December 2014 ocean pines progress

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December 2014 - Early January 2015

www.OceanPinesToday.com

Vol. 10, No. 9

www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress One golf course lease proposal submitted With just one out of five proposals for Ocean Pines golf course management including a lease option, the three-member working group that is vetting and leveling the proposals apparently will not make be making a recommendation to the Board of Directors on which of the proposals the panel prefers. The task force, including OPA Directors Jack Collins and Tom Terry, submitted a document containing a ranking of the proposals in early December to OPA President Dave Stevens. ~ Page 8

Yacht Club manager terminated by GM Ocean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson delivered the news to OPA President Dave Stevens late on the morning of Friday, Nov. 14, by telephone: Yacht Club Food and Beverage Manager Dave McLaughlin had been relieved of his responsibilities overseeing the Ocean Pines amenity earlier that day. Members of the OPA Board of Directors received their first notice of Thompson’s decision via email delivered late in the day, Stevens said. ~ Page 14

Yacht Club regular dining business lags With some users still unhappy about the high cost and lack of special accommodations for community and civic events and daily dining business nearly non-existent, Ocean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson is searching for ways to turn around operations at its multi-million dollar new Yacht Club. ~ Page 19

GM defends OPPD against complaints General Manager Bob Thompson defended the Ocean Pines Association’s police department during his Nov. 13 town hall meeting against accusations by property owners that some officers are a little too zealous and offered his support for roadway safety projects. ~ Page 21

THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY

TRASH TALKIN’

Republic Services awarded trash collection contract, with slightly lower rates Optional containers for household trash can be leased for $1.20 per month. Once-a-week recycling collection is part of the new contract, and the recycling containers will be offered free to customers

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer new contractor will be collecting trash in Ocean Pines beginning early next year, and details of the service have been released after a conference call involving the new trash collection company and Ocean Pines officials, including General Manager Bob Thompson and Controller Art Carmine, in early December.

A request for proposals for trash and recycling services posted by the Ocean Pines Association in November left numerous questions unanswered by the four companies that bid on the contracts, including the contract winner, Republic Services, of Delmar, De. Many of those questions were answered in an e-mail blast sent out by the OPA public relations staff late on the afternoon of Dec. 5 and posted on the OPA Web site.

The new contract slightly lowers the monthly fees for

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household trash collection in Ocean Pines, to $15.70, payable in quarterly installments of $46.71 or one annual payment of $186.84.

Republic service is set to begin Jan. 2 for those who sign up by Dec. 19. The current twice-weekly Monday/ Thursday or Tuesday/Friday schedule remains. Pick-up of single-stream recyclable materials will now occur once a week, on the same day as the second weekly household collection, either Thursday or Friday. This is a change from the every-other-week recycling schedule implemented by the current vendor, Waste Management.

Republic customers will be able to lease an optional 95-gallon container from Republic for household trash at an additional monthly charge of $1.20, although they will To Page 21

OPA, Sandpiper achieve breakthrough in contract talks ~ Page 3

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OCEAN PINES

Energy company agrees to concept of franchise fee, although the parties were continuing to negotiate on the specifics. The propane supplier also reportedly has agreed to pay OPA legal fees incurred during the negotiations

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ceives each year from Mediacom, the cable, telephone and Internet supplier.

But in addition to that, the OPA natural gas working group, which includes Directors Tom Terry and OPA General Manager Bob Thompson, has been insisting that Sandpiper reimburse the OPA for legal expenses incurred thus far in the negotiations with Sandpiper. Last year, the board hired Salisbury attorney Steve Smethurst to represent it in discussions with Sandpiper.

“Calling it a negotiation at this point is a stretch,” Clarke said during the Nov. 22 meeting.

It was the apparent unwillingness of the OPA to continue negotiations that prompted Sandpiper to move a long way to the OPA position, Clarke told the Progress in early December.

The OPA also has been trying to obtain an acknowledgment from Sandpiper that a county-wide agreement that Sandpiper has in place with Worcester County for a natural gas roll-out does not supersede or obviate the need for the company to obtain a franchise agreement with the OPA that grants Sandpiper the right of way to use its gas pipelines buried on OPA-owned property.

In a recent letter to the OPA, Sandpiper indicated that if the two parties are unable to reach an accord on a new franchise agreement, the natural gas roll-out would be governed by the county’s agreement, something which the OPA working group flatly rejects.

Apparently Sandpiper is no longer insisting on that.

Finally, the OPA is asking for a for-

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mal turn-over agreement at the end of the 20 years that would grant the OPA ownership of the pipeline absent a new agreement or contract extension.

Apparently Sandpiper has agreed to that as well.

In late November, OPA President Dave Stevens drafted and sent a letter to Sandpiper detailing these positions.

The letter said the OPA would be unwilling to expend additional money attempting to obtain a new agreement.

However, there is at least one more legal service that Smethurst provided, at Clarke’s urging: He wanted any “final” letter to Sandpiper to be reviewed by Smethurst before it was sent out.

Clarke told the Progress recently that should Sandpiper attempt to rollout natural conversation without a new agreement, the OPA would probably go

to court in an attempt to prevent it. If the company doesn’t take any action to begin a natural gas roll-out, as seems to be the current policy, then the status quo of propane delivery through the existing pipe would mostly likely persist indefinitely with no litigation necessary, according to Clarke.

The OPA retains another lever to help persuade Sandpiper to submit a franchise draft that might achieve majority approval of the OPA directors. Recently, the OPA posted on its Web site an RFI, or request for information, on the cost of propane and related information from area propane vendors. As of the Nov. 22 meeting, there had been no response from vendors, which Stevens and Clarke blamed on poor wording in the RFI. Stevens suggested that the RFI be redrafted in simplified form so the OPA can disseminate information about propane pricing to Ocean Pines residents.

According to Clarke, in some cases Sandpiper is charging its Ocean Pines customers almost twice what other propane suppliers are charging their customers.

“You’re paying a premium for being on a pipeline,” Stevens said during the Nov. 22 board meeting.

In addition to posting the RFI on the OPA Web site, the OPA president said he would be drafting a press release advising residents of their options in ob-

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Sandpiper, OPA achieve breakthrough in pact to govern Ocean Pines natural gas roll-out

By TOM STAUSS Publisher fter a Nov. 22 meeting of the Ocean Pines Association’s Board of Directors, it appeared that differences over a new franchise agreement between the OPA and Sandpiper Energy, the exclusive purveyor of propane to Ocean Pines homes via pipeline, were even wider than previously reported. Without a new franchise agreement, plans for rolling out conversion to natural gas are effectively on indefinite hold.

But in early December, it appeared there had been a promising breakthrough, with Sandpiper indicating in a letter received by the OPA that it was now willing to negotiate a franchise fee with the OPA to allow it to continue to use its pipeline to bring propane and natural gas to its Ocean Pines customer base.

OPA Vice-President Marty Clarke said the letter indicates that Sandpiper is willing to pay the OPA’s legal fees of roughly $70,000 incurred during protracted contract negotiations.

There’s still some distance between the parties on how much a franchise fee should be, Clarke said, adding that he was “optimistic” that the parties would be able to reach an agreement. But the situation is “delicate,” he added, declining to specify precisely what the OPA is asking as a franchise fee.

It’s been known for some time that the OPA had been attempting to obtain a franchise fee as part of a new agreement, perhaps in the neighborhood of the same $150,000 that the OPA re-

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OPA seeks alternative to Sandpiper propane at pool

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OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January

halk it up as a win for Ocean Pines Association director Marty Clarke and for Ocean Pines property owners: At long last the OPA is seeking alternatives and better pricing for propane used at the indoor Sports Core swimming pool.

Clarke confirmed in a Dec. 4 telephone conversation that OPA General Manager Bob Thompson is seeking competitive bids as an alternative to propane purchased from Sandpiper Energy, which he said had been charging the OPA $2.96 per gallon at the indoor pool.

Clarke said that he had been trying for some time to obtain the Sandpiper pricing from Thompson, only to be ignored. Early in December, he decided to ask OPA President Dave Stevens to intervene on his behalf, and within 20 minutes Thompson responded with the current pricing, Clarke said.

The OPA director said he’s been on the phone with a number of propane suppliers in the area, one of whom quoted him a $2.09 per gallon commercial rate for limited usage, and a price that could fall below $2 for the kind of usage that is typical for the Sports Core pool.

Clarke raised the possibility of finding a less expensive alternative to Sandpiper last year, but Thompson didn’t act.

The possibility was raised again during the OPA Board of Directors’ Nov. 22 monthly meeting, and this time other directors joined Clarke in urging Thompson to find a better price for propane.

“I have no idea why he didn’t act a lot sooner than this,” Clarke said of Thompson. “This is kinda a no-brainer.”

Sandpiper From Page 3 taining propane service.

After Stevens said that the OPA was in effect offering propane vendors free advertising on the OPA Web site, Terry said the OPA had to be careful not to promote any particular company’s products.

“We’re not advertising other suppliers,” Terry said. “We’re doing our information (role). We can’t be endorsing” any particular vendor, he added.

With negotiations between the OPA and Sandpiper seemingly stalled, it appeared a new franchise agreement was out of reach.

Without a new agreement in place, Sandpiper most likely would be reluctant to begin the complicated and protracted process of converting neighborhoods in Ocean Pines to natural gas.

As a practical matter, Sandpiper would

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need close cooperation with the OPA to facilitate that conversion.

Terry reported during the OPA Board of Directors meeting Sept. 27 that there had been some positive “movement” between the two sides in face-to-face negotiations, but the revised contract submitted by Sandpiper in a follow-up to that negotiating session did not seem to incorporate that positive movement, according to OPA sources.

Clarke recently characterized the revised document as a “step back” and even went so far as to say that prospects for agreement on a new franchise agreement as a replacement to the one in place since the 1990s, and repeatedly extended by the board during negotiations with Sandpiper, are worse now than they were a few months ago.

If nothing emerges that meets board approval by a yet to be determined deadline, Clarke said he personally would support sending a letter to Sandpiper advising it that it no longer has the right to serve its Ocean Pines customers through the pipeline that Eastern Shore Gas Company, a predecessor company whose assets were purchased by Sandpiper’s parent company, installed in most areas of Ocean Pines during the 1990s.

Currently, Sandpiper is operating under the original 1990s agreement, which has been extended five times and is now in place under a kind of rolling extension.

Clarke said he personally has contracted with a Salisbury propane supplier for propane at a significant savings.

The supplier buried a storage tank in Clarke’s backyard at no cost – a fiveyear service contract was required – but the contract is cancellable anytime with proper notice, Clarke said.

During a Sept. 3 board meeting, Terry, one of the directors on the OPA’s Sandpiper working group, said that Sandpiper had come to accept in concept that the OPA is seeking compensation from the company in exchange for allowing company pipelines on OPA-owned property.

But he also said the OPA was awaiting language from the company consistent with that.

It never materialized, for whatever reason.

It probably is not a stretch to speculate that the company fears other jurisdictions will request franchise fees.

Clarke has said for some reason Sandpiper representatives prefer not to call the agreement under discussion a franchise agreement, which is what has been in place since the 1990s.

With conversions already having taken place in Berlin and the nearby Glen Riddle development, Ocean Pines under normal conditions might be the next logical target for Sandpiper.

Until the OPA and the energy company reach a contract agreement, it’s essentially anyone’s guess when conversion work will begin in Ocean Pines.

Lawyers for Sandpiper and the OPA informally agreed to extend the old contract for an indefinite period of time pending formal board approval, which

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4 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES BRIEFS

Having already been authorized by the Board of Directors to proceed with the project, General Manager Bob Thompson has since awarded a contract for the replacement of electrical wiring at the Ocean Pines Association’s Yacht Club marina. The new electrical lines need to be installed prior to placement of new fuel dispensers.

Thompson said during a Nov. 22 meeting that he received three bids for the work and was prepared to award a contract for $19,000, just $1,000 shy of the maximum amount previously authorized by the board.

The OPA decided to proceed with replacing the electrical wiring after the company awarded the contract for replacing the fuel pumps recommended doing so first. That company identified some lines that are deteriorating between the end of the dock to the site of the fuel source which is on the opposite side of the dock. The project includes replacing both the special gel coated lines used for marina electrical work and the conduit.

Because the electric lines used for water-based operations are gel coated to protect them, they are more expensive than standard electrical lines, thus the $19,000 price tag.

The OPA had budgeted $75,000 for marina fuel dispenser project the overall

and still expects the final cost to be less than that amount.

Board reviews CPI violations

The Board of Directors during a Nov. 22 meeting opted to take action against the owners of two properties that are in violation of the Ocean Pines Association’s governing documents, hoping that it will force them to bring their lots into compliance.

The board reviewed recommendations from Compliance, Permits and Inspections regarding violations on properties located at 4 Cameo Court and 117 Mumford’s Landing Road. General Manager Bob Thompson said the OPA has attempted to contact both property owners in an attempt to bring them into compliance but has seen no remedy of the issues.

A box trailer located at 4 Cameo Court is the offending item. The owners were informed that they are not allowed to have a box trailer on the property, according to Thompson. The board agreed to send the property to the OPA attorney for action, including seeking an injunction to have the trailer removed if necessary.

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lates the OPA restrictions, according to Thompson. He said it appears as if the property has been vacant for some time.

The property owners are also in arears on their assessments. The board also authorized action to remove the mold and attempt to collect the back assessments that are due to the OPA.

Thompson outlines leaf removal process

General Manager Bob Thompson during his Nov. 13 Town Hall meeting asked for the assistance of Ocean Pines Association members in expediting the leaf removal process this fall.

“This always becomes a very, very stressful time for community members,” he said.

Thompson pleaded with residents not to rake leaves from their yards into the ditches. Instead, he said, those leaves should be bagged and disposed of either with their regular refuse collection or can be picked up by a special OPA run trash truck, which was borrowed from the Town of Ocean City. Residents can also take leaves and yard debris to the public works yard.

“We as an association don’t have the responsibility to pick up the leaves in your yard,” he said, adding “but we believe it’s in the best interest of our community to help get them out of there.”

He said leaf removal helps to improve everything from drainage to property values in the community. But it has to be a cooperative effort between residents and the OPA, he added.

The OPA’s trash company, currently Waste Management, will pick up four bags of leaves per property with each regular refuse collection. The contractor will also collect sticks, branches and yard debris that is cut into a maximum of four-foot lengths and bundled together.

“Every week you as a homeowner have the opportunity to get rid of eight bags of leaves” via the twice weekly

Sandpiper

From Page 4 occurred in executive session following a Sept. 3 meeting. This latest approval is for a so-called “rolling extension” that remains in force until such time as the sides agree on a new contract or is cancelled.

This is the fifth, and presumably the last, such extension in the protracted discussions between the parties.

Stevens said in a recent interview with the Progress he did not want to paint Sandpiper as “the bad guy” as the sides try to resolve a number of prickly issues. But he also said the OPA, in doing its due diligence in obtaining the best deal possible for OPA property owners and Sandpiper’s gas customers, should not be blamed for blocking a new agreement and “preventing OPA gas customers from obtaining lower cost natural gas.”

trash pick-up, Thompson said.

In addition, the OPA leases a trash truck from the Town of Ocean City for about six weeks each year to collect bagged leaves as well. Thompson said the OPA operates its truck on the days opposite from those when Waste Management works in different sections of the community.

Leaves must be in paper bags for the OPA truck to collect them. “The cost is so much higher to dispose of them” in plastic bags because the bags are not biodegradable, Thompson said.

Additionally, the OPA uses a vacuum truck to remove leaves from the community’s roadside ditches. That truck does not pick up yard leaves and residents are not permitted to rake yard leaves into the ditches for collection via the vacuum truck.

When asked by residents why the OPA doesn’t give them a heads up about when the vacuum truck will be on their street, Thompson responded that he can’t guarantee the dates. He said public works does have a schedule that it tries to maintain, but that schedule can be thrown off by weather and how quickly the truck is filled.

“If someone rakes their entire yard into the ditch, guess what, the vac truck fills up quickly,” he said.

Thompson also encouraged residents to bring their leaves in paper bags and yard debris to the public works yard in South Ocean Pines, which is open Monday through Saturday through Dec. 20.

But he cautioned people not to just dump debris there when the yard is closed because there are cameras in place. “If we get your tag number we’re going to find you,” he said.

The public works yard is available for residents to dispose of yard waste, not for contractors who have been hired to clean up properties in Ocean Pines, Thompson said.

Construction begins on White Horse boat ramp

With a signed contract for the work

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Marina fuel electric lines to be replaced

5

Stevens said that under the blended rate structure for propane and natural gas approved for Worcester County by the Maryland Public Service Commission, a multi-year conversion process in Ocean Pines will yield only modest cost savings for Sandpiper customers in Ocean Pines and elsewhere in the county in the near term.

The original agreement that dates back to the 1990s used the term franchise in its title and in the test. It essentially granted a predecessor company, Eastern Shore Gas Co., an easement to bury gas lines in Ocean Pines on rightsof-way owned by the OPA, giving the company exclusivity with respect to propane, and eventually natural gas, pipeline delivery. The exclusivity rights did not prohibit competitors from delivering propane to buried or screened storage tanks. There was no franchise fee in the agreement with Eastern Shore Gas.

6 Ocean Pines PROGRESS December 2014 - Early January 2015 OCEAN PINES BRIEFS

Yacht Club to host New Year’s Eve party

The Ocean Pines Yacht Club will ring in 2015 with a New Year’s Eve party fea-

AGH donation

Thanks to the generosity of community members, businesses and organizations in fiscal year 2014, the Atlantic General Hospital Foundation was able to raise more than $1.7 million for the not-for-profit hospital and health system. From left: Todd Ferrante, Atlantic General Hospital Foundation Board vice chair; Laura Deeley Bren, Foundation Board chair; Lou Taylor, hospital Board of Trustees chair; Jane Wolnik, hospital Auxiliary President; Michael Franklin, hospital president/CEO;, and Jack Burbage, hospital Board of Trustees past chair, with a check for $1,789,424 at the AGH Foundation’s annual Thanks for Giving event. turing dinner, drinks, dancing and more.

