October 2020 Ocean Pines Progress

October 2020

www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress

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Ocean Pines Association Director Steve Tuttle has resigned from the Board of Directors, effective with the Oct. 17 monthly board meeting.

Tuttle put his house on the market in early October and it very quickly resulted in a contract.

Former OPA director Tom Piatti and 2020 board candidate Stuart Lakernick are possible replacements. ~ Page 3

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OPA board endorses casino overlay zone Ocean Downs offers to conduct traffic study for entirety of Route 589

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association’s Board of Directors informally endorsed the proposed casino overlay zone at the Ocean Downs casino and racetrack property after a 45-minute presentation on the proposal at the board’s Oct. 17 monthly meeting.

The endorsement occurred in a showing of hands called by OPA President Larry Perrone at the conclusion of the presentation by Ocean Downs General Manager Bobbi Sample.

The OPA endorsement in part seems to have been positively influenced by Sample’s offer on behalf of Ocean Downs to conduct a traffic study on the entirety of Route 589, not just in the area of the racetrack and casino, which is located roughly two miles south of Ocean Pines.

Sample said that Ocean Downs would allow the county to approve the traffic engineer/consultant chosen to conduct the study, an offer that may have been a response to recent comments by one of Ocean Pines representatives on the Board of County Commissioners, Chip Bertino, who suggested that traffic study results tend to be skewed to favor the conclusions sought by the entity paying for the studies.

Bertino, who attended the Oct. 17 OPA board meeting, in previous public meetings on the proposed overlay zoning appeared to be leaning against it, citing concerns

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about traffic.

Sample used her presentation to counter those concerns, telling the board that it was in the casino’s best interests to minimize traffic congestion. She recently told the Progress that people tied up in traffic trying to get to the casino might forgo the visit if it’s too difficult getting there.

Concerning recent comments by County Commissioner Joe Metrecic of Ocean City about large gatherings exiting Ocean Downs after special events, Sample said they’re already allowed and are effectively controlled with the the help of the state police and Worcester County sheriff. She said that a lot of people attending large events at the venue stay to patronize the casino, spreading out traffic leaving the property.

She described the overlay zone as “largely a cleanup bill,” designed to bring the mix of commercial and agricultural zoning, and two special exceptions in 1997 and 2010, into a more controllable regulatory framework.

She also said all future projects at the venue would need approval by the Worcester County Planning and Zoning Commission, which endorsed the overlay zoning at the urging of the county’s Development Review and Permitting Department.

Acknowledging that Ocean Downs could have applied for a conventional commercial rezoning of the To Page 31

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Tuttle sells home, resigns from OPA board

GM position attracts first OPA applicant, Colby Phillips What Ocean Pines Assocdiation Director Frank Daly called a poorly kept “state secret” has now been confirmed: Colby Phillips, the OPA’s director of amenities and logistical operations, is the first OPA department head to formally let it be known she would like to replace John Viola as OPA general manager when he decides to retire. ~ Page 6

Andre Jordan says he was ‘fired’ from golf course Andre Jordan, a 35-year employee whose most recent role was golf course superintendent, says he was fired by the Ocean Pines Association because of a serious if not terminal rare disease and has been denied a severance package that he should have earned as a department head.

“I did not resign,” an emotional Jordan told the Progress in an exclusive interview. He said he was diagnosed with an extremely rare condition that attacks muscles, making it impossible for him to work.~ Page 10

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Tuttle sells Ocean Pines home, resigns from board of directors

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Tom Piatti, Stuart Lakernick,

By TOM STAUSS Publisher cean Pines Association Director Steve Tuttle has resigned from the Board of Directors, effective with the Oct. 17 monthly board meeting.

Tuttle put his house on the market in early October and it very quickly resulted in a contract.

“It happened quickly in this market,” Tuttle told the Progress.

Four individuals have emerged as possible replacements for Tuttle, including two former candidates for the board, Stuart Lakernick and Paula Gray.

Lakernick ran this past summer, coming up short by roughly 350 votes to second place finisher Collette Horn. Gray ran twice unsuccessfully, in 2018 and 2019.

Others who have indicated

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October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 3 But he also told a friend that he was discouraged by politics on the board. He had been looking forward to serving as board president this year but in a contentious process and vote, he lost the presidency to Larry Perrone during the board Paula Gray, Frank Brown express interest in filling vacancy organizational meeting after the annual election concluded in August.

There had been some internal discussion on the board that perhaps Tuttle could remain as a director even after selling his house. Language in the OPA bylaws say explicitly that a candidate for the board has to be an Ocean Pines property owner, but there is no explicit language that says a director already serving must be.

Tuttle said he thought that OPA Stuart Lakernick Paula Gray Steve Tuttle Tom Piatti attorney Jeremy Tucker was going willingness to serve include a former ing, Tuttle endorsed either Laker- to be asked to render an opinion on director, Tom Piatti, who served as nick or Gray because they both had that question. a replacement after the resignation previously run for the board and After not hearing anything on of Slobodan Trendic, and Frank had demonstrated support among that issue for about a week, which Brown, a retired contractor who property owners.

Tuttle said should have been sufHe initially declined to say why ficient time for Tucker to offer his served on a working group that advised General Manager John he decided to sell his home and opinion, the director said he decided Viola on the construction of the new move out of Ocean Pines, other than to send in his resignation letter. to say he and his wife wanted to be golf clubhouse.

Viola told the Progress that the In a statement he read into the re- closer to family in Southern Mary- OPA attorney indeed was asked cord during the Oct. 17 board meet- land.

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Colby Phillips first to indicate interest in GM position

By TOM STAUSS Publisher hat Ocean Pines Assocdiation Director Frank Daly called a poorly kept “state secret” has now been confirmed: Colby Phillips, the OPA’s director of amenities and logistical operations, is the first OPA department head to formally let it be known she would like to replace John Viola as OPA general manager when he decides to retire.

Daly confirmed the emergence of Phillips as the first out of the box, meeting the initial deadline of Colby Phillips Sept. 18, adding that two other OPA employees have indicated possible interest. He declined to name them until such time as they decide to step up for real as candidates.

Under a succession plan document approved by the Board of Directors last month, anyone interested in the position has until Sept.

18 of next year to so indicate in writing.

The planning document establishes a process in which other OPA department heads could apply for the job.

Two recent language additions to the planning document seem to favor Phillips. One emphasizes working relations with county government and the other says relevant job experience in Ocean Pines can substitute for a college degree.

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Board vacancy From Page 3

render an opinion on the matter, costing the OPA $1,000 in legal fees in the process.

Tucker determined that OPA bylaws properly interpreted and applied do make it clear that a director needs to be an Ocean Pines property owner to serve on the board, Viola said.

Tuttle said he enjoyed a lot of his time on the board, especially working on a task force that delivered completed construction projects on time and under budget for the OPA. After spending as much time as he did on the golf clubhouse project, for instance, it might seem that leaving Ocean Pines means he won’t get to enjoy a venue that he helped deliver to Ocean Pines.

“Well, I don’t play golf so that’s OK,” he said. “I was just glad I had an opportunity to serve the community.”

He said he was pleased that the board seemed to work effectively together for the first two years he served on the board. His term was set to expire in August of next year.

He had already told associates and friends that he probably would not be running for reelection.

Viola said he expected the board to fill the vacancy soon after the Oct. 17 board meeting.

One candidate for the board this past summer, Lakernick, sent a letter to the board in early October indicating interest in filling the position. Lakernick placed third behind Doug Parks and Colette Horn but still captured 1,149 votes, about 350 less than Horn.

Viola also said that Piatti, a member of the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee, also has said he would be willing to serve if asked.

Piatti served as a replacement director between May and August of last year following the resignation of former Director Slobodan Trendic.

Piatti did not choose to run for the board in the 2019 board election, and didn’t run this year either.

“There may be a couple of others willing to serve if appointed,” Viola said. Sources say they are Paula Gray and Frank Brown.

If it comes down to a contest between Lakernick and Piatti, two directors, Frank Daly and Camile Rogers, might turn out to be the deciding votes.

“I could go either way (if it’s a choice between Lakernick and

Piatti), but I’m not where the others are on this,” Daly said. “The benefit of a short term fill-in is they will probably (or should be) without an agenda or balanced in their approach.”

Daly said that by reelecting Parks and Horn this past summer, the community was voting for continuity.

“That is not to say that that I believe that Stuart would not do a good job or [would] disrupt the continuity,” Daly said, adding “I’m not sure how my colleagues see it.”

He went on to say that for him the criteria for selection are answers to two questions. One question is what the replacement director knows about are his or her “thoughts and abilities to support our current iniatives.”

The second question is what new initiatives would the replacement director “like the board to undertake.”

Answers to those questions will help Daly make up his mind, he said.

During the Public Comments segment of the Oct. 17 meeting, Tuttle offered additional comments on why he decided to leave Ocean Pines and on his two-year tenure on the board.

“For the past two years and prior on the Election Committee it has been an honor to serve the community of Ocean Pines. The Board for the last two years under the leadership of Doug Parks has accomplished a lot.

“From completion of projects, the new craft building, club house, cart barn and police expansion and upgrade of the admin building to the implementation of the NorthStar program.

“Your Board recruited the current General Manager who has skillfully guided the association for over a year now “The board has exhibited considerable unity but not uniformity which has resulted in decisions in the best interest of the community of OP. “As a Board liaison on many of the recent building projects and as Vice President for two years, I have had the priviledge of getting to know and work with many staff who serve OP with dedication, expertise and a sincere concern for the good of the community.

“In particular, Colby Phillips, Eddie Wells, Nobie Violante, Michelle Bennett, Steve Phillips, The Malinowski’s, Ruth Ann Myers, Debbie Donohue, Josh Davis and many others. OP is blessed to have a stellar To Page 8

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OCEAN PINES

October 2020

Board vacancy From Page 6 team that diligently serve this community every day.

“In recent months I have had an opportunity to work with Worcester County staff regarding issues related to short term rentals in Ocean Pines. Commissioners Bertino and Bunting have been great partners in working on drainage as well as working toward a satisfactory resolution on short term rentals.

“To the community my plea is that you engage in service to this community. Serve on advisory committees.

Seek to understand, and question decisions of your board. It is easy to sit on the edges and complain but far more is accomplished when the community engages.

“There is a lot of resident expertise in this community and there is ample opportunity to bring your gifts and talents to the community for the good of all.

“To my Board colleagues I urge you to strive for the unity that we knew under the leadership of Doug.

Take every opportunity to get to know, listen to and support the staff of OP. As a Board it is very important not to engage in operations but it is equally important that the staff know they are supported by the board. To observe and suggest utilization of the expertise the staff bring to the Association. In completing an evaluation of the GM it is critical that as a Director you hear from the

GM’s direct reports.

“Finally, I decided in the summer that I would not seek a second term on the board. Up until September, while my wife and I had decided that we would move closer to our children and grandchildren, we expected that we would not move till the summer of 2021. One of the ways I have approached life, in my career path, church involvement and community is to serve in places and ways that are life giving, that bring me joy and satisfaction. In September I lost the sense of joy and life-giving aspect of serving on the board. There were some things said and done that were troubling to me.

“As a result, we adjusted our plans, placed our house on the market and in 4 days it was under contract. We will be relocating to the western shore, St. Mary’s County at the end of November. We are now in the throes of packing and purging.

“The Board now has the task of selecting a person to fill out the balance of the term I was elected to.

Two people who have run for the Board, Stuart Lakernick and Paula Gray, have expressed interest in serving for the balance of my term.

Both received considerable support from the community when they ran.

They certainly are worthy of your consideration as you deliberate next week regarding filling the vacancy on the Board.

“Thank you for the privilege of being a Director for the Ocean Pines Association.”

OPA to retain firm to help with vetting GM applications Daly says board in no hurry for Viola to retire as GM

By TOM STAUSS Publisher irector Frank Daly said in a recent interview that the Board of Directors is in no hurry for General Manager John Viola to retire but is proceeding as if he intends to at the conclusion of his management contract in June of 2022.

