association in favor of making repairs to streets that have been cut during utility work. The Board of Directors during a Sept. 24 regular meeting unanimously approved a motion by Director Brett Hill, who is also acting as interim general manager, to halt the road repaving program and reallocate associated funds for repair work instead. Hill made a motion to suspend the road repaving program for fiscal year 2017 in order for a new scope of work to be created, bid, evaluated and a contract awarded. Additionally, the motion requested the transfer of capital funds from the road reserve to the public works operational budget to cover the cost of repairs on roads not being completely repaved this year. The funding will be used to fund employee time, materials and sub-contracted services to make necessary road repairs. The OPA’s road work continues to be funded by the local impact grant

funds generated by the Casino at Ocean Downs. The community receives a portion of the funding provided to the county because of its proximity to the casino. The roads in Ocean Pines are graded for replacement on a scale by in-house resources, according to Hill. A recent reserve study that evaluated the useful life of all OPA capital assets and associated replacement costs shows that the OPA should have very little expenditure on road replacement in the next few years. However, in order to perform utility work both the county and private utility companies have made road cuts. Hill said due to that utility work under the roads many of them are suffering from patchwork that is reducing road grades and triggering early replacement. He said there is some “really bad patchwork” on the roads and cited Tail of the Fox Drive as an example where the road has been cut completely across. Hill added that if the public works department is properly equipped and staffed with in-house roads team support and a contracted mechanism is in place to repair the roads, the OPA can extend the cycle for replacement and perform patching as necessary to maintain surface quality. “We need to properly scope our design and repair specifications so that future utility work will not leave long-term damage that we are

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currently experiencing,” he said. Director Carol Jacobs asked about the potential for billing the county or utility companies who make cuts to the roads for any subsequent work the OPA has to do to stabilize and repair them. Hill said that for the majority of recent repairs that failed the OPA was able to contact the county and have them satisfactorily fixed. “But lot of repairs out there now we are multiple years and multiple contractors past the initial damage so there is no recourse,” he said. That’s one of the reasons he suggested taking the year off from the road paving program so the OPA can develop a set of specifications for repairs and construction standards for repaving. Jacobs said she understands that the OPA has no way to secure funding from the county for old repairs to road cuts that have since failed. However, she said

going forward the OPA should bill the county for any repairs it has to make as a result of county work that impacts the roads. “Most definitely,” Hill responded. Director Dave Stevens suggested that since the OPA is reviewing the overall roads program perhaps is would be better to discuss the problem with faulty repairs with the county than to just send them a bill. He said the OPA shouldn’t go “with hat in hand” but should “sit down with county roads” to discuss the concerns. Director Slobodan Trendic agreed and said the community continues to have water line leaks and other necessary utility repairs that necessitate work to the roads as well. He said proactively reaching out to the county and establishing a process or procedure for repairs to road cuts would be of benefit to both entities.

Board opts for wood replacement of Community Center gym floor By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer espite concerns about the impact heavy equipment could have on the material, the Ocean Pines Association has opted to install a wood floor in the Community Center’s gymnasium because it is more durable and provides a better playing surface than vinyl for sports activities. During a Sept. 24 meeting the Board of Directors voted to award a contract to Signature Sports Flooring for the installation of a Signawood floor at a cost of $78,752. Director Brett Hill, who is acting OPA general manager, said the project was included in the fiscal year 2017 capital budget. The existing flooring was damaged as a result of humidity infiltration through the Community Center entrance doors. That problem has now

been corrected but the OPA is left with a bubbled floor that presents a safety hazard in the gymnasium. The Community Center was constructed in 2009 with a Taraflex sports flooring system complete with a floor heating system. After bubbles began appearing in the floor the OPA determined the cause was from excessive moisture in the concrete pad below. Relative humidity testing was conducted in June 2013 to determine the extent of moisture content prior to replacing the floor. The tests indicated a relative humidity content of the concrete slab to be 96 percent. The glue adhering the flooring to the concrete slab is only rated for 85 percent relative humidity concluding that the bubbles were formed as the glue deteriorated. The

Temporary delay will give board time to develop new resurfacing program

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

October 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Board takes aim at second boatlift at Teal Circle home By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer ollowing a five-year fight with the owner of a waterfront home at 141 Teal Circle, the Ocean Pines Association has decided to take legal action to effect the removal of a second boat lift that was initially installed on the property in 2011. During a Sept. 24 meeting, the Board of Directors voted to declare the property in continuing violation of the declaration of restrictions and send the case to legal counsel to pursue a remedy. Brett Hill, OPA director and acting general manager, presented the case at the request of the Architectural Review Committee. He said a second boat lift has been installed at 141 Teal Circle without a permit from the OPA. The installation was originally made in August of 2011, but the boatlift was temporarily removed while the bulkhead along the property was being replaced in 2015. He said the property owner was told by the compliance, permits and inspections office in October of 2015 not to reinstall the second boat lift but did anyway. As of July 2016 it was reinstalled,

without approval from the OPA. Hill said both ARC members and the CPI staff have attempted to contact the property owner to remove the violation, but the member has declined to comply. Director Dave Stevens, board liaison to the ARC, said the member was given every opportunity to illustrate to the ARC a reason that would substantiate the need for a second boatlift. He said the member did acquire county permits for the boat lift but not those required from the OPA. While permits from the county are necessary, the OPA has a right to be more restrictive in its covenants and design guidelines than other agencies that also have jurisdiction, Stevens said. “That’s an important right to me,” he said, adding, “We can set our own standards.” He said the issue goes beyond whether or not the OPA approved the second boat lift. It’s a matter of recognizing the OPA’s authority to regulate such uses of a property. Director Slobodan Trendic said he understands Stevens’ comments but was unclear whether or not there were

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several months old. The Board of Directors also approved the purchase of a power washer and trailer for the Recreation and Parks Department at a cost of $7,499 from Northern Tool and Equipment. The capital purchase was budgeted at a cost of $7,700. The trailer-mounted unit includes a heater and will be used for maintenance of recreation and parks facilities, including the playgrounds and racquet sports courts.

From Page 20 OPA addressed stormwater mitigation work exterior to the gym to ensure a decrease in the moisture exposure before replacing the gym floor. Hill said the OPA considered several variations of wood and vinyl flooring. He said the vinyl flooring allows for a wider array of uses for the room, such as the home show and community dinners, but the wood floor is better for sports. Ultimately staff recommended the wood floor. The wood floor is a more expensive floor however the cost of maintenance over the overall life span is greatly reduced. “So the overall cost of ownership is lower in the long run,” he said. Both types of floors have similar manufacturer warranties of two to three years and specify in the manufacturer’s literature similar life expectancies of ten to 15 years depending on conditions and use. However with proper maintenance wood floors typically last 25 years. Sonia Bounds, recreation and parks director, was concerned about the impact of heavy items, like hot tubs brought in for the home show, on the wood floor. She said heavy equipment could dent it. But, she added, that the OPA could simply make the decision not to use the space for any events or activities that could cause damage to the floor. There is some indication that the home show will not be returning to Ocean Pines this fall, thus making that particular concern moot. The project costs include the flooring and installation as well as a humidity treatment to the floor. On top of the project bid, Hill asked for and the board approved a five percent contingency cost because the quotes for the project are

any violations related to installation of the boat lift aside from the lack of an OPA-issued permit. He wanted to know if there were any violations relative to the actual physical location of the second boatlift or it actually complies with overall rules and regulations. Director Carol Jacobs also asked whether the violation is simply that the property owner failed to get the OPA permit for the boatlift. Stevens replied that the issue is that “there is no good reason for granting an exception” to allow a second boatlift at 141 Teal Circle. But, he added, that member “he doesn’t feel he needs Ocean Pines permission.”

Trendic also wanted to make sure all other avenues for resolving the violations have been explored before the board decides to take legal action. “Is there another option that exists that could, should be explored?” he said. Hill said the reason the property was before the board for consideration is lack of compliance with the guidelines. “I believe after five years it can be classified as every other possible action has been taken,” he said, referencing the length of time the violation has existed on the property. He said the resolution being sought is removal of the second boatlift or application for the appropriate permit from the OPA.