Tickets are currently on sale for this special event, which wasn’t held in 2013 due to the new building’s construction.

The party will begin at 7:30 p.m. with bar service and appetizers downstairs at the Cove, the Yacht Club’s casual dining space. Passed hors d’oeuvres, a risotto

martini station, raw bar, smoked pork belly station, clams and oysters on the half shell and cheese, fruit, and veggie displays will be served.

A plated dinner will be served upstairs at the Yacht Club at 9 p.m. The menu will include a festive salad, surf & turf with filet mignon and jumbo lump

crabcake, sides and chocolate molten lava cake for dessert.

DJ DomDiG, who has 30 years’ experience as a sound and lighting engineer and DJ, will be spinning tunes. Dancing and a champagne toast at midnight will round out the evening’s festivities.

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From Page 5 now in place, construction of a new White Horse boat ramp is getting under way.

General Manager Bob Thompson during a Nov. 22 meeting told the board of directors that the $255,000 contract with Fisher Marine has been signed by both the contractor and the Ocean Pines Association. The contractor, which has also completed bulkhead replacement projects for the OPA, is ordering materials for the project and work will begin shortly.

The project replaces the existing boat ramps and piers in White Horse Park off Beauchamp Road. It also includes the replacement of the two existing boat ramps, replacement of three existing piers with one new pier and a temporary berthing dock for boats waiting to use the ramps, installation of a new vinyl bulkhead and the construction of a concrete pier with a gangway and floating dock.

The OPA hopes to have the new boat ramp available in the spring of 2015.

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December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 7

OCEAN PINES OCEAN PINES BRIEFS From Page 6 Tickets for the event are $95 per person and include all food, beverages, beer and wine from 7:30 pm – 1 a.m. There will be a cash bar for liquor or specialty drinks. Tax and gratuity are not included.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Ocean Pines Yacht Club at 410-641-7501, email dining@ oceanpines.org or visit the Yacht Club at 1 Mumford’s Landing Road in Ocean

Pines.

The complete menu may be viewed online at www.OceanPines.org.

Ocean Pines Aquatics to host winter events

The Ocean Pines Aquatics Department is offering a way to escape cold winter weather and enjoy the summer-like temperatures of the indoor Sports Core Pool at special activities in coming weeks.

On Saturday, Dec. 13 from 11 a.m. to

1 p.m., Santa Claus will return to the Sports Core Pool for the seventh annual Swim with Santa. Guests are invited to splash in the pool with Santa, who will be decked out in swim trunks and flip flops. Donations of toys, books and puzzles will be accepted on behalf of Believe in Tomorrow House by the Sea and Home of the Brave. The cost of the event is $6 for swimmers and $3 for non-swimmers.

Ocean Pines Aquatics hosts a variety of aquatic fitness classes, swim lessons and special events year-round. Upcom-

ing events include a one-day Winter Junior Lifeguard Program on Dec. 30, Friday Family Fun Night on Jan. 2 and an adults-only Dive-In Movie Night showing of “The Big Chill” on Jan. 10.

For more information about these events, contact the Ocean Pines Aquatics Department at 410-641-5255.

Information regarding additional Ocean Pines aquatics programs, including an online version of the Ocean Pines Winter 2015 Activity Guide, is available on the OPA Web site at www.oceanpines. org.

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8 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015

Five golf course management proposals submitted One lease proposal is competing with four fee-based proposals for OPA board approval

By TOM STAUSS Publisher ith just one out of five proposals for Ocean Pines golf course management including a lease option, the three-member working group that is vetting and leveling the proposals apparently will not make be making a recommendation to the Board of Directors on which of the proposals the panel prefers. The five proposals emerged af-

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ter as many as ten individuals or companies indicated early interest in taking over management of the golf course.

The task force, including OPA Directors Jack Collins and Tom Terry, submitted a document containing a ranking of the proposals in early December to OPA President Dave Stevens.

Collins said the list of interested parties would not be disclosed until later in the process.

Collins, the de facto chair of the group, said the plan is to invite some or all of the principals to meet with the board in February, soon after the return of Stevens to Ocean Pines from a long-

planned trip in December.

Both Collins and Terry said when the directors meet with the principals, it’s possible there will be some negotiating with them to achieve a better result than simply accepting the offered terms.

One of the five proposals is from Billy Casper Golf to continue the current management contract, which was extended earlier this year but is cancellable if the directors decide to make a management change.

Both Collins and Terry say they will not spend any time assessing BCG, since that company’s track record in Ocean Pines is well known and the task force’s

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mission was to seek out and evaluate proposals from parties other than BCG. But Terry said he believes BCG’s record in Ocean Pines should be thoroughly evaluated by the board before a decision is made whether to replace the company.

Both finacial performance and the quality of service provided to golfers should be part of that evaluation, Terry said.

“Perhaps some other director can take the lead on that,” Terry said, explaining that the working group was not given the task of evaluating the financial performance and level of service provided by BCG. “We will leave that up to (Stevens) to decide if that will be included in the process,” Terry said.

Responses to the RFP were due back

by Nov. 14, with evaluation by the working group originally supposed to take place during Nov. 15-21, according to the posted request for proposals (RFP).

Late in November, the working group was supposed to select the finalists for board consideration, with the board to decide whether to retain Casper or replace the company with an alternative sometime in December, according to the posted timeline.

The schedule was more or less on course, as the task force submitted a ranking of the proposals to Stevens in early December.

Collins declined to say whether the task force had chosen any finalists from among the candidates.

There is no scheduled board meeting in December, and Collins said the board vetting process would await the return of Stevens from his trip.

Collins said the next step in the process once all seven directors are available will be to decide the question of whether to terminate the contract with BCG. That option is allowed without penalty to the OPA under terms of the current three-year contract.

Collins said another possibility still in the mix is a return to in-house management of the golf course, perhaps by extending an offer to current golf pro and director of golf, John Malinowksi, and the golf course superintendent, Rusty McClendon, to manage the course directly for the OPA rather than through BCG. Terry said several months ago that the contract extension approved by the board and BCG earlier this year does not include any non-compete provisions that would prevent either Malinowksi or McClendon from being hired by the OPA to run the course, either on an interim or more permanent basis.

Such an arrangement would save the OPA roughly $70,000 per year in management fees currently paid to BCG. But Collins told the Progress that he is leaning in favor of the lease proposal if the terms can be negotiated to make To Page 11

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From Page 8 them more palatable. He declined to provide details on the record given the sensitivity involved.

“We want to be fair to everyone we invite to discuss their proposals,” he said.

“And it is a board majority who will decide this issue, not one or two of us” on the task force.

While the decision on what to do with the golf course is in the hands of the task force and then the board of directors, OPA General Manager Bob Thompson is not totally out of the loop.

Some OPA directors say it is obvious he is in favor of continuing the current management contract with BCG, even while he may not necessarily say so publicly.

“Bob has made it clear what his preference is, and that’s his right as the general manager,” Terry said. “But in the end it’s a board decision.”

At his town hall meeting in November, the general manager was upbeat about BCG’s financial performance in recent months, especially after a weak start in May, the first month of the fiscal year.

Since then, Thompson said, the company has been “chipping away” at the negative variance to budget that occurred in May. Through the first six months of the fiscal year, golf operations, including food service at the Tern Grille, is $115,580 in the black.

At the same time last year, operations were $30,620 in the red. So there’s been roughly a $145,000 turn-around in golf year-over-year, according to the October financial report prepared by OPA Controller Art Carmine.

Even so, golf is $39,952 behind budget for the year after six months.

During discussion at the Nov. 22 meeting of the Board of Directors, board member Marty Clarke noted another area where BCG fell short of budgetary expectations.

Clarke said that there’s been a net revenue shortfall relative to budget of between $50,000 and $60,000 for the fiscal year through October.

The October financial report confirms this: The negative variance is actually $55,955.

A year-end forecast prepared by Thompson and Carmine and released in Thompson’s Nov. 22 general manager’s report predicts that golf operations will lose only $88,113 for the year, compared to the budgeted $73,300 loss.

But Clarke told the Progress he was very skeptical of any forecast for golf performance, noting that another such forecast, issued nine months into the 2013-14 fiscal year, proved to be wildly optimistic.

The last month of the fiscal year, April of 2013, turned out to be horrible financially for golf operations, eviscerating the heretofore rosy scenario for golf contained in the nine-month forecast, Clarke said.

Golf ended up losing more than $300,000 for the year, before golf-related

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS depreciation expense of $450,000, which property owners fund through the annual lot assessment.

The vetting of the five management proposals now under way is the just the latest step that began in October with action taken by the three-member working group to solicit golf management proposals.

At an Oct. 18 special meeting of the board, the directors ratified the subsequent posting of the request for proposals (RFP) on the OPA Web site.

Some skirmishing over the initial RFP that occurred without explicit board approval occurred in October.

Thompson initially resisted a request from the working group to post the RFP on the Web site, resistance that Stevens said was understandable under the circumstances.

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Golf management From Page 11 Director Bill Cordwell reacted angrily in emails to his colleagues when he first learned of the request, along with the disclosure that some groups had already been provided copies of the RFP. Cordwell was upset that Casper officials and local staff were not given a “heads-up” prior to the RFP going out to already identified interested groups.

Cordwell said it would have been “a courtesy” to inform local Casper employees that their jobs might be in jeopardy by the search for possible management alternatives, and that “I’m a director” and that he “and the GM didn’t know” that the RFP had been sent out to interested parties.

Cordwell contended that “something this drastic” should have been an explicit board decision, but Stevens said it had been his “understanding” that the working group had been “empowered” to seek management proposals from interested parties and that, once proposals were received and vetted, there would be “significant board discussion” over how to proceed.

Stevens said that it’s possible there will be “no credible” leasing proposal or alternative from those who submit an RFP, and that it’s possible then that the OPA would simply retain Casper or “go to self-management,” which is the way the course has been operated for most of its existence.

Cordwell said that while he from time to time has been a “big critic” of the way Casper has run the course for the OPA, he also said the course under Casper is now in its best condition in some time and that leasing it out to a private entity could result in cutting the course maintenance budget “in half” and would “jam us with outsiders” who make tee times more difficult to obtain for Ocean Pines golfers.

Collins advised Cordwell “to wait and see” what kind of proposals are offered as a result of the RFP, while Renaud said the working group would talk with “people from other golf courses” to assess whether maintenance suffers under leasing or other alternatives.

Clarke said that Casper had every opportunity to submit a proposal or proposals in response to the RFP. Indeed that is what happened, but Collins said it appears that the company is offering no alternative other than continuation of the current management contractor.

There had been some hope that BCG would submit a proposal increasing its “skin in the game,” as Terry referred to it earlier this year.

The RFP specified that any management scenario will “encompass the operation and maintenance of the golf course, country club, equipment and associated support facilities,” with an initial term of three years with the potential for extension by mutual agreement.

“The OPA reserves the right to determine what operating scenario best serves the expectations and interests of the OPA; the OPA also reserves the right to reject any and all proposals,” according to the RFP. “The goal of this RFP is to select the best Operator to either lease or manage the course in a professional manner that provides excellent customer service and achieves a balance between operating costs and revenues.”

The posted RFP says that overarching OPA objectives are to: • Establish Golf as a financially viable OPA amenity.

• Reduce/eliminate subsidies from the general assessment • Develop balanced revenues from Golf members, OPA members and outside play • Manage costs while maintaining the OPA golf course, clubhouse, equipment and support facilities in its current or improved condition • Maintain an economically viable operation with revenues sufficient to cover operating expenses, rental payments, capital improvements, and provide the Management Company a reasonable fee or provide the Leasing Company an adequate return on investment.

• Provide quality professional golfing services to golf members, other Ocean Pines residents and the public with a reasonable fee structure.

• Manage and operate the co-located food and beverage operation with a profit.

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OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015

By TOM STAUSS Publisher cean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson delivered the news to OPA President Dave Stevens late on the morning of Friday, Nov. 14, by telephone: Yacht Club Food and Beverage Manager Dave McLaughlin had been relieved of his responsibilities overseeing the Ocean Pines amenity earlier that day. Members of the OPA Board of Directors received their first notice of Thompson’s decision via email delivered late in the day, Stevens said.

No press release announcing the decision or any possible reasons for it appeared on the OPA Web site on the day the decision was disclosed or on the days immediately following.

But word leaked, as it often does in Ocean Pines, and oceanpinesforum.com

Stevens says board was given no advanced notice of change in Yacht Club’s food and beverage manager

O

OPA president said his mind may be changing on possibility of leasing out Yacht Club on Nov. 18 had a posting and a discussion thread about the termination under way. Thompson confirmed the change in his Nov. 22 general manager’s report, In a conversation with the Ocean Pines Progress confirming Thompson’s decision, Stevens said that Thompson had acted properly in advising him and

the board about the change after the fact, but the OPA president nonetheless said a heads-up prior to the event would have been appreciated, especially the reasons for it.

“We really don’t know much about the circumstances that led to the decision,” Stevens said, pointing out that

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More recently, though, issues related to the Yacht Club’s banquet business, particularly pricing relative to other banquet venues in the area, have surfaced in board discussion, but McLaughlin had not been portrayed in any negative light. Thompson said that in concert with McLaughlin the OPA had been working out changes in the pricing structure for non-profit civic organizations, some of which took their business elsewhere because of significant cost savings.

In light of Thompson’s positive comments about the Yacht Club in his town meeting, Stevens called the timing of what was described as McLaughlin’s “firing” kind of unusual.

He also said that OPA Vice-president Marty Clarke has asked for verification that the OPA had followed “reasonable practices” with respect to the termination, particularly as it relates to performance reviews that might have occurred and filed in McLaughlin’s “employment jacket” since he was hired by Thompson for the position in spring of 2012.

Stevens said he hoped the file will contain documentation that McLaughlin was given fair warning that his job was in jeopardy and why.

“I suspect Marty will bring this up for discussion in executive session,” Stevens added.

He and the other directors were not told of specific reasons for the firing but “in general” were advised that the food and beverage manager “was not meeting the expectations of the job when he was hired,” Stevens said. “We were told simply that it was not working out.”

Clarke told the Progress he is concerned that McLaughlin “was thrown under the bus” by Thompson as a way of avoiding blame for management deficiencies at the amenity.

The comments by two of the Ocean Pines Association’s most prominent corporate officers suggest that the level of trust between them and the general manager is at a low ebb. Stevens is the official board liaison to Thompson, a role that will be assumed by Clarke as the OPA vice-president when Stevens is away on a previously planned vacation during much of December.

Thompson has his supporters, though, with Clarke noting that Director Bill Cordwell sent out a congratulatory email praising the general manager for taking the decisive action that he did.

McLaughlin’s departure has been followed by the temporary appointment of long-time Beach Club manager Lynda Huettner to fill the vacancy. She filled an identical role during the winter leading up to McLaughlin’s appointment prior to the seasonal opening of the amenity in May of 2012.

Stevens said that Thompson had not advised him of plans to find a perma-

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14 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 15

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OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015

Yacht Club manager From Page 14

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Members of the Pine’eer Craft Club are pictured after decorating their tree in White Horse Park. The tree is decorated with “Santa Spoons”, pine cones, and bright red bows and is located near the Craft Shop in White Horse Park. The shop, which is open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to r p.m., features hand crafted items created by members of the Pine’eer Craft Club. Pictured left to right are Jackie Kollar, Janet Rosensteel, Carol Mills, Luz Castello, and Nancy Welsh.

nent replacement for McLaughlin.

The OPA president said that McLaughlin’s departure opens up the possibility of leasing out the amenity to an experienced restaurateur as an alternative to keeping management in-house.

“There’s a better chance of that happening now than in the past,” Stevens said.

“We ought to revisit it. I’m open to it” in a way he might not have been before.

He said directors have “discussed it from time to time” and that while he was not “committed” to seeking out leasing proposals, “I’m starting to change my mind on it. This might be the next (big) thing to happen” with respect to amenity management in Ocean Pines, he said.

Clarke has been a consistent supporter of leasing over the years, and Stevens said he thought that some of the other directors would be open-minded given the opportunity provided by McLaughlin’s departure.

Stevens said he suspected that Thompson might not be too keen on a Yacht Club leasing proposal, in much the same way the general manager has resisted the idea of leasing out the

Ocean Pines golf course as an alternative to fee-based outsourcing.

“It would remove another area of responsibility from the general manager’s job description,” Stevens said.

Clarke has said that leasing would result in better financial performance and a more consistent food and beverage product delivered to Ocean Pines residents and property owners by seasoned professionals.

He said the last and only time the amenity was leased out to private restaurants occurred in the 1990s “and the Yacht Club had its best two years” in its 40-year history.

McLaughlin’s two-and-half-year tenure in Ocean Pines followed employment by the Ritz Carrolton Hotels and a private country club, which Thompson said gave him “relevant experience in both the private and public sectors of food service management.”

At the time of his hiring, Thompson described McLaughlin’s initial duties as becoming familiar with inherited OPA staff and “to initiate better training of employees and methods of controlling food and beverage costs relative to sales, while implementing steps to meet operational budget targets.”

Thompson also said that the new manager would be involved in completing a business plan for the amenity.

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December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

GM says Yacht Club business lags; regular dining underperforms Thompson and staff scramble for new direction after shaky start and departure of former manager; banquet business healthy despite complaints

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer ith some users still unhappy about the high cost and lack of special accommodations for community and civic events and daily dining business nearly non-existent, Ocean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson is searching for ways to turn around operations at its multi-million dollar new Yacht Club.

While so far this fiscal year the Yacht Club is in the black, on the strength of a robust July and August, business since then hasn’t been particularly good, according to Thompson.

In a Nov. 22 report to the Board of Directors, Thompson said special event bookings like weddings and anniversary parties continue to improve, but regular day-to-day business is very poor.