“We don’t know if he’s still planning to retire,” Daly said, adding that when the two-and-ahalf contract was executed this past winter, Viola was timing his retirement to coincide with his wife’s retirement.

“I don’t even know if John’s knows for sure (if the original timetable remains in place),” Daly said.

Under the assumption that it is, Daly has been a bulldog on making sure the OPA has a succession plan in place and adheres to internal deadlines to have a successor in place well before Viola’s exit.

To to end, Daly said the preference among the directors is to hire from within the ranks of the OPA. Although ultimately the decision

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will come down to votes on the board -- four are needed to hire a GM -- Daly and his working group of directors assisting in the transition, Camille Rogers and Colette Horn, will be eliciting the assistance of a consultant to facilitate the process of reviewing and evaluating the resumes of applicants.

So far, only one applicant has come forward, with two more indicating “possible” interest, according to Daly.

Colby Phillips, the OPA’s director of amenities and logistical operations, is the one who met a preliminary deadline to indicate definite interest in the role.

Daly said that Sibson Consulting, now known as the Segal Company, is the firm selected by the board to aid in drafting evaluation forms that will be used in a three-pronged process that will provide information to the board in choosing a GM. That decision was informally made in a closed meeting of the board last month.

Segal when it operated under the Sibson label helped the board in drafting an employee compensation study last year.

The three separate evaluations that have been identified for use in the success plan are an evaluation of applications by Viola, a selfevaluation completed by applicants and a just announced so-called 360 evaluation that 13 high-ranking members of the OPA staff will participate in, interviewing and evaluating candidates for the GM position.

In brief, a 360 evaluation involves interviews and evaluations -- this is where Segal-drafted forms will be helpful -- of applicants by their peers, Daly said.

If indeed there are multiple applications for the GM position from within the OPA, Daly said that almost definitely the competitors would be interviewing and evaluating each other as part of the 360 process.

“Nothing like this has ever been done in Ocean Pines, but we think it’s going to provide us a lot of very useful information,” Daly said.

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OCEAN PINES

October 2020

Andre Jordan says he was ‘fired’ as golf course superintendent Says he was on leave since June for an extremely rare medical condition and has been denied severance for his 35 years as an OPA employee

By TOM STAUSS Publisher ndre Jordan, a 35-year employee whose most recent role was golf course superintendent, says he was fired by the Ocean Pines Association because of a serious if not terminal rare disease and has been denied a severance package that he should have earned as a department head.

“I did not resign,” an emotional Jordan told the Progress in an exclusive interview. “I was put on medical leave in June, went on [temporary] disability, and haven’t worked since.” He said he was diagnosed with an extremely rare condition that attacks muscles, making it impossible for him to work.

Jordan said he was hospitalized in June for a time in a Christiana, De., hospital as doctors tried to find a remedy for his condition.

“I couldn’t walk, couldn’t do a lot,” he said. “Then it got better for awhile. But then infections set in.

I’m still fighting it, going to rehab.”

He said he knows it could be a terminal disease but is fighting it as

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best he can.

He said that the OPA advised him in a letter earlier this month that he was being let go because of his medical condition.

“I was fired,” he said. “I didn’t resign or retire,” adding that he lost his OPA health insurance in September. He’s trying to upgrade his temporary disability to permanent disability, so that he has help with medical bills, many of which he has not yet received.

“They didn’t give me my vacation pay or any kind of severance,” he said of the OPA. “I asked for a separation package, something that I believe I deserved after 35 years on the job, but they just ignored it. They’re treating me like I never existed. I’ve given my all for Ocean Pines, and I got a stab in the back as thanks.”

Jordan said the OPA employee handbook says a full-time employee or department head is entitled to one week of salary for every year of OPA employment in severance.

“I don’t understand why they’re doing this,” he said, adding that he’s been told by friends within the

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organization that some within the OPA -- he didn’t name names -- are blaming Jordan for course conditions that deteriorated over the summer.

“I wasn’t even working during the summer,” he said, “but a lot of members didn’t know I was on medical leave. No one told anyone that I wasn’t there anymore, so I got blamed.”

According to Jordan, anyone in Ocean Pines management who says “I quit is lying. They forced me out, and I feel they used me. It’s not right” to deny him the severance

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Golf Club announces promotion, new hire

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he Ocean Pines Association on Oct. 16 announced the promotion of Justin Hartshorne to golf superintendent, and the hiring of Kurt Joseph as assistant golf superintendent. Hartshorne succeeds Andre Jordan.

Hartshorne graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor’s degree in turf grass science. His Maryland certifications include a pesticide applicator’s license and a fertilizer applicator’s license, and he recently completed Links “level two” irrigation software training.

“I’ve also been doing golf maintenance for 18 years now, so I have a lot of experience there as well,” he said.

Hartshorne and his wife moved to the area about four years ago, and he initially worked at the Cripple Creek Golf and Country Club in Dagsboro, Del. Last September, he was hired as the assistant superintendent at the Ocean Pines Golf Club.

As the new superintendent, Hartshorne will help oversee the entire golf operation. His duties include managing the staff and budget, supervising chemical and fertilizer applications, and maintaining the irrigation system.

Joseph is originally from Wheeling, W. Va. He began working at Oglebay Resort Golf in Wheeling in 2003 and later at the Lighthouse Sound golf course in Ocean City.

He previously worked at the Ocean Pines Golf Club, but had to leave 18 months ago to help with family issues back home. Earlier this minth, he moved back to the area and rejoined the team in Ocean Pines.

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package he say’s he’s owed.

Jordan concedes he’s been battling health issues for the last three years or so, including a hip replacement that he now knows was Andre Jordan related to his muscle-related disease.

The course was always “in great condition” before he went out on medical leave, Jordan said, and he always got “it back in good shape” once he returned on the job. “I’ve worked 60, 80 hours a week, gave my life to that golf course.”

OPA General Manager John Viola declined comment on any issues related to Jordan’s departure from Ocean Pines.

October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 11

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October 2020

Board forging ahead on text amendment to short-term rental regs

Board debates solutions as complaints about 91 Abbyshire Road accumulate

By TOM STAUSS Publisher fter several months of inactivity other than monitoring whether conditions at 91 Abbyshire Road would improve without additional intervention, the Board of Directors have decided to press on with an initiative it approved 3.5” x 2” back in early July to

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remedy nuisance conditions which apparently have persisted at the Abbyshire home.

At the regular monthly meeting of the board July 1, the board had coalesced around an approach of beefing up enforcement by amending existing county zoning law to give the Ocean Pines Police Department additional powers to enforce county

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and OPA regulations that pertain to short-term rentals.

But County Commissioner Chip Bertino, one of two commissioners who represent Ocean Pines in county government, wanted to give the county law passed earlier in the year an opportunity to work.

Among other enforcement provisions, the county’s short-term rental law allows for citations to be issued against offending homeowners, up to $100 a day for continuing infractions.

In theory, financial penalties could accumulate and incentivize homeowners to remedy nuisance conditions.

At the Abbyshire home, which is being sublet by a renter to AirBnB, the reported levying of citations apparently has not sufficiently improved conditions that have been the source of complaints by neighbors, including an excessive number of cars parked in the driveway and on the street suggesting that there are more people living in the house

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OCEAN PINES than permitted under the county’s short-term rental law.

Steve Tuttle, the board’s point person on this issue, told the Progress there is renewed interest on the board to amend the county law in ways that could result in the removal of individuals from a home in excess of the allowed number “for fire safety reasons.”

Tuttle and working group members Camile Rogers and Frank Daly were scheduled to meet with county officials Ed Tudor, director of development review and permitting, and Zoning Administration Jennifer Keener on Oct. 15 to discuss a text amendment that, once drafted, could be presented to the county commissioners for approval.

“We understand that Ed Tudor is the one who often drafts these amendments, so that’s why we’re meeting with him to move this process along,” Tuttle said.

He added that the OPA also will be consulting with local attorney Joe Moore and another attorney from his firm on this issue.

“We may be able to bring more targeted enforcement to Ocean Pines in a way that doesn’t affect other communities that may not want this level of enforcement,” Tuttle said.

The text amendment can be written so that it applies to unincorporated communities with more than 4,000 homes, which in Worcester County only includes Ocean Pines.

Tuttle said there has been no revival of interest among the directors to amend restrictive covenants through a community referendum to levy fines against nuisance homeowners.

“We’re focusing on the text amendment,” he said.

Back in July, then OPA President Doug Parks Parks said that “we need to do something to elicit help” to assist the county in enforcing county law imposing citations on property owners who violate the county’s recently enacted short-term rental law.

That law limits non-familial occupancy in a home on a formula based on number of bedrooms and square footage and requires a short-term rental license.

The non-resident owner of the property a 91 Abbyshire has been in the process of obtaining a county license to operate a short-term rental business out of the home, Parks said.

The help that Parks referred to could come in the form of a text To Page 15

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OCEAN PINES

October 2020

OCEAN PINES Short-term rentals

October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Viola ‘teases’ boat ramp ‘toll booths’, mailbox improvements

From Page 12

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amendment to the county’s shortterm rental law that would give the OPPD the power to issue citations for excessive noise and other nuisances.

According to Tuttle, that has since evolved to the possibility of evictions, that he said would require some involvement by the Worcester County fire marshall. “We can’t say for sure that evictions will happen, but it is a possibility,� he added.

Tuttle said that the home at 91 Abbyshire continues to generate complaints from neighbors, as it has for much of the year.

The county passed new legislation related to short-term rentals in August of last year, with Bill 19-4 going into effect on Jan. 1. The bill requires any person or firm offering rentals to first obtain a license from the county.

Worcester County defines shortterm rentals as those lasting less than 28 days.

Sports Core pool room addition to be included in proposed capital budget for next year

By TOM STAUSS Publisher eneral Manager John Viola “teased� members of the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee last month with two previously undisclosed capital projects that might be included in the draft 2021-22 capital budget.

Viola told the committee at its Sept. 30 monthly meeting that Colby Phillips, the Ocean Pines Association’s director of aquatics and logistical operations, would be presenting details of these two projects at the committee’s meeting later this month.

Viola said one proposed project would be what he called “toll booths� at the OPA’s boat ramps, one in White Horse Park and the other adjacent to the Mumford’s pool not far from the Yacht Club harbor.

Whenever this idea has been discussed, and it’s been discussed a lot over the years, it’s usually in the context of providing a means to regulate use of the boat ramps by those who don’t live or own property in Ocean Pines. It’s never been considered a revenue-raiser on the backs of Ocean Pines property owners.

Most likely tolls levied at the ramps would be collected from those who don’t live or own property in Ocean Pines, but that’s a decision that ultimately would be made by the Board of Directors.

The second projected project “teased� by Viola involves improvements at cluster mailboxes located throughout Ocean Pines, which lack lighting and protection from inclement weather and some are in poor condition. They’re owned by the U.S. Postal Service but are placed on land owned by the OPA. Viola previously has said that the proposed Sports Core room addition, already partially funded in the newly created New Capital Reserve this fiscal year, will be included in the draft new capital budget to be presented in December or January. Latest estimates for the addition are a little more than $100,000, according to Phillips. The room would be used for lifeguard training, other classes and as a party room, with no plans currently for an after-school program, according to Phillips.

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16 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

October 2020

New crabbing pier on Viola’s agenda

Staff to update Budget and Finance committee later this month

By TOM STAUSS Publisher t may not be enough to heal the wounds of Section 10 residents who still mourn the loss of the crabbing pier in the Whitetail Sanctuary section in South Ocean Pines, but there is an effort under way to find a site for a replacement crabbing pier south of Route 90.

General Manager John Viola told members of the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee in late September that Ocean Pines Association staff are looking into a couple of possible locations, with at least one of them south of Route 90.

Viola said that the site is already used by residents for crabbing, and that a crabbing pier would enhance that usage.

