Perrone selected OPA president in 4-3 vote by board
August 2020
Larry Perrone was elected by his colleagues in an Aug. 12 organizational meeting of the Board of Directors to serve as president of the Ocean Pines Association for the coming year. The vote was 4-3. Voting for Perrone were directors Colette Horn, Frank Daly and Camille Rogers. Voting for Steve Tuttle were Tom Janasek and Doug Parks, with Perrone and Tuttle voting for themselves. ~Page 6
OPA members OK electronic voting by two to one margin Ocean Pines Association members have endorsed electronic voting in annual OPA board of directors elections by a two to one margin, but that doesn’t mean it will happen in 2021 elections. ~ Page 10
COVER STORY
Perrone says OPA may need community referendum for Bainbridge Park drainage project New OPA president says that $550,000 in initial tranche of state funding won’t cover project cost By TOM STAUSS Publisher n remarks shortly after being elected president of the Ocean Pines Association on Aug. 12, Larry Perrone announced that the $550,000 received last month in a grant for the Bainbridge park drainage project will be insuffiicient to cover its estimated cost. Perrone suggested that the difference between the estimated cost and the grant might have to be covered by OPA members. “It now appears that it may become a referendum issue,” Perrone said. “We’re planning, in September, to have the General Manager give a complete presentation on the scope of that project, the cost, the funding, the impact on our profit and loss statement, and the impact on our homeowners’ assessments.” Perrone said that while “we were fortunate to get a grant of approximately $550,000, my understanding is that is about a third of what we were hoping for and the project cost has grown recently,” he continued. “It’s an issue that needs to be brought to the community’s attention.” Perrone added there may be more grant funds available next year, but, “this whole project may exceed our referendum number.”
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GM ‘interference’ in presidential selection alleged The Board of Directors has scheduled a closed session on Monday, Aug. 17, to hear a complaint that General Manager John Viola may have interfered in the election for board president in the Aug. 12 organizational meeting by influencing “swing vote” Camille Rogers in her decision to vote for Larry Perrone. Possible interference in the election by Viola was alleged by Director Tom Janasek, who told the Progress that there is written evidence that Rogers had discussed the competing candidacies of Perrone and former vice-president Steve Tuttle with Viola and was influenced by Viola. ~ Page 8
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“Because of the size of this project, my preference would be to make sure that the community is aware of what we’re talking about here,” he said. “Up to this point, I think everyone felt … that the $550,000 was going to be the amount of money to do the project – and it’s not even close.” Larry Perrone Perrone said he hoped many people from the community would attend the Sept. 9 Board meeting when the issue will be discussed. “This is a very important issue and it could be a very expensive issue,” he said. The Progress has learned that the estimated cost of the project is $2.2 million. The project includes piping stormwater from the Bainbridge Park pond across Beauchamp Road to a holding pond that would be built on property owned by Bluewater Consulting, which plans to build a single-family development on the property to be called Evergreen. Stormwater after filtering To Page 5
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