Representatives of several community and civic groups that are accustomed to using the Ocean Pines Association’s facilities for little or no cost are complaining about the fees being charged for use of the new Yacht Club.

Some have asked for the fees to be eliminated completely, arguing that as Ocean Pines property owners they have already paid for the new amenities and shouldn’t now be charged more money to hold events there.

“We continue to receive poor feedback on community and club events despite multiple changes in our pricing strategy.

With this being the first full year in the new facility, it would appear internal and external expectations need to be adjusted if we are to reach the Yacht Club’s full potential,” Thompson said in his report to the board.

The reference to “external expectations” seemed to be code for “unrealistic expectations,” though Thompson was too polite to say so directly.

With the Yacht Club floundering of late, Thompson confirmed that its manager, David McLaughlin, has been relieved of his duties there.

He said the decision was made to replace the Yacht Club manager after carefully considering past performance, current conditions and future goals for the new facility.

“I appreciate the time and efforts David has provided getting the Yacht Club team to this point in time. I appreciate his efforts working in the old facility, working with the team planning for our new facility and the work that has been accomplished over the very hectic summer months. Unfortunately, if we are

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going to continue to grow and evolve to the next level, a change was needed and steps have been taken in that direction,” Thompson said.

In the short term, Linda Huettner, manager of the OPA’s Beach Club in Ocean City, was appointed to fill the role as Yacht Club manager, until the association can permanently fill the position.

Thompson said that he and Huettner have met with the key Yacht Club staff to discuss the changes, answer questions and begin the first steps in reset-

ting expectations as it pertains to guest experiences at the Yacht Club.

“While this type of decision is never easy, I am confident this was a necessary move in the right direction for the Yacht Club and the association,” Thompson said.

He said there are several areas for improvement or “lessons learned” from the first few months of operating the Yacht Club.

During a November Town Hall meeting he told the audience that “the type

of product that we have is very, very different from what we had previously.” So, staff has been learning what works well and what doesn’t.

As a result, there are areas that need improvement from both the maintenance and operations side, he said.

At the top of the list of things to do at the Yacht Club this winter is finding a solution to the catering and events dilemma that will satisfy the Ocean Pines community and civic groups.

One of the issues is the “sheer number of people” who want to use the Yacht Club for events and activities.

That is creating conflicts for the OPA regarding its strategy for facility use, according to Thompson.

Also, he said, staff is “trying to work through pricing strategy” for use of the

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Long term plans call for integrated room partitions, but in the meantime the OPA may start using some movable partitions to divide the larger event room.

Finally, he said he has received complaints about the acoustics in the Yacht Club and is looking into noise deafening measures to curtail that echo effect.

During the Town Hall meeting, Thompson assured residents that as they bring issues to staff, they are being considered. “We just can’t correct everything right away,” he said.

Overall, the catering and events business at the Yacht Club has been good, Thompson said during the town hall meeting.

As of that date, the Yacht Club had hosted 60 events that generated $436,174 in revenue.

Another 41 events are already prebooked for 2015 and will generate $371,000 in income, and two events, a wedding and reception, are already booked for 2016 and expected to create $50,000 in income, he said.

“The numbers for the Yacht Club look very good,” he said. “Catering at the Yacht Club is going extremely well for us.” On the more negative side are the complaints about pricing from some civic groups.

Meanwhile, the OPA is planning to make several improvements at the Yacht Club this winter.

On the list was simply wrapping up construction of the building, including installation of the cupolas and flagpole, and completion by the contractor of all punch list items, including repairs to the second story floor that has buckled.

OPA President Dave Stevens asked about the status of the contract with Harkins Construction, the Yacht Club contractor.

“Are we in agreement with Harkins over the numbers?” he asked regarding

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“We gave them our numbers; they provided their numbers,” Thompson said, adding that they are “working out the gap.”

But he cautioned that until the project is officially complete, the OPA will continue to retain some funding from payment to Harkins. “It’s the normal process at the end of the project,” he said.

Director Jack Collins said he thought Thompson was going to present a report at the board meeting on things that went well at the Yacht Club so far since it opened in the summer and areas that need improvement.

Instead, he said “this is just a construction report.”

Thompson responded that he thought the items included in his report, particularly the management change at the facility, were important to report to the board.

Director Bill Cordwell, liaison to the Clubs Advisory Committee, said he plans to compile a list of concerns, considerations and recommendations from that group for considerationPortfolio by the full an board.

Reviews He said the advisory committee is in the process of crafting “a total report on everything” that it has discussed during the last two months as it relates to the Yacht Club operations.

Collins asked if that report will include “suggested solutions to shortfalls.”

Cordwell responded that will be part of the Clubs Advisory Committee’s report.

Thompson said adjustments to the kitchen layout will be made this winter, too.

He said there have been numerous complaints about food leaving the kitchen and being delivered cold to patrons.

In order to rectify that problem, heat lamps will be added.

“One of the biggest problems was we had food coming out cold,” Thompson said during his town hall meeting.

But he likened it to building a new house and realizing that he would have done something differently after it was completed.

Also on tap for this winter are completion of the interior of the marina building, redecorating the Yacht Club interior and making Internet technology improvements.

New furniture will be purchased in the spring, also.

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OCEAN PINES From Page 1 be able to use their own conatainers or trash bags instead. Republic will be supplyng all customers a 65-gallon recycling container at no charge.

Enrollment in the new service will begin Dec. 8. Ways to sign up include calling Republic customer service at 302-658-4097, enrolling at the Ocean Pines Community Center with the assistance of Republic staff from Wednesday, Dec. 10, through Saturday, Dec. 13, and filling out an enrollment form available on the Web site. The form can be mailed or emailed to Republic.

Other than the weekly collection of recyclable material, there appears to be little change in collection policies that will be noticed by the typical Ocean Pines customers. Unlimited quantities of household trash can be placed curbside for pick-up, but the current limit of four bags of leaves or bundled yard debris per day of collection remains. Arrangements for fee-based collection of non-household items, such as furniture, hazardous materials, equipment or machinery, can be made by calling Republic customer service.

The OPA’s email blast made no explicit reference to the issue of prepaid quarterly payments made by Waste Management customers, which in some cases extend beyond the Dec. 31 expiration of the WM contract. Customers are responsible for requesting refunds for overpayments to Waste Management.

There are some early indications that Waste Management is honoring refund requests.

The Board of Directors, in a 6-1 vote with Director Marty Clarke abstaining, awarded the trash collection contract to Republic Services during the board’s Nov. 22 meeting. The motion for approval by Director Tom Terry made the selection contingent upon receiving an “acceptable contract” with the company, and authorized General Manager Bob Thompson to negotiate that contract.

Clarke said he abstained on the vote because he didn’t have enough information on the details of the contract and as of the first week of December, still didn’t. The contract information was not provided to the board for review prior to its vote on the matter.

“We still don’t know what the monthly charges will be. Do we have to pay for the trash can?” he said. If the trash can has to be purchased or leased, with a monthly charge, Clarke said it’s possible the Republic Services bid won’t turn out to have been the least costly for Ocean Pines residents.

With the release of the Dec. 5 eblast, that concern seems to have been allayed.

The monthly fee is now known and the $1.20 household trash container lease fee is optional. The recycling container will be supplied at no charge.

With Waste Management’s existing contract about to expire at the end of this calendar year, but with a billing cycle ending at the end of January, bids for a new three-year contract for both resi-

dential and commercial refuse collection were due to the OPA by Nov. 10.

Bids were solicited for the award of an exclusive three-year franchise to operate within the confines of Ocean Pines.

During the Nov. 22 board meeting, Thompson said he received four bids for the new trash and recycling contract.

While he did not provide any details about the cost of service proposed at that time, the contract was structured so that residents will pay a total of $15.57 per month, $12.07 of trash collection and another $3.50 for recycling collection.

Refuse will be picked up twice a week and recycling once per week.

Locally, Republic Services is based in Delmar, Md., but it is the second largest trash company in the country.

Even before bids came in, the OPA had to seek additional information from the refuse companies related to the RFP. Staff had neglected to include requirements for twice weekly collection in the original document.

Since only one of the bidders included that collection schedule in its proposal, Thompson had to reach out to the others and ask them to provide pricing for that option.

OPA President Dave Stevens said the proper procedure would have been to amend and repost the RFP. But that is not how Thompson opted to handle the situation; instead he simply contacted the bidders and notified them of the change.

However, Stevens said based on the

bids that were received “it appears at least from the standpoint of dollars it doesn’t make a difference” that proper procedure for soliciting proposals was not followed.

Thompson acknowledged that the original RFP didn’t include two weekly trash collections and one recycling pick up. But he pointed out that this was not a specific request the last time the contract was bid either. It was an option brought to the OPA by the current trash company, Waste Management.

He said he crafted an amendment to the FRP and posted it on the OPA’s website and staff contacted every bidder to let them know that information was omitted from the RFP. If such situations should be handled differently in the future, he said directors should inform him what procedure they would like to have followed.

With directors ready to approve the contract with Republic Services, Thompson said he would like to speak with the company first to work out final details, such as what vehicles will be entering the community and at what times. He said he wants to make sure the company understands “all of the details” related to working in Ocean Pines.

Stevens originally made a motion to approve the contract, but withdrew it based on Thompson’s comments. Terry then made a motion authorizing Thompson to proceed with finalizing the contract. That motion was approved 6-1 with Clarke abstaining.

21

GM defends police against accusation of overzealous enforcement GM supports pedestrian safety improvements along Manklin Creek Road

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer eneral Manager Bob Thompson defended the Ocean Pines Association’s police department during his Nov. 13 town hall meeting against accusations by property owners that some officers are a little too zealous and offered his support for roadway safety projects.

After waiting through an hour of Thompson’s presentation about projects under way and under consideration by the Ocean Pines Association, those in attendance finally had the opportunity to make comments and ask questions.

During that segment of the meeting agenda, one resident said officers with the Ocean Pines Police Department are

G

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Trash contract

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Republic Trash Collection Contract at a Glance Important details:

• Minimum six-month commitment • $46.71 Billed Quarterly ($15.57/mo, $186.84 yearly) • 2 pick-ups per week - Monday/ Thursday or Tuesday/Friday (same as now) • Recycling once a week, on 2nd pick-up day (Thursday or Friday • Residents can supply own can/bags or rent a 95-gallon container from Republic for $1.20 per month • Single-stream recycling (same as now) • No charge for Republic-supplied 65-gallon container for weekly recycling • Service begins (trash and recycling) When and how do I sign up for a new account with Republic?

Starting on Dec. 8, every resident of Ocean Pines who would like to arrange for trash and recycling collection services will need to sign up for a new account with Republic by Dec. 19 to be included in the first collection on Jan. 2. Residents can enroll by one of the following: • Call Republic Customer Service at 302658-4097 • Sign up at the Ocean Pines Community Center on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thursday, Dec. 11, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, Dec. 12, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; or Sat-

urday, Dec. 13, 9 a.m. to noon. Republic service representatives will be on hand to assist.

• Fill out an enrollment form available on the Ocean Pines Association Web site and mail to: Republic Services, 1 Briar Drive, West Grove PA 19390. Attn: Ocean Pines.

• Fill out an enrollment form and email to: oceanpines@republicservices.com Service should be set up by Dec. 19 to ensure inclusion in the first trash pick-up service.

What is the cost for the service?

The monthly cost is $15.57, billed quarterly for $46.71 or annually for $186.84.

How often will Republic pick up household trash in Ocean Pines Trash pick-up service is twice per week starting Jan. 2, using the same collection schedule as the current vendor (Monday/ Thursday or Tuesday/Friday).

Will Republic supply a trash can?

Residents have the option to rent a 95-gallon trash cart for $1.20/month but Republic will supply a 65-gallon recycling container for no charge. In addition, household trash can be placed at the curb in personal trash cans or trash bags for pick-up.

Does single-stream reclycling continue?

Yes. The usual recyclables can be mixed and placed in the recycling container for pick-up.

When will Republic pick up recycled materials?

This is a change from the every-other-week service of the current vendor.

Under Republic, recycling pick-up will occur once per week on the second day of weekly household trash collection, on either Thursday or Friday.

How much trash can be placed curbside on each collection day?

There is no limit to the amount of household trash a customer can put out for collection. Republic will collect up to a maximum of four bags of leaves and/or yard cuttings per collection, as well as brush, tree limbs and shrub trimmings cut into 4-foot lengths and tied into bundles weighing not more than 50 pounds.

Acceptable: Republic will also collect Christmas trees placed curbside for a two-week period following the holidays.

Are there any restrictions on the kinds of materials that can be placed curbside for regular pick-up?

Yes. Household trash does not include furniture, hazardous materials, mechanical equipment or machinery, including automotive machinery, sand, solid or other mineral matter and any other items not resulting from ordinary household operations. For these kinds of materials, customers should call Republic customer service at 410-749-1551 to discuss options and pricing based on the type and quantity of material.

Source: OPA Web site

22 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015

GM defends police From Page 21 overstepping their bounds.

Steve Lind alleged that he has had several friends stopped by the OPPD for no good reason when they left his house after having a beer. He said his friends have been “basically treated like crap by our local police.”

Lind said he believes the officers are “desperate to make a DUI arrest” and stopped three of his friends in an attempt to do so. In two cases there were no arrests made. A third person was arrested even though he did not meet the blood alcohol limit. While the case was thrown out of court by the presiding judge, it still cost his friend $1,400 in legal fees, according to Lind.

“We have to decide what kind of policing we want in this community,” Lind said.

Another audience member said a contractor working on her home is stopped by police every time he comes into the community. She said police pull over the contractor because of alleged violations with his truck.

Thompson refuted claims of overzealous police activity. He said officers would not stop a vehicle unless they noticed a potential problem with either it or the operator.

Thompson pointed out that the OPA does not generate revenue by issuing citations to drivers. “We don’t make money on tickets,” he said.

He said the officers of the OPPD are “out there every day trying to keep the

community safe” and added that there are things that happen in Ocean Pines that the police department handles but about which many residents never know. “It’s not something you want to talk about,” he said, regarding crime and violent activities that occur in the generally safe community.

By comparison to neighboring townships, cities and communities, Ocean Pines is one of the safest communities in the county and in the region, Thompson said. “And it’s because we have a police force that really looks out for all of us.”

Ocean Pines was number one this year on SafeWise’s list of the “10 Safest Cities in Maryland.” To compile its report, SafeWise used the most recent FBI crime data from 2012 to analyze and rank these cities, which all have a minimum population of 5,000 people.

As for police pulling over motorists, Thompson said the officers are not intentionally picking on people. He did, however, acknowledge that the OPPD has some young, inexperienced officers who may need some guidance regarding the level of enforcement for minor issues like dimmed taillights or license plate lights.

“But I’ll tell you this, I’m not going to tell them not to do their job,” he said. “If you’re doing something wrong and they catch you, they catch you.”

Lind responded to Thompson’s comments, saying that he isn’t suggesting that police officers should not be doing their job. But he said it is not appropriate for them to treat somebody with a

minor offense like having a license plate bulb out like a criminal and “start interrogating them.”

He again said he believes the officers are “desperate to make a DUI arrest,” and that is their motivation for the excessive traffic stops.

Thompson said he agrees with Lind on the issue of stopping cars for dim lights, and the police chief has cautioned officers about doing so But “don’t drive drunk in our community because it hurts all of us,” he warned.

Residents also queried Thompson about the lack of pedestrian and bicycle access at the intersections of Manklin Creek Road and Ocean Parkway and Manklin Creek road and Route 589.

One resident said he has contacted the association, the county, State Highway Administration and even representatives for Congressman Andy Harris, and everyone passes the buck. But he said the pedestrian and bicycle access stops 40 yards from the intersection, creating a dangerous situation for residents.

The resident said The Parke added 500 homes to Ocean Pines over the last ten years, and the community’s means of egress is through the road that provides access to that section. “Ocean Pines failed to keep up with needs of residents,” he said.

Thompson responded by reminding the audience that Manklin Creek Road is not a road that is owned or maintained by the OPA. “That street is not our street,” he said. “It’s not an excuse. It’s a fact,” he added. “We can’t do things on streets we don’t own.” Manklin Creek Road is owned

and maintained by Worcester County because properties at the end of the road are not part of Ocean Pines.

“We don’t own that?” asked one surprised woman in the audience. “The whole thing?” She seemed stumped that there was a road located within Ocean Pines over which the OPA does not have control.

Over the years, the OPA Board of Directors has requested that the approximately one-mile-long Manklin Creek Road be added to its inventory.

The Worcester County Commissioners have always denied those requests following public hearings on the proposal.

The commissioners have always agreed that the county taxpayers who live and own property at the end of Manklin Creek Road should not be serviced by an organization in which they are not members and against which they have no recourse if the road is not properly maintained.

Still, Thompson said, he agrees that safety improvements are needed.

“I’m in complete agreement with you,” he said. “We’re expanding. We’re growing. Those intersections need to be looked at.”

Thompson said installation of both a sidewalk and crosswalk should be considered, and the OPA has considered placing a sidewalk on its property in that area in order to try to provide a safe walkway for pedestrians traversing the intersection.

“It is something we’d like to work on with the county,” he said. “Someone’s going to get hurt.”

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OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

23

Board endorses racquet sports complex master plan with more courts, new playground Stevens, Clarke opposed but motion by Terry passes, 5-2

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The approved master plan for the Manklin Meadows Recreation Complex.

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quet Sports Advisory Committee.

He said the intent is to have a “longterm eventual use plan” to guide the development of that land, including the possible relocation of the playground and the addition of more courts.

Construction of individual improvements shown on the master plan will still have to be budgeted and approved by the board, Terry said.

But the plan at least designates potential projects and their future locations within the complex. “So we don’t do this piecemeal,” he said, “and don’t end up putting a tennis court or paddle ball court where later we wish we hadn’t put it.”

Clarke said more than a year ago former OPA board member and president Bill Rakow had presented a proposed layout for new courts on the same property, and the board agreed to move forward with that plan. He wanted to know what happened to Rakow’s proposal.