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22 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

AQUATICS

October 2016

Aquatics committee recommends change in Beach Club parking revenue sharing Panel suggests that Aquatics Department has been shortchanged by more than $100,000 in revenue allocation, recommends formula based on actual usage of pool passes sold as part of bundled Beach Club package By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Aquatics Advisory Committee at its Sept. 6 monthly meeting voted to reaffirm its previous support for what it believes would be a fairer allocation of the revenue produced by the sale of Beach Club parking passes bundled with four passes for use at the Beach Club pool only. With an estimated $300,000 generated this summer from the bundled package, the Aquatics Department’s share of the bundled revenue is budgeted currently at about $48,000. The committee at its Sept. 5 meeting voted to recommend adoption of a revenue-sharing formula that would boost that up to slightly more than $165,000 in the current fiscal year. The recommendation will be forwarded to the Board of Directors for consideration and what the committee hopes will be its adoption in the near future, with the revenue adjustment to be applied during the current 2016-17 fiscal year. The formula is based on the actual

usage of the Beach Club-only pool passes this past summer. Aquatics Director Colby Phillips kept both electronic and manual records on the number of card swipes from the four pool passes distributed with the parking passes this summer. The records indicated that more than 92 percent of Beach Club pool usage was attributable to those who used the bundled pool passes during the Memorial Day to Labor Day season when the pool is open. Phillips informed the committee during its Sept. 6 meeting that this past summer, 25,623 people visited the Beach Club pool. Out of those, 23,593 (92 percent of the 25,623 distinct visits) used the pool passes bundled with the parking permits. The remaining 8 percent were annual or seasonal pool members, coupon debit card users or those who paid cash to enter the enclosed pool area. Annual or seasonal pool members, who have prepaid access to the Ocean Pines Association’s five swimming pools, including the Beach Club, can purchase,

for $75, a Beach Club parking pass without any bundled pool passes. The bundled pool passes sold for $175 in the package with annual parking passes are good only at the Beach Club pool. Phillips, who supports the committee’s recommendation, suggested that $7 per visit would be mid-way between the lowest and highest daily fees at the Beach Club pool. She said that $7 would be a good number to use to determine the amount of revenue that would have been generated had passes distributed in a bundle with parking been sold and purchased separately, with the revenue allocated to the Aquatics department. Multiplying $7 by the number of Beach Club pool-pass-only card swipes ($7 x 23,593) produces revenues of $165,151, well above the budgeted placeholder of $48,000. The committee unanimously voted to recommend to the Board of Directors that the OPA allocate $165,151 (rather than the budgeted $48,000) to Aquatics membership revenues this year out of revenues generated by the bundled

package. The committee’s argument is that the bundled parking-and-pool pass package has been a too-little-noticed and appreciated Ocean Pines success story that should be celebrated and continued in its current form, but with a fairer and more accurate sharing of the revenues generated. The $48,000 allocation was determined two years ago, based on the estimated cost of operating the Beach Club pool rather than actual usage of the bundled pool passes. A calculation based on the number of actual number of card swipes from the bundled Beach Club pool passes is, in the committee’s view, the most accurate method of determining a fair allocation of the bundled parking-and-pool-pass revenue. For the current fiscal year, using the $165,151 calculation means that slightly more than 50 percent of Beach Club parking-and-pool pass net revenue (which does not include revenue generated by $75 passes for amenity members and $55 weekly passes used mostly by weekly renters) would be allocated to Aquatics. The reallocation can be done any time in the current fiscal year, but at the very least should be adjusted no later than April, 2017, the final month of the current fiscal year, the committee suggests. Since $48,000 has already been included in the department’s membership revTo Page 25

October 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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AQUATICS By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Aquatics Advisory Committee during its Sept. 6 monthly meeting unanimously endorsed adding a baby pool to the splash pad at the Swim and Racquet Club, recommending its inclusion in the 2017-18 capital budget. Aquatics Director Colby Phillips reminded the committee that the baby pool at Mumford’s Landing, the OPA’s only baby pool currently, is often crowded, and the Swim and Racquet Club, where a splash pad replaced the baby pool last year, has had somewhat less pool usage than it once did. The splash pad features are popular with users, but some parents (and their kids) have asked about the possibility of bringing back a baby pool, Phillips said, noting that there is ample space adjacent to the splash pad for a baby pool, but that fencing would have to be relocated or added to accommodate it. The committee also unanimously endorsed another proposal from Phillips, a party room to be added to the Sports Core indoor pool complex, taking up some of the space occupied by outdoor decking. The party room (similar to

Beach Club parking From Page 22 enue for the year, about $117,000 more could be allocated under the committee-recommended formula. The committee also supports using the summer 2016 calculation as the basis for estimating aquatics department revenue in the 2017-18 budget. When the board first adopted a degree of revenue sharing two years ago, some critics posting on oceanpinesforum.net said the change amounted to the Aquatics Department “stealing” money from beach parking to make aquatics look better in OPA monthly financial statements. Department and committee members have vehemently objected to that characterization, contending that Aquatics is entitled to a fair share of revenue generated from the bundled package. If the pool passes were not distributed with the parking passes, anyone wanting to visit the Beach Club pool would have to pay daily user fees, buy coupon books or purchase annual or seasonal memberships, all of which would generate substantial revenue for the department, they say. Revenue-sharing from the bundled package simply offsets this lost revenue, they add, producing a more accurate accounting of Aquatics’ actual financial performance. There is no question that the $48,000 in revenue-sharing last year helped the department come close to break-even for the year, but an additional $100,000 or so year-over-year performance swing was attributed to cost controls and additional revenue from a variety of sources, such as new memberships, swimming lesson revenue and pool parties. In short, the $48,000 in reve-

October 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Panel recommending new baby pool for Swim and Racquet Club Aquatics committee agrees with aquatics director that while splash pad has been well received by pool users, one baby pool in Ocean Pines doesn’t meet demand rooms at local movie theaters) would allow parties or meetings to take place without impeding access to the pool for other users. Phillips said she has had discussions with the Public Works department about building the room in-house. The committee also suggested contacting the Worcester County Vo-Tech high school for assistance in building the room. Phillips also mentioned that she has had discussions with Yacht Club manager Jerry Lewis about some sort of arrangement in which food from the Yacht Club can be marketed and sold to Mumford’s Landing pool users next summer. nue-sharing was responsible for roughly one third of Aquatics’ dramatic financial turn-around last year, in which the department came within $5,000 of coveted break-even status. If the board accepts the committee recommendation for additional revenue-sharing, specifically the formula based on the actual number of bundled parking pass card swipes, then Aquatics would be well into surplus territory in 2016-17 and in the fiscal years that follow. Surpluses in excess of $100,000 would most likely become the norm.

The Chic-Fil-A shuttle service worked well this past summer, she said, but she is open to upgrading and expanding options for pool users. Committee members suggested a low-cost menu could be tailored for Mumford’s. She said it’s not necessary for Aquatics to share in any profits because Yacht Club staff would be providing the service, as opposed to members of the Aquatics department. The food truck proposed by former general manager Bob Thompson last year is not under consideration by the OPA. In addition to the Swim and Racquet Club baby pool, the committee discussed and endorsed two additional capital items for next year’s aquatics capital budget -- Lights at the Yacht Club to allow it to stay open longer each day, and a heater (or heaters) for the Swim and Racquet Club pool, to make the pool more comfortable early and late in the season. Extremely pleased with the way recent improvements to the Sports Core indoor swimming pool turned out, the Aquatics Advisory Committee is also looking ahead to another improvement that its members believe could substantially improve the way users experience the facility both in and outside the pool. Brought to the committee last year

by Phillips as an option to be explored, the Clear Comfort system of disinfecting pools is an alternative to traditional chlorination, which sometimes leaves users with itchy skin and complaining of noxious odors, especially in an indoor setting. While committee members don’t believe that Sports Core pool users are exposed to toxic levels of chlorination, or are even close to that, they in general support any system that might reduce levels of chlorination or air-born chloramines that some people find offensive. At the committee’s Sept. 6 monthly meeting, Phillips told the committee that she had received a cost estimate of roughly $15,000 from Clear Comfort for the purchase of a system for the Sports Core pool; she did not have a monthly cost for leasing a system but she said would check into that. Once the committee has that information, it may decide whether to formally recommend to the Board of Directors inclusion of the Clear Comfort system in the Aquatics capital budget for 2017-18. According to the Clear Comfort Web site, the company’s commercial pool disinfection system substantially reduces chlorine usage, cutting chemical expenses by roughly 40 percent. It destroys chlorine-resistant contaminants like Cryptosporidium and eliminates air-circulated chloramines. Using Ultra violet cartridges and a patented hydroxyl-based advanced oxidation process, with hydrogen peroxide as the end-product, Clear Comfort says its system creates a cleaner and healthier experience, with much less skin irritation and unpleasant odor. The committee has been very interested in Clear Comfort, with members hopeful that Phillips will include the system in her 2017-18 budget request either as a capital item or as a lease expense.

