August 2016
www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress
443-359-7527
OPA Board Election Coverage Pages 4-10
Board endorses shift to universal sign-up for racquet sports
THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY
ANNUAL OPA ELECTION OPA members elect Hill, Trendic, and Supik to Board of Directors
Thompson blocks access to Election Committee’s vote count meeting
By TOM STAUSS By TOM STAUSS Publisher Hill Trendic Supik Publisher rett Hill, Slobodan Trendic and Patricia Supik were our candidates and Tom Herrick, the Board of Directors’ elected to the Board of Directors in results announced liaison to the Ocean Pines Association’s Elections during the Aug. 13 annual meeting of the Ocean Pines Committee, showed up to witness the committee’s vote Association. count of the OPA’s summer board elections on Aug. 12, only Hill was the top vote-getter with 1,900 votes, followed by to find the doors already closed and the committee conducting Trendic with 1,520 votes and Supik with 1,428 votes. They the annual count in closed session as it had always intended. were elected to three-year terms on the board, replacing reControversy over the count has been intensifying for weeks, tiring directors Tom Terry, Bill Cordwell and Jack Collins. with candidates Slobodan Trendic and Brett Hill leading the Terry was ineligible to seek reelection because of term limits, charge for an open vote count, and Tom Janasek, Doug Parks Cordwell decided not to run, and Collins was defeated in his and Steve Lind entering the fray. They were joined more reelection bid. recently by Herrick, who in a letter to his colleagues urged Frank Daly finished fourth with 1,028 votes, Steve Lind them to remove Bill Wentworth, the committee chairman, from placed fifth with 875 votes, George Simon Jr. had 816 votes the meeting in which the vote count would occur. and sixth place, and Collins recorded 782 votes and finished Herrick, highly incensed by a report in a local weekly in 7th. which Wentworth referred to the open-count candidates and Tom Janasek was in 8th place with 770 votes, Doug Parks Herrick as “nuts” and “goofballs,” asked his colleagues in finished 9th with 576 votes, and Larry Perrone recorded 342 writing whether he, as the committee liaison, was authorized votes and finished tenth. Former director Ray Unger placed to witness the count first hand. Herrick said Wentworth should 11th with 242 votes. not be allowed to oversee the count. The election of Hill and Trendic could trigger a seismic OPA President Pat Renaud, apparently with the support shift on the board, with control migrating back to a majori- of directors Cheryl Jacobs, Tom Terry and Bill Cordwell, told ty that has been skeptical of Thompson’s management of the Herrick in a return letter that they felt no sitting director OPA in recent years. Trendic in particular during this sum- should be involved in the election process, including counting mer’s election season made no secret of the fact that he wants of the ballots. Renaud’s letter didn’t address Herrick’s demand to replace Thompson as general manager as soon as possible. that Wentworth be removed as the individual overseeing the Hill stopped short of that in his public statements this count. summer. Carry-over directors Tom Herrick and Dave Stevens Herrick and the five candidates proposed a compromise of have also routinely challenged Thompson this past year, with sorts, suggesting a “neutral third party” as an alternative to Stevens’ clashes dating back much longer. Herrick attending as a witness, provided that the third party Supik, on the other hand, is thought to be a solid support- be acceptable to both sides. They continued to insist that er of Thompson, who has spoken highly of Supik’s two-year Wentworth not be allowed to attend because of concern that, tenure as chair of the influential Budget and Finance Advi- in a recent meeting of the committee prior to the counting of sory Committee. She joins the pro-Thompson wing of Pat Re- ballots, the chairman had demonstrated clear bias against naud, OPA president this past year, and Cheryl Jacobs, who some of the candidates running for the board this summer. has served as vice-president. With the departure of Terry and This time it was OPA General Counsel Joe Moore who Cordwell, what had been a pro-Thompson majority is now in responded to a formal letter from Herrick offering the “neutral the minority. A similar shift occurred last summer, only in third party” option. Moore, again not responding to the request reverse, continuing the pattern of recent years. that Wentworth be removed from the process, told Herrick that To Page 5 To Page 4
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Despite objections from the general manager, the Board of Directors narrowly voted to adopt a universal sign-up date of May 1 for all Ocean Pines Association racquet sports memberships. Under the change all memberships will run from May 1 to April 30 of the following year. ~ Page 13
Director offers reason for testy relations with golf contractor In a lengthy memo to Board of Directors colleagues and General Manager Bob Thompson dated July 31, retiring director Tom Terry blames a poorly drafted contract with “no teeth” in part for current testy relations between the OPA and the Landscapes Unlimited, the Nebraska-based company that is in second year of managing the Ocean Pines golf course for the A ssociation. ~ Page 22
Directors spar over reserve fund levels, far from agreement The Board of Directors debated at length but in the end came no closer to acting on the general manager’s recommendations for funding Ocean Pines Association reserves during a special meeting July 20. Much of the meeting was taken up with a presentation by General Manager Bob Thompson on his proposals for reserve funding. The presentation confirmed details first published in the Progress’ July 2016 edition about a “secret” Thompson memo distributed to directors in June but not released to property owners and the media. ~ Page 34
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