OPA General Manager Bob Thompson said there has been an evolution of the project but agreed that it was Rakow’s original plan that set it in motion.

Terry, OPA president at that time, said the plan was taken to Worcester County for consideration and rejected.

That’s why the idea was revisited by representatives from all three racquet sports clubs, he said.

Still, Clarke argued that there doesn’t seem to be a big demand for more courts based on the membership levels of those clubs. He said there are 56 paid OPA platform tennis memberships and “a bunch of people from other places that are paying and playing” in Ocean Pines.

“We still haven’t reached a $10,000 income level,” he said, adding, “That tells me there isn’t a huge demand.”

He said if you ask the racquet sports

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By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer ith an eye toward the future, the Ocean Pines Association’s Board of Directors on Nov. 22 endorsed a master plan for the Manklin Meadows recreation complex that includes space for tennis, platform tennis and pickleball courts, as well as relocation and reconstruction of the existing playground.

Director Tom Terry offered a motion that the board accept the proposed master plan, which was designed by engineers Soule and Associates, as the longterm plan for the area.

He said his motion “simply says this is a reasonable snapshot of where this area of Ocean Pines may evolve to” and was not necessarily approval of constructing any of the proposed improvements.

Not everyone was convinced that the motion was that simple. Some directors argued that doing so can be construed as giving the go-ahead for construction of new courts and relocating the playground, none of which has officially been approved by the board.

“I am totally opposed to this,” Director Marty Clarke said. He said there is an assumption by racquet sports members and others in the community that “we’re going full speed ahead.” Clarke particularly objects to the portion of the site plan that relocates playground equipment, which he says would be an unnecessary expense.

In a 5-2 vote, with OPA President Dave Stevens and Clarke opposed, the board approved the master plan.

Terry argued that moving forward with using the Manklin Creek recreation complex in the manner now laid out in the master plan was, in fact, generally endorsed by the board and the new Rac-

24 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015

Playground shift likely first step in recreation complex expansion

R

Manklin Meadows From Page 23 club members, of course they say they want more courts. Nobody will turn them down, but they can do without them, too, he said.

If plans for the addition of more courts were rejected by the county, then that means there isn’t room on the site for them, Clarke agued. Moving the playground is an attempt to garner that additional space. “If we don’t have the room, we don’t have the room,” Clarke said.

John McNult, Racquet Sports Advisory Committee chairman, said there are actually close to 400 tennis, platform tennis and pickleball players.

He said that not only racquet sports members, but also those who use the playground and the nearby community gardens, will benefit from the master plan.

That’s in part because the plan also reconfigures and expands the available parking to be shared by users of these two amenities.

Stevens said Terry’s motion commits the board to something “and we have really not much of an idea what it’s going to cost.”

“What we’re committing to is long term vision,” Terry responded, adding that “down the road all other requirements for board approval would still have to be met.”

Stevens suggested Terry revise his motion to simply direct the general manager to include funding for the initial phase of the master plan development, proposed as two new pickleball courts, in his fiscal year 2016 budget proposal.

About $135,000, a savings on ball field lighting in the complex, is available to build those two courts.

He argued that Thompson will be putting together his budget and presenting it to the board in about a month anyway.

But Director Sharyn O’Hare asked how he can develop a budget for the project if he doesn’t have a plan that is approved by the board.

“We’re telling him to use this plan to develop his budget,” Stevens responded.

Thompson said changing the motion could delay the pending court construction project by two or more months. Until

Thompson empowered to begin permitting process for moving and refurbishing equipment more platform tennis courts and a shift in the configuration of the playground.

OPA General Manager Bob Thompson said that with that approval in hand he can now begin the permitting process for the improvements and order the parts necessary to reconstruct the playground in its new configuration.

“If the board embraces this concept,”

he said at the board meeting, the next step is to work with his team to “get hard numbers” on the cost of moving the playground. “Because that’s something we’ll start as soon as the weather breaks.”

Thompson said the cost of paving for new parking lots and other asphalt areas will also have to be evaluated soon.

“Those are things to start doing now” so

the board approves the master plan, he said he cannot begin working to acquire the necessary construction permits and ordering materials for either the court work or relocating the playground.

Terry agreed, saying “unless this board endorses the overall concept for the management of the site” the general manager does not know what to budget.

“This is simply saying we agree with the site plan long term vision, and that can be used for budgeting,” he said.

“You know what the catch word is for this – mission creep,” Clarke said.

He said the board had a plan that it approved, and now “here we are today wasting time.” He asked if the Rakow proposed plan was ever officially submitted to the county.

Thompson said that to his knowledge it was not. He said Rakow likely just talked with county representatives who told him that it was not approvable, largely because of drainage issues. “I believe it was taken to the county but not formally requested for approval,” Thompson said.

If that’s the case, then, Clarke responded, the OPA should simply ask the county where it can build two more courts “because that’s what we ap-

proved.”

In addition to the court construction, Director Jack Collins said that work still needs to be done on the playground, whether it is moved or not. He said the playground equipment is deteriorating quickly, and those who use it need to be careful.

the OPA is ready to move forward with the work in the spring, he said.

Director Jack Collins queried Thompson about the $135,000 available in the current budget for improvements to the racquet sport complex. He wanted to know if that would be adequate funding to do the work in the spring.

Thompson responded that he does not yet know the cost of the proposed improvements. He said he never puts a project together based on budget, but

q

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer elocation of the community-built playground at the Manklin Meadows Recreation Complex is likely to be the first phase of development to occur under a new master plan for the area that was approved by the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors on Nov. 22. The board gave its OK to the master plan developed by engineers Soule and Associates that calls for the addition of eight pickleball courts, two

Although it’s not definite, it would appear there probably are at least four votes for relocating the playground should Thompson include that component in his draft capital budget for 201516, which is due for distribution to board members and the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee in early January.

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Playground From Page 24 rather a project should be designed “based on what works best.”

Initial plans for redevelopment of the Manklin Meadows Recreation Complex drafted by an ad hoc committee of OPA staffers and leadership from the tennis, platform tennis and pickleball clubs – with no representation for playground users – called for chopping in half the space allocated for the playground. Revised plans developed by the engineers will keep it essentially the same size but shift its configuration.

Thompson said the intent is to shift the playground further away from the location of racquet sports courts. If the courts are situated too close to the existing playground it would create an unsafe situation for users of both amenities, he said.

While the playground is more rectangular in shape now, it will be redesigned in a more square shape but with almost exactly the same square footage, he said.

The playground was originally built by volunteers more than a decade ago following a massive community fund-raising effort.

Dozens of volunteers helped to prepare the site and install the equipment for the OPA’s only community-built

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS playground in October 2003, but now the playground needs to move to make way for the growing number of members playing racquet sports, according to Thompson and advocates of the new master plan.

The push for the playground began in 1999 when the OPA board of directors asked the Recreation and Parks Advisory Committee to look into what could be done at the south end of the community for recreation for kids.

By late 2000, the Ocean Pines Community Built Playground Committee had formed and separated itself from the advisory committee. The community-built playground was finally constructed in 2003 at a cost of about $120,000, with half generated from fund-raising efforts and the other half a match from the OPA. “The playground will now need to be disassembled so that the existing upright support structures can be replaced,” Thompson said. “It makes sense to go ahead and move the playground equipment to its new location and do that work at the same time,” he said.

Staff has already studied each piece of the equipment and noticed that some of its parts are starting to deteriorate.

The OPA has also contacted the company from which the playground equipment was originally acquired to get cost

estimates for replacing the upright pillars and bolts on the structures.

Initial cost estimates are $31,000 for the materials only to disassemble and replace the aging parts of the playground.

While about $135,000 was budgeted for several new racquet sports courts this fiscal year, no funding was proposed for the playground work. However, a savings on the cost of lighting installation at the Manklin Meadows ball fields may free up just enough money to cover that cost, Thompson has said.

Once the playground is relocated, work can begin on court construction if the board gives the go-ahead for that as well.

Currently pickleball has no courts of its own. The OPA restriped tennis courts to allow for multi-use with pickleball, and the tennis players want their courts back for full-time use. Meanwhile, platform tennis membership continues to expand and as a result that club needs additional courts, too.

The master plans still calls for building eight pickleball courts and two platform tennis courts a little farther away from the existing softball field to prevent any impact to stormwater management in the area.

John McNult, Racquet Sports Advisory Committee chairman, said there are

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actually close to 400 tennis, platform tennis and pickleball players.

“We have a lot of demand on the existing platform courts that we have now.

People have to wait to play,” he said, adding that the additional platform tennis courts are needed to satisfy peak demand.

That doesn’t even take into consideration the possibility for growth in membership. But, he said, more players are likely to be attracted to the sport if additional courts are available for play.

As for the modifications to the playground to accommodate the courts, McNult said it is a good thing because it will provide more spacing between the amenities.

But he added that the new courts will add to the activities for children as well because they will be available for use by younger players, too.

Thompson said the master plan also calls for a shift in the parking available at the Manklin Meadows Recreation Complex.

Moving the playground allows the OPA to maintain its parking integrity on the site and keep the same number of spots, while improving drainage as well. He said the engineers tried to take into consideration all of those factors, not just to meet the existing needs of the community but for the future. q

OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015

Thompson misses November deadline for producing new capital plan draft Stevens shrugs it off, says working group will have preliminary CIP template by the end of January for presentation to the board regardless of what the GM does or does not produce

By TOM STAUSS Publisher ack in October, the Ocean Pines Association’s general manager, Bob Thompson, said he would produce a draft capital improvement plan, CIP for short, sometime in November, to comply with a board directive earlier in the year. He hadn’t done so by the Nov. 22 meeting of the board, according to directors who were asked. At least no draft had arrived in their administration building mail slots, the outmoded way much staff-provided material is still supplied to directors, or in their email inboxes by month’s end.

If anyone was going to be upset by that, it might have been OPA President Dave Stevens, but in a telephone interview in late November he professed to be unconcerned by the general manager’s apparent lack of production or compliance with an earlier board directive.

Stevens said he wouldn’t be surprised if a draft CIP exists in some form or other, but he said as far as he’s concerned,

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whether Thompson produces it or not and releases it to the board or the Ocean Pines community is of no great significance.

At a board meeting on Oct. 18, Thompson said he would be producing a draft CIP, but with more of a focus on the next 12 to 24 months, by November.

The impression he left was that his efforts would be more involved with producing proposed capital spending that would be incorporated into the 2015-16 OPA budget draft that will be produced in the early part of January.

Stevens’ seeming indifference to Thompson’s failure to disseminate a draft to the board stems in part because the OPA president, and two other members of a CIP working group, recently took direct control over developing a long-term CIP for the OPA. Thompson was excluded from that working group as an active member, though he can keep tabs on the panel’s progress and work product because one of its members, Jerry Aveda, the OPA’s

facilities manager, is one of Thompson’s department heads.

The third member of the working group is Ted Moroney, who has been a volunteer member, if not the nominal head, of the working group that has overseen the construction of the new Yacht Club.

Stevens said that Aveda has made some good progress on coming up with what the OPA president described as a “requirement-based process” that is working to produce a preliminary document for board review by the end of January.

“We’re working toward a presentation to the board by then,” he told the Progress, though he stopped short of saying that a revised CIP will be in its final form by that presentation. It will be more of a template that will be used in developing a CIP in a process that could take months.

Stevens said a revised CIP will be a dramatic departure from the so-called rack-and-stack list of proposed projects

OCEAN PINES that Thompson delivered to the board in November of 2013. That list never was discussed in a public session by the directors, who neither ratified nor opposed it. Even so, the proposed capital projects for the 2014-15 current fiscal year was incorporated into Thompson’s draft budget that the board reviewed in January of this year and adopted in February.

The directors last formally approved a CIP or rack-and-stack in June of 2012.

Whether or not Thompson actually gets around to disseminating his draft CIP, its proposed projects for the 201516 fiscal year presumably will appear in his draft budget to be distributed to the board and Budget and Finance Advisory Committee in early January. That perhaps will be the earliest opportunity for the directors and the Ocean Pines community to learn whether the general manager is still promoting a new or expanded police station, as he suggested a year ago, or turning the Assateague Room in the Community Center into a fitness center.

Stevens said that any proposed projects in a new CIP will have to include detailed justifications, including relevant engineering reports and cost estimates.

He said it would include separate sections for large scale projects and smaller ones, and within those two broad categories sections for indoor and outdoor recreation. In addition, he said the draft

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26 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Capital plan From Page 26 will include a section covering ongoing maintenance of existing assets.

“There will be a template for a rackand-stack, but a different kind of rackand-stack than what we’ve had previously,” Stevens said.

The CIP will still include a time line for capital improvement projects spread out over ten years, perhaps as far out as 15 years, Stevens said.

The OPA president said the working group will be grappling with the issue of what to do with the existing Country Club, whether to renovate it or replace it with a new, smaller pro-shop/snack bar.

The golf cart barn will be considered as a smaller, separate project, he said, an implicit rejection of an idea by Thompson several years ago to incorporate a cart barn on the lower level of a new Country Club.

The working group consisting of Stevens, Aveda and Moroney was authorized by the board Oct. 18 in a 5-2 vote, with Directors Bill Cordwell and Sharyn O’Hare opposing it because Thompson will not be a member while one of his department heads, Aveda, is. The directors spent much of that meeting skirmishing over Thompson’s role in CIP development, including whether Stevens unilaterally directed Thompson to abandon a longer term revision of the CIP after assuming the OPA presidency this past August.

Stevens told the directors that he was not including Thompson on the working group because it would be difficult for him “to come up with a long-term plan” for the OPA at the same that he’s “busy in operations,” managing “the day-to-day” affairs of the OPA. Calling development of a new CIP “the highest need” of the OPA, Stevens said Thompson’s role would be complementary to the working group, and that he was not attempting to exclude the general manager from the process, only to allow him to step back from a role he described as policy-making and thereby within the purview of the board.

Stevens said that a three-member task force heading up the effort will keep it focused, while additional volunteers

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS will be sought for specific tasks for investigations.

“The subject is so broad that three people won’t be able to do all the work,” Stevens said, telling his colleagues that he expected the working group by year’s end will identify the areas or projects that need investigation. He cited two examples: upgrades to the OPA’s antiquated information technology systems and what to do with the aging Country Club.

That work has now slipped to the end of January.

Stevens said that in some cases the teams investigating specific areas or projects will begin with substantial material that has been assembled previously.

During discussion, Thompson told the board that, contrary to the board’s directive from earlier this year that he complete a revised CIP draft by November of this year including longer-term projections, he instead would be presenting to the board “more of a 12 to 24 month deliverable.”

Thompson said that in a meeting after Stevens assumed the OPA presidency, Stevens “directed” the general manager to focus on the 12 to 24 month period.

That prompted O’Hare to scold Stevens for directing the general manager “to do something else than what we directed him to do” earlier this year, but Stevens pushed back against the idea that he directed the general manager to do anything.

“I didn’t direct him,” he said, later saying that Thompson had come up with the idea to focus more on the 12 to 24 month timeframe, and that he (Stevens) was OK with that. Stevens added that he could find no “statement of work” in any minutes from board meetings earlier this year specifying precisely what the general manager had been tasked by the board to produce.

At one point Thompson asked the board to give him “clarity” about what it expects from him, but he didn’t really get it: A board majority seemed willing to let Thompson produce whatever it is he wants to produce, with a focus on the 12 to 24-month timeframe. He also

is free to reference longer-term projects.

Or if, as the case may be, he doesn’t come up with anything formal, Stevens now seems to be OK with that, too.

Later in the discussion, when O’Hare asked Stevens whether he was willing to “compromise” on the appointment of the task force by waiting to create it until after Thompson produces his revised CIP, Stevens declined, telling O’Hare that “we’re already behind” schedule in producing a revised CIP. Stevens was willing to accept an amendment to his original motion offered by Terry, setting a January 2015, deadline for the task force’s initial report to the board. The amendment passed unanimously, but the underlying motion passed by the 5-2 margin.

With Thompson indicating that he plans to focus on the 12 to 24-month period in his pending submission, it will be interesting to see whether he will continue to promote some of the more controversial ideas he proposed in his draft CIP revision from November of last year.

For Fiscal 2015-16, the year that begins on May 1 of next year, Thompson’s draft from last year’s proposed projects cost an estimated $2.63 million.

It was an ambitious, even aggressive, plan that Thompson presented last year.

It targeted the White Horse Park campus, the Manklin Meadows complex, the Beach Club and Country Club campuses for attention.

He proposed a fitness center for the

27

Assateague Room in the new Community Center, with shower facilities replacing the Community Center kitchen. He included 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. Larger events, such as the OPA annual meeting, would be shifted to the Community Center gym, according to Thompson’s draft.

Thompson’s draft “rack and stack” estimated $350,000 for a new fitness center and $500,000 for the new police station addition.

His draft CIP attempted to justify the larger space for the Ocean Pines Police Department on the basis of a ten percent increase in staffing over the past ten years and a 20 percent increase in the number of arrests, an approximate 54 percent increase in service calls, and an approximate 300 percent increase in mutual aid calls, and an 8 percent increase in certain other offenses.

“This increase in the OP Police Department mission requirements has occurred while the workforce occupies approximately the same 1,700 square foot facility space that it has … since 1985,” according to the November 2013 draft.

“The current facility has no locker room and officers change into civilian clothes in rest room facilities.” Also cited is one

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OCEAN PINES

28 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015

Thompson forecasts $157,748 loss for current fiscal year General manager cites improving numbers for golf operations, directors push back against report’s relative lack of detail

By TOM STAUSS Publisher cean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson is projecting a $157,748 loss for 201415, in a quarterly forecast issued six months into the fiscal year.

Thompson included the forecast in the board packet for the Nov. 22 regular meeting of the Board of Directors.

He glossed over the projected loss in his written general manager’s report and later when answering questions by the directors, instead emphasizing what he called “better than budget” forecast for golf operations on April 30, 2015, the end of the current fiscal year.