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26 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

GOLF/AQUATICS

October 2016

Herrick reconstitutes golf oversight group to work with LU Board votes to relaunch advisory committee By TOM STAUSS Publisher cean Pines’ golf course operations are longer under intense, critical scrutiny by an oversight panel that some critics said had been close to taking action to replace the management company, Landscapes Unlimited, this past summer. Members of the former LU oversight committee, consisting of former directors Pat Renaud, Tom Terry and Bill Cordwell, either retired from the board in August or, in the case of Renaud, resigned shortly after the board was reorganized in August. That gave new OPA President Tom Herrick a real opportunity to hit reset on OPA relations with LU, and he made the most of it last month with three appointments to the oversight panel. Herrick named himself to the panel, along with fellow director and acting OPA General Manager Brett Hill. The third member of the LU oversight panel is Bob Kessler, who had been a member two years under the OPA presidency of Dave Stevens, who is the current vice-president. Kessler is known as a numbers man, someone who keeps detailed year-byyear data on golf financial performance, and supporting documentation such as

rounds played and demographic breakdowns on who’s playing the Ocean Pines golf course. His reappointment was to some extent an acknowledgment that his dismissal from the oversight panel a year ago was handled discourteously. He and other previous members of the group found out that they had been replaced by reading it in the newspaper. The newly repopulated panel will also return to the composition of one community member and two board members under which it operated during the year of Stevens’ presidency. Under the Renaud regime, all three members were OPA directors, two of whom (Terry and Cordwell) voted against the hiring of Landscapes Unlimited as a replacement for Billy Casper Golf. Renaud also became a critic of LU during his year on the oversight panel, floating the theory that LU only managed comparatively decent financial performance because it was short-changing course maintenance, something LU executives denied. Herrick said that Kessler will chair the LU oversight group, which will conduct monthly meeting with LU executives and the local management team of John Malinowski, director of golf, and Rusty McClendon, the course superintendent. In another move designed to improve community and LU interaction with the board on matters related to golf, Her-

rick has proposed, and the board is in the process of ratifying, the revival of a golf advisory committee. The committee was suspended by board vote in October of 2011. Stevens, who was on the board when that action occurred, said the reasoning behind the move was that the golf course management had been outsourced to Billy Casper Golf, and an advisory committee was not needed. The board at the time was influenced by the opinion of the Golf Member Council, formerly known as the Golf Governors, that it could fulfill the role of advisory committee by working directly and advising BCG and, if necessary, the

directors. Herrick said that while there still is a need for a Golf Member Council to organize golf and social events for members, the task of advising the board on golf policy matters should come from a duly constituted board advisory committee. To that end, he offered a motion at the Sept. 24 regular monthly board meeting to resurrect the Golf Advisory Committee by reactivating Board Resolution C-1, which governs the committee’s activities. The board unanimously passed a slightly revised C-1 resolution on first reading during the meeting,.

Board votes to resurface pools

ully acknowledging that both are unbudgeted items in the 2016-17 capital budget, the Board of Directors made no apologies for voting unanimously to authorize Acting General Manager Brett Hill and his staff to immediately solicit proposals for two pool resurfacing projects sought by the Aquatics director and strongly endorsed by the Aquatics Advisory Committee. The vote occurred during the board’s Sept. 24 regular meeting, following non-contentious discussion at the board’s Sept. 19 work session, where both Hill and Aquatics Director Colby Phillips persuasively argued for immediately soliciting bids in the hopes that they will be fully vetted and a contract awarded so the resurfacing can be completed well before the opening of pools Memorial Day weekend next year. The Beach Club pool and the baby pool at Mumford’s Landing are the remaining two pools in Ocean Pines that have not been resurfaced for quite some time. The board also authorized the purchase of covers for both pools, to be ordered and ready for installation as soon as pools close at the conclusion to the summer season next year.

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OPA FINANCES

October 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Stevens, Trendic say former ‘five-year plan’ revenue stream can be cut; OPA quietly zeroes out operating recovery reserve By Tom Stauss Publisher ossibly capturing the mood of a majority of Ocean Pines property owners who voted for more conservative fiscal management of the Ocean Pines Association in this summer’s Board of Directors election, the OPA’s Budget and Finance Advisory Committee is on board with eliminating two allocated OPA reserve funds. One of those reserves, the operating deficit recovery reserve, is already in the process of fading into oblivion. In the August reserve summary published as part of the OPA’s monthly financial report, this reserve has been zeroed out, with more than $400,000 transferred to the OPA’s general fund. This zeroing out and transfer was done quietly by the previous board, without a formal board vote or acknowledgment by the board that it had occurred. It seems just a matter of time before the reserve is eliminated from the summary entirely, now that it carries a zero

balance. It probably would take a board vote to do that, however. Another reserve fund, the so-called legacy reserve, once called the five-year plan reserve, remains active but is in ill health and may not survive the 2017-18 budget review process. Although it’s difficult to say for certain what will shake out during that review, elimination of these two reserves presumably will result in downward pressure on the OPA lot assessment, currently set at $921 per year. How much assessments could decrease, or whether other spending priorities will intervene, remains to be seen. In a meeting of the Board of Directors and the B&F committee Sept. 21, it was evident that the committee and probably a majority of directors have a different view on the potential impact of eliminating the so-called legacy reserve. The elimination of the legacy reserve, merging it into what’s called the historical reserve, does not necessarily mean the board will defund it. It’s complicat-

ed, but that’s the way it could happen as the 2017-18 budget is debated and approved early next year. Indeed, the committee is recommending no reduction in the $864,724 annu-

al infusion of new assessment dollars attributable to the legacy reserve, even while it is okay with eliminating it as a separate reserve in the OPA’s monthly financial reporting and annual audited financial report. Committee members made a case for the preservation of that revenue stream during its Sept. 21 meeting with the board. They argued that it probably will be needed as the OPA tackles expensive capital projects in the coming years. Committee members said the original purpose of the legacy reserve was to “even out” assessment increases over q

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28 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Reserve levels

OPA FINANCES

October 2016

From Page 27 time, avoiding dramatic fluctuations and special assessments. Committee member Dennis Hudson, who has rejoined the committee after a recent hiatus, argued that a significant decrease in assessments could result in a subsequent need to raise it just as significantly, causing major discord in the community if that happens. Eliminating the legacy reserve, while continuing to collect all or most of the assessment dollars that had been flowing into it for eight years, did not sit well with at least two directors who counter punched after committee members made their case. Dave Stevens and Slobodan Trendic effectively said that the OPA’s Major Maintenance and Replacement Reserve, of which the historic and legacy reserves are components, is adequately if not overfunded for OPA’s identified capital needs. Stevens told the committee that over the past ten years the OPA has collected from property owners and placed into the maintenance and replacement reserve assessment dollars that have exceeded spending from those reserves on capital projects and more routine replacement items. Stevens said that collecting more than is needed to pay for already identified capital project amounts to an invitation to come up with innovative and expensive ways to spend it. Trendic said the OPA’s reliance on the reserves as a funding source for major capital expenditures is out-dated and that alternative methods, such as private-homeowner association partnerships, should be considered. He also said that if the board collectively decides to fund a major project from reserves, it could create and label a specific reserve for that purpose, collecting and allocating assessment dollars for it over a number of years prior to beginning the project. That idea seemed to be well received by some members of the committee. Committee membr John O’Connor, at the committee’s Aug. 24 monthly meeting, touched off a discussion about OPA reserves by suggesting the elimination of the legacy reserve. It was set up roughly eight years ago to raise supplemental funds for major capital projects that policy-makers at the time felt were insufficiently funded by the historical component of the major maintenance and replacement reserve. The historical reserve is replenished each year from funded depreciation of most OPA capital assets. This year’s contribution from assessments is a shade less than $1.6 million. The legacy reserve contribution is a shade less than $865,000 this year. The legacy reserve, originally called the five-year funding plan, was the source of funding for the OPA’s new $5 million Yacht Club, a portion of golf course green replacement, and a few other projects. Critics say that its existence encour-