A source told the Progress recently that the site is the grassy open area at the end of the Grand Canal that separates the two Wood Duck sections in Ocean Pines. This past spring and summer, it was a staging area for nearby bulkhead repairs

I

and replacement, but since then has been restored to its original condition.

It could be retrofitted with space for parking, an acknowledged defect at the old Sanctuary location.

Viola said staff will be updating the committee on efforts to replace the Whitetail Sanctuary crabbing pier at the committee’s October meeting on the last Wednesday this month, suggesting that he might be intending to include pier replacement in his capital budget to be unveiled this December or January for 2021-22. Since it probably would be treated as a replacement capital item, it’s even possible that a timeline could be developed that would have the new pier completed and available for use by next summer.

Whether a replacement pier would be considered a replacement capital item, funded out of the replacement reserve, or treated as a new capital item funded out of the New Capital Reserve was briefly addressed at the

committee’s September meeting. Relevant to that determination might be how much of the old pier was depreciated over its lifetime and how much funded depreciation related to the pier was allocated to the replacement reserve.

At least that was the view of one committee member. The Board of Directors could always simply decide to treat a new pier as a replacement item regardless of how much depreciation was set aside over the years.

For Section 10 residents who didn’t like the board decision to dismantle the old pier, a new pier in the vicinity of the Wood Duck Isle sections of Ocean Pines probably wouldn’t be considered ideal, but on the other hand there aren’t a lot of options south of Manklin Creek Road for a new pier.

The Sanctuary pier was removed in sections, with the final section dismantled in August of last year.

The floating portion of the pier was removed in November of 2018 by Fisher Marine Construction based on a unanimous vote by the Board of Directors to authorize the work.

Board members on May 4 of 2019 voted 5-0 to allow Fisher Marine to remove the remaining structure, essentially the walkway that lay across wetlands. That was the work that occurred in August of last year.

The Ocean Pines Public Works Department performed some additional work in the area prior

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OCEAN PINES

October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

to Fisher Marine’s labors. New grass and several trees were planted in the entranceway. Additionally, drainage pipes, fencing, benches and bike racks were removed, and a small footbridge was taken down.

Public Works Operations Manager Nobie Violante at the time said the intention was to restore the site to a natural wetland and wooded area.

“The idea was to make everything look like it’s back to nature,” Violante said.

The pier was built originally as part of the Whitetail Sanctuary neighborhood and was not considered an amenity to be used by the entire association. The original permit, issued May 3, 1994, stated the pier was intended “for recreational use of abutting residential sections.”

A turnover agreement later conveyed the pier to the Ocean Pines Association, and it became an amenity accessible to the entire Ocean Pines community.

Because of its proximity, it was popular especially among residents of Section 10. The decision by the board to remove the pier was controversial, to say the least.

The board’s decision to remove the pier was based in part on an evaluation by J. Stacey Hart & Associates, Inc. of Snow Hill.

The firm visited the site in April 2018 and concluded, based on a visual inspection, “the existing structure is beyond repair.”

A 2007 study had suggested that the pier and its surrounding area were not designed and maintained to sustain its high-occupancy and inappropriate usage.”

Other factors for removal included the remote location and lack of public parking. Some Whitetail Sanctuary residents complained of late night parties and other nuisance behaviors at the pier. But opinion within the Sanctuary was divided.

Board members at the time they voted to remove the pier said they would be open to considering a new location.

Staff had been looking into the possibility of adding a pier to the Swim and Racquet Club campus in North Ocean Pines, but no plans for that site have been devised or submitted to the board for review.

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Ocean Pines Aquatics is encouraging swimmers to take advantage of several new rates and specials, this month at the Sports Core Pool.

From Oct. 16-18, there’s a buy one, get one free pool entry, good for the first 50 swimmers. From Oct. 24-25, the first 50 swimmers will get a free pass for a future visit. From Oct. 31 to Nov. 1, a special $20 family rate will allow an entire family to swim, good for immediate family members only.

All specials are good on specified dates only, and for the Sports Core Pool only. All other pools are closed for the season.

“Aquatics is celebrating the transition to fall, and we invite all community members to participate in the specials above,” the Aquatics team said. “We look forward to seeing everyone.”

The Sports Core Pool is located on 11144 Cathell Road in Ocean Pines.

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OCEAN PINES

October 2020

Racquet complex plans revised again Clubhouse expansion also on the table, Viola tells budget committee

By TOM STAUSS Publisher t’s still early and subject to a yea or nay vote by the Board of Directors, but a revised plan for four new pickleball courts and a new “junior” tennis court at the Manklin Meadows racquet complex now appears set.

Two earlier iterations of the plan had been proposed by staff, but General Manager John Viola informed the Budget and Finance Committee at its Sept. 30 meeting that a third plan had been devised and probably would be the one that will incorporated into the draft 2021-22 budget to bw submitted to the board late this year or early next year.

The latest plan will be to build what is called a junior tennis court and four stand-alone pickleball courts in separate locations in the racquet complex.

Viola also said staff is looking at expanding the parking lot to

I After several earlier iterations of a site plan, the OPA racquet sports team has settled on a location (upper left) for four new pickleball courts and one new ”junior” tennis court to be used for instruction and wheelchair tennis (bottom right).

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Board moves to reinstate racquet sports commitee

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n a motion by Director Camile Rogers, the Board of Directors at its Oct. 17 monthly meeting took an initial step in reinstating the inactive Racquet Sports Advisory Committee. The directors accepted on first reading a proposed change in a board resolution that will lead to the committee’s reinstatement. The change becomes official when it is approved on second reading, perhaps as early as next month.

Rogers said the committee needs to be functional because of growth in racquet sports including pickleball, timeless tennis and platform tennis. She said the reinstatement will improve communication between club members and the board.

In other action at the Oct. 17 board meeting, the board: • authorized the Ocean Pines Association administration to apply for a RAE (Restore America’s Estuaries) federal grant that, if received, would require the OPA to match it in the amount of $254,000.

The funds would be used for drainage improvements at Bainbridge Park. General Manager John Viola rates the OPA’s chances of receiving the grant at about 10 percent but definitely worth pursuing.

• approved a motion that will establish a new position, that of office manager in the Public Works/Compliance, Permits and Inspections departments.

• adopted 2020-21 budget guidance as recommended by the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee, little changed from prior years.

The committee is asking for detailed documentation to support requested salary levels.

• reappointed Martin Clarke to the Environment and Natural Assets Advisory Committee and appointed William Lahner to the Golf Advisory Committee • discussed the need for a Route 589 traffic study in the context of proposed overlay rezoning at the Ocean Downs Casino.

OCEAN PINES eliminate street parking in the vicinity of the playground equipment and dog park, which the general manager said could be construed as a safety hazard.

“I’d feel more comfortable if there was no (racquet-sport) parking near the playground or the dog park,” he said.

Initially, the plan had been to add two new pickleball courts to the Manklin Meadows racquet complex in South Ocean Pines in a space currently occupied by a tennis court.

That initial plan also called for the construction of a new replacement tennis court in the grassy area between the existing courts and the parking lot.

The second iteration of the plan was to build a combo “junior” tennis court in the grassy area that would also be striped for four additional pickleball courts. The dual usage courts would have been switched back and forth between and pickleball as demand warranted.

This second iteration also was scratched, apparently because managing the dual use court would have been labor intensive.

Viola said there is enough room to accommodate the four pickleball courts and a stand-alone junior tennis court, which he said could be used to teach disabled individuals the game of tennis.

That use would make the OPA eligible for grant funding, Viola said.

“This court could be used for wheel-chair tennis,” Tennis Director Terry Underkoffler told the committee. He also said it would be used as a teaching venue for fourth grade through middle school students.

This junior tennis court “isn’t available anywhere else” in the area, Underkoffler said.

Viola also told the committee that he and Public Works Director Eddie Wells have been discussing the possibility of adding on to the clubhouse at the racquet complex to make it more functional.

The cost of building the courts had been estimated at $70,000, but no cost esimtated for the revised scenario was mentioned during the Sept. 30 meeting.

Viola has said that grant funding might be available to pay for a portion of the cost.

Underkoffler said the U.S. Tennis Association has grant money available for wheel-chair tennis courts, with the covid-19 pandemic affecting the timing of when funds might be available.

October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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20 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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October 2020

October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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OCEAN PINES

October 2020

October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Additional boat slips said to pay for themselves in up to three years

ATTENTION

WORCESTER COUNTY RESIDENTS ONLY!!!

Staff fields questions about proposed Yacht Club marina expansion

Household Hazardous Waste Collection

By TOM STAUSS Publisher hree Ocean Pines Association administrators -- General Manager John Viola, Recreation Director Debbie Donahue and Harbormaster Ron Fisher -- talked up the proposed expansion of the Yacht Club marina last month in a meeting with the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee and seem to have earned that panel’s support in including the project in the pending 2021-22 capital budget.

The expansion of the marina with six transient use boat slips, estimated to cost in the range of $50,000 to $70,000, would require funding out of the New Capital Reserve since they’re not replacement items. That’s higher than the previous month’s estimate of $30,000 to $50,000.

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The proposed extensions of Piers A and D at the Yacht Club marina.

Donahue was first up in a presentation to the committee. She advised that the additional slips won’t adversely affect navigation in the harbor. Before the permitting process can begin, the OPA is required to notify and consult with neighbors on the plans, she said. A meeting held with the neighbors on Sept. 30 fulfilled that obligation.

She emphasized as Viola has that the purpose of the additional is to meet demand for transient use by boaters who want to dine and drink at the Yacht Club. To promote turn-over of the slips, she said there would be a two-hour time limit for boaters.

These proposed new boat slips are not for rent.

She estimated a two or three-year return on investment, by which she meant that the new piers would

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Computers & Laptops (No Other Electronics) Gasoline • Gas/Oil Mixtures • Fuels • Acids Cleaners • Solvents • Automotive Fluids • Bleach Ammonia • Pool Chemicals • Pesticides Dark Room Supplies • CFL Light Bulbs • Batteries Insecticides • Herbicides • Oil-Based Paints Thinners • Turpentine • Wood Preservatives Wood Strippers • Etc. All of these materials will go to a HAZ MAT disposal site.

Dispose of solidified water based paint in trash. (to solidify – add dirt, sand, kitty litter, mulch, etc.)

OCEAN PINES

THESE ITEMS WILL BE ACCEPTED AT OCEAN CITY PARK & RIDE, RT. 50, WEST OCEAN CITY OCTOBER 31, 2020, 10 AM - 2 PM

WHAT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED:

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pay for themselves with increased food and beverage revenues at the Yacht Club over two or three years.

The additional revenues have to be offset somewhat by security costs associated with making sure that boaters don’t overstay the two-hour limit, she said.

Fisher supplied the calculatione he used in determining the two or three-year payback period. He estimated 98 days when boaters could dock at the Yacht Club, but subtracted 20 days for “bad weather” from that. He stimated 120 customers per weekend days and 80 customers per day on weekdays.

That in turn would produce 680 customers per week each paying on average $30 in food and beverage, which he said might turn out to be conservative. The estimated revenue per week would be about $20,400,

23

producing $26,520 in net revenues during that time.

When asked how the marina staff would monitor the two-hour time limit for mooring a boat, Donahue said security on staff would handle that. Eight boat slips are already available at the marina for transient use, she said.

She was then asked whether it’s possible to prevent people from consuming food and drink on their boats.

She responded that if boaters have rented a boat slip, there is nothing the OPA can do to require them to leave their boats to dine and drink at the Yacht Club. But she added that transient users can be and generally come to the Yacht Club for that purpose.

Fisher added that other transient users use the marina to add fuel to their boats.

He was also asked whether his calculations assume that all six slips will be in constant use, and he replied in the affirmative.