The general manager did not explain why he projects an operational deficit for the year when the approved budget was for a break-even financial result. A quick analysis of the forecast reveals the reasons: Recreation, aquatics, golf and the Yacht Club are all underperforming relative to budget, with the latter projected to lose $40,005. That’s a $141,807 negative variance to budget for the Yacht Club, which had been projected to produce a $101,802 surplus for the year.

The aquatics department also is projected to lose a sizable $198,414 for the year, which is $76,448 worse than the $121,966 loss projected in the approved budget. Recreation, including racquet sports, has a projected negative variance to budget of $20,462, while golf will miss its targeted loss by only $14,813, according to the forecast.

Other departmental categories are projected with positive variances to budget, led by administration ($61,133), the Beach Club (including parking pass revenue, ($22,274), and Public Works ($12,789).

Thompson was not pressed on the overall projected $157,748 loss by any of the directors, who instead criticized the forecast for its alleged lack of detail, the absence of controller Art Carmine from the meeting to explain how certain departmental forecasts were reached, and the accuracy of the golf forecast.

Thompson did not offer any insights into whether he would be taking any action to bring the projected $157,748 loss back down to the zero. Nor did the directors direct him to do so.

The original purpose of making endof-year forecasts six and nine months into the fiscal year was to assist the general manager and the board in making spending cuts to bring the budget back into balance.

Thompson’s only substantive commentary on the forecast was to note that he and Carmine are projecting a relatively modest $88,113 loss in golf operations this year, compared to the approved budget’s $73,300 loss. That would produce the negative variance to budget of $14,813, which the general manager said would be a substantial improvement over last year, when golf

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lost in excess of $300,000 for the year, not including depreciation expense.

Depreciation adds another projected $450,000 or so in golf-related expense borne by property owners, the vast majority of whom are not golf members or regular users of the Ocean Pines golf amenity.

The forecast does not include any depreciation expense, which would make the bottom line performance of all the amenities look much worse than it does otherwise.

After Thompson issued his rosy commentary on golf for year’s end, Director Marty Clarke pushed back against it, citing golf ’s negative variance to budget of roughly $50,000 to $60,000 in the May through July quarter. Thompson agreed that the first month of the fiscal year was slow, but he said that golf operations have gotten better since then, with the performance relative to budget “accelerating” more recently.

Clarke seemed unconvinced that the golf numbers would come in anywhere close to the latest forecast, later telling the Progress that last year’s three-quarter-year forecast was relatively rosy for golf only to be totally wiped out by a very poor April.

The outspoken director also found fault with the brevity of the report and the absence of Carmine to explain it, rather than Thompson.

“Before Bob, the reports were ten to

Capital plan From Page 27 work station shared by three computers and one holding cell equipped with a toilet, along with a temporary holding cell created from former closet space.

The temporary holding cell “will hold an individual only long enough for the officers to complete required paper work for in processing,” according to the draft CIP, which compared Ocean Pines police facilities unfavorably to those in other area communities.

A 3,000 square foot police station would permit sufficient space for locker rooms, work stations and for holding and processing violators, the draft said.

The 1,700 space to be vacated by the police would become a board conference center, adequate to host monthly board meetings, according to the draft.

To justify the need for a new fitness center, the draft said that requests for it “are received on a regular basis from members/guests” at the community center. The plan envisions that it would be a fee-for-use facility with state-of-theart exercise equipment, such as nautilus machines, treadmills, elliptical machines and free weights.

The draft also identified $120,000 in additional tennis complex spending for FY 2016 and devotes a section to recommending a new combined racquet club facility that would serve the platform

tennis, pickleball and conventional tennis communities. The draft suggested consideration should be given to the construction of a new two-story clubhouse that would replace the existing one-story building. The new building would house a pro shop, meeting area, snack bar and wrap-around observation decks and storage.

Alternatively, a decision could be made to simply renovate the existing building.

“Consideration should be given to provide a sufficient area for banquets, card playing or other functions,” the draft said. The $120,000 included in the plan for FY 2016 would cover the costs of a feasibility study for a new building versus a renovation.

The draft envisioned $200,000 in Beach Club renovations in FY 2015-16, with another $200,000 the following year.

Golf would receive another generous infusion of OPA resources in FY 2016, according to the draft, with $600,000 in golf course drainage improvements and $225,000 for a new or renovated golf maintenance building.

Rounding out the list, the draft proposed $635,000 in community improvements unrelated to recreational amenities, with $85,000 estimated for North Gate bridge improvements, $400,000 in road resurfacing, and $150,000 in computer equipment.

OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

29

OPA FINANCIAL REPORT

OPA’s financial performance slips back into deficit territory

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Golf records a $28,959 surplus and $11,746 positive variance to budget, while Yacht Club loses $15,641 with a $28,201 negative variance to budget $28,201. On the strength of solid numbers during the summer, however, the Yacht Club remains in positive territory for the year so far, with a cumulative surplus of $55,813. That’s $34,814 ahead of budget.

The cumulative operating fund surplus of $128,893 is based on revenues that have exceeded budget by $190,238, on expenses over budget by $61,058, and new capital expenditures (those funded directly from the lot assessment, rather than reserve funds) over budget by $286.

These results are contained in Controller Art Carmine’s financial report for October, posted on the OPA Web site in mid-November.

Recently, OPA General Manager Bob Thompson has been touting improvements in the golf bottom line, in support of his preference for keeping Billy

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Casper Golf as the OPA golf course’s management company.

The OPA Board of Directors recently authorized the posting of a request for proposals for golf course management, including the possibility of a lease arrangement.

Of the five proposals received, including one from BCG, only one was for a lease [see separate story in this edition of the Progress for details].

OPA Director Marty Clarke, during the board’s Nov. 22 regular monthly meeting, took exception to Thompson’s assertion that golf operations are doing well. Clarke noted that golf revenues cumulatively through October are behind budget by somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000.

According to the October financial report, the exact number is $55,955.

If October is any indication, the Yacht Club going into the winter months will begin to lose the $55,813 surplus it built up during the summer and early fall months.

So far for the fiscal year through October, the Yacht Club has generated $998,129 in net revenues, against a budget of $856,611, for a positive variance of $141,518.

But expenses of $835,612 have also exceeded budget, by $106,704. Year-todate expenses through October totaled $942,316, compared to the budgeted $835,612, a $106,704 difference.

The Yacht Club’s cumulative surplus through October of $55,813 exceeded the budgeted $20,999 surplus by a $34,814 positive variance to budget.

Another loss and negative variance to budget in November close to that in October could effectively wipe out that positive variance going into the coldest

part of the year.

It appears that banquet food and beverage operations, while continuing to do well, are beginning to fall back closer to budget.

Food banquet revenues of $45,047 in October missed budget by $2,173, while banquet beverage revenues exceeded budget by $3,573.

Food banquet costs, however, were $4,022 over budget ($15,827 actual compared to the budgeted $11,805), while banquet beverage costs of $4,823 exceeded budget by $893.

Through October, banquet food revenues of $292,213 have exceeded budget by $23,233, while banquet beverage revenues of $123,931 have exceeded budget by $33,931.

Also in October, Aquatics performed very close to budget. It lost $28,390 for the month, compared to the budgeted $27,832 loss, for a scant negative variance of $558. q

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association’s financial performance for October slipped back into deficit territory, with a negative operating variance to budget of $38,889. That in turn reduced the positive operating variance for the fiscal year through October to $128,893, still respectable, but not as good as it had been through Sept. 30.

All amenity departments except pickleball and golf lost money for October.

Golf operations continued a recent positive trend in October, producing a $28,959 operating surplus, compared to the budgeted $17,213 surplus, for a positive variance to budget of $11,746.

For the year, golf continues to be behind budget in the amount of $39,952, the result of a poor May, the first month of the 2014-15 fiscal year.

October was the fourth month in a row that golf has beat budget forecasts.

If golf was a net positive for the month, the Yacht Club food and beverage operation was not. It lost $15,641, with a negative variance to budget of

Fiscal forecast From Page 28 12 pages long,” Clarke said, adding that the first quarter’s averages were about $64,000 off the average for the past five years.

Thompson responded that he is not concerned with five-year averages, but instead focuses on year-over-year differences.

Director Jack Collins said the board needed a more detailed summary of the current status of OPA finances rather than the projected year-end totals.

Thompson said the year-to-date data is available in the monthly financial reports given to each board member and posted on the OPA Web site.

OPA President Dave Stevens said the year-end projections are needed to help Thompson and Carmine prepare the budget for the next fiscal year.

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30 Ocean Pines PROGRESS OPA finances

OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015 OPA Net Financial Operations through Oct. 31, 2014

From Page 29 The racquet sports also came in close to budget, with tennis $391 ahead of budget, platform tennis $240 behind, and pickleball with a $458 positive variance to budget.

Status of reserves – The reserve summary released as part of the October financial report shows that the OPA’s allocated reserve balance dropped in the month to $4,871,868, compared to $5,128,136 in September, $5,178,302 in August, $5,519,149 in July, $5,786,683 in June and $6,003,165 in May. The annual contribution from property assessments traditionally is recorded in May, during the first month of the fiscal year.

[See separate story for details] Status of the balance sheet – According to the Sept. 30 OPA balance sheet, the OPA has total assets of $31.97 million, against total liabilities of $1.72 million and owner equity of $30.3 million.

The balance sheet indicates modest erosion in operating cash, $1,402,913 at the end of October compared to the $1,719,990 in September and August’s $2,281,367 balance.

The October balance sheet indicates $5,315,829 in short term investments, a drop from the $5,612,201 on hand at the end of September.

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OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

31

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All but one of the other OPA reserve funds – bulkheads, future projects, road, golf drainage, and operating recovery -were unchanged or only insignificantly changed from earlier months.

The exception was the bulkhead and waterways reserve, with a balance of $1,224,917, down from the $1,478,081 balance in September.

The future projects reserve had a deficit of $60,276, the roads reserve totaled $292,265, the golf drainage reserve had a deficit of $641,615 and the operating recovery reserve had a surq

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he reserve summary released as part of the October financial report shows that the Ocean Pines Association’s allocated reserve balance dropped by more than $250,000 to $4,871,868.

The balance stood at $5,128,136 in September, $5,178,302 in August, $5,519,149 in July, $5,786,683 in June, and $6,003,165 in May. The erosion is typical as the OPA makes expenditures from the reserves through the year. The May reserve summary reflects the annual contribution from assessments that traditionally is recorded in the first month of the fiscal year.

Usually, most of the month-to-month reduction in the overall reserve balance is attributable to activity in the Major Maintenance and Replacement Reserve, which as of May 31 had a balance of $4,754,531, reflecting the full annual transfer from lot assessments into this fund.

That didn’t happen in October, however.

By the end of the month, the balance in this reserve stood at $3,921,064, a very slight reduction from the September balance of $3,924,024.

That compared to the August balance of $3,965,983, which in turn was down from July’s $4,296,457 balance and June’s $4,554,081 balance.

Through Sept. 30, capital spending from this reserve totaled $1,148,028, comprised of $927,295 in spending from the funded depreciation component of this reserve and $220,733 from the fiveyear capital plan funding stream, most of which would be related to Yacht Club construction costs.

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OPA reserves drop by $250,000 to $4.87 million in October

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32 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015

Reserve summary From Page 31

Members of the Community Church at Ocean Pines recently sponsored a food drive at the Ocean Pines’ Food Lion to collect food items for Sarah’s Pantry, which is the local food pantry sponsored by the church.

The more than 1,000 food items and personal items collected along with monetary donations were used to restock Sarah’s Pantry and to help fill the Thanksgiving Boxes that are being provided to 80 less fortunate families in our area. Pictured left to right are Jean Puryear, Barbara Bernard, and Marlene Ott, who collected items for Sarah’s Pantry, and Phil Lassiter, who transported items to the church.

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plus of $135,513.

The operating recovery reserve had been zeroed out last year, on the theory that previous year deficits had been sufficiently offset by subsequent surpluses, but the OPA Board of Directors earlier this year, perhaps without realizing it, authorized $135,152 from the current year’s assessment to be allocated to this previously zeroed out reserve.

The purpose of resurrecting this fund and adding money to it purportedly involves the possibility that funds will be needed to address certain tax liability issues in future years.

Last year, according to audited financial reports, the OPA produced a $14,000 operating surplus.

This year, the OPA is budgeted to break even.

However, through September, the OPA has an operating fund positive variance of $167,783, which suggests that the OPA could be well on its way to a healthy bottom line by the end of the fiscal year on April 30 of next year.

Had the directors scrapped the operating recovery reserve after it had been zeroed out, rather than adding $135,152 to it this year, the OPA assessment could have been reduced by about $16 or more

than the $5 decrease that actually occurred.

The bulkhead and waterways reserve also appears to contain a balance that is very high by historic standards but less than what it was in September.

The October reserve balance of $1,224,917 compares to roughly $800,000 or so in annual bulkhead replacement costs which are paid out of this reserve fund.

Controller Art Carmine told members of the OPA’s Budget and Finance Advisory Committee in August that the funds could be needed should the OPA resurrect a canal dredging program in future years.

No such dredging program has been discussed by the OPA board of directors in recent years, and no such program has been presented to the board for action.

In addition, OPA General Manager Bob Thompson told the directors in August that the 35-year bulkhead replacement program is essentially ended, with only two years of minor repairs and replacement remaining.

At the end of the 2014 fiscal year, the bulkhead reserve balance stood at $704,792. It grew by another $822,367 in May, reflecting the new fiscal year’s revenue from the waterfront lot differential.

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OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

33

Pool work moves ahead at Swim and Racquet Club

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer repair project at one Ocean Pines Association swimming pool is moving forward, while another is stalled indefinitely, probably until next spring. Fixing cracks in the Swim and Racquet Club pool, starting with stripping off the existing coating down to the concrete, has been approved by the Board of Directors, but board members, on the recommendation of the general manager, opted to hold off on similar repairs at the Mumford’s Landing pool after contractors discovered additional problems with the amenity.

Via an email vote, the board in late November endorsed a staff proposal to separate the two projects, which had initially been rolled into and put out for bids as a package deal. Director Sharyn O’Hare made the motion to proceed with the Swim and Racquet Club repairs and remove the Mumford’s Landing work from that bid package. The Swim and Racquet Club project was awarded to the firm of Pool and Spas Unlimited of Milford, Del. O’Hare’s motion was approved 6-1 with only Director Marty

A

Clarke opposed.

The OPA may opt to solicit new bids for that project, because it could now entail more extensive work than originally anticipated. OPA President Dave Stevens said he’s not sure of that because, as of the last week of November, he had not seen details of the test borings that had been conducted under and around the Mumford’s Landing pool earlier in the month.

OPA General Manager Bob Thompson in a Nov. 22 directors’ meeting informed the board that core drillings at Mumford’s Landing pool revealed varying levels of fill from four to eight inches deep. Additionally, a void was found in the ground below an area where the pool is leaking and sagging in the bay side.

Thompson told directors that more details on that issue will follow once the final report has been supplied by the contractor retained to investigate the problem.

A pressure test did not uncover any additional problems at the pool, Thompson said.

The contractor that performed the test borings believes that the settling of the soil is what initially caused the pool to leak. “Over the years that leaking has further washed it out,” he said.

The combination of the pressure test and the core sampling should provide

the OPA with sufficient information to reach back out to the original bidders to request an estimate of any additional costs needed to correct the condition, prior to awarding the Mumford’s pool repair contract, Thompson said.

He suggested that the board consider moving forward with the Swim and Racquet Club project and allowing staff to contact the five contractors that bid on the Mumford’s Landing project to get their input on resolving all of the issues at that pool. When initially asked about the sagging, one company recommended mud jacking it to try to level the pool, but the other four did not make any recommendations. In fact most, if not all of the other bidders, opposed mudjacking because of the danger that it can cause further cracking of the pool surface.

The original projects for both pools consists of removing the existing pool tiles, lane markers and the entire plaster finish down to the gunite pool base. That work was supposed to be finished this winter at both sites, but apparently will now only occur at the Swim and Racquet Club.

The second phase of work scheduled for the spring includes retiling, repairs to the pools and decking, bond coating of the gunite surface and applying new plaster. The pools will then be filled and

prepared for seasonal operations.

At Mumford’s Landing the repairs involve the family pool, wading pool and deck and include removing the tiles, lane markers and plaster finish. The contactor needs to identify the existing expansion joint that has been plastered over and located under a crack that runs across the pool near the transition to the deepest part of the amenity, and repair all identified leaks in the system including the fill spout to save water and reduce costs. The original RFP also includes repairing all cracks in the pool walls including those stemming from the pool skimmer and fixing the pool settlement in the far right corner looking from the shallow end to the deep end, which has dropped about an inch along the pool edge.

Phase two at the Mumford’s Landing pool involves replacing all of the pool tiles including those required for a transition line on either side of the uncovered expansion joint and applying the bond coat to the gunite and a new coat of Diamond Brite plaster to both the zero entry and family pools.

At the Swim and Racquet Club the project includes repairs to the family pool and deck including removing tiles, lane markers and plaster finish. The RFP called for changing the ladders by q

Need for more extensive repairs stalls Mumford’s swimming pool project

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OCEAN PINES

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By TOM STAUSS Publisher fter inconclusive debate in which it was made explicit that non-waterfront property owners may be subsidizing bulkhead replacement in Ocean Pines for owners of waterfront property, the Board of Directors during its Nov. 22 monthly meeting ducked a decision on whether to order a change in the way revenue and expenses are reported in the monthly summary for the bulkhead and waterways reserve.

The issue apparently has been remanded to the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee for another look, in light of this new information, unveiled

by OPA General Manager Bob Thompson in his latest General Manager’s report. The committee recommended a change in the reserve summary format several months ago.

If the change is made, the extent to which a subsidy occurs might be made more explicit, at least to those who read the monthly report that includes the bulkhead and waterways reserve, which currently has a balance of roughly $1.22 million. The reserve summary is published each month in the Ocean Pines Progress.