ages the OPA to undertake projects at a cost higher than might be incurred if it did not exist. Proponents say without it, the OPA might have to consider borrowing or special assessments as a way to finance major projects. In addition, because of the high cost of the new Yacht Club, the legacy or fiveyear plan reserve has been in deficit for much of its eight years of existence. With an $864,724 infusion of new assessment dollars as of May 1, the beginning of the 2016-17 fiscal year, the legacy reserve carried a $342,683 deficit at the end of August. O’Connor told his colleagues on the committee that he never has been comfortable with a “negative” reserve fund, and he alluded to the fact that the reserve formerly known as the five-year plan reserve is now in its eighth year of existence, with the Yacht Club long paid for in full. In fact, the assessments raised by the five-year plan reserve covered the full cost of the Yacht Club after roughly five years, but other spending from it resulted in deficits that have persisted into its eighth year. Because the historical reserve is flush with funds – its source of revenue is the full funding of depreciation of most OPA assets by a portion of the annual lot assessment – it more than offsets the deficit carried by the legacy reserve. The historical reserve had a $6.04 million balance as of Aug. 31. O’Connor said that in the future, the historical and legacy reserves should simply be merged. “You don’t have to have separate reserves (for maintenance and major replacement),” he said. Even if the two components are merged as O’Connor suggests, it’s still possible that the Board of Directors will approve some supplemental funding for this reserve, in addition to the full funding of depreciation. But with a combined balance of $6.1 million as of July 31 – it will be lower

by the end of the fiscal year, because of planned capital projects – some directors will be reluctant to continue collecting the legacy component without an approved capital improvement plan in place to justify the additional assessments. That much was abundantly clear in the Sept. 21 meeting between the committee and the board. Approval of a new CIP in time for consideration as part of the next budget cycle appears optimistic. This year’s $865,000 legacy contribution is actually lower than it was at the outset of the plan eight years ago, when it was set at roughly $1.1 million. For the past two years, the board has approved a legacy contribution less than $900,000, chipping away at the contribution with some directors advocating its elimination in the 2017-18 budget. Stevens, the current OPA vice-president, has been leading the charge for elimination for some time. Two newly elected directors, Trendic and Brett Hill, ran on a platform of substantially reforming the reserves and the way the OPA finances future major projects. During the committee’s August meeting, O’Connor also suggested the elimination of the operating recovery reserve, which had a surplus of $408,386 as of July 31. “It’s up to about $500,000, and we’ve recovered all the losses (the reserve was designed to offset),” O’Connor said. There was some discussion of what to do with the balance, with possibilities including returning the money to property owners in the form of lower assessments or possibly moving it to the major maintenance and replacement reserve. But what is almost certain is that by eliminating it, the $135,000 in new money that would be collected as part of next year’s assessments won’t be, exerting downward pressure on the assessment. The decision has been made quietly to shift the money to the general fund

this year, with a decision yet to be made about whether to continue to collect $135,000 next year. Committee members seemed in synch with O’Connor’s comments, and they agreed to include his recommendations in budget guidance to be provided to the board of directors and management as part of next year’s budget process. The committee also agreed to recommend funding the bulkheads/waterways and roads reserves at current levels. A former committee member, Gene Ringsdorf, who was recently appointed one of two OPA assistant treasurers, has pointed out on various occasions that the bulkheads and waterways reserve is at a historic funding high, more than double what is ordinarily spent per year on bulkhead replacement in Ocean Pines. Throughout much of its history, the OPA has collected roughly the same as it spent each year for bulkhead replacement. The balance of this reserve as of Aug. 31 was $1.84 million, and the original 35-year replacement program was in its 35th years a couple of years ago. The board of directors has yet to approve a new replacement program, which means in reality that the OPA, if it continues to collect a water assessment differential from owners of most bulkheaded property in Ocean Pines, would be doing so for an as yet unauthorized purpose. Within the past year, former OPA General Manager Bob Thompson hinted at the possibility of a funding holiday for the bulkhead and waterways reserve pending development and approval of a new bulkhead project. When asked during the Aug. 24 meeting whether he favored such a holiday, O’Connor declined. But with Ringsdorf in an enhanced role, it’s possible that the subject will come in for discussion during the 201718 budget review that will occur in January and February.

October 2016Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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30 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

October 2016

OPA FINANCES

OPA ahead of budget for first four months of fiscal year Aquatics’ stellar performance contrasts with subpar August at Yacht Club By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association nudged into positive territory relative to budget four months into the fiscal year, with a strong August that reversed the trend of the first three months of the fiscal year. According to Controller Art Carmine’s monthly financial report for August, the OPA recorded a $41,224 positive operating fund variance to budget, with revenues over budget by $1,871 and expenses under budget by $27,465, and new capital under budget by $11,888. Through the end of August, which marked the end of the first months of the 2016-17 fiscal year, the OPA had a positive operating variance of $22,803. Revenues were under budget by $168,538 – much of that at the Ocean Pines Yacht Club – while total expenses were less than budgeted by $148,437. New capital expenditures were under budget by $38,523. There are essentially three ways to look at financial performance. One is to measure actual results against budget, with either positive or negative variances possible. AnothThe August 2016 departmental financial summary. Source: OPA Controller Art Carmine er is simply actual results, which can be surpluses or deficits. Both measurements are presented amenity department, along with year- May 1 through April 30 of the following Aquatics, in that order. Beach Club parking produced a in OPA financial reports for a particular to-date numbers for the current and year. Amenity performance in August was $394,695 surplus through August, a month and cumulatively for the entire previous year, making year-over-year comparisons possible. Year-over-year mixed, with all three racquet sports and slight uptick from the $389,411 surplus fiscal year. The monthly financial reports posted performance is the third way to measure golf operations recording losses for the recorded a year ago. Marina operations also had a good month. on the OPA Web site under documents financial performance. The Beach Club food and beverage summer, recording a $230,047 surplus The OPA runs its fiscal year from also include detailed break-outs for each operations ($77,958), Beach Club park- through August, compared to $214,290 ing ($42,307), marinas, Yacht Club and a year ago. Aquatics’ four-month surplus was Aquatics all recorded surpluses in Au$211,859, up from $187,664 a year ago. gust. The Beach Club food and beverage opOn the deficit side, tennis lost $4,039, platform tennis lost $1,043, and pickle- eration had its usual excellent summer, with a $176,285 surplus through August, ball lost $1,507. Golf operations were in the red by up from $159,975 a year ago. Tennis recorded a $13,422 surplus $2,378. Compared to budget, Aquatics was through August, a slight improvement the top performer in August, as it had over last year’s $12,509. Though in the black through August, been in July. Its $30,856 positive variance to budget dwarfed that of the next other amenities aren’t faring quite so best, the Beach Club’s $17,620. Marina well year over year. The Yacht Club was in the black operations’ positive variance to budget was $11,865, followed by Beach Club through August by $82,378, substantially less than is customary entering the parking with $1,674. The Yacht Club missed its budget cooler months when the amenity traditarget by $52,958, and golf operations tionally loses money. A year ago the surplus through Aumissed by $10,267. For the first four months of the fis- gust was $209,004. That’s a $126,626 cal year, Aquatics is by far and away negative year over year swing. Golf operations recorded a $37,433 the best performer compared to budget while the Yacht Club is the worst. surplus through August, compared to Aquatics’ positive variance was $58,812, $94,466 last year for the same period. Platform tennis had a $5,499 for the compared to the Yacht Club’s $169,335 first four months of the fiscal year, a negative variance. Marinas ($34,750), Beach Club slight decline from last year’s $6,4045. Pickleball’s four-month surplus was parking ($13,598) and the Beach Club ($10,878) were all ahead of budget for $3,390, off from last year’s $6,513. That number could improve over the cooler the year through August. In addition to the Yacht Club, be- months, as two new pickleball courts are hind budget through August were golf being repurposed from tennis courts at operations (-$36,621), tennis (-$5,095), the Manklin Meadows recreational complatform tennis (-$2,151) and pickleball plex. (-$2,531). Reserve Summary – The OPA All amenities were in the black for through Aug. 31 had $8.095 million in the first four months of the fiscal year, reserves. The balance was comprised of Expires 11/06/16 Expires 11/06/16 $5.7 million in the Major Maintenance which is not unusual. The top three amenities relative to and Replacement reserve, $1.8 million in actual net performance were Beach bulkheads and waterways, and $549,667 Club parking, marina operations and in roads.