“Lots of boaters are turned away now (because of inadequate capacity),” he said.

q

22 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

October 2020

Viola awaits verdict from board on pay hike

From Page 23

One committee member suggested that some transient users might want to tie up their boats at the marina and stay eight hours at the Yacht Club pool.

In that case, there was discussion of putting some sort of fee on boaters who overstay the two-hour limit.

Previously, the general manager said rental slips would require additional parking at the Yacht Club, which already is at a premium and affects the amount of combined indoor and outdoor seating permitted at the facility.

Viola said that Ralph DeAngelus, founding partner of the Matt Ortt Companies, is very pleased about the prospect of drawing in new customers by boat to the Yacht Club “that don’t need additional parking” that can’t be provided because of parking lot space limitations.

Transient use boat slips will be another reason for boaters to visit the Yacht Club, Viola said. If approved by the board as part of the pending budget process, Viola said the intent would be to start installation of the new slips in April with completion by summer.

OCEAN PINES

Directors could increase GM’s base salary after performance review

By TOM STAUSS Publisher t’s taken almost six months for language to be added to General Manager John Viola’s employment contract with the Ocean Pines Association that allows him to receive a pay increase. Viola told the Progress in early October that he had agreed on the language that he says allows but doesn’t guarantee a raise after a performance review that should be completed soon.

The Board of Directors in a closed meeting back in March agreed to add language to the contract allowing for an adjustment to Viola’s pay, with no urgency because, at the time, there was no inclination by the board to either increase his base pay or award him a bonus.

With another job performance review imminent, in which his performance will be measured against defined objectives, Viola

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might be in a better position to be rewarded financially by the Board of Directors.

The new two-and-a-half deal executed in December gave him a raise to $155,000 per year, roughly the same as former General Manager John Bailey’s when he departed the Ocean Pines Association.

Viola’s latest contract with the OPA is a two-and-a-half-year agreement that runs from Dec. 1 of last year to June 30, 2022.

Viola had a six-month interim agreement in place as of June last year, which was converted into a non-interim position with the new contract.

Under the contract, Viola continues to waive health care benefits, but in an implicit quid pro quo for that waiver the board agreed to a retention bonus of $15,000, payable in three increments of $5,000 each.

The first payment was payable this past Dec. 1, with additional $5,000 payments on the first and second anniversary dates of the contract’s effective date.

The December contract specified 12 days of vacation time per year, 12 days of sick leave with no carry-over provision and five days of personal leave also with no carry-over provision.

The contract also specified a limit of 17 days of accrued vacation time.

As was the case with Bailey and other association general managers over the years, the contract allows

for termination without cause.

Viola had been named interim general manager in a special meeting in March of last year.

The action was then ratified and clarified in a closed session of the board following its regular meeting following month, reportedly to fix what some considered inelegant or imperect language in the original motion in March appointing Viola.

The initial appointment was intended as an unpaid, voluntary role.

He retained some insurance coverage as an officer of the corporation.

According to a statement issued by the Board of Directors after a March 7 closed meeting, language would be added to the December contract “to allow for a merit increase based on the performance evaluation of the GM by the Board, as there was no stipulation for that condition in the current agreement.”

Although Viola received a raise in December, the board’s action in the March 7 closed meeting indicated another adjustment after the April performance review was possible.

Viola told the Progress recently there is no language in the contract amendment that specifies how much he might be given in a merit increase or bonus.

The board action in the March closed session suggests that the review could have resulted in Viola receiving a raise or bonus within just a few months of the December contract extension. That didn’t happen.

OCEAN PINES

October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Second phase of drainage project ‘dead’ as originally designed, Bunting says

It’s possible that a stormwater retention pond already planned for the golf course property can be modified to accommodate flows from Ocean Pines

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he second phase of a two-part drainage program unveiled last month appears all but dead as originally designed, County Commissioner Jim Bunting said recently.

The first phase includes improvements in Sections 1,2,3,5 and 7, with much of that in the area of the Bainbridge Park pond. State funding would cover the Section 1 and 2 improvements while the Ocean Pines Association would cover the estimated cost of improvements in Sections 3, 5 and 7.

The most recent estimate for this phase is $805,000, with about $550,000 coming in the form of a state grant.

The second phase was to include improvements such as a new stormwater pond and river outfall, on the other side of Beauchamp Road on seven acres of land once occupied by the Pine Shore golf course. Excess stormwater from Ocean Pines would have been diverted via culvert pipes under Beauchamp Road.

Bunting said that when the two-part project was drafted by the engineering firm hired by the OPA, Vista Engineering, it apparently was not known at the time that development plans for the former golf course already contained a stormwater retention pond. He said he never quite understood why the Ocean Pines plan in effect called for the construction of a second stormwater pond, which would have resulted in two outfalls into the river or its tributaries.

“That never made a lot of sense to me,” Bunting said, adding that it made even less sense when he learned from a Progress reporter that the owner of the former golf course had advised the OPA that he wanted to be compensated for giving up the seven acres for a second stormwater pond.

“There was no money in the state grant for buying property for a stormwater pond,” he said. “It never would have been approved by the county commissioners, even if more grant money is forthcoming in future years.”

Bunting said the sale of the seven acres was subsequently taken off the table on the advice of the developer’s attorney, who advised that any future development would lose seven single-family homesites from the property, making it less viable economically.

With all that said, the county commissioner said that phase two of

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OCEAN PINES

Ocean Pines PROGRESS October 2020

Drainage project From Page 25 the Ocean Pines project could be revamped by utilizing the stormwater pond that already is envisioned for the golf course property when it is developed for single-family homes.

Bunting said he understands that the site will soon be sold to a national home builder, a company along the lines of Centex or Ryan Homes. Once that occurs, he said he intends to have “a conversation with the new owners� to see if the stormwater pond already planned for the site can be modified in a

way to accommodate additional flow from Ocean Pines.

Although there are hopes that additional state funding to cover the cost of phase two will be forthcoming in the future, prospects are uncertain.

Phase one appears to be on track for funding this year. In the current fiscal year, estimated costs for the OPA have been whittled down to $250,000 to $275,000 for the project’s first phase.

The plan according to General Manager John Viola and Director of Lgistical Operations Colby Phillips is to complete Phase I in the current fiscal year.

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With a positive ‘top line’ in September OPA surplus nears $1.1 million

August, golf had an operating surtargeted. plus of $170,565 with a negative Future grant funding improvevariance to budget of $25,416. ments in Sections 2,4,6 and 8 inThat was offset partially by a clude retrofitting drainage swales positive year-to-date variance at the “to remove the limiting confining Clubhouse Grille of $15,935. layers of silt, leaf and organic maOPA added another $100,000 in net earnings in September, Viola announces The grill had $32,648 in cumulaterial� and replacing them with a tive net earnings through August.

By TOM STAUSS beverage venues. star performer financially, generatsand-plant soil mixture.

Racquet sports through August Publisher The covid-19 pandemic has hit ing a surplus of $96,019 in August “This will allow for seasonal inwere close to break even operationhe Ocean Pines Association two departments, beach parking while exceeding budget by $14,277. filtration of runoff and provide furally, with pickleball generating a continued to be in an enviable and aquatics, very hard this year For the year through August, net ther resilency during storm events,� surplus that slightly exceeded losses financial condition one third so far. Aquatics is under budget earnings were $301,510, ahead of according to a 12-page report report in tennis and platform tennis. into the fiscal year, after recording by $223,937 and beach parking is budget by $119,108. released last month.

Status of reserves: The OPA’s a positive operating fund surplus $186,345 under budget through AuMarina operations also continue As originally conceived at a cost reserve balance through August was in August of $61,250. Revenues gust. to perform well, generating $30,364 of about $2.2 million, the project had $7.2 million, down slightlight from were over budget by $16,881 and Results relative to budget is not in net earnings in August, ahead of not been divided into two phases. $7.24 million in July. total expenses were under budget the only way to measure perfor- budget by $20,925.

Once it became clear that state The replacement reserve balance by $44,369. The OPA recognized mance.

One third into the fiscal year net funding was being reduced to about through July 31 was $4.33 million, $53,320 in federal Paycheck ProtecFor the year through August, earnings were $272,711, ahead of $550,000, officials essentially creatthe bulkheads and waterways retion Program revenues in August, beach parking has produced budget by $45,392. ed a two-phase project, with the first serve $2.09 million, roads $214,556, without which the surplus would $237,275 in net earnings for the Golf operations had a good month phase confined to improvements have been far more modest.

OPA while Aquatics is in the red by in August with $19,073 in net earn- and new capital $98,150. within Ocean Pines.

The newly established drainage August results boosted the posi- only $21,339. ings, with a positive variance to budAnother result of the two-phase reserve stood at $474,350. tive year-to-date operating surplus The Yacht Club continues to be a get of $14,667. For the year through approach is that the possibility of to $991,846, with revenues over the OPA needing to conduct a referbudget by $112,477 and total exOCEAN PINES ASSOCIATION endum of property owners to obtain penses under budget by $879,369.

Net Operating by Department - August 2020 approval of the entire project cost is At the Oct. 17 meeting of the no longer a possibility.

Board of Directors, General ManagOPA President Larry Perrone er John Viola announced more good ΊΙΙΛΘÎ&#x;ÎŽÎ? ĎˆĎ&#x; ÎŽĎŠĎ?Ď‡Ď˜ĎŠ ΕĎ?χϔ had suggested that possibility Prince Georges Cnty Md sevÎ?χϚϋͧ КрͿкКͿНКкт news. Although September results eral months ago. had not been released as of then, he ΎϞϖ ϊχϚϋͧ КрͿкКͿНКНК delivered a top line number for the Price: 98.500 (00.00) ΊÎ?и month, a positive variance to budget Coupon: 3.25 (00/00/00) of about $100,000. That brings the cumulative surplus for the year to WhenDate: should you07/15/2036 start receiving Social Security?

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PPP revenues of roughly $1.4 Callable Date: (00/00/00 or your N/A) Think carefully about 07/15/2028 when to start receiving benefits. million recognized through the end of August essentially have turned 100 CallYouPrice: (000)your benefits by 39%. could be reducing what would be a year-to-date opAaa / AAA Rating: (XXX/XXX) erating deficit into a very robust I am here to help make that decision easier for you. surplus. Of that, $1.1 million was Other: Please contact(Obligor) me at 410-208-1704 for a recognized under General Adminone-on-one complimentary, no obligation * istration, while another $271,300 3.25 % TAX-FREE* Please contact me at 410-208-1704 for a oneoronattend one complimentary, consultation our seminar.no obligation, consultations or went toward payroll expense at the attend our seminar.

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The plan anticipates that improvements can made in Sections 4, 6 and 8, and also in Section 2, with the potential of future funding from the Coastal Bays program in the amount of $175,000.

The Section 1 and 2 improvements are targeted at water quality and improved flood protection resiliency through the retrofitting of the existing Bainbridge pond.

The project will bring up the pond to current Maryland Department of the Environment wet pond regulations by adding forebays, wetland/ aquatics benches, a proper outfall structure and an improved dam embankment, called a weir.

The project entails adding throughly three feet of depth to the pond as a way of capturing more stormwater during heavy weather events.

Also included in the grant-funded portion of the project is replacement of the existing low-quality outfall swale leaving the pond with a stateof-the-art swale that includes a much deeper channel.

These improvements are designed to control water levels and are projected to reduce pollutant levels, a key objective of the MDE. The Section 3, 5 and 7 improvements funded by the OPA include improvements to outfall channels and replacement of failing culverts.

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Board approves lower capitalizaton threshold

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(Website) At a Sept. 30 meeting of the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee, member Tom Piatti informed his colleagues about the lack of action.