Concern about disclosing that information and setting off a controversy over unfair subsidies appears to be motivating at least some directors and Thompson in opposing the format change, which is strongly supported by Jack Collins, the OPA treasurer and the committee’s board liaison. Contrary to a suggestion by OPA Director Tom Terry

A

Directors to let committee reconsider proposal for revising waterfront reserve reporting Thompson, Terry and Cordwell continue opposition to format change, while Collins continues to be a strong advocate for it, even if it reveals the extent to which all Ocean Pines property owners are subsidizing the replacement of privately owned bulkheads in Ocean Pines that the proposed change has only 4-3 majority support on the budget and finance committee, Collins said in fact only one committee member, the chairperson, is skeptical of the change.

In his Nov. 22 general manager’s report, Thompson said that “92 percent of the linear footage of the bulkheads covered by the OPA Bulkhead (replacement) plan are member-owned and only 8 percent … are OPA owned. However, the current funding formula allocates only 80 percent of the costs to the member-owned (bulkheads) and 20 percent to all OPA members.”

Consequently, Thompson said, “it would appear that the funding provided by the bulkhead differential assessment is not sufficient to cover the costs of the member-owned portion of the program.”

The implication is that any shortfall in revenue to pay for bulkhead replacement on member-owned lots, as opposed to bulkheads in common areas, such

as in canals that are part of the Ocean Pines golf course, are paid for by the base lot assessments levied against all property owners in Ocean Pines, most of whom are not on the water and are not assessed the waterfront differential.

Collins said it’s not evident from looking at the waterfront reserve summary in its current format whether there really is a shortfall or where it exists. In a later conversation with the Progress, he said changing the format and revealing the two revenue streams and the way they’re spent will shed light on the matter, which he said was a positive, not a negative.

“Transparency and accuracy in reporting is never a negative,” he said, adding that if there’s a change in the formula for funding bullhead replacement as a result of the format change, so be it.

Thompson said that because of the formula issue and the fact that the current 35-year bulkhead replacement

program is “anticipated to be complete by the end of 2017, before taking any action on the current proposal to split the reserve into separate (revenue and spending) components, it would seem appropriate to evaluate the entire program to ensure appropriate funding and allocations going forward.”

Collins flatly disagreed, telling the Progress that the format change will facilitate decision-making on the appropriate funding formula.

Director Bill Cordwell sided with Thompson and Terry, who suggested that, before deciding the issue, the budget and finance committee should be asked to reconsider its recommendation in light of the information provided by the general manager.

There was no formal vote taken on Terry’s recommendation, but it appears the committee will be given another opportunity to offer its opinion on the issue.

The original advocate for the proq

34 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Pool repairs From Page 33 installing wall treads and top railings, reinstalling swim blocks so they line up evenly and repairing the expansion joint in the first phase of the work. The second phase involves replacing the handicapped entry chair for a pole that swings either way, replacing all tiles and applying the bond coating and a new coat of Diamond Brite.

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OCEAN PINES Waterfront reserve From Page 34 posed format change, committee member Gene Ringsdorf, seemed aware of the possible formula-caused shortfalls in the waterfront reserve during committee discussion.

He intended the format change to shed light on the extent of the shortfall.

In including his comments on the issue in his Nov. 22 general manager’s report, Thompson made the deadline set for him by the board to complete an analysis of a proposal by the committee to change the way that revenue flowing into the OPA’s bulkheads and waterways reserve is reported.

The proposal was addressed during the board’s regular monthly meeting Sept. 27, but there was with no motion presented to implement it. The proposal was endorsed by the full committee at its September meeting.

OPA President Dave Stevens had said the board could vote on the proposal as early as its regular meeting in November, unless Thompson could present the “cons,” or reasons why it shouldn’t be. Thompson attempted to do just that during the Sept. 27 meeting but didn’t seem to have much success. Stevens directed the general manager to produce an analysis of the proposal before the board’s regular monthly meeting scheduled for Nov. 22.

In a Sept. 22 memo to the board, committee chair Pat Supik noted that there are three primary purposes for the bulkhead and waterways reserve – maintenance and replacement of member-owned bulkheads, maintenance of OPA-owned waters and canals, and maintenance and replacement of OPAowned bulkheads.

The memo said that the funds collected for the maintenance/replacement of member-owned bulkheads – that’s the so-called waterfront differential, the difference in the annual base lot assessment and the assessment paid by owners of most bulkheaded privately-held lots in Ocean Pines -- are not intended to be used to maintain or replace OPAowned bulkheading or canals in common areas.

That specific earmarking is distinguished from other reserve funds, the memo said.

In addition, roughly $19 per year is collected from every base lot assessment for use to maintain or replace OPAowned bulkheading or other purposes related to the waterways and canals.

Because of these two separate and distinct revenue flows into the bulkhead and waterways reserves, with specific restricted purposes for each, the committee is suggesting a change in the way these revenues are displayed on the reserve summary.

In short, the committee wants both revenue streams to be shown in the reserve summary – contributions from base assessment in one instance and waterfront differential revenue in the other. The bulkhead and waterways reserve would be divided into two columns, one

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS for activity related to OPA-owned assets and the other for member-owned bulkheads.

According to the memo, this proposed change in the reserve summary will provide for greater transparency and “clarifies the adequacy of the reserves” for the two distinct purposes for which revenue is collected.

Stevens said he wanted a recommendation on how to implement the proposal from Thompson, who noted that the OPA is at the end of the 35-year bulkhead re-

placement program, with only two years left of “minor” repairs or replacement, but he didn’t explain why the status of that program is related to the way revenues and expenditures from the bulkhead and waterways reserve are reported on the reserve summary Thompson then said the board needs “legal input” into the issue and suggested that the issue wouldn’t be resolved in 30 days. He said he was researching the rationale for why revenue collected from the base assessment and waterfront

35

differential are essentially combined or blended in the reserve summary.

Stevens, however, didn’t seem to buy the notion that Thompson couldn’t complete his research into the matter within 30 days. While conceding he didn’t know all of the potential complications of adopting the committee recommendation, the OPA president advised the general manager to include the results of his research – or as he put it, the proposal’s “cons” – in his next general manager’s report to the board.

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OCEAN PINES

December 2014 - Early January 2015

OPA to fix up, then sell home purchased in foreclosure auction Directors will review other delinquent properties in foreclosure process for possible acquisition

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer reparing a property that the Ocean Pines Association bought in foreclosure to be listed for sale is going to cost more than originally anticipated. Still, the Board of Directors opted to move forward with clean-up and repairs that will make the 1,300-squarefoot home more marketable to prospective buyers.

Based on a staff recommendation, the board agreed earlier this year to purchase the home at 37 Tail of the Fox. At the time General Manager Bob Thompson anticipated that only minor repairs would be necessary before the OPA could flip the property to a new assessment-paying owner.

At a Nov. 22 meeting, however, Thompson backpedalled, saying it could cost almost $15,000 to get the property in salable condition. He said it needs new flooring, drywall, painting, heating-ventilation-air conditioning, electrical work and appliances.

The property has officially been turned over to the OPA and the previous owners have vacated the home, Thompson said. The OPA changed the locks, removed trash and debris from the interior and exterior of the property and has had the utilities transferred to the association as the owner.

After a thorough inspection of the property, the OPA now estimates that the cost for materials for the necessary clean-up and repairs will be $9,465 and the cost of labor will be between $3,500 and $4,000.

Thompson said the total of materials and labor appears to be less than $15,000, and he recommended moving

P

Waterfront reserve From Page 35 “I don’t see why you can’t have it at the next meeting,” Stevens said, adding that, without objection from other directors, he wanted Thompson to “produce (his) comments” in time for board action on the proposal in November.

No director raised an objection to the deadline, and Thompson met it.

But the directors weren’t ready to make a decision on the matter at the Nov. 22 meeting.

Since no regular board meeting is scheduled in December, it’s possible the matter won’t be addressed again until the board’s regular meeting in January.

forward with the work.

Director Jack Collins was concerned that the OPA was getting into the home renovation and rental business. He said the purchase of the property was supposed to be structured in a way to allow the OPA to quickly turn over the property at minimal cost while recouping its expenses and delinquent annual assessment revenue.

“We do not want to get into the property management business,” Collins said.

Based on the current value of the property and the real estate market, he asked if Thompson had looked at doing a “quick sale” of the property. Thompson responded that he did but no one has contacted him expressing interest in the house.

Collins said the general manager is proposing that the association invest another $15,000 into fixing up the property, for which the OPA paid $9,700.

“What do we get out of it?” he asked.

Director Marty Clarke asked if the association will be able to recoup the $15,000 in additional expenditure necessary to repair the property.

Thompson said the home should sell quickly because it is not a large home.

He said it is “pretty movable” and, therefore, there is more room for financial gain for the association than if it

Kiwanis donation

Cub Scout Pack #480 of Ocean Pines, which is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines Ocean City, recently received a $500 donation at a weekly meeting in the Ocean Pines Community Center.

Pictured are Cub Master Ray Stever with Kiwanis Club President Carolyn Dryzga and Cub Scouts who attended. were a larger home.

Director Sharyn O’Hare, a real estate agent, said the market is good, so selling the property should not be a problem.

On June 27 the board voted to purchase the property at a foreclosure sale.

At that time the board said the association is trying to collect money that is owed to it by property owners if there appears to be an opportunity to do so

through the foreclosure process.

Thompson said the OPA reviewed its list of properties that are delinquent in payment of annual assessments to determine if any of them are in the foreclosure process.

For those that are, the OPA is then trying to determine whether or not there is any value that can be reclaimed by a purchase. He said those properties are being evaluated on an individual basis.

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WORCESTER COUNTY

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

37

Commissioners sworn in

Madison J. Bunting, Jr. (from left) and Merrill W. Lockfaw, Jr. were elected president and vice president, respectively, of the Board of Worcester County Commissioners through December 2015.The commissioners (from left) Theodore J. Elder (from left), Anthony W. “Chip” Bertino, Jr., James C. “Bud” Church, Diana Purnell, Merrill W. Lockfaw, Jr., Madison J. Bunting, Jr., and Joseph M. Mitrecic, were sworn into office on Dec. 2.

AROUND THE COUNTY Bunting elected Worcester County Commissioner president

M

adison “Jim” Bunting, Jr., one of two members who represent the community of Ocean Pines, was elected to serve as president of the Board of Worcester County Commissioners on Dec. 2. The seven 2014-2018 commissioners, with four newly elected officials joining their ranks, were officially sworn in and took the oath of office the same day.

The new board includes incumbent commissioners Bunting, who represents the Ocean Pines and Bishopville area District 6, along with Merrill W. Lockfaw, Jr. representing the District 1 in the Pocomoke City area and James C. “Bud” Church representing District 3 in the West Ocean City vicinity.

Commissioners who won seats in the November general election include Anthony W. “Chip” Bertino, Jr. representing the Ocean Pines District 5, Diana Purnell representing the minority-majority District 2, Theodore J. Elder representing District 4 which stretches from Showell south to Snow Hill, and Joseph M. Mitrecic representing the Ocean City District 7.

The board’s first official act was to elect Bunting as president and to reelect Lockfaw as vice president through December 2015. Both have served as commissioners since first being elected to office in 2010.

As president, Bunting will chair board meetings. Though he will neither make nor second motions, he retains his ability to vote on each of the issues reviewed by the board. As vice president, Lockfaw will assume the duties of the president in Bunting’s absence.

Contract awarded for Pines force main

The Worcester County Commissioners in November voted to award a Delaware company a contract to replace a section of the wastewater force main located within Ocean Pines.

The county received three bids for

replacement of the sewage force main transporting wastewater from the north side of Ocean Pines to the Ocean Pines Service Areas’ wastewater treatment plant. The bids ranged from a low of $1.66 million to a high of $3.79 million and all three bidders were from Delaware.

Based on recommendations from both staff and the project’s design engineers, the commissioners opted to award the contract to the low bidder of A-Del Construction of Newark, Del. John Tustin, county director of public works, said A-Del Construction has not completed any recent work for his department, but it provided an extensive list of similar projects that it has completed. In researching those projects, staff found that A-Del Construction was proven to be very capable of completing the project.

Tustin also presented a letter from EA Engineering, which completed the design documents for the project, stating that it has experience working with A-Del. EA Engineering also confirmed A-Del’s capability to complete the work and concurred with the recommendation.

The commissioners also awarded a contract for construction administration and inspection services for the force main project to EA Engineering at a total cost of $72,612. That cost includes construction administration services at $32,779 and construction inspection services at $39,883.

Tustin said tasks to be completed under the construction administrative services include review of submittals, tracking construction progress, responding to requests for information, preparation of change order requests, reviewing progress payments, attending progress meetings, reviewing substantial completion and providing closeout documents.

While the public works department expects to perform most of the construc-

tion inspection services using in-house personnel, Tustin said it has several projects under way and may need some inspection support for the force main project. The budget provides funds for supplemental inspection for two days per week during the construction period but will only be used when needed.

Summit to feature wind information

A free Economic Development Summit scheduled for Dec. 10 at 8:30 a.m. at the new Ocean City Performing Arts Center in the Roland E. Powell Convention Center will focus on wind energy.

Featured speakers at the economic summit will include economist Anirban Basu along with other business leaders who will present members of the public with an update on the current economic climate and emerging trends.

Basu is chairman of Sage Policy Group, an economic and policy consulting firm in Baltimore. He was recently appointed to Governor-elect Larry Hogan’s transition team. Basu will give an update on the current state of the economy for Worcester County and the Eastern Shore region and give a forecast on how the economy may look in the future.

Information about the developing offshore wind industry will be presented, including the project to take place approximately 10 miles off the coast of Ocean City and encompass approximately 80,000 acres.

The summit is being held in partnership with the Ocean City Economic Development Committee. This is a free event but is limited to 250 people. Light refreshments will be served. To RSVP email mmears@co.worcester.md.us.

Hearing scheduled on Crabs-To-Go request

Applicant Mark Whittmeyer, representing Cox 122 Raceway and Greys Corner LLC, the owners of the proper-

ties, is requesting a total of 21 equivalent dwelling units of sewer service for the properties. The connection will eliminate ten equivalent dwelling units of conventional septic flow from the coastal bays watershed, Mitchell said.

The Ocean Downs Sanitary Area is served by a contract with the Ocean Pines Service Area. The applicant would connect its properties to the Ocean Downs infrastructure which is currently then connected to the Ocean Pines collection system and wastewater treatment plant. The infrastructure would include a combination of low pressure sewers, gravity sewers and pump stations.

The Worcester County Planning Commission reviewed and found the proposal consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan and existing zoning classification.

GNC opens store in White Marlin Mall

With more people accepting the importance of healthy foods and supplements as a pathway to a more healthful and active life, holiday gift givers and health aficionados will have a new reason to celebrate at White Marlin Mall this holiday season. A new GNC store, also known as General Nutrition Center, just opened at White Marlin Mall in West Ocean City.

“General Nutrition Center focuses on health and nutrition-related products and is the world’s largest company of its kind devoted exclusively to helping its customers improve their quality of life,” said Matt Mittenthal, vice-president and assistant director of asset management at Greenberg Gibbons Commercial, the mall’s leasing and property management firm. “GNC sets the standard in the health and nutrition industry by demanding truth in labeling, ingredient safety and product potency, all To Page 39

38 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

December 2014 - Early January 2015

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December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

39

School system weighs starting classes before, after Labor Day

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer t’s calendar development time again for Worcester County Public Schools.

While this seems like it should be routine activity, creating a calendar that satisfies the requirements of the school system and the needs of local families has become more and more challenging over the years.

Barbara Witherow, coordinator of public relations and special programs,

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AROUND THE COUNTY From Page 37 while remaining on the cutting edge of nutritional science.”

White Marlin Mall is located on Route 50 at Route 611 in West Ocean City The new GNC store is situated next to Michaels Crafts and Nice Nails.

The store features the newest and most contemporary interior designs to allow shoppers to easily view the wide range of GNC health and nutrition products.

GNC stores stock a wide range of weight loss, bodybuilding, nutritional supplements, vitamins, natural remedies, and health and beauty products as well as some flours, seeds, and muesli.

Their offerings take the form of their own branded products and popular third party products. The stores also provide health and fitness books and magazines.

presented three options for school year 2015-2016 calendars to the Board of Education during a Nov. 18 meeting.

The three calendar proposals were developed by a 22-member committee comprised of students, parents, teachers, and administrators.

To facilitate the development of the calendar proposals, the group was divided into subcommittees, each with a suggested focus.

Subcommittees one and two were given the focus of “mediators,” charged with creating a balanced calendar. Subcommittee one was asked to consider starting school prior to Labor Day, while subcommittee two was asked to start after Labor Day. Subcommittee three looked at starting school after Labor Day with a “surfer” focus, charged with creating a calendar with minimal holidays.

The proposals differ in length for vacation and marking periods, as well as in the placement of professional and half days. All of the proposals were developed in accordance with Maryland public school laws and local guidelines.

In December and January, the proposals will be sent to all county schools to obtain additional input and reactions from students, staff, parents and the community.

This information will be compiled and presented during the February 2015 meeting of the Board of Education, along with the superintendent’s pro-

posed calendar for the 2015-2016 school year.

School system officials also learned about strategies for “close reading” during their November meeting. The presentation outlined the work done with two pilot classrooms at Ocean City Elementary School.

The goal of this work is to assist students in developing and using reading strategies that will help them with comprehending complex text.

The program was developed in order to comply with a standard of the Maryland College and Career Readiness Standards that addresses students’ reading closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it. Another MCCRS standard addresses students reading and comprehending complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

These MCCRS standards incorporate the Common Core state standards. Maryland was one of the first states to adopt the standards in reading/English language arts and mathematics.

The school board also heard a presentation on Next Generation Science Standards.