COVER STORY From Page 1 upgrades, once the immediate needs are addressed, Hill said. While Hill made it clear he doesn’t favor a tear-down-and-replace alternative, the Becker-Morgan report is flexible on that point. Hill appears to be basing his opinion on the fact that the engineers continue to say that the building is structurally sound, even if the roof and all the systems are not. Scott Nissley, regional manager for Landscapes Unlimited, the Ocean Pines golf course management company, offered his view that the Country Club doesn’t need to be as big as it is to serve the Ocean Pines golf community, both member and non-member. What he didn’t mention, however, is that the second floor of the building is used for nongolf functions and could be used much more extensively if it had a heating and cooling system that actually works. “You wouldn’t design it new (like it’s laid out now),” he said, suggesting that a new building should be designed around a new golf business plan that his company is in the process of developing. Director Dave Stevens said the LU’s executive’s suggestion for a smaller building was similar to that of the Ten Year Task Force that was active prior to the construction of a new Yacht Club. “The task force recommended the same footprint but a smaller, less expensive (to operate) golf-related facility,” Stevens said, without endorsing that approach. Ocean Pines Facilities Manager Jerry Aveta said the Becker Morgan reports suggests two options, an 8,000 and 12,000 square replacement building, which he told the Progress following the building probably could be built for roughly the same amount of money as a major renovation. Director Cheryl Jacobs, who has been more in the Thompson-replacement-building cam, but still open to a renovation, said a smaller new building could be built on the Lighthouse Sound model, referring to the golf clubhouse at a nearby community built many years after the Ocean Pines Country Club. That facility has a cart barn under the clubhouse. Stevens pushed back against the idea that the Ocean Pines cart barn needs to be moved from its present location, contending that no traffic plan for the area around the clubhouse had ever been proposed to show that a ground-level cart barn under a new golf clubhouse was practical. Hill then brought the discussion back to a discussion of major repairs. “We’re going to have to put in (high) six figures in (to fix and replace everything identified in the Becker Morgan report,” he said. “We can’t function where we are today.” Gene Ringsdorf, an Ocean Pines property owners recently appointed as an assistant OPA treasurer, said the OPA must immediately deal with the mold issue. But then he provocatively said that

Updated report details defects at Country Club, cart barn Study says building is structurally sound, but all mechanical systems in the aging amenity need to be replaced By TOM STAUSS Publisher he executive summary of a just released engineering report on the status of the aging Ocean Pines Country Club and cart barn detail a laundry list of repairs and improvements that the Ocean Pines Association will need to make if the Board of Directors hopes to restore the building’s original functionality. It’s either that or replace it with a new building. Early indications suggest that a board majority is not inclined to go the route of a new building, in part because some directors, including Brett Hill, the acting OPA general manager, don’t believe a new building has a prayer of surviving a referendum gauntlet. The Becker Morgan engineering firm of Salisbury in September forwarded a report, including the executive summary, to the OPA, on the condition of the building. It was an update on a similar report from 2011. Both the 2011 and 2016 report recommended that the OPA develop and assess two competing options – renovation or replacement – including cost estimates for each. Like the report from 2011, the newly updated version is agnostic on the issue of whether the building should be repaired and renovated or replaced with a new building. It offers suggestions on what needs to be done to the building, which is said to be structurally sound, if the board elects to restore it and make it functional again. According to the executive summary, the building has seen greatly declined usage of the commercial kitchen and the upper floor banquet space as those activities have shifted over to the larger and newer Yacht Club building. The upper floor has limited use by small groups for clubs activity. The second floor mezzanine offices are no longer in use except as office storage. The kitchen equipment in the second floor kitchen is largely obsolete and/or non-functional limiting larger event/banquet style activities. Capital investment in the building since 2011 includes replacement of an air conditioner at the Tern Grille, the addition of fire alarm panel and fire door at the 2nd floor, replacement of outside pump station equipment, replacement of some cooking equipment in the upstairs banquet kitchen and Tern Grille kitchen, repairs (floor drains, minor roof repairs, controller for heating system, second floor windows-flashing), and waterproofing, excavation and remediation to foundation drainage at the exterior wall of the golf pro office and bag drop area. The executive summary, citing a report by Hardy Environmental from this past January, says that mold spores and air quality continue to be a concern in several areas of the building. “This issue should be addressed as soon as possible as some of the issues noted in a prior report by Hardy Environmental (dated June 11) may still be contributing factors. Humidity in many of the spaces noted is also an ongoing concern,” the report says. Based on a visual inspection by Becker Morgan and feedback from the “Ocean Pines facilities department and the Golf and Country Club staff,” a number of issues related to the building envelope and roof systems were identified. The report says that: l The flat roof area is near the end of its life cycle. Areas between dissimilar materials are either improperly flashed or have seams that are failing. Mechanical units are on sleepers instead of mechanical roof curbs which over time may be contributing to water penetration. l Leaking is occurring at interior walls in several locations (south wall between upper and lower deck -2nd floor and between lounge alcove and Terns Grille sun porch at the lower level). Water intrusion has also occurred at the south wall between the women’s lounge and club storage area. Additional testing and some destructive demolition may be required to further analyze the extent of the damage. l Flashing above doors is deficient causing water intrusion during large rain events. Some windows may have similar problems. Additional testing and some destructive demolition may be required to further analyze.

Country Club

October 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

a referendum to build a new replacement clubhouse would be “a tough sell because of declining golf membership,” noting that 2002 was the last year that golf made money in Ocean Pines. Hill agreed. “In my opinion, we need to fix it,” he said, contending that a new building would be “hard to sell” in referendum. His demeanor and comments suggested that he would not be willing even to make the attempt. “I’m against tearing down and rebuilding,” he said, adding that the board instead should “go down the path of bringing it back” to functionality. He said that will be an expensive proposition, with more than $400,000 likely to be spent in the next quarter alone for needed repairs.

Jacobs took the opposite approach, arguing it was not responsible to spend hundreds of thousands on a building repairs on a building she called “a joke.” She contrasted the condition of the Country Club with that of the golf course, which she says in great shape “except for some rough tee boxes.” She said the OPA doesn’t have a good track record on major renovations. “I think it will cost millions to renovate properly,” she said. While it was not at clear she was suggesting that – and she no doubt would come down on the side of a new, smaller building as opposed to spending millions on a renovation – Stevens somewhat facetiously asked Jacobs whether she was “suggesting a phased renovation.” He seemed to like the idea, suggesting that

a phased plan “might take three years to complete” beginning with repairs that are “needed immediately.” While he didn’t say so, a phased renovation usually means it doesn’t have to go to referendum, because each component is approved separately each year by the board in the normal course of reviewing and adopted an annual capital budget. Newly appointed Director Doug Parks seemed to agree with a phased approach, saying that the board should identify what needs to be done immediately, starting with “the top three, and let’s go.” The top three appears to be mold removal, water mitigation (including roof repair), and HVAC replacement, followed by cart barn upgrade.

32 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

COVER STORY

October 2016

Executive summary From Page 31 l Glazing at windows is failing (thermal, condensation) especially at areas where original single pane glass is still in use. Many of the casement windows are inoperable due to broken hardware. l Caulking at all exterior penetrations and transition between materials is old and failing. l The new waterproofing membrane that was added to the west side of the building at the first floor (office/bag drop area) is not a long term solution to water infiltration in this area. Areas of concern include drainage of down spouts directly into gravel area, flashing issues in wall, and overall elevation of exterior pavement to interior finished floor elevation. The finished floor was observed to be about 3 inches below exterior grade. l Roof scuppers on the east elevation (adjacent to upper deck) do not have overflow vents and cannot keep up with capacity of water that needs to be discharged from the roof area above in larger storm events. Overflow vents should be provided. The executive summary indicates that most of the structure, as indicated in the 2011 report, was found to be in compliance with current building codes and “could be viable for use if a renovation was desired.” However, areas of wood floor trusses do not meet live load criteria and would need to be further evaluated if they are desired for use in a remodeled building, the summary adds. “Also, the columns are adequate to be used in an updated structure, but their tight spacing may limit the flexibility of how existing spaces could be repurposed on the upper floor to meet new and current program needs,” the summary says. The executive summary essentially says that all the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems are in need of replacement. “Due to the overall age, condition, low efficiency and serviceability of both the mechanical equipment and the related systems it is our recommendation that the mechanical systems be replaced in their entirety,” the summary says. “While there are isolated system components that could be maintained, the effort to document, protect and reuse the components would be higher than the cost to replace with new.” According to the summary, “complete replacement of the mechanical systems in the existing building will be more expensive then new systems in a new building. Failure to replace the systems in the very near future will result in escalating maintenance and energy costs and dropping performance and space conditions as the systems continue to degrade.” The summary says the high number of open electrical junction boxes and broken conduits needs to be addressed as these items have elevated shock risk and fire hazards. “Due to the overall age and condition of the electrical systems it is our recommendation that the electrical systems be

