Farr unhappy with Horn on by-laws vote Director Richard Farr is objecting to language on board candidate eligibility and the term “owner of record” proposed by By-laws and Resolutions Advisory Committee during a March 12 public hearing. The proposed changes were approved by the Board of Director March 23. Farr is also taking exception to OPA President Colette Horn’s March 17 statement in which she said the two proposed changes suggested by the committee had been voted on via email by the directors and had been approved for inclusion in the referendum by all seven directors. Neither statement is true.
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Lakernick rebuffed in attempts to join advisory panels Whoever would have thought that it’s this difficult securing an advisory committee slot in Ocean Pines. After the Board of Directors in a 2-3 vote Feb. 23 rejected the application of Stuart Lakernick to join the Strategic Plan Advisory Committee, he vowed to try again for membership. When that effort failed, he submitted an application for membership on the Search Committee, tasked with finding candidates to run for the OPA board. But this attempt failed, too, with OPA President Colette Horn pulling his nomination at the March 23 board meeting.
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April 2022
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PROGRESS THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY
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Proposed by-law changes encounter push-back at March 12 hearing Opponents urge Board of Directors not to go to referendum, but it appears the ballots will be mailed out soon with return due by the end of April By TOM STAUSS Publisher o one attending the March 12 Town Hall meeting at the golf clubhouse either in person or remotely endorsed the proposed slate of Ocean Pines Association by-laws changes. Some in the room no doubt favored some if not all of the proposed changes, but it was the nay-sayers who dominated. Indeed, the testimony offered was uniformly negative, with several speakers urging the Board of Directors to hold off on conducting a referendum that would ask OPA members to vote on the proposed changes. There is no indication that the board is taking that suggestion seriously. Indeed, the likelihood is that the referendum will take place as planned for some time by the board. Ballots were to be mailed out before the end of March, with completed ballots on individual by-laws changes due back by the end of April. It’s not clear that time-line will be met, however. Elections Committee Chair Carol Ludwig in a brief
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phone conversation on March 23 told the Progress that the committee was awaiting the language of the proposed amendments that were being drafted in final form by OPA counsel Jeremy Tucker. During the March 12 meeting, By-laws and Resolutions Committee chair Jim Trummel, who by and large supports the proposed changes, since many of them were initially suggested by his panel, asked for a change in the definition of “owner of record” in the context of eligibility to run for election to the Board of Directors. As initially drafted by Director Frank Daly, the owner of record” definition in a proposed by-law change includes both legal (with a name on a property deed) and equitable owners, those who may own property through a corporate entity, partnership, or trust. Daly’s proposed definition included trustees and co-trustees but excludeds trust beneficiaries. Trummel on behalf of his committee urged the directors to exclude representatives of corporate entities or To Page 3
Four former OPA directors to vote ‘No’ on by-laws referendum ~ Page 6