Board committee liaison Doug Parks jumped right on it, telling the Subject to availability and price change. Minimum purchases may apply. The yield is the lesser of yield to maturity or yield to call. Interest is generally exempt from federal taxation and may also be free of state and local taxes for investors residing in the state and/or locality where committee that he would make sure the revision would be brought up the bonds were issued. However, bonds may be subject to federal alternative tax (AMT), and profits and losses on tax-exempt bonds may be subject to capital gains tax treatment. Ratfor second reading and approval at the board’s Oct. 17 monthly meeting. ings by Moody’s/Standard & Poor’s. A credit rating of a security is not a recommendation to 06/07/2018 buy, sell or hold the security and may be subject to review, revision, suspension, reduction or That approval occurred with no opposition but was somewhat anti**As As ofof00/00/00. withdrawal at any time by the assigning Rating Agency. Insurance pertains only to the timely payment of principal and interest. No representation is made to any insurer’s ability to meet its climatic, however.

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Director of Finance Steve Phillips told the committee that the lower bonds may be subject to federal alternative minimum tax (AMT), and profits and losses on tax-exempt bonds may be subject to capital gains tax treatment.

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No one commented on the fact that the lower threshold had not been officially adopted by the board when the change occurred.

The revision means that new assets purchased at a cost under $2,000 will continue to be treated as operating expenses, while assets that cost between $2,000 and $5,000 will be added to the list of trackable assets whose depreciation costs are paid for out of the OPA’s replacement reserve account, the same as replacement assets costing more than $5,000 have been.

The change means there will be an increase in the number of trackable assets on the list of depreciable items. “Anytime a purchase [was] made under $5,000, it’s had an effect on operations,� OPA Director and Treasurer Larry Perrone said in March.

That effect was higher operation expenses.

The practical effect of the change is that certain replacement items that had been charged to operations will no longer be treated that way, which should positively help the bottom line of those departments with replacement purchases in the $2,000 to $5,000 range. q

26

28

OPA FINANCES

Ocean Pines PROGRESS October 2020

Capitalization From Page 27 At the same time that department operating expenses are reduced, there is a slight increase in the value of assets that become depreciable.

Depreciation funded by annual lot assessments is the primary source of revenue for the OPA’s replacement reserve fund.

The OPA previously had changed the capitalization threshold at the Sept. 29, 2019, board meeting, when then Director and OPA Treasurer Pat Supik offered a motion to increase the asset capitalization threshold from $1,000 to $5,000.

The threshold at which property acquisitions were capitalized had been set at $1,000 for more than 12 years prior to that meeting.

Supik’s motion was approved by the board with no dissent.

Supik had said a low threshold for capitalization greatly increases the number of assets that must be accounted for and subsequently tracked on the asset list.

Given the number of purchases made in the $1,000 to $5,000 range, this greatly increases the asset list, making tracking and accounting for all assets difficult and subject to error, she said.

The change also had the effect of increasing the number of items that for accounting purposes were considered operating expenses

that subsequently had to be charged directly to the affected departments.

According to Supik, DMA, the firm engaged at the time to complete an Ocean Pines reserve study, which essentially is an updated list of assets, recommended increasing the limit for capitalization to at least $2,000.

However, most companies the size of the OPA use $5,000, she said.

Both audit firms the OPA had used prior to September of 2017 had recommended increasing the threshold, with their recommendation being $5,000, she said.

This more recent reversal of policy suggests that Supik’s reasoning in support of a higher threshold is not supported by the current administration.

In fact, it’s clear that Viola and the finance director disagree with it.

“We’re not a Fortune 500 company,” Viola told the Progress recently. “$2,000 is a comfortable number for us.”

OPA won’t be using all of grant money

The Ocean Pines Association could receive a county pass-through grant of up to $170,000 in federal CAREs Act money, but Finance Director Steve Phillips told the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee during a Sept. 30 meeting that the OPA will be “hard pressed” to find enough covid-related expenses that would add up to $170,000.

“But we will use a large chunk of

it,” he added.

Phillips, who recently underwent knee surgergy, was attending the meeting remotely from home, where he’s recuperating and continuing to perform his duties.

Recreation and Parks Director Debbie Donahue told the committee that the grant can be used for additional cleaning and other supplies related to the OPA’s inhouse response to covid.

Phillips said it can be used to beef up the OPA’s Internet response times and for the plexi-glass partitions that have been set up in various OPA venues to protect employees and customers.

golf clubs, and will “used more in the winter” when the the course doesn’t get much use, Viola said.

He praised the Clubhouse Grill’s financial performance, more than $32,000 in the black through August.

He said the bottom line would have been “even better” had the venue been able to do Sunday brunch.

He added that the last Friday in September was the “biggest day ever” at the venue, which he has said has become a food and beverage destination for residents throughout Ocean Pines, not just golfers.

Viola touts golf financial results

B&F committee chair Dick Keiling at the Sept. 30 meeting of the committee pressed Viola on when an update of the OPA’s reserve study, which essentially is a list of OPAowned capital assets with projected use timelines, would be completed.

Keiling said it his understanding is that it should have been updated this fall, but Viola defended a decision to push back the update until after the 2021-22 budget process is complete this coming February.

Keiling seemed to be suggesting that the update should have been completed before the budget process begins rather than after it’s completed, but Viola said his preference was to do it after.

“I want it, but my timing is different,” he said.

He mentioned that there are a number of capital projects in the planning stages that will affect the asset list, and that there is sufficient adjusting done to the existing asset list to assist in budget preparation.

To some extent, he said, the updating occurs throughout the year as new information about the asset list becomes available.

Board liaison Doug Parks asked Viola who would be doing the update, with the GM responding that we “need a person to monitor the reserve study.”

There was also some discussion about the percentage of the asset base that is contained in various reserve funds, with Viola saying it’s about 21 percent.

Parks suggested a meeting with Viola, Phillips and himself to discuss the issue of the reserve study update.

Doug Green of DMA Consulting would be brought in next spring for that purpose.

General Manager John Viola prefers to emphasize the positive, and he did so in touting the financial results at the golf course and Clubhouse Grille in the summer of covid.

In remarks at the Sept. 30 B&F committee meeting, Viola said that had it not been for the “lost” month of May, golf operations would be break-even or better, with most revenue categories ahead of budget in the months that followed.

The “action plan” put in place to repair greens is working, he said.

“A lot of maintenance that should have BEEN done (in past years) is being now,” he added.

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Viola defends delay in reserve study update

WORCESTER COUNTY

October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Election polling places shifted to Ocean City, Berlin One-third of Pines voters request absentee ballots for Nov. 3 general election

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer oters will be required to wear a mask inside at all polling locations and have their temperature checked prior to casting ballots in person at the Ocean City convention center during the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election. While one-third of Ocean Pines’ registered voters have requested absentee ballots, for those who want to exercise their right to vote in person, locations in Ocean City and Berlin will be the closest polling places.

Worcester County Board of Elections has made numerous pandemic-related changes to ensure the safety of all voters and poll workers, while still providing multiple opportunities for all eligible voters to participate in the election. Among those changes is a reduction in the number of the county’s polling places from 16 to just four, and a shift of location for early voting.

“It’s challenging,” Patti Jackson, Worcester County election director, said of adjusting the election process in response to the health and safety requirements presented by COVID-19. “This, I think, is probably the most challenges and changes I’ve ever seen.”

She said all voters should have now received their specimen ballots providing information on where, when, and how to vote this year, as well as the candidates and questions appearing on the ballot.

Jackson said the biggest change is to polling places. This year, the only location for early voting is at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center in Ocean City. Early voting will be held from Monday, Oct. 26 through day before the election, Nov. 2, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day.

Usually, early voting is conducted at the Gull Creek retirement community’s center in Berlin, a more central location in the county. But, because of the pandemic, Gull Creek didn’t want outside visitors coming into its facility, Jackson said.

She added that was a problem at other locations the Board of Elections considered as well.

They just couldn’t find a facility, other than the convention center, that was large enough to accommo-

V

date early voting.

On election day, instead of voting at their normal polling place closer to their voting district, voters will have to visit one of four locations in the county to vote in person on election day.

Local votin centers are the convention center in Ocean City or the Stephen Decatur Middle School, at 9815 Seahawk Road in Berlin.

Any Worcester County registered voter can visit any of the four vote centers to cast their ballot on election day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Jackson said signs will be put up at typical polling places on election day informing voters of the new locations for this year.

Personal protective equipment including gloves and masks are being provided to everyone working the polls, hand sanitizer stations will be available, and Plexiglas shields will separate election judges and voters, Jackson said.

Six-foot spacers will be placed on the floor inside each polling place and traffic cones will be used outside to ensure social distancing for anyone waiting in line to vote. Even the “I Voted” stickers will be available to voters on a table to minimize contact.

Voters are required to have

masks or face coverings at all vote centers. However, anyone without a mask will still have the opportunity to vote outside of the polling room.

At the Ocean City convention center, anyone coming into that building will also have to have their temperature checked via wall-mounted thermometers. Jackson said that is a rule implemented by the convention center for anyone entering that facility at any time, not the Board of Elections. Anyone who has a temperature of 100.4F or higher or without a mask will not be allowed into the building to vote.

However, Jackson said there will be an option outside the building to allow people without masks to vote.

After each person votes, the voting booth will be sanitized as will other surfaces in the voting center throughout the day. Jackson said they plan to arrange the voting booths in order to rotate so one row can be sanitized and drying while voters are using a different row of booths.

The Board of Elections has hired temporary staff members to facilitate all of the changes to the process this year. Because the number of polling places has been reduced from 16 to four, the election judges have just been shuffled to new loca-

29

tions accommodate those changes.

So far, about 10,000 of Worcester County’s more than 40,000 registered voters, including more than one-third of Ocean Pines voters and about one-quarter of voters county-wide, have requested absentee ballots for the general election.

Jackson said that is far more than usual; typically only 3,000 to 4,000 of the county’s registered voters request an absentee ballot.

The three voting precincts in Ocean Pines have a total of 10,727 registered voters. Of those, 3,319 are registered as Democrat, 5,036 as Republican, and 2,372 as other parties, including unaffiliated, independent, Green, and Libertarian. A total of 3,314 Ocean Pines voters have applied for an absentee ballot.

The Board of Elections held its first canvass of absentee ballots on Wednesday, Oct. 14, with all results embargoed until election day, Jackson said. Two more are to come on Nov. 5 and Nov. 13, which is the statewide deadline.

Anyone who does not want to vote in person can still request an absentee ballot. Applications must be submitted no later than seven days before the election.

Mailed ballots must be postmarked on or before general election day Nov. 3, and received by the Board of Elections by 10 am on Nov. 13.

Voters can also drop off ballots at two drop-off box locations, one at the Board of Elections, 201 Belt Street Suite C, Snow Hill, and the Convention Center in Ocean City.

30 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

WORCESTER COUNTY

October 2020

Ocean Pines commissioners express concerns about proposed casino rezoning Bertino skeptical of traffic studies, calls for Route 589 widening

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer iting the potential for increased traffic on Route 589 and disruption to the integrity of agricultural zoning in Worcester County, Ocean Pines’ representatives on the Board of Commissioners gave a lukewarm reception at best to a proposed overlay district for development of extensive commercial and recreational uses at Ocean Downs, including a hotel or motel.

The text amendment to the county’s zoning code, which seeks to allow a Casino Entertainment District overlay in the A-2 Agricultural District, is subject to an Oct. 20 public hearing before the commissioners.

While Ocean Pines commissioners Chip Bertino and Jim Bunting, along with their five peers, agreed to introduce the text amendment for public hearing and consideration by the commissioners, both had concerns about the impacts of the zoning change.

“My concern is and has been for a long time, 589,” said Bertino, who added there a choke points for traffic both north and south of Ocean Pines along Route 589.

Adding any one of the facilities permitted under the overlay zone would likely increase traffic on the already distressed highway, he said.

While the text change calls for a traffic study as part of the Casino Entertainment District application process, Bertino questioned the validity of those types of studies.

He said his experience is that the traffic surveys tend to support the position of whomever is paying for them.

As a result, he said the county could have increased traffic along Route 589 without the state moving forward to widen that road as commissioners have requested of the State Highway Administration for decades.