replaced in their entirety. This is often more cost effective than attempting to field locate and replace deficient systems,” the summary says, The report is somewhat more upbeat about the plumbing system, saying it “appears serviceable at the current time.” But the engineers recommend “significant replacement of piping systems (especially the original piping) if a major renovation is undertaken. Due to the high demo efforts and working around existing building elements, a significant renovation/ replacement of the plumbing systems will cost more than new installation on a new building,” the report says. Regarding the cart barn, the engineers say that because it is roughly the same age as the Country Club, its systems should be upgraded or replaced if the building remains in use. The report indicates that water intrusion and freeze thaw cycles over time have caused damage to several areas of the building (bowed walls, cracking, warping, etc.). The west wall of building is showing significant rotting and decay to sill of stud walls, sheathing and siding. Roof, gutters and downspouts are all in need of repair or replacement. Louvers on east side of building are in need of repair. The exterior of building is not properly painted/sealed, which will contribute to water infiltration issues if left unaddressed. The report says that the cart barn “is showing structural damage from deferred maintenance of the exterior finishes (as noted above). The repairs should be performed in order to maintain the structural integrity of the building.” The engineers are somewhat murky in their assessment of whether major systems would have to be brought up to code as part of a renovation. “Any expansion/renovation would

require all envelope and systems in the renovated area to be replaced and/or upgraded to meet all current applicable codes noted above. If renovation occurs within the current structure, and does not modify existing systems, it may not require modification per the review of the local code review official,” the report says. According to the engineers, the current building “does not maximize efficiency and use of the building and site.” The study says that a detailed understanding of current space and programing needs should be outlined and quantified based on current and future use of the facility. It says that a life cycle cost assessment should be completed to study new building vs. renovation options. The study suggests that golf operations and master planning of entire site should be considered in regards to future efficiencies that are possible if the golf storage and golf operation functions are combined in one building. The engineers say the site should be assessed “with special attention given to vistas and natural resources if a new building option is considered. Thought should be given to exterior program functions that would enhance golf operations and growth (tournaments, wedding’s and rentable events etc.) Marketing studies and comprehensive plan goals for the community at whole should be included to enhance unique qualities of the golf and country club site and avoid overlap with other community buildings and resources.” The engineers say that current space in cart barn is not sufficient for existing number of cars and/or future growth. “If future transition to gas operated carts instead of electric carts is considered existing infrastructure of cart barn should be analyzed based on this change,” the study says. “The Cart Barn’s appearance needs to be updated/

improved (rotting wood & water infiltration, paint, failing or missing gutters, roof repairs, wall repairs) as the building is adjacent to the first tee box. The 2016 study echoes the 2011 version regarding next steps regarding the Country Club. The initial step is to “develop a detailed spatial program that accurately outlines the current and future intended use that the golf clubhouse and the golf cart storage building need to accomplish. “This should include spaces required, square foot estimates, as well as critical adjacencies of spaces based on use, site, view, and overall function as related to the operation of the entire golf course campus,” the report says. The engineers then suggest that the OPA develop in tandem two conceptual design options, a renovation solution and new construction, with projected costs for each option. For the new construction option, the study says it “should include consideration of a smaller and more efficient building in floor plan and building systems as well as the possibility of combining all uses in one building if advantageous to golf operations. Special attention should be given to enhancement to the overall campus and adjacent functions (driving range, parking, putting green, outdoor gathering space, etc.” Perhaps tilting in favor of a new building, the study says the OPA should “analyze the merits of each option, and then decide the optimal course of action based on which option provides the best investment for the Community over a minimum 40-50 year period.” The study concludes that the current building has been in use for a similar time period. What the study didn’t say that during much of that time, the OPA made only modest repairs, falling well short of what was needed to keep it functioning and usable by the community.

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With a 2000-vote threshold needed for passage, any alterations would not be easily achievable By TOM STAUSS Publisher The board of the Captain’s Cove property owners association has begun a discussion that could bring about some meaningful change to the articles of incorporation, restrictive covenants, bylaws and possibly other rules and regulations that govern the community. The discussion began as an agenda item at the Cove Board of Director’s Sept. 22 meeting and will continue in future meetings, Cove President Tim Hearn told the Progress in a recent telephone interview. He said he hopes a consensus can emerge on what changes could be brought to property owners in a referendum, for which 2,000 affirmative votes would be needed to carry. Hearn noted that the developer/ declarant controls about 1300 votes, and the three-for-one vote rule in effect for certain issues would not be in effect for a referendum on covenant changes.

That means significant support in the community along with declarant votes would be necessary to reach the 2,000 affirmative votes, he said. In effect, he said the declarant/developer in Captain’s Cove, Captain’s Cove Group Note, will not be able to force changes in the restrictions and other documents over the objections of resident property owners. “It really does mean that the entire community is going to get on board with any changes that are proposed,” he said. A related issue, not yet resolved, is whether the proposed changes will be presented to the community in a referendum that gives property owners an opportunity to make judgment on each proposed change individually. The alternative is to give voters a yes or no vote on all the proposed changes in a package, Hearn said. One possible change would probably divide the Cove into warring camps.

It would allow the board to eliminate the requirement for uniform assessments in the Cove. Currently, non-resident owners of unimproved property pay the same annual assessment as resident homeowners, which some non-residents regard as unfair, since they contend they do not receive the same benefit from their assessments as resident homeowners. By eliminating the requirement of uniformity, the board in theory could adopt a tiered assessment structure, giving a break to those owners who rarely visit the Cove to use community amenities. Resident homeowners would likely ferociously oppose such a change, as it would most likely result in an increase in their lot assessments while owners of unimproved property could see a decline in theirs. But such a change could also improve the assessment collection rate among non-resident lot owners, who tend to be

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in the ranks of assessment delinquency much more than homeowners. Another potential change could benefit homeowners who own adjacent lots, creating what Hearn described as a homestead lot. A property owner would pay a full assessment on one lot, while there would be a smaller assessment on an adjacent lot or lots. Hearn said another idea that could be included as a proposed amendment to the covenants is the “inability” to ever levy a modest fee for pool or golf course on Cove property owners. The Cove was set up, in contrast to the structure in place in Ocean Pines, to include no-fee, unlimited pool use and golf course play as part of the annual assessment. Golf carts carry an additional fee. Cove residents who don’t use certain Cove amenities have on occasion advanced the proposition that those who use the amenities should pay more than those who don’t. Hearn said usage fees could be relatively modest, not necessarily following the Ocean Pines model, in which annual memberships in both aquatics and golf are available. Ocean Pines also generates revenue from daily user fees or greens fees, which is probably more what Hearn has in mind. “The Cove wouldn’t want to go the complete Ocean Pines direction,” he q

Cove board begin discussions of possible changes to articles of incorporation, covenants, bylaws that govern association

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CAPTAIN’S COVE

October 2016

Covenant changes From Page 33 said, “more like $1 to enter the pool area. It would be a way to reduce lot owner assessments. Another possible change would be to increase the amount of fines that the Cove association can impose on property owners who are “seriously deficient” in following Cove rules, Hearn said. The current limit is $10 a day for up to 90 days of deficiency, which Hearn said may not be enough to deter or cure violations. “We could see what other communities our size are doing, and

possibly increase both the daily fees and the time period in which they are imposed,” Hearn said. The Cove president said another issue that could be addressed is the current three-for-one-lot voting privilege enjoyed by the declarant/ developer when the Cove association is operating in the red, a provision of the 2012 settlement agreement in which Hearn and his business allies gained effective control of the Cove association. Hearn said that the wording in certain Cove governing documents don’t incorporate the language contained in the 2012 settlement and need to be updated to eliminate conflicts. Current

language does not include the exception for times, such as now, when the Cove association is in the black. “The 2012 agreement says the declarant can vote 3 to 1 only when we’re operating in the red, such as the years when the board was blowing through the reserves to balance the budget,” Hearn said. “The covenants and bylaws and whatever else should be rewritten to reflect the language in the 2012 agreement.” Hearn said he was certain that the declarant would be totally uninterested in eliminating the 3 to 1 privilege completely, and also would be unwilling to give up its ability to effectively

control the outcome of annual board elections by casting its 1300 or so votes for candidates of its choice. Other possible changes include allowing property owners in Sections 14 to 18 “to opt out” of the restrictive covenants, while another would remove the Captain’s Cove Utility Company from all documents “because the utility company has been a part of the association for 15 years, certainly not now,” Hearn said. Digital monument – The Sept. 22 board was punctuated by a fair amount of acrimony over a proposed “digital monument” with scrolling promotionq

34 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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WORCESTER COUNTY