Those standards were developed through a collaborative, state-led process and are rich in content and practice, arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally benchmarked science

education. The NGSS is based on the Framework for K–12 Science Education developed by the National Research Council.

The standards are broken down into three dimensions: practices, crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas.

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Other practices include using mathematics and computational thinking, constructing explanations for science and designing solutions for engineering, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating and communicating information.

The crosscutting concepts are applications which cut across all domains of science.

The seven crosscutting concepts are patterns, cause and effect, scale, proportion and quantity, systems and system models, energy and matter, structure and function, and stability and change.

Disciplinary core ideas are the basis of the content. The four core ideas are physical science, life science, earth and space science and engineering, technology and applications of science.

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CAPTAIN’S COVE

December 2014 - Early January 2015

Treasurer’s work group considers auction of unsold lot inventory Prices might start as low as $1 to stimulate sales and new assessments in sections that are currently unbuildBy TOM STAUSS able, and the market for these lots is Publisher t may not see the light of day, but bur- barely discernible.

Accomack County likes to assess ied among the agenda items for the Dec. 11 meeting of the Captain’s Cove these kinds of lots for tax purposes at Board of Directors is this item from the $4000, but the Cove POA, in an appeal minutes of the Treasurer’s work group, process under way, is arguing that the the advisory committee that provides real value for tax purposes should be much of the oversight over Cove finan- around $1,000.

As a practical matter, if these can’t cial affairs: The panel recently discussed the possibility of “getting rid” of the be sold under current market condiCove association’s unsold lot inventory, tions, some might say the real value of these unbuildable lots is close to zero. possibly through an auction.

According to the working group minPerhaps the most interesting aspect of the idea, not yet formally proposed utes, the premise behind the possibility by the working group or at least includ- of what might in some cases amount ed as an action on the Dec. 11 meeting to a lot give-away is that “a dues payer agenda, is that prices for the lots could at $1100 or so a year is more valuable be set as low as $1, with the cost going than a sale at a somewhat” higher price, higher if there’s any competitive inter- “given the time it will take to sell off the and the costs, Oasis-Ad_01-03 Adolfo's-Ad 12/4/2014inventory 10:46 AM Page 1 including (real est among bidders.

Some of the Cove’s unsold inventory estate) commissions and transfer (taxis buildable lots, and it’s doubtful that es)” in a traditional market sale.

Although the working group minthe Cove directors would allow these utes make no reference to sections 14 lots to go anywhere close to $1.

But also among the inventory are lots through 18, which has been declared

I

indefinitely unbuildable because of permitting issues which make development there next to impossible, the Cove association owns lots in these areas.

These lots would probably not be put up for auction, because the stated Cove objective in Sections 14 through 18 is to accumulate as many lots as possible under Cove or developer ownership. These lots then can be bundled as a block and marketed to a developer or agriculture interests.

But in Sections 1 through 13, the Cove association owns lots that generate no revenue in the form of annual lot assessments, currently set at $1,050 per year but likely to rise to $1200 in another year or so.

The idea for an auction sale of Coveowned lots might find some support among Cove directors, some of whom, at the late October meeting of the board, expressed frustration at the slow pace of lot sales.

John Ward complaints: The agenda for the Dec. 11 board meeting lists

a “second attempt” to conduct a hearing on a number of complaints filed recently

by Cove homeowner John Ward.

The hearing was scheduled at the October board meeting and postponed ostensibly because Ward didn’t show up for it, but he later told the Progress that he had asked Cove President Tim Hearn to withdraw the request for a hearing.

For some reason, Ward said the Cove president declined to do so.

In a recent email, Ward said he was still interested in a “fair” hearing – but it remains to be seen whether he will attend the Dec. 11 meeting to make his case if he feels the hearing won’t be fair.

His original complaint involved a claim that no assessment revenue can be used for road construction in Sections 1 through 13 and that a 2002 amendment to the declarations, which established responsibility for road construction with the Cove POA, is invalid.

Ward contends that road construction should be the responsibility of the declarant/developer, CCG Note, LLC. If that were true, the Cove POA would save a lot of money going forward in road construction costs, but it could also delay road construction indefinitely if CCG Note is in no position financially to move ahead on road construction.

The POA board in October approved a $150,000 loan from a private investor

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A balloon payment would be payable at the end of five years, and the Cove POA would have the right to prepay the loan balance if it’s able to find better financing elsewhere within the five year term.

Ward’s reason for believing that the Cove POA is not responsible for road construction prompted an additional complaint filed in mid-November regarding a demand to review the signatures gathered as part of the 2002 amendment process.

Ward said he has reason to believe that the signatures are invalid, and hence the amendment itself is invalid.

It appears that he has been having difficulty in obtaining the relevant signatures so he can inspect them, hence the inclusion of that complaint on the Dec. 11 meeting agenda.

Another lot foreclosure: There are about 180 privately-owned lots in the Cove that are delinquent in their annu-

al assessments and moving toward the next foreclosure sale, according to the Dec. 11 meeting agenda.

Hearn has said the next sale should occur sometime in the first quarter of next year, but no date has been set.

Interest in the lots at the foreclosure is generally limited, although there was some investor interest at the last sale in October. The Cove association routinely submits a minimum bid, as a way of protecting claims for the delinquent assessments, and the result is that the POA eventually acquires title to the lots.

During the Dec. 11 meeting a vote is scheduled to authorize the Cove POA, in the pending auction, to submit the minimum bid again to secure its interest. The motion likely will be routinely approved.

Audit report due: The Cove association’s audited financial statement for 2013-14 should be ready for distribution and perhaps some commentary by Hearn and others at the Dec. 11 meeting.

If so, Hearn is likely to laud what he calls the association’s improving finan-

cial condition, a contention that some in the Cove will question. Critics assert any improvement has been brought about by sharply higher lot assessments under the Hearn presidency.

Lot swaps: In a short session following the annual meeting of the association in late October, the newly reorganized board voted to expand the lot swap program previously limited to lots in Sections 14 through 18, in which owners of unbuildable lots have been able to trade for buildable lots in Sections 1 through 11.

Limited to the first 25 requests that come in, the board voted to expand the swap program to all sections in the Cove, so that unbuildable or tough-toimprove lots in Sections 1 through 13 can be swapped for buildable lots in Sections 1 through 11.

As with the previous program, all lots to be traded must be current on lot assessments, and owners are responsible for closing costs associated with the transaction and any difference in value between the traded lot and the lot to be acquired.

The first two lots under this expanded program have been approved by the board in writing or through other means after the Oct. 31 directors’ meeting, but nonetheless require formal ratification as part of the “consent agenda’ at the Dec. 11 agenda.

Both of the lots in questions are in Section 16, which are being traded for Cove-owned lots in Section 3 and 7.

Billy Casper Golf update: Also on the Dec. 11 is a discussion of cover charge implementation at the Marina Club and a status report on banquets and other special events.

Banquets remain vital to the Cove’s bottom line, and Hearn and other Cove leaders are generally pleased with the business under BCG management.

According to the prepared agenda, the banquet and special event budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year is $104,000.

Five contracts valued at $35,000 have been executed year-to-date, in addition to six family events at $2500, community events at $800, and NASA/other at $4200, but with a lot of the fiscal year remaining to make up the shortfall.

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LIFESTYLES

December 2014 - Early January 2015

Sunday, Dec. 7 Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra concert, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., Community Church of Ocean Pines, $45 for adults/free for ages 18 and under with a reservation. “Holiday Joy,” orchestral and vocal music including traditional seasonal favorites. Vocalists from the University of Miami Frost School of Music, including soprano Esther Jane Hardenbergh, to perform. Selections will include White Christmas and Silent Night, orchestral interludes such as Sleigh Ride, and selections from the Nutcracker Suite and Handel’s Messiah. Audience sing-along. For tickets or more information, 888-846-8600 or visit www.midatlanticsymphony.org.

Nutcracker excerpts, performed by the Pointe Youth Dance Theater group, Ocean Pines Yacht Club, 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Desserts, hot chocolate and tea, and pictures with group members. $20 for adults and children ages 4 and up. Ticket information, christywindon@ hotmail.com.

Gingerbread party, ages 4-6, Ocean Pines Community Center, noon to 3 p.m.

Stories, gingerbread decorating, all supplies provided, parents required to assist. Residents $10, non-residents $15.

Reservations, Ocean Pines Recreation Department, 410-641-7052.

Tuesday, Dec. 9 Joint meeting of the Worcester County Commission for Women and the Friends of the Worcester County Commission for Women, 5:30 p.m., the Restaurant at Lighthouse Sound, Bishopville. $15 per person for members; $18 per person for non-members.

Includes dinner, dessert, a non-alcoholic beverage and gratuities. Cash bar. Reservations should be mailed to FWCCW, P.O. Box 1712, Berlin MD 21811. Flea Daly, 410-208-1272, or f.daly@mchsi. com.

Thursday, Dec. 11 Worcester County Tea Party, annual Christmas party, Ocean Pines Community Center, Assateague Room, 7 p.m., doors open 6:30 p.m. Bring an appetizer, snack or dessert to share.

Beverages and supplies provided. Bring canned or boxed food items for the Sharing the Harvest Ministry sponsored by SonRise Church. 443-614-7214 Friday, Dec. 12 Light Up the Pines contest, deadline for submitting addresses to be considered, house or business. Email to info@oceanpines.org.

Saturday, Dec. 13 Delmarva Chorus annual Christmas/holiday celebration, Ocean Pines Community Center, 7 p.m. Free. Cookies and beverage. Holiday music and song.

Kids craft time, Ocean Pines community Center, 10 a.m. to noon. Kids create Christmas tree ornaments. All materials provided, preregistration required.

Residents $15, non-residents $20. 410641-7052.

Ocean Pines Anglers Club,

HAPPENINGS monthly meeting, 9:30 a.m., Ocean Pines Library. John McFalls will address “What’s Your Place in the Ocean?” Buddy Seigal will speak on the Marine Recreational Information Program regarding summer flounder and other issues.

All welcome. Members are reminded to bring canned goods or money that will be donated to Diakonia W. Ocean City.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday Dec. 12. 13 and 14 Another Night Before Christmas, performances by the Ocean Pines Players, St. Peter’s Lutheran Church Life Center, 10301 Coastal Hwy., Ocean City. Friday & Saturday, December 12 and 13, doors open 5:30 p.m., curtain 7 p.m. Sunday doors open 2:30 p.m., curtain 4 p.m. $25 per person, includes show, full dinner, wine and pre-show entertainment. 410-600-0462 for reservations. Profits benefit higher education scholarships for local students.

Monday, Dec. 15 Democratic Women’s Club, holiday luncheon, Lighthouse Sound, 11 a.m. $24. Sandy, 814-322-2119.

Thursday, Dec. 18 Pine’eer Craft Club holiday luncheon, Ocean Pines Yacht Club, 11 a.m.

Reservations: Sharon, 410-208-3032.

Saturday, Dec. 20 Holiday spa day, girls ages 4-10, Ocean Pines Community Center, 1-4 p.m.

Spa-like pampering, including manicures, pedicures, hair styling and makeup application. $15 residents, $20 for non-residents. Photos available for an additional charge. Pre-registration required, 410-641-7052.

Sunday, Dec. 21 Sharing Sunday, hosted by the Democratic Women’s Club, 1-3 p.m., Southside Firehouse. Collection of non-perishable food, toiletries and paper products, to be with a local food ministry.

410-641-8553.

Tuesday, Dec. 23 Ugly Sweater Christmas Party and Jimmy Charles Christmas concert, Ocean Pines Yacht Club, concert 6-10 p.m. Toys for tots benefits. Happy hour specials begin at 4 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 31 New Year’s Eve festivities, Ocean Pines Yacht Club, www.oceanpines.org for details.

Friday, Jan. 9 Star Charities’ beef and beer fundraiser, 5-9 p.m., Ocean Pines Community Center, $26 per person, 410-6417667.

Ongoing

Free platform tennis clinics, Saturdays at noon, Manklin Meadows tennis complex. Bring sneakers, the rest is provided. Annual memberships start at $150 .

Pine Tappers free adult tap dance classes, Tuesdays, 2-3:30 p.m., Ocean Pines Community Center. Exercise and have fun with choreographed tap dancing routines. From 2-2:30 p.m., brush up on basic techniques and a review of the routines, then join the regular class from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Every week or dropin as convenient. Lori at 410-251-2162 or tntandcompany@gmail.com.

Ocean Pines Ping Pong Club, Ocean Pines Community Center, Monday noon to 2 p.m, Wednesday and Friday noon to 3 p.m. All levels of players welcome. Neil Gottesman, 732-773-1516.

Suicide Grievers Support Group, 3rd Wednesday every month, 6 p.m., Worcester County Health Department, Healthway Drive, Berlin, adjacent to Atlantic General Hospital. Open to anyone who has lost a friend or loved one to suicide. Free of charge. Quiet listening, caring people, no judgment. 410-629-0164.

The Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines – Ocean City every Wednesday at 7:45 a.m. in the Ocean Pines Community Center.

Sanctioned duplicate bridge games, Ocean Pines Community Center, Sundays 1 p.m., Mondays noon, Tuesdays 10 a.m. Partners guaranteed. $5, special games $6. Third Sunday of every month is Swiss teams (no partner guaranteed for teams). Felicia Daly, 410208-1272; Pat Kanz, 410-641-8071 The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 12-05, meets the first Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the U.S.C.G. Station, Ocean City. Visitors and new members are welcome. Dennis Kalinowski, 410-208-4147. Web site http:// a0541205.uscgaux.info.

Kabbalah class with Saturday services, coffee, juice and bagels, 9:30 a.m., Saturdays, Temple Bat Yam, 410641-4311.

Life after loss support group, second and fourth Tuesday of each month at the Community Church at Ocean Pines, 11227 Race Track Road, Berlin, 11 a.m. Help in coping with any type of loss. 410-641-5433.

Worcester County Democratic Club meeting, fourth Thursday of each month, 7 p.m., Marlin Room of Ocean Pines Community Center. No December meeting. Club membership is not required. All those interested in Democratic platforms and agendas are welcome.

Beach Singles, every Thursday, 4-6 p.m., Castaways, Coastal Hwy. at 64th Street, Ocean City, 45+ singles for socializing and monthly activities, 302436-9577.

Republican Women of Worcester County, fourth Thursday of each month, 11 a.m. meeting (doors open at 10:30), lunch at noon, local restaurants.

For information, call membership chair Barbara Loffler at 410-208-0890. January through June, and again September and October. Dinner meeting in November. No meetings July, August and December.

YOGA, James G. Barrett Medical Office Building, Berlin, rotunda, Tuesdays 5:30-6 p.m. All levels welcome. Contact Georgette Rhoads at 410-641-9734 or grhoads@atlanticgeneral.org with any questions. Cost: $72 for 8 sessions, or $10 drop-in fee for first time.

T.O.P.S. of Berlin, Group 169, Atlantic General Hospital, Conference Room 1. Mondays 5-6:30 p.m. Take Off Pounds Sensibly is a support and educational group promoting weight loss and healthy life style, meeting weekly. For more information contact Edna Berkey, 410-629-1006.

Bereavement Support Group, Atlantic General Hospital, Conference Room 1, 7-8 p.m. Fourth Wednesday of every month. Pre-registration is not necessary. For further information, please call Pastoral Care Services, 410-6419725.

American Legion Post 166 Auxiliary monthly general meeting, Ocean City, third Tuesday of the month at the post, 11:30 a.m.

Tai Chi classes, Wednesdays, 4-5 p.m. and 6-7 p.m., Mondays 4-5 p.m., James G. Barrett Medical Office building, corner of Healthway Drive and Old Ocean City Boulevard, Berlin. Instructor Jani Kendy, 410-641-9268.

Back Home for the Winter?

Away on Vacation?

Wondering what’s happening back in Ocean Pines while you’ve been gone?

Visit OceanPinesToday.com for the latest edition of the Ocean Pines Progress online Important updates are posted throughout the month.

OPINION

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

COMMENTARY Removing the manager won’t fix what ails the Yacht Club

45

Closing it during the winter months, soliciting lease proposals is the better way forward It’s clear that banquet pricing is immune to an easy fix. Certainly Thompson and has team haven’t come up with a workable solution so far, and in the end it will probably have to be the Board of Directors that makes a policy decision. describe the day-to-day ala carte dining business as very poor in recent weeks, offset in part by special event bookings such as weddings and anniversary parties.

Even that, however, is a mixed bag, as representatives from several community and civic groups are agitating about the fees being charged for use of the new Yacht Club. Plenty of Ocean Pines residents still look to local restaurants other than the Yacht Club for their holiday parties.

Some civic group members have asked for room reservation fees to be eliminated completely, arguing that as Ocean Pines property owners they have already paid for the new amenities and shouldn’t now be charged more money to hold events there.

“We continue to receive poor feedback on community and club events despite multiple changes in our pricing strategy. With this being the first full year in the new facility, it would appear internal

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and external expectations need to be adjusted if we are to reach the Yacht Club’s full potential,” Thompson said in his report to the board.

How tactfully antiseptic. The reference to “external expectations” seemed to be code for “unrealistic expectations,” and in that the general manager has a point.

It’s also clear, though, that banquet pricing is immune to an easy fix. Certainly Thompson and has team haven’t come up with a workable solution so far, and in the end it will probably have to be the Board of Directors that makes a policy decision. No downward adjustment in fees is going to satisfy critics if they will only be satisfied by a waiver of fees. Some community group representatives believe that because as Ocean Pines property owners they helped build – that is, vigorously lobbied for and promoted -- what to some of us seems like an oversized monstrosity with manifest design flaws, they should somehow be exempt from helping to pay for the costs of operating it. And why is that exactly? To make such an assertion is fundamentally to confuse and conflate capital construction costs with operating costs. The fact that one contributed to the former does not exempt one from contributing to the latter, or at least it should not, if space is being reserved.