“That’s a concern of mine. I don’t see how we get around that unless

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the state moves forward with widening 589, a project that has been discussed ad nauseam but with no funding forthcoming,” he said.

Commissioner President Joe Mitrecic also cited traffic as a concern. He presented a scenario under which 2,500 to 3,000 people were to leave a concert at Ocean Downs at the same time and exit onto Route 589. “That’s a possibility,” he said.

Ed Tudor, county director of development review and permitting, said any project along a state highway has to be approved by the SHA including access points. “Which at least some of those concerns I think would play into that look by state highway,” he told Bertino.

But Bertino wasn’t convinced.

He said there are already traffic challenges at both gates of Ocean Pines, and a relatively new medical complex near the North Gate has already exacerbated traffic problems.

He asked “if the state’s not willing to pony up the money to do what everyone recognizes needs to be done, what’s the likelihood that an approval would be given for a new hotel, motel, whatever venue they would like to put there?”

Tudor declined to speculate on the politics of those decisions.

He did note that all of the uses under the proposed Casino Entertainment District overlay are already permitted on the Ocean Downs property either by right or special exception under its existing A-2 and C-2 commercial zoning.

A special exception for fairgrounds, which allows more than 20 uses like monster trucks, cooking expositions, outdoor vehicles expo, flea markets, arts and crafts shows, beer festivals, classic car rallies, concerts, fairs, carnivals, and rodeos, already exists for the property.

“I don’t believe there’s anything in the current proposal for this casino overlay district that’s not already allowed somewhere else through the combination of these different other approvals and other zoning dis-

tricts,” Tudor said. The text amendment would simply allow for a holistic look at the project, he said.

Bunting was worried about the potential long term impact of allowing the casino-specific overlay districts on the A-2 zoning district. “I’m a little concerned about the integrity of the A-2 district,” he said, adding that zoning district was created as a buffer between agricultural and business or residential zones.

The Ocean Downs property, the only site in Worcester County where a casino is currently permitted, contains property in both A-2 and C-2 Commercial zones. Bunting wanted to know if the overlay would apply to all A-2 zoning in the county.

Tudor said it does not, adding that “to apply for this district you have to have a legally approved casino authorized by the State of Maryland.”

“So we’re making an overlay district that can only go in one specific area?” Bunting asked. “Wouldn’t there have been an easier way?”

He suggested simply changing the zoning of the property. “I’m very concerned about the overlay district possibly being applied to other A-2 areas in the county eventually. The way things happen. I don’t think this was the proper way to go through it.”

Bunting asked if Ocean Downs is currently allowed to have a motel or hotel or a bar or nightclub on the site.

Tudor responded in the affirmative, saying a lodging facility would be allowed on the C-2 zoned portion of the casino property.

But, Bunting said, this would change the code so those uses could go on the A-2 zoned portions of the property, and that is inappropriate.

Bunting stated that such uses are inappropriate in the A-2 district, and he would prefer to protect the integrity of the A-2 district, which acts as a buffer between the A- 1 district and districts that allow higher use activities.

“It would,” Tudor acknowledged.

Mitrecic said the C-2 zoned por-

tion of the property is not large enough to accommodate a use like a hotel. He also pointed out that restrictions at the state level prohibit development of a hotel on the site.

The state would have to lift that prohibition in addition to the county changing the zoning for a hotel to be constructed at Ocean Downs, he said. “There’s a lot of restrictions under state law.”

Still, Bertino said that if the overlay district is approved then the opportunity to put those types of venues would exist on this property.

Tudor explained that the Board of Zoning Appeals granted a Special Exception for the fairgrounds, which permits over 21 various events, with slots approved by State referendum in 2008.

He also said that the underlying A-2 zoning district allows 65 different principle and special exception uses, though the designation as an overlay district does not happen automatically.

He clarified that an overlay district can only be established on A-2 zoned property that has a fully licensed and operating casino, noting County staff worked with the applicant to develop a text amendment that would fit the county code, and most of the proposed uses would be permitted with the existing zoning by special exception.

During an August hearing before the Worcester County Planning Commission, Joseph Moore, attorney for Ocean Downs, said that while it has been an existing horse racing track for a substantial number of years, the casino operation continues to grow and is no longer a secondary use on-site.

The proposed text amendment would allow an overlay district to fully recognize the economic driver, which is the casino, he said.

During the planning commission review, members wanted to ensure the text amendment is not intended to end the live horse racing.

Bobbi Sample, general manager of Ocean Downs, explained that there are no plans to end racing.

She said the racetrack enhances the casino and is still integral to their operation.

Moore said the intent of this amendment is not to eliminate the existing horse-racing establishment, but to allow the casino to flourish independently of that operation.

While the Ocean City Hotel Motel Restaurant Association had not been approached about this request,

WORCESTER COUNTY Moore said Ocean Downs is an economic driver and that Ocean Downs has no intention of building a hotel at this time.

Moore further explained that the hotels are a permitted use in the C-2 zoning district; therefore, a hotel could be built by right on the lands located across Racetrack Road.

Currently, under existing commercial zoning, a hotel could be built on a casino-owned outparcel fronting on Route 50.

Moore said state legislation specifies that no hotel could be built onsite if the hotelier has a financial or legal connection with the casino; however, a hotelier without those connections could construct a hotel.

He said that regardless of what the overlay district allows, state law would prevail.

The planning commission ultimately forwarded a favorable recommendation on the proposed text amendment to the county commissioners.

Permitted uses and structures in a Casino Entertainment District would include fairgrounds and commercial race tracks; commercial boarding stables for three or more animals, used in conjunction with fair grounds or commercial race tracks; gaming facilities and casinos; off street parking garage or structure; restaurants, bars, nightclubs and banquet halls.

Also motels and hotels; retail or service establishments; stadiums and arenas for outdoor entertainment; theaters, including movie and/or performing arts; health clubs and fitness centers; places of assembly for exhibitions; public commercial, cultural, social and recreational areas and centers, including playgrounds, parking and outdoor areas utilized for tents and other temporary uses selling any item brought to the location for such purpose.

The minimum required lot area for a CED is 50 acres and any CED must be located such that it is directly served by a major collector or arterial highway.

Sample, the casino general manager, gave a presentation on the proposal at the Oct. 17 meeting of the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors.

The OPA rarely takes a position on issues that primarily concern activities and issues outside the boundaries of Ocean Pines, but in this case endorsed it in a show of hands after she concluded her remarks.

October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Bobbi Sample presentation From Page 1

parcels zoned for agriculture on its property, Sample said that an overlay zone allows for more limited uses than the 40 or so allowed in a convention C-2 zone.

Regarding concerns that a “Las Vegas” resort environment would be created by an overlay zone, Sample said the property isn’t large enough to support that approach. She said whatever is planned there in the future would have a “consistent and seamless look” with what is already there on the property.

She said there would be no amenities on the venue in the future that might appeal to children.

She offered a clarification on the possibility of a future hotel on the property. She said Ocean Downs can’t own or operate a hotel according to state law, but “can sell or lease [a hotel] to a third party.”

She said the goal isn’t to take business away from area hotels, which cater to vacationers, but rather is

31

to appeal to “significant players” to increase their “frequency and duration of trips and gain a larger share” of their gaming dollars.

Early in the presentation, she highlighted the positive impact of the casino in generating local impact grants, of which the OPA has been a consistent recipient in the casino’s ten-year history.

She said any future expansion of the venue will increase employment locally, generating tax revenue for the county and the state.

Sample said she would be giving essentially the same presentation to the county commissioners at a public hearing on the proposed overlay zoning on Oct. 20.

In recent comments to the Progress, Sample said she didn’t disagree with Commissioner Chip Bertino that the state needs to widen Route 589, noting that the State Highway Administration has already upgraded Route 589 in the vicnity of the casino, improving traffic flow there.

“Additional traffic studies could point to additional improvements that would need to be made,” she said.

Kiwanis toy drive

The Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines Ocean City is launching its annual drive annual Toy Drive. Besides club member donations, the Kiwanis Club will collect unwrapped donations from the public. Every Wednesday in November, Kiwanis members will be in the parking lot of the Ocean Pines Community Center from 9 a.m. until noon to accept donations. The club is working with Worcester G.O.L.D. to collect the toys.

Pictured are some of the toys collected in last year’s drive.

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32 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

WORCESTER COUNTY

October 2020

0cean Pines commissioners opposed to riverboat purchase Cite lack of business or marketing to justify no-interest loan to Snow Hill

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer little used riverboat that’s been parked in the northern Chesapeake and for sale for some time may be making its way to Worcester County using taxpayer dollars to fund the purchase despite objections from both of Ocean Pines’ county commissioners.

During an Oct. 6 debate, Commissioners Chip Bertino and Jim Bunting reiterated their opposition to the county-funded acquisition of a paddle boat that will patrol the Pocomoke River in an effort to drive tourism dollars to Snow Hill and Pocomoke City.

The riverboat, the Black Eyed Susan, is currently owned by Scarlett Bird LLC, with Economic Development Deputy Director Lachelle Scarlato and her husband acting as managing partners.

Bunting later called the sale of the riverboat owned by a county employee involved in economic development a “classic conflict of interest” that never should have been allowed by county government.

While the full board of commissioners voted 5-2 to provide a nearly half million-dollar loan to the Town of Snow Hill to purchase the riverboat, Bertino berated both the county administrative director and Snow Hill town manager for failing to put together any type of business plan or provide documentation that would support the venue.

“You, Gary (Weber, Snow Hill town manager) and Harold (Higgins, county administrator) did not provide the commissioners with information that was necessary really to vet this loan and you put us -- I’ll speak for myself -- in a very uncomfortable position,” Bertino said. “Quite truthfully I think that a disservice has been done to this government, to these commissioners, to the taxpayers, and quite truthfully to the people in Pocomoke and Snow Hill who may not necessarily understand ... what it is they’re signing up for.”

Bunting said he has “never seen anything like this” in his ten years as a commissioner. “We didn’t have any, any information or facts to make a decision on this,” he said, agreeing with Bertino there was “no documentation on anythingand yet the county wants to spend $400,000 of taxpayer’s money for this purchase.”

Bertino took issue with playing an “angle” to use CARES Act funding for something not allowed under the grant to the county.

He expressed concern about approving the loan without having seen a marketing business plan for the riverboat operation, and without knowing whether the citizens of Snow Hill even want a riverboat or if Pocomoke City is interested in partnering with the town on the venture.

“Is there anything to support loaning this money?” he asked. “We’re being asked to be a

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SeaFloor Flooring, Pipeline Contracting share space and customers in new Manklin Station store

Bunting also said that at 118-feet long, the riverboat is going to have trouble navigating the winding Pocomoke River, which in some locations will require 90-degree turns. He said he’s not sure the riverboat will even manage to make it to Snow Hill, even with a tug boat assisting it. Even then, he said he’s not convinced it will ever make

A riverboat called the the Black Eyed Susan, is slated to become a tourist attraction on the Pocomoke River, funded by a $400,000 taxpayer loan.

bank. We’re being asked to use taxpayer money to front a loan. And there is absolutely no supporting documentation associated with this request at all.”

He said the fact that the county administration is allowing the project to move forward without proper documentation raises questions as well. “I don’t believe you take a leap of faith with taxpayer money especially since we haven’t done our due diligence. We don’t have a marketing plan. We’re just being asked to front this money.”

He said he doesn’t know if buying a riverboat is a good idea or not because he hasn’t seen any plans. “Quite truthfully our administration did a poor job in preparing the commissioners to make a decision,” he added. “Like everything else with this project, it’s rush, rush, rush. And the fact that the administration is pushing this, I think does a disservice to the commissioners and the taxpayers we’re here to represent.”

Bunting in a follow-up interview said that the decision to approve to Snow Hill has made him “embarrassed” as a commissioner.

Bunting and Bertino were also opposed to an early iteration of the riverboat proposal, in which the commissioners voted 5 to 2 to award the town $350,000 in federal CARES grant money for the purchase of the riverboat, a 180-foot veseel said to be currently moored in Havre de Grace.