October 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Commissioners balk at pricey proposal for new Showell school

aced with a $45.96 million price tag for the construction of a new 94,866-square-foot Showell Elementary School, the Worcester County Commissioners in September held off on taking action on plans presented by the Board of Education. School system officials presented replacement school conceptual plans and cost estimates for the project to the commissioners on Sept. 20. Jerry Wilson, outgoing superintendent of schools, and Jonathon Cook, board president, met with the county officials seeking approval to move forward with schematic designs. The commissioned were concerned about the estimated cost of the proposed new school, of which the county would have to fund $38.42 million. In 2015, the commissioners reviewed and approved the pro forma cost estimate for the Showell Elementary School replacement project with total approved funding from the State and County not to exceed $37.18 million. The school board is seeking funding to proceed with the full design of the Showell replacement school in order to complete design and proceed to project bidding on schedule in the summer of 2018. The $ 1.6 million request for funding from the county will allow the board to complete the schematic design, design development and construction

documents required by the state Public School Construction Program. Upon completion of the construction documents and approval by the state, tentatively scheduled for April 2018, the school system will need the county’s OK to proceed with the bidding phase of the project. Two committees comprised of commissioners, Board of Education members, Showell school staff, parents and community members collaborated with the project architect to develop conceptual floor and site plans for the new school. On Aug. 16 the Board of Education reviewed and approved the project conceptual plans and cost estimate. The commissioners say they remain committed to constructing an affordable new SES that is attractive, safe, and affords a climate that is conducive to learning and plan to meet with school system official again to discuss the project. “A great deal of information was presented, and postponing discussions for two weeks gives the Commissioners the time needed to properly digest that information,” Commissioner President Jim Bunting said. “We are proud of the Worcester County education system and remain committed to building a SES that builds on the unparalleled educational opportunities we offer our youth.” It remains to be seen whether the

commissioners will move back to an alternative approach not currently on the table – keeping and renovating the existing building, which is less than 40 years old, and adding on to it to create additional classrooms to replace the portable units currently in use.

Taylor takes over as superintendent

Long-time Worcester County educator Lou Taylor has been named the new superintendent of Worcester County Public Schools. Taylor, currently assistant superintendent, will take the reins effective “We have the most dynamic employees and outstanding students and this is the opportunity of a lifetime… I am honored to serve as the Superintendent of Schools for Worcester County, where people make the difference. I am humbled by this opportunity and I look forward with great anticipation towards the work that we will accomplish together,” Taylor said. Taylor, a lifelong resident of Worcester County and a Worcester County Public Schools employee for over 30 years, currently holds the position of chief operating officer and assistant superintendent. In this role, he has implemented system-wide change by improving efficiency and productivity for the departments

he oversees. In addition, Taylor also spearheaded the establishment of the Worcester County Education Foundation, which has garnered pledged donations of over $500,000 from local partners which will support school system initiatives to generate further student success. Taylor will take the helm of the school system as interim superintendent on November 1, following a month-long transition with sitting Superintendent Jerry Wilson. Wilson announced in February he would not seek another four-year contract “I want to express my appreciation to the Board and the Worcester County community for the opportunity to serve as superintendent of schools,” Wilson said. “I believe our educators have made great strides toward becoming a world class school system as evident by our students’ outstanding achievement in the recently released PARCC scores.” After sharing Wilson’s statement, Cook praised the outgoing superintendent for his strong leadership during a period of extensive and tumultuous changes in education.

County to post meeting videos

Worcester County residents will soon be able to watch from the comfort of their homes as their governing body conducts official county business. During an Aug. 16 meeting the Worcester County Commissioners voted unanimously to move forward with installation of an audio visual system in their meeting room at the Government Center in Snow Hill to provide video q

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From Page 34 al messages that could be located and operated by the Cove association, and possibly developer or other business interests, at the intersection of State Line and Fleming Roads. The messages would be programmed to change roughly 20 times an hour. Hearn, who offered a motion to proceed with purchasing the the digital message board but then withdrew it, said he was surprised by the degree of intensity that the idea generated among some Cove residents. He said the cost, about $20,000, would have been shared by the declarant/developer, and it’s possible that the developer/declarant will proceed to buy it separately if the Cove association bows out. Hearn said that some Cove residents believe the digital monument would be a complete waste of money and unattractive while others were more supportive. He said he would bring the proposal back for additional discussion at a future meeting, in the hopes that emotions would be less fiery at that time.

36 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

October 2016

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LIFESTYLES Monday, Oct. 17 Board of Directors, Ocean Pines Association, work session, 9 a.m., board room, OPA administration building, discussion of agenda items in preparation for regular monthly meeting on Saturday, Sept. 24. Tuesday, Oct. 18 Family fun night, pumpkin painting, 6-8 p.m., Ocean Pines Community Center. Attendees may bring their own pumpkins or purchase one at the event for $6 (limited quantity available). All decorations and paint provided. $5 for Ocean Pines residents, $6 non-residents. Thursday, Oct. 20 Pine’eer Craft Club, monthly meeting, Ocean Pines Community Center, 9:45 a.m. refreshments, business 10 a.m., artist demonstration of wine glass painting and custom art with Claudia Ford Cianci of Art-C to follow. Information, Sharon Puser, 410-208-3032. Saturday, Oct. 22 Board of Directors, Ocean Pines Association, regular monthly meeting, 10 a.m., Ocean Pines Community

COUNTY BRIEFS From Page 35 access of their meetings on the county website at www.co.worcester.md.us. Commissioner Joe Mitrecic offered a motion, which was unanimously approved by the commissioners, to accept a proposal from ePlus to install a fully automated audio visual system at a total installed cost of $24,509 and an annual maintenance cost of approximately $4,000. Kelly Shannahan, assistant chief administrative officer, said ePlus has agreed to install the system for a 60-day trial period at no obligation. He concluded that this audio visual package is far less costly than recording options the commissioners had considered in the past, some of which were estimated to cost upwards of $200,000. Mitrecic thanked staff and noted that this is a small fee to pay to assure that county residents can keep current with county business at their convenience, rather than taking time off from their jobs to attend the meetings. Commissioner Ted Elder concurred and thanked his fellow commissioners for having declined an earlier option to install a more expensive system in favor of identifying a cost-effective means of providing constituents with access to their meetings. In response to a question by Commissioner Chip Bertino, Brian Jones, information technology manager, advised that IT staff will be able to track the number of times each video is viewed on the county website. County Attorney Maureen Howarth said that the contract with ePlus includes a retention plan of 90 days, but that plan can be altered, and the commissioners should develop a policy that identifies the length of time the videos will be retained.

October 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

HAPPENINGS Center, Assateague Room. Sunday, Oct. 23 Ocean Pines Golf Club’s Residents’ Day, discounted golf and food; all rounds $25, including cart. Tee times available immediately. $1 million shootout on one of the course’s par-3 holes, with player closest to the pin winning a shot at $1 million at a future date. $1 discount on all buckets of range balls, and hot dogs, draft beer and fountain drinks $1 apiece all day long. 20-foot inflatable Golfzilla at the driving range for young golfers, free golf cart rides for kids. 410-641-6057. Sunday, Oct. 23 Worcester County Historical Society, annual fall dinner, 1 p.m., Dunes Manor Hotel, 28th Street, Ocean City. Guest speaker: Hunter “Bunk” Mann, a native of the lower Eastern Shore and author of the book, Vanishing Ocean City, published in 2014. Mann’s talk will focus on the history of Ocean City from the 1940’s to the late 1950’s. Menu: chicken picatta, garden salad, Mediterranean vegetable blend, garlic-roasted red skin potatoes, rolls and butter, German chocolate cake, coffee, tea, and iced tea. Tickets $25, checks to Robert Fisher, WCHS Treasurer, 230 South Washington St., Snow Hill, MD 21863. Reservations requested by Oct. 12. Saturday, Oct. 29 Halloween Fall Festival, White Horse Park, 1-4 p.m. Costume contests, carnival games, face painting, pony rides, candy, a haunted hay ride, crafts, refreshments for sale. Fee for some attractions. Volunteers and candy donations needed, 410-641-7052.

