410-641-6029
Vol. 9, No. 9
December 2013 - Early January 2014
www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress GM rebuffs panel offer to help with budget prep In an apparent downturn in relations between the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee and General Manager Bob Thompson, the Ocean Pines Association’s chief executive officer seems to be rebuffing an offer by the panel to assist him and his staff in preparing the Fiscal Year 2014 budget, due for delivery to the board of directors in early January. Committee chair Dennis Hudson told the Progress in a Dec. 9 telephone interview that as of that date Thompson had not invited him and his committee to assist in developing revenue projections for the administration’s draft 2014 budget. ~ Page 8
Board ponies up extra $385,000 for Yacht Club kitchens Conceding that they had little choice but to proceed with the more expensive option even though it will put the project significantly over budget, all but one of the OPA directors agreed to include professionally designed commercial kitchens in the Ocean Pines Association’s new Yacht Club. The expenditure increases the cost of the overall Yacht Club project by $385,000, taking it to just short of $4.8 million. Following a work session to review the design parameters for the two kitchens, one each on the first and second floors, the board on Nov. 20 voted to move forward with purchasing $456,000 worth of restaurant equipment and new range hoods. ~ Page 10
Board guidance calls for hiring of assistant GM
It took a little longer than most years but the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors, during their regular monthly meeting Nov. 20, finally got around to passing Fiscal Year 2014-15 budget guidance, a set of instructions to General Manager Bob Thompson and Controller Art Carmine as they assemble a proposed budget to be presented for review in January and adoption this February. Only Director Marty Clarke opposed the budget guidance as written, which for the most part tracks budget guidance for the past five years. ~ Page 14
THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY
General manager unveils comprehensive ten-year capital improvement plan By TOM STAUSS Publisher he long-awaited comprehensive ten-year capital improvement plan including a so-called rackand-stack of major capital projects finally was distributed by Ocean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson to members of the Board of Directors’ at their Nov. 20 monthly meeting. There was no reaction by the directors and indeed Thompson was not expecting one. As for the OPA members, they were out of luck: No copies, no summary, not even an announcement that the draft – and it is a working draft, nothing more – would be posted on the OPA Web site. By the second week of December, it had not yet been posted.
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If all the projects are funded – and that’s a big if – the OPA would be spending $16,832,060 in today’s dollars for them. That number is very much a rough number, a moving target, subject to change over time as the board changes the project list. The Progress obtained a copy the day after Thompson released it to the board, with Thompson saying he was only doing so because association documents have to be released to OPA members under the Maryland Homeowners Association Act. He gave the distinct impression that he would have preferred not to release it, perhaps with the idea that a delay would give the directors more time to read and digest it, and perhaps before reaction, both positive and negative, would have an opportunity to pick up
energy, some of it no doubt directed at its more controversial components. The draft plan includes a table of proposed projects and their estimated costs projected over ten years. If all the projects are funded – and that’s a big if – the OPA would be spending $16,832,060 in today’s dollars for them. That number in all fairness to Thompson is very much a rough number, a moving target, subject to change over time as the board changes the project list. To Page 18
Thompson proposes new police station, Community Center fitness facility
By TOM STAUSS
Publisher ear two in the draft Capital Improvement Plan distributed to the Board of Directors Nov. 20 calls for proposed projects costing $2.63 million. It’s an ambitious, even aggressive, plan that Ocean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson has come up with for the year after next, Fiscal Year 2015-16. It targets the White Horse Park campus, the Manklin Meadows complex, the Beach Club and Country Club campuses for attention, with the proposal for the White Horse Park campus likely to garner the most attention. There’s a fitness center proposed for the Assateague Room in the new Community Center, with shower facilities replacing the seldom used Community Center kitchen. There’s a new larger police department facility, 3,000 square feet in area, to be appended to the existing 1,700 square foot police station; the old police station would be converted into a meeting space to replace the Assateague Room for smaller events.
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Larger events, such as the OPA annual meeting, would be shifted to the Community Center gym, according to Thompson. The draft CIP estimates $350,000 for a new fitness center and $500,000 for
Yacht Club progress
the new police station addition. Thompson’s draft CIP attempts to justify the larger space for the Ocean Pines Police Department on the basis of To Page 19
The new Yacht Club progressed well during the first and second week of December despite some bad weather Dec. 9 and 10. Second floor wall sheathing was almost complete, as were trusses. Fill dirt for the pavers on the marina side of the building was spread. Roof sheathing passed county inspection, and plumbing rough-in was reported about half done.