“Havre de Grace had an opportunity to buy it and passed on it, understanding what a bad deal it was,” Bunting said.

Once it dawned on certain administrators that CARES Act grant money has to be used for covid-19-related expenses, Bunting said county officials, including the county administrator and Recreation Director Tom Perlozza, came up with the idea for a $400,00 loan.

“And when it turns out the riverboat can’t make it as a business, if it goes belly-up, the county won’t even ask for its $400,000 back,” Bunting said.

“Either that, or it’s going to be another Discovery Center,” alluding to the Pocomoke attraction that every year requires a county subsidy to stay open.

BUSINESS

it to Snow Hill.

“It’ll have to come down the Chesapeake Bay and enter the river at that end. Good luck with that,” he continued.

He’s also said that before it can do much navigating, it will need to be extensively refurbished.

“It’s in poor condition.” he said. “The electric system is shot.” Assuming that the plan is to convert the riverboat into a floating restaurant, which he understands is the plan of the Snow Hill administrator, Bunting said he has concerns that the boat will ever be able to operate an onboard kitchen.

“I doubt if it ever will be able to pass county inspections,” he said, which means that any food service on board will probably need to be catered.

He repeated that it was irresponsible for the commissioners to approve the purchase or to float a loan to Snow Hill before there was a detailed business plan.

Bunting also criticized the fact that the initial proposal for the county to buy the riverboat -- it passed on a 5-2 vote of the commissioners last month -- came from the county’s assistant director of economic development.

“She and her husband were owners of the boat.

We hired her for a six to 12-month tenure and this was the result,” calling the situation a “classic conflict of interest” that never should have been allowed to occur.

“This really is the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my years as a commissioner,” he said.

In its intial iteration, the plan was to have the riverboat ply the river between Snow Hill and Pocomoke City, to boost tourism in both towns.

Bunting says he favors economic development in both communities, but this “isn’t going to do it.”

He said the top speed of the boat is 5 miles per hour, which means it literally will take hours for a one-way trip from Snow Hill to Pocomoke and more hours for a return trip.

“Who’s going to want to spend a day on a riverboat,” Bunting said.

October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 33 improvement except roofs and additions. I work with Don a lot, but not all of our jobs are comingled,” he said.

Rhoads is proud one of his product lines, Birch Cabinets, custom made with all materials from the United States. “Nothing is made in China,” he said.

Many customers like the simple design of Shaker-style cabinets and the trend in countertops is quartz.

“When customers get new countertops, I like

By SUSAN CANFORA to see the joy on people’s faces, Contributing Writer how it went from the 1970s look ntegrity, above all, is important to to the present day look,” he said.

Don Robertson and Ted Rhoads.

Pipeline works with veterans, “I will sell you nothing. I will who can get grants to remodel educate you and meet your needs but I their homes. In 2017, Rhoads won’t sell you something you don’t need,” said, his company installed said Robertson, who owns SeaFloor a ramp and lift for a man Flooring in Ocean Pines. with Parkinson’s Disease and “I will walk away if I think a job is remodeled his bathroom. wrong. I have told people, ‘I wouldn’t “That was probably the touch those floors.’ I had a guy whose most rewarding job we ever did house was full of hardwood floors and because it gave a guy freedom in he wanted to cover it and wanted carpet. his house. To see this man start He said because of their age and frailty. crying. It was just so rewarding.

So, I had a carpet that would not harm That’s why I got into it, to help his hardwood floors. They were non-slip. people. It’s the same as Don’s And if he ever moved, he could take philosophy, ‘I’m not here to sell them with him. you anything,’” he said.

“I have to live with myself,” Robertson Robertson said when he was said. interviewed by a reporter for “That’s right. I have to sleep at a story on a local TV station, night,” added Rhoads, owner of then was a guest on a talk show, Pipeline Contracting, who will work the host told him sometimes with Robertson in the 26,000-squarehe meets guests and gets an foot building in the Manklin Station immediate good feeling and shopping plaza. that’s what happened when he Ted Rhoades of Pipeline Contracting, a home improvement business, and Don RobThe staff will be moving into the met Robertson. ertson, of SeaFloor Flooring, share a new 26,000-square-foot building in Manklin expansive structure, recently built in Station, near the Ocean Pines South Gate.

“Somebody might come in and the parking lot near the current, smaller want to redo the kitchen and store that’s in the plaza. The move was originally for not charging a customer when he returned to bathroom and they pick out a floor. We can do the scheduled for July but there were delays. his home to pull a carpet tighter, to straighten entire project here,” he said.

Robertson is careful to ask customers about A variety of flooring, cabinets and countertops areas where it buckled. will be for sale and on display there and customers “I don’t want the emphasis on money instead of their needs and desires, if they rent or own and can get financing. The warehouse will be on site the customer. The concept is to do everything we if they are upgrading in preparation to sell. The instead of a few miles away as is currently. can for the customer. It’s not like buying a car. It’s warranty on workmanship, he said, is “as long as Tidewater Physical Therapy of Ocean Pines personal. I want it to be enjoyable, an enjoyable you own the property and I’m in business.”

Robertson said costs vary widely, with kitchen will move into the current SeaFloor space. experience,” he said.

Robertson doesn’t own the other large building “Here it’s a one-stop shop for remodeling upgrades ranging from $12,000 to $40,000 and that recently went up in that parking lot, near – cabinets, flooring, countertops, faucets, flooring from $2,000 to $25,000.

“But we will still do a $500 job. We do both A Bagel And … A dentist will occupy part of the hardware,” said Rhoads, who, with his wife Pam, space and the contractor will build to suit other met Robertson and his wife Vanessa in 2016 at large and small jobs,” Robertson said.

And once the work is finished, the homeowners tenants, Robertson said. a home show in Ocean City and joined him in Sea Floor has four design consultants. One of business a year later. Their displays were near “feels like a king in his castle, a queen in her home,” he said with sweep of his hand. them, Sonya Frable, explained, “we have rugs, each other at that home show.

“They look at it and say, ‘Oh, I didn’t think my tiles, area rugs, all made to customize. There are When a guest asked Robertson if he could at least 50 designs. Some are area rugs and some help with wallpapering, Robertson, Rhoads carpets were that bad until we saw this.’ It’s one you can get wall to wall,” she said. remembered with a laugh, “walked over and said, of the greatest compliments I get in the work we Jenn Wolf is also a design consultant. Nate ‘Here. This guy will do a great job for you.’ He do,” he said.

“My motto is ‘Never install something in your Croyle is project manager and goes on site to make didn’t know me from Adam. A couple hours later sure contractors and customers are coordinated he walked over with another couple and said, home that I wouldn’t have in my own home,’” and communicating well.

‘This guy does great work. He will help you,’ he Robertson said.

Even the black Labrador Retriever he had, Rick Berkeridge is warehouse manager. His said, still smiling at the memory. wife, Tabby Berkeridge is accountant.

Later, he asked Robertson what made him Bastian, and the lab he now has, Abby, admire Robertson opened Sea Floor in 2016 after bestow such a glowing recommendation and he his floors.

“The joke is, we tell people, ‘All these floors are being in the flooring business 35 years. said, “I just had a feel for it.’ He says he discovered lab approved,’” he said.

“I don’t like to be told how to do things wrong,” me,” Rhoads said. he said, recalling being chastised by an employer “For the average customer we can do any home

I

34 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

CAPTAIN’S COVE

October 2020

ESVBA, Captain’s Cove association join forces to lay fiber optic cable along Captain’s Corridor Hearn signs easement; developer fees not involved in latest venture

By TOM STAUSS Publisher t last there seems to be some good news about prospects for high speed Internet coming to Captain’s Cove. Much uncertainty remains, but an important first step has occurred with the offer

by Eastern Shore of Virginia Broadband Authority to extend fiber optic cable from the front entrance of the Cove on State Line Road to Dock Court and the nearby Marina Club.

Funding for that portion of the Captain’s Corridor loop is coming from Accomack County’s share of a federal CARES Act grant, according to Cove president Tim Hearn, who added that CARES Act funding would be used to create Internet wifi hot spots at the Marina Club and

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yet to be identied locations in Captain Cove.

The second half of the Captain’s Corridor loop, from Dock Court to the back entrance to Captain’s Cove, also on State Line Road, would be funded up to a cost of $30,000 by the Captain’s Cove property owners association.

The Cove board of directors, in action taken late last month, voted 2-1 to contribute to the installation of so-called dark cable along Captain’s Corridor. Directors Pat Pelino and John Costello voted in favor, while Rosemary Hall voted against. Dawn Wagner, the board’s alternate member, was in favor but technically did not have a formal vote.

All other directors recused themselves, apparently out of conflict of

interest concerns, according to Hall in a post on the Cove’s property owner Web site.

Hearn disclosed that he had signed a right of way agreement on Oct. 9 on behalf of the Cove association, formally known as the Captain’s Cove Golf and Yacht Club, that would authorize ESVBA to install dark fiber optic cable the full length of Captain’s Corridor using existing electric poles. No cable will be installed underground, and no equipment will be installed on land owned by the Cove developer, CCG Group or its afiliated companies, Hearn said.

This means that there will be no issue involving some sort of franchise or access fee levied on ESVBA for this phase of the project, Hearn

Cindy Welsh

said, alluding to an issue that some critics have said contributed to the failure of previous efforts to bring high speed Internet to Captain’s Cove.

Hearn said that the availability of so-called “dark cable” is the critical first step in bringing workable high speed Internet to the Cove. A next important step, he said, is for the Cove board and a working committee chaired by Wagner to make decisions regarding Internet Service Providers. That panel had a meeting Oct. 9 to discuss ways and means of bringing high speed Internet to the Cove, identified as a significant need for homeowners, especially those who operate businesses out of their homes.

ISPs turn “dark” fiber optic cable into useful technology that allows homeowners to connect to the Internet at high speeds, while allowing ISP customers to purchase various video programming packages ranging from Sling, Google TV, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and many others.

Hearn said that ESVBA might at some point become an ISP, and there have been reports that Cove board

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CAPTAIN’S COVE member and developer representative Jim Silfee has had discussions with Spectrum Charter to become an ISP in Captain’s Cove.

Hearn said it might be possible for multiple ISPs to provide service in the community. He said that ESVBA has a deadline of installing fiber optic cable along Captain’s Corridor and creating hotspots by the end of December, a fairly tight deadline.

He noted that Accomack County government is very keen on creating the hotspots so that school-aged kids without home access to the Internet can be accommodated.

Once fiber optic is installed along Captain’s Corridor, Hearn said another important step will be the creation of so-called “micro-communities” of Internet users down the many miles of side streets off Captain’s Corridor.

During the Oct. 9 committee meeting, members discussed how to identify and create these micro-communities, which in turn would be working with ISPs to make high speed Internet available.

These micro-communities would be involved with extending additional fiber optic lines down the side streets. Hearn said it’s possible that additional CARES Act funding will be available for this purpose, but that is yet to be determined.

Alone among the Cove directors, Rosemary Hall opposed the vote by the board to provide for up to $30,000 for installing cable along a portion of Captain’s Corridor.

“I voted against because I felt that the expenditure required a proposal from Virginia Broadband to support the expenditure and there was none to offer to the BOD members. I ask you, would you spend this kind of money for something that you had nothing that supported the expenditure? I wouldn’t so I could not sanction voting for it.

“This all smells bad and you should not put up with it...it’s your money they are spending,” she said.

Billy Casper Golf agreement -- Hearn disclosed that the agreement that allows Billy Casper Golf to operate the golf course as a licensee has been executed. The licensing agreement provides that BCG will operate the pro shop and maintain the course, with the Cove subsidizing course maintenance in the amount of $200,000 per year.

Under the licensing agreement, all revenues generated by the course is kept by BCG to offset its operating expenses other than course maintenance.