The Parke Garage Sale, 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in the driveways of its residents, off Ocean Parkway near Ocean Pines South Gate. C lothes, lamps, artwork, household items, electronics, furniture and more. Maps of will be available at the main entrance of the Parke, at Central Parke West. 410-208-4994. Bull and Oyster Roast, hosted by the Ocean City Ravens Roost #44, 2-6 p.m., American Legion, 23rd street in Ocean City. $40. Pit beef, raw and fried oysters, sausage with peppers and onions, salads, beer and soda. Music by The Stims, plant and money wheels, 50/50 and door prizes. Tickets, Eric Waterman, 410-598-4597 or eric_waterman@comcast.net . Friday, Nov. 4 Dazzle Gift Shop’s two-year anniversary, book signing, Hunter Bunk

Mann, author of “Vanishing Ocean City”. Refreshments, customer appreciation sale, anniversary continues Nov. 5 and 6. 11312 Manklin Creek Road, Manklin Station Shopping Center, South Ocean Pines. Monday, Dec. 5 Board of Directors, Ocean Pines Association, work session, 9 a.m., board room, OPA administration building, discussion of agenda items in preparation for regular monthly meeting on Saturday, Sept. 24. Agenda posted on OPA Web site, oceanpines.org, several days prior to meeting. Friday, Dec. 9 Board of Directors, Ocean Pines Association, regular monthly meeting, 10 a.m., Ocean Pines Community Center. Agenda posted on OPA Web site, oceanpines.org, several days prior to meeting.

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38 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPINION

October 2016

COMMENTARY

What a difference an election makes At the Beach Club, rather than authorize a costly and problematic renovation of the lower level bathrooms, the board is moving ahead with timely and needed repairs, from outside stairwells to new flooring in the lower levels, new showers, and some other cosmetic improvements that preliminary estimates indicate will cost $200,000 or less. Contrast that with a full-bore renovation, or a completely new building elsewhere on the Beach Club property, that received bids in the seven figures, with a lot of unknown costs that could have emerged from change orders. By taking this modest approach, the OPA averts the change order trap and avoids the treacherous path of having to bring the entire building up to the latest building codes. No doubt at some time in the future the building will become functionally obsolete or unsound, in which case a permanent solution will have to be found. Perhaps some future board will think creatively and enter into a partnership with some private entity to build a new Beach Club – perhaps with a condominium on the upper floors that can produce new members for the OPA – and which avoids any hard dollar investments by property owners in a new beachfront amenity. The same emphasis on correcting deferred maintenance is also occurring at the Country Club, where Hill and the board are moving to repair the most egregiously neglected systems and structures, beginning with a leaky roof and defectively installed siding that produced rsistent flooding in the offices of Director of Golf John Malinowski and an odor of mildew and

mold throughout. The neglected HVAC system is also going to be replaced in the near term. A few cosmetic improvements have already been made. The most notable is the opening up of the closed off meeting room adjacent to the Tern Grille; all it took was removing dark window coverings that left the room in a condition of perpetual dreariness. New tables and chairs have finally been added to the patio area outside the pro shop; that’s a long overdue enhancement that improves the overall ambiance. Still less than it should be, but a step in the right direction. Dealing with the most acute conditions at the Country Club won’t cure all the ills there. The board still will have to make a decision between building a new, smaller golf pro shop or renovating the existing building, but odds are this new board will opt for renovation over a new building. Hill was quite unambiguous in his recent statement that property owners would not favorably endorse a new Country Club in referendum over renovation. Given the declining state of golf membership in Ocean Pines at present, and the reality that Ocean Pines property owners have invested substantially in the golf course in recent years, Hill is probably correct in his assessment. At the same time, the board will need to carefully consider a recently updated engineering assessment of the Country Club and weigh two options outlined in the report – building a new, smaller pro shop/snack

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OPINION

October 2016 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Outsourcing a Yacht Club management option

hile the new OPA board is taking a reasonable, measured approach to dealing with a lot of deferred maintenance throughout Ocean Pines, the status of the elephant in the room, the under-performing Ocean Pines Yacht, so far has not gotten a lot of attention. Of course, as a relatively new building, the Yacht Club has been around long enough not to suffer from decades of accumulated deferred maintenance. Its basic problem is operating malaise, augmented by a poor design. The tiny downstairs bar area contrasts with mausoleum-like spaces before a patron can find the actual watering hole. The best views are from the upper level banquet space, which doesn’t do the downstairs diner or recreational drinker any favors. The picturesque outside decking area, the section not under cover, isn’t much good as a driver of business because seating isn’t allowed, the direct result of too little available parking. The parking issue itself is the result of poor basic planning; the building was overdesigned and much too large for the

COMMENTARY From Page 38 bar building or a major renovation. Now there is a third option, which is already underway. That’s the systematic, gradual replacement of all the major systems at the Country Club and a more modest renovation that works within the existing footprint and layout. This could also include the removal of all the antiquated and dysfunctional kitchen equipment on the upper level and the conversion of that area to more meeting space. Indeed, one compelling reason NOT to replace the existing building with a new, smaller facility is that the Community Center isn’t able to accommodate all the demands for space in Ocean Pines. Current OPA policy, obstructed by the building’s poor condition, is to use the Country Club upper level for additional meeting space. That’s only possible if the OPA spends what’s needed to make the building functional again. Hill as acting general manager has also moved to add shrubs to better hide the cart barn from golfers on the first tee. That’s a signal that he probably won’t be among those who favor a new Country Club with cart storage on the lower level. The cart barn, too, is in need of attention, but it doesn’t need to be relocated. None of this would have happened had property owners not voted the way they did this summer. Don’t think elections matter? The new approach to Ocean Pines governance proves conclusively that they do. – Tom Stauss

consider in coming weeks. Trendic has made no secret of his desire to outsource management of the An excursion through the curious cul-de-sacs An excursion through theby-ways curious and by-ways and cul-de-sacs Yacht Club, with leasing as the preof Worcester County’s County’s most densely community. of Worcester mostpopulated densely populated community. ferred m.o. “I haven’t changed my mind on outsourcing,” Trendic told the ProgBy TOM STAUSS/ By TOM Publisher STAUSS/Publisher ress recently. That’s good news. The Yacht Club is one of the board’s parking spaces available under county eral manager Brett Hill has given Yacht key management challenges. There’s regulations and the real limitations of Club manager Jerry Lewis and his staff reason for cautious optimism that Hill the Yacht Club campus. some running room to make improve- and the directors are up to the task. A real screw-up on that one. ments, to see if they can make a differWhatever potential exists for the ence with freedom to turn things around. building – even under new management If not, Hill has already shown he can with skin in the game – will be difficult be a decisive manager, and odds are here, to exploit. too, he will do what it takes to staunch Then, too, there is the decades-old the bleeding. If that means shutting the reputation of the old Yacht Club – it’s place down after current fall bookings The Ocean Pines Progress, a journal of news and commentary, is published not much different for the new one – as run their course, so be it. monthly throughout the year. It is circulatsomething other than a first (or even Indeed, there is no particular reaed in Ocean Pines, Berlin, Ocean City, and Plan B) destination of choice for dis- son a skeleton staff with others on call Captain’s Cove, Va. cretionary diners in Ocean Pines’ year- couldn’t manage special events while Letters and other editorial submissions: round population. unprofitable ala carte dining is put on Please submit via email only. Letters There is simply too much really good hold pending a change in the manageshould be original and exclusive to the competition in the greater Ocean Pines- ment structure. Progress. Include phone number for verBerlin-West Ocean City-Ocean City Hill quite appropriately consulted ification. universe for the Yacht Club to thrive with some local restaurateurs for advice in the cooler months, absent some on operational issues going into the fall 127 Nottingham Lane game-changing creative thinking that season. Those consultations apparently Ocean Pines, MD 21811 isn’t as easy as it sounds. were helpful as Lewis and Hill worked Numbers don’t lie. Through August, out menu, pricing and scheduling for the the Yacht Club managed an $82,378 fall season, which have been implementPUBLISHER/EDITOR surplus for the year, a tribute to the ed. Tom Stauss second home vacationers and a loyal (if Structural, strategic questions retstauss1@mchsi.com relatively tiny) cadre of year-rounders. main for this critically important Ocean 443-359-7527 A year ago, the surplus was $209,004, Pines amenity. which represents an alarming $126,626 Leading the charge for change is newAdvertising Sales negative swing after just four months of ly elected OPA Director Slobodan TrenFrank Bottone the year. Not good at all. dic, who believes that outsourcing Yacht 410-430-3660 Revenues are roughly $160,000 lower Club management should be considered this year than it was last year through as part of a wholesale evaluation of the the first four months of the fiscal year. If OPA’s management structure. CONTRIBUTING WRITER this trend continues, this could be one of He’s pushing for the appointment of Rota Knott the worst years on record for the Yacht a task force or ad hoc committee to conInkwellMedia@comcast.net Club. duct this evaluation. Hill is expected to 443-880-1348 New board member and acting gen- have a relevant proposal for the board to

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