While the Yacht Club remained in the black for the fiscal year through the end of October, it lost $15,641 for the month, according to OPA financials, and poor day-to-day business suggests that

q

I

f there is any “lesson learned” from a recent summary of Yacht Club operations delivered by General Manager Bob Thompson, it’s that, once a spate of holiday activities at the amenity conclude with the New Year’s Eve party, there’s no particular reason to keep the facility open during much of the winter. From Jan. 2, say, through mid-April, maybe even May 1, the financial interests of the association would be best served by closing our new $5 million amenity, except for the presumably lucrative banquet business. The time could be taken to assess what went wrong with the launch of the new building this spring, what went right, and then to implement suggested improvements.

The Clubs Advisory Committee is said to be working on a detailed “lessons learned” document that will be shared with the Board of Directors sometime soon. Fair enough. If the committee is doing its job, it will produce a significant amount of evidence that the OPA simply has not mastered the fine art and minutiae of running a restaurant. The Yacht Club made money this past summer almost in spite of itself. Summertime homeowners especially made it their mission to support their amenity. But they’re gone now, and “poor” day-to-day business suggests that the traditional Ocean Pines sport of hemorrhaging summertime profits in the winter at the Yacht Club is well under way.

Thompson has a deserved reputation for emphasizing the positive to the exclusion of not-so-positive, so in a way it was refreshing during the Nov. 22 Board of Directors’ meeting to hear him

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O

OPINION

December 2014 - Early January 2015

Fudging the numbers, Ocean Pines-style

ne might suppose that a modest format change in the way revenue into and spending from the bulkheads and waterways reserve fund is displayed on the monthly summary sheet would matter to a very few. But now that the significance of such a modest change has been revealed for what it is, and cited as a reason for not making the change, maybe it will suddenly matter to a lot more Ocean Pines property owners.

An article elsewhere in this edition of Progress details, General Manager Bob Thompson indicated during the Nov. 22 board of directors meeting that making the change would reveal the extent to which non-waterfront property owners in Ocean Pines are subsidizing bulkhead replacement in Ocean Pines for private owners of waterfront property.

In his monthly GM report to the board, Thompson revealed that “92 percent of the linear footage of the bulkheads covered by the OPA Bulkhead (replacement) plan [is] member-owned and only 8 percent … [is] OPA owned.

However, the current funding formula allocates only 80 percent of the costs to the member-owned (bulkheads) and 20 percent to all OPA members.”

Consequently, Thompson said, “it would appear that the funding provided by the bulkhead differential assessment is not sufficient to cover the costs of the member-owned portion of the program.”

Translated, that essentially means that member-owned bulkheads are being replaced to a significant extent at the cost of those property owners who don’t live on bulkheaded property. The better off are reaping a benefit courtesy of those who presumably are less well off, under the premise that most homes in Ocean Pines of similar square footage and features will be more valuable if located on the water than if they’re located inland.

The general manager suggested a two or three-year delay in making the format change to give him a chance to

Editorial

From Page 45 November might be even worse. Terminating the employment of Yacht Club manager Dave McLaughlin might help ease pressure on the bottom line in December, but it won’t help much in November, when he was on the job for most of the month.

The interim manager hired to replace him isn’t donating her services, nor should she. In the end, if the business isn’t there to support the staff that’s there, closing it for three or months is the best course of action.

With the large number of quality restaurants in the area from which to choose, many of which offer attractive wintertime specials to lure in the business, it’s not as if any significant number of Ocean Pines residents will be inconvenienced if the Yacht Club is shuttered for the winter. Not to be unkind, but the staff can go on unemployment when they’re laid off; that’s a well-honed survival

LIFE IN THE LIFE INPINES THE PINES

A new Sandpiper pact?

While it may be too early to tell with

An excursion through the curious cul-de-sacs An excursion through theby-ways curious and by-ways and cul-de-sacs absolute certainty, it looks as if the OPA and Sandpiper Energy are finally on the of Worcester County’s County’s most densely community. of Worcester mostpopulated densely populated community. same page with respect to a gas pipeline Publisher

By TOM STAUSS/

By TOM STAUSS/Publisher franchise agreement. There still may study the subsidy issue and come up with a change in the funding formula that in turn could be reflected in the format change whenever it is implemented.

One director, Tom Terry, suggested that the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee, which had almost unanimously supported the proposed formatting change, take another look at its proposal in light of Thompson’s startling revelation and his tortured rationale for delay. Terry, unfortunately, did not seem to grasp just how tortured and unconvincing that rationale truly is.

The implication also seemed to be that if only the committee had another opportunity to review the folly of their ways, they would rescind their proposal and wait patiently for Thompson to get around to completing his subsidy study and propose a remedy.

In two or three years, of course, the composition of that committee could undergo a complete overhaul.

And in two or three years the institutional memory of the current discussion could fade.

In two or three years Thompson’s gaze could be focused elsewhere.

The point of the committee’s recommended format change, as was obvious to anyone who sat in on the meetings when it was discussed, is that there most definitely is some degree of unfairness in the funding formula, and what better way to expose the extent of the unfair subsidy than showing the two revenue streams into the bulkhead and waterways reserve, together with outflows.

Any shortfalls should be readily apparent by careful scrutiny of the revised reserve summary.

Thompson’s revelation will hardly be a revelation to the members of the budtechnique that many local people in the food service industry have mastered.

If OPA policy-makers are truly interested in turning the Yacht Club into a robust profit-center, they should not be satisfied with curbing wintertime losses, though that’s certainly a start and a minimum requirement.

The better solution is for the board to draft an RFP – that’s a request for proposals, in management-speak – from experienced restaurateurs willing to assume control of the Yacht Club in the form of a lease.

Alternatively, the directors, who indeed have a lot on their plate at the moment, could also direct Thompson to draft one. At his salary, he could even put in a little overtime to make it happen, just in time for the 2015-16 budget review process.

The timing couldn’t be better. One, the Yacht Club made money this summer; a really outstanding restaurateur would know how to improve upon the bottom line.

get and finance committee.

If changing the format will hasten the day when the formula is changed responsibly, that is precisely the preferred outcome.

Thompson’s revelation should be treated as compelling evidence that the OPA needs to go ahead full throttle on making the format change.

Rather than justifying a slow-walk approach, which is a polite way to bury it, the revelation should be seen as a way to spur a change in the funding formula to ensure that owners of waterfront property pay the full extent of costs associated with replacing their bulkheads in the future.

The constant reminder of a more accurate and transparent display of the revenue flows into the bulkhead reserve and their outflows will keep the spotlight on what is essentially a fudging of the numbers, to benefit some property owners at the expense of others.

The implication of the slow-walk approach apparently favored by some board members is that Ocean Pines property owners, especially those who don’t live on bulkheaded property, will become outraged and demand immediate remediation of the unfair funding formula, rather than await the oh-someasured, methodical and perhaps even lethargic pace of the general manager, who will get around to it when he gets around to it.

Or not, as the case may be.

The remand to the committee for another look is simply a delaying tactic. The committee has already made a compelling case for making the format change.

The sooner the directors get around to insisting on it, the better.

The building is new, the two kitchens are state of the art. The facility’s manager just left and so there’s a vacancy at the top.

OPA President Dave Stevens recently said he’s changing his mind about the merits of leasing out the Yacht Club management, though he wasn’t quite ready to pull the trigger.

OPA Vice-president Marty Clarke is a strong supporter of the concept, as is newly elected director Pat Renaud. From among the others there should be at least one more vote – Jack Collins where are you? – to begin the RFP process.

Collins recently said there’s a lot on the board’s plate at the moment -- true enough -and that advocates of a Yacht Club lease need to wait for the situation to evolve at its own pace.

Granted in Ocean Pines, patience is a virtue.

Much that happens, happens slowly.

Even so, on occasion evolution just needs a little nudge.

Jack Collins really could be that catalyst. If not him, who? – Tom Stauss

be some distance between the parties on the extent of a franchise fee as the price of a new agreement, but in the end the OPA’s insistence on a $150,000 or so per year fee appears reasonable and something that Sandpiper can afford.

If that adds to the monthly cost of gas to those on the Sandpiper pipeline, so be it. It’s the premium for the convenience of pipeline propane delivery.

Kudos to the director who, more than any other, adopted a take-no-prisoners approach to the negotiations from the start – Marty Clarke. Without him leading the charge and never letting the voices of capitulation on the board dampen his resolve, this matter perhaps would not have been resolved in the satisfactory way it’s heading.

It’s also good to hear that Sandpiper has apparently agreed to pick up the OPA’s legal costs of roughly $70,000 as part of the deal.

Clarke will no doubt be willing to share the credit once everything is nailed down. But make no mistake, without him this deal would never have happened.

The Ocean Pines Progress, a journal of news and commentary, is published monthly throughout the year.

It is circulated in Ocean Pines, Berlin, Ocean City, and Captain’s Cove, Va. Letters and other editorial submissions: Please submit via email only.

Letters should be original and exclusive to the Progress. Include phone number for verification.

127 Nottingham Lane Ocean Pines, MD 21811

PUBLISHER/EDITOR Tom Stauss tstauss1@mchsi.com 410-641-6029

Advertising Sales Frank Bottone 410-430-3660

ART DIRECTOR Rota Knott

CONTRIBUTING WRITER Rota Knott InkwellMedia@comcast.net 443-880-1348

PROOFREADER Joanne Williams

OPINION Yacht Club observations

I have been a member of the Ocean Pines Association for 32 years and remember when the Yacht Club and Golf Course were actually successful enterprises.

Physically, the new Yacht Club needs a lot of improvement in the area of lighting, noise reduction, and fly elimination.

It is not attractive. People question its intent and why such a big building has so little to offer when you enter it. Its entrance has no pizzazz, particularly for those going upstairs for large catering affairs. To reach the regular dining room, you have to pass all the storage areas. When arriving into the dining room, there is not much ambiance to speak of. The bar area has lost any appeal the old building had, with small TVs and questionable service.

On the positive side, however, the outside appearance and atmosphere is excellent.

What is the purpose of the Yacht Club? Is it an amenity or a profit center?

If it is designed to be a profit center, it is, and has been, a complete failure. The Yacht Club is too distant to attract tourists from the neighboring areas, such as Ocean City. It has never shown a profit in its entire history. Why would anyone think it could add to the revenues of Ocean Pines? Even when it had no local competition, such as Whiskers, Taylors and DeNovos, it didn’t make a profit.

Remember, when the successful owner of Fausto’s Antipasti in Ocean Pines operated the Yacht Club? He couldn’t make a go of it. To continue on the path of creating a fine dining profit center is ridiculous. The present business model is the wrong one for Ocean Pines.

How can you make the Yacht Club successful?

By returning the club to being an amenity for Ocean Pines residents, renters and visitors. If the upstairs can be profitable as a catering hall, continue doing so, but change the lower floor into an amenity that a majority of residents will fully utilize and enjoy. That means it has to be very affordable and operated similarly to non-profit places, such as the Elks, American Legion, VFW, etc.

No more fine dining. Go for pub grub and home-style food that is affordable and reasonably priced. Dollar hot dogs at the pool, small steamship roast sandwiches around the outside tables, a dollar popcorn vender, and special drink prices on particular days. How about a free draft for anyone playing a round at our golf course? Would that add to the business?

The Canteen Corporation that operated the Yacht Club in the early years had ideas like this and had the Yacht Club jammed on most nights because that is exactly what the residents wanted. Yes, they didn’t make a profit, but the losses were so low that the drain on the general fund did not ignite the furor of most property owners. The important thing is that they made a majority of the populous happy! That to me is success.

Presently, Ocean Piners flock to Whiskers, Taylors and De Novos when

December 2014 - Early January 2015 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

LETTERS they have half price hamburgers. I’m sure those three establishments are not losing money on those nights. Does the average Ocean Piner want to pay $16 for a draft beer and a bourbon on the rocks?

(It happened to me recently, at the Yacht Club.)

Does the average Ocean Piner look forward to hearing the live music groups that presently are there? Why not use a DJ, or single musicians such as the one DeNovo uses? A band conducive to dancing should be brought in once in a while, but not almost every night. What happened to large screen TV at the bar to attract sports fans? Why can’t there be draft beer at the outside bar? Items such as these are what make an amenity and a place where locals will frequent.

You must realize that the real Yacht Club’s market is Ocean Pines residents, not tourists and not many outside neighbors. It has to satisfy and attract its own residents to be successful. If it does so, they will increase their attendance and business volume will increase dramatically. Volume business will bring success to the club and satisfaction to the residents. It should also attract a good wait staff and in that case service would improve.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a convenient place to go for a drink and have a bite to eat that wouldn’t cost an arm and leg? A place where you could relax with your friends and neighbors on a regular basis, like the old fashioned neighborhood pub?

It seems Ocean Pines people eat out an awful lot. Why can’t we attract them into “Our Place”?

Budd Shea Ocean Pines

the Yacht Club achieved near breakeven status in his last year. Reinhart and General Manager Bob Thompson had creative differences over a number of management issues, including the wisdom of creating the Java Bay café; guess who was proved right on that one?

What followed Reinhart’s departure were years of significant losses, and a launch of the new Yacht Club that left much to be desired. Thompson would have been better off having someone of Reinhart’s experience and expertise at the helm this past spring and summer.

The general manager essentially fired Reinhart’s replacement, Dave McLaughlin, after two years of lessthan-stellar financial performance, not coincidentally after two years of touting of how wonderful things were.

At least one director, Marty Clarke, described the termination as throwing McLaughlin under the bus, which is another way of saying he was the fall guy for operating the facility essentially the way Thompson directed.

Still, there is some anecdotal evidence to suggest McLaughlin really was not the right fit for Ocean Pines as time marched on. True or not, there’s a story circulating around that he was overheard saying he was tired of catering to a lot of geriatric drunks.

Oops. Really not the sort of thing a manager should be saying out loud, even if he believes it.

McLaughlin apparently was smart enough to be shopping his resume well before the axe fell, and he reportedly has landed a new gig down south.

Good for him.

Lots of retirees with a taste for spirits down that way, too.

It’s possible that Thompson will find just the right permanent replacement for McLaughlin. The GM might hit the hiring lottery, or he might not. The perfect in-house manager might well be someone who doesn’t get along well with the general manager. Someone like Reinhart.

Leasing out the Yacht Club to a competent and experience restaurateur is the better alternative, because an entrepreneur’s profit or loss will depend on successfully catering to Ocean Pines residents and property owners.

Let the restaurateur who obtains the lease decide what approach works best for him and his customers. Maybe it’s the fare that Shea suggests, maybe more fine dining, maybe a mix; let the restaurateur decide and propose his ideas. Someone with a solid track record in the business will know how to do a menu and consistently produce high caliber fare, whatever it happens to be.

He will know how to train staff, ensuring consistent, cheerful service.

Let the restaurateur fix the less-than-welcoming décor, make better use of the outside deck, figure out how to get draft beer out to the tiki bar (an oversight in the original design). Let the restaurateur decide the hours of opera-

pohanka full page

Tom Stauss responds to Shea:

A first impression of the new Yacht Club was that it had all the ambiance of a nursing home. Not much has changed since then. Food is so-so, service adequate, and the décor a D-.

Middle-of-the-road cover bands essentially butcher other people’s music.

Some people like that sort of thing, but even so, there is reason to believe that this part of the Yacht Club budget is bloated and could use some surgical trimming.

Under Fausto, by the way, the Yacht Club did very well financially. Losses to the OPA were minimal to nonexistent, as one might expect under a lease arrangement. Fausto and the OPA had a disagreement over what expenses were attributable to the OPA and what was properly a rental expense.

After two years, Fausto and his partner left Ocean Pines with a bad taste -the parting of the ways was not particularly cordial. That should not be cited as a precedent that defeats the idea of a lease; it’s more of a lesson on how not to structure and manage a lease deal. Details matter.

Under the in-house management of Joe Reinhart roughly three years ago,

47

tion – and the months the Yacht Club is open. The OPA will simply have to learn how to back away from trying to run a Yacht Club restaurant.

One caveat: Any lease should stipulate that the OPA receive a portion of the proceeds of the catering business right off the top. That way, even if the annual lease initially is for a relatively small amount of money, the OPA is guaranteed a healthy surplus, turning this amenity into an instant profit center. Alternatively, the OPA could retain in-house management of the banquet business upstairs. A request for proposals could offer both as options.

The sooner the OPA board gets moving on a lease the better. Thompson could show some real initiative if he would support sending out requests for proposals on leasing options; he might find that certain directors who often have found fault with his management style would embrace the effort.

The politics of pub tables

Thank you, for at least spelling out for me the opposing parties on the Ocean Pines Board of Directors [Life in the Pines, November-Early December edition]. As a new, mostly weekend for now, resident in the Pines, I have been having trouble following the politics and how it will affect the long term health of my investment.

At the only Board of Directors meeting I have been able to attend, the biggest issue seemed to be tennis vs. pickle -ball courts. Really? Having purchased an older property suffering from erosion issues and a mid-street leak in the water pipes, I found that to be rather petty.

Shouldn’t we be more concerned about the long-term environmental issues that maintain our properties and community, rather than which creature comforts suit which audience?

That seems again to be the issue with Yacht Club pub tables that I admit the bar area does need, along with free WIFI and better marketing, if it is to meet the needs of a more modern crowd.

I also don’t see why there are problems between the board and the general manager. If the general manager is not doing the job he was hired to do, replace him. He has a job description, doesn’t he? Hold him to it; don’t undermine or micro-manage it.

I didn’t vote for candidates from one faction or another. I voted for people who sounded like they had the knowledge and experience to lead. Fortunately, I didn’t know enough about the factions to have it affect my decision one way or the other, though I am pretty sure that if I had, I would not have voted for someone who couldn’t get along with the group, no matter how much experience they had.

Ocean Pines Board of Directors’ politics sounds a lot like America in miniature. We can’t move forward because we can’t see past our own agendas. That doesn’t help anyone. Let’s look at the bigger picture - the long term health of our community and resources.

Linda Lewis Ocean Pines

48 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 32 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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