October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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37

COMMENTARY

Riverboat project needs another look

Y

ou can say this about the two individuals, Chip Bertino and Jim Bunting, who represent Ocean Pines on the Worcester County Board of County Commissioners: They often see issues the same way, and they’re not afraid to voice differences with their colleagues. How well do they represent their constituents? Quite well, probably, if one assumes that their brand of common-sense conservative governance reflects that of the Ocean Pines community writ large.

One recent issue highlights this willingness to break with their colleagues on the commission.

They were in lockstep in vehement opposition to what arguably is the worst financial decision made by county government in recent memory, facilitiating the purchase by the Town of Snow Hill of a riverboat that, assuming it is seaworthy enough to make it down the Chesapeake Bay from Havre De Grace, where it’s been moored, lonely and unused, in a state of poor repair, for at least a year, and then can make it all the way up to Snow Hill from the twisty Pocomoke River.

Given that the Black Eyed Susan is all of 180 feet, and the Pocomoke River has what appears to be 90-degree turns in places, it’s going to be quite a navigational feat to get this floating nightmare from Point A to Point B. Perhaps the county can place an ad on Craigs List to find a tugboat captain to assist.

By all accounts, the boat needs a lot of

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October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

O

maintenance, so much that Bunting tells the Progress that he believes the electrical system would have to be completely rebuilt to pass a county inspection, and as for kitchen facilities, he doesn’t think they can ever be brought up to where it can be functional for on-board meal preparation.

The alternative may be meals catered from a Snow Hill restaurant, or maybe the crew can have direct lines to Grubhub or Doordash with delivery by canoe. The possibilities are endless.

They’re all going to make turning a profit on this enterprise all the more daunting a prospect.

When county pencil pushers first proposed that the county use federal CARES Act money to buy the riverboat outright, from the assistant economic director of the county and her husband, it was Bertino and Bunting who pointed out what should have been obvious to all: the CARES Act is for covid-related expenses and this did not even come close to qualifying.

And yet this bone-headed maneuver passed in a 5-2 vote. And as Bunting said, the situation appeared to him as an odorous, classic (and colossal) conflict of interest. Who was looking out for the interests of taxpayers when this acquisition was conceived?

Not to be deterred by the CARES Act obstacle, supporters then regrouped and proposed that the commissioners loan $400,000 to the Town

of Snow Hill for the purchase and renovation of the boat that surely will give the commissioners and Snow Hill office-holders a black eye as this floating debacle proceeds.

Commissioners Bertino and Bunting seem to be the only clear-eyed commissioners on this issue.

They were the only ones arguing, if not begging, for a business plan before county tax dollars were committed to this acquisition.

Mesmerized by the shiny prospects for jumpstarting tourism in southern regions of the county, their colleagues shrugged off the sort of business analysis that any banker worth his salt would make before loaning money to a speculative enterprise.

Here’s a suggestion: Snow Hill leaders should contact the Matt Ortt Companies, operators of successful Ocean Pines bar and restaurant venues, to see if there’s even a hint of a prayer of turning the Black Eyed Susan into a profitable venture.

MOC has a well earned track record of turning unprofitable enterprises into profitable ones, so its unbiased and unfettered independent analysis might serve to bring the powers that be back to sober reality.

If the answer is there’s no hope all, then Snow Hill should cut its losses and return whatever is left of the $400,000 back to the county. -- Tom Stauss

Casino overlay zone better than a classic rezoning

cean Pines’ two county commissioners seem to be leaning against the proposed casino overlay rezoning that will be the subject of a public hearing and perhaps even a vote Oct. 20 in Snow Hill.

This issue should be of interest to Ocean Pines residents, as the casino/racetrack complex is roughly two miles away from Ocean Pines down Route 589.

It is, as they say, a road heavily traveled.

At an earlier informational meeting on the proposed rezoning, both made comments that suggested that when the proposal comes up for a vote, their approval is not very likely.

Later, in a response to a questions from the Progress, Jim Bunting went a little further and said he was opposed to the overlay zone as it has been presented.

He apparently is not convinced by the favorably recommendation of the overlay zoning already bestowed by the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission and the county’s planning staff.

Casino General Manager Bobbi Sample and Ed Tudor, the county’s director of development review and permitting, both make strong cases for why the overlay zoning should be approved.

One can hope that Ocean Pines’ two county commissioners will reflect further and not lock

themselves down against a concept for developing the casino site that would give the county and the commissioners greater control over that process than the alternative.

In the end, it really is a binary choice between the overlay zone and a more conventional commercial rezoning of the agricultural parcels within the casino/racetrack complex.

That there is even any agricultural parcels left in the complex is odd in itself, a byproduct of the incremental development of the property over the years, initially as a racetrack only and eventually a casino and then a casino that contains tables games.

The property’s mix of commercial and agricultural is an anomaly that clearly is a “mistake” in zoning or a reflection of the zoning out of character with the neighborhood.

Should the overlay rezoning fail, the Ocean Downs owners would be well within their rights to file for a commercial rezoning that would convert all the agricultural parcels into commercial parcels, establishing the consistency that is lacking there now.

The mistake in existing zoning or zoning out of character with the neighborhood are the usual reasons for a rezoning to occur. Given approved spot rezonings along Route 589 over the years, including parcels right across the highway

from Ocean Downs on McAlister Road within the past year, conventional rezoning of the casino/ racetrack complex is all but guaranteed.

Is there a better way?

Tudor and the planning department seem to think so, and they convinced Sample and her team that the overlay rezoning was the way to go.

Ocean Downs was cooperating with the county bureaucrats, attempting to be a good corporate citizen, when the more conventional commercial rezoning might have been the more expeditious route to achieve their purposes.

It seems somewhat unfair and unseemly for the commissioners to reject the overlay rezoning when it was pushed on the applicants by their own staff.

This is something that Bertino and Bunting might want to consider when they ponder the path forward.

What is the advantage of the overlay rezoning over the alternative? Arguably, it gives the county somewhat more control over discrete future development on the property, from hotels to other entertainment-related activities.

Reportedly, traffic studies could be required whenever a new phase of development is proposed, something that might not be required q

36 Ocean Pines PROGRESS October 2020

OPINION

38 Ocean Pines PROGRESS October 2020

October 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

39

Andre Jordan deserves better from OPA

I

n one of the more heart-wrenching “personnel matters” to hit these precincts in some time, 35-year-employee Andre Jordan has lost his job as golf course superintendent for health reasons.

He didn’t quit or retire. There was no “separation agreement” that covered severance pay, unexxpired vacation pay, or any other benefit that a 35-year employee, a department head no less, might expect on his way out.

He had been out on medical leave since June, and he readily admits he hasn’t been able to work and probably won’t be able to work for the remainder of his life as he fights a rare condition that doctors are doing their best to treat.

So it really was no surprise that the OPA would decide that it was time to part ways with an employee who is as likable and, when his health allowed, as hard-working as you could ever want in an employee.

He was old-school, willing to put in whatever hours were needed to get the job done.

He served as course superitendent under former General Manager Bob Thompson, went over to the Public Works Department for a few years under various course operators and successor GMs, and then was brought back to the role of course superintendent under former acting manager Brett Hill.

No one had complaints about course conditions when he was there on the job. A few years ago, he and his staff uncovered about 50 irrigation drains on the course, clogged from years of apathy or inattention by his predeccesors. Once cleaned out, these drains did what they were supposed to do.

More recently, he was elected to the Eastern Shore Golf Magazine’s Golf Hall of Fame. If there was any

this some thought?

His “exit interview” published elsewhere An excursion through the curious cul-de-sacs An excursion through theby-ways curious and by-ways and cul-de-sacs in this edition lays all it out. of Worcester County’s County’s most densely community. of Worcester mostpopulated densely populated community.

Andre Jordan deserves better

By TOM STAUSS/

By TOM Publisher STAUSS/Publisher than the back-of-the-hand he’s been blemish on his record as course a departure agreement with Andre, given so far.

The OPA now has a functioning superintendent, it’s doubtful this including a severance package that award would have been bestowed. befits a 35-year employee of the Human Resources Department that Andre acknowledges that after OPA, in accord with specific lan- needs to step up and remedy a situation that never should have oca summer and early fall of not be- guage in the employee handbook? curred in the first place. ing able to fullfill the role of course This isn’t rocket science.

Is the employee handbook a superinendent, the OPA had every This is just common courtesy, right to find a permanent replace- treating someone the way you would meaningless document that is gathment. want to be treated if the roles were ering dust on a shelf somewhere, to That must hurt to admit, but it’s reversed. And treating this person be ignored when it might cost the a truth he accepts. the way someone who literally lived OPA a few bucks to honor?

The remedy is obvious and overBeyond that point of understand- on that golf course for decades dedue. ing, though, there are only hurt feel- serves to be treated.

Call the man up and apologize for ings and recriminations, a sense of This and some earned vacation betrayal. pay is all he’s asking for. Severance a grotesque lack of judgment.

Get a departure agreement done.

Absent a sepration agreement pay that he was promised. The OPA Pay him the severance he’s owed. that would have provided a dignified keeping its word to a long-standing And if and when his health aland respectful retirement, what Jor- employee who proved his loyalty lows, give him the send-off he dedan received was a letter informing over many years. serves. him of the OPA’s decision to termiHe deserves more.

The new golf clubhouse would be nate his employment.

Apparently there is “word on the He doesn’t try to sugarcoat it. street” that some nameless OPA lu- the ideal venue.

Is anyone listening? Let’s hope so.

Absent a letter of resignation or minaries blame Andre for deteroriLet’s not be giving out raises to notice of retirement, his termina- aed conditions on golf course greens tion to him means only one thing: this past August. Impossible, as he anyone in the OPA without first takHe was fired. was out on sick leave. A statement ing care of Andre.

It’s hard to argue with that logic. absolving him of all blame is in orAnd newsflash to anyone who hasn’t der. experienced it: It hurts to be told But he deserves even more than you’re expendable. that from the OPA. The only thing that General ManFormer Police Chief of Police ager John Viola will say on the mat- Dave Massey was given at least two ter, probably on legal advice, is that going-away parties when he retired The Ocean Pines Progress, a journal Andre wasn’t fired. He doesn’t try to a few months ago. of news and commentary, is pubamplify, explain or put the issue into Given Andre’s health condition, a lished monthly throughout the year. any kind of context. farewell party might not have been It is circulated in Ocean Pines, BerAbsent that, we only have Andre’s immediately advisable in his case. lin, Ocean City, and Captain’s Cove, version of what transpired.

Then again, with acceptable soVa. And that version isn’t pretty. cial distancing, and as his condition Not pretty it all. seems to be improving, it’s possible 127 Nottingham Lane Given what Andre has coura- that a farewell of this nature would Ocean Pines, MD 21811 geously put on the record, this ques- be appropriate and very much aption needs to be asked of the OPA: preciated.

PUBLISHER/EDITOR Why wasn’t an effort made to draft Did anyone with the OPA give

LIFE IN THE LIFE INPINES THE PINES

Commentary From Page 37

under the more conventional commercial zoning.

Granted, traffic studies usually if not always show what those who pay for them want them to show, a point Bertino made in a meeting last month.

If commissioners decide that traffic studies are worthless, then they should communicate that to staff so they in turn can inform applicants. That way, developers in the future who want to do business in the county can avoid the expense of alleged traffic experts.

Ocean Downs executives seems willing to undergo what may or may not be a sham process regarding traf-

fic studies. Tudor has also suggested some utility in other features of overlay zoning, details of which seems somewhat hazy, but again if Ocean Downs is willing to go along, then what is the point really in making the casino owners restart the process with more conventional commercial rezoning?

Bertino and Bunting expressed concern about increased traffic on Route 589 should their colleagues approve overlay rezoning. There is no reason to suspect increased traffic would not result when development occurs under conventional zoning. So what, really, is achieved by opposing the overlay? In the end, not very much. -- Tom Stauss

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