Comcast begins fiber optic cable installation
December 2019
The era of real competition for cable television and Internet services in Ocean Pines became even more starkly evident at a town hall meeting Dec. 3, when representatives of Comcast fielded questions and provided a service implementation timeline for their entry into the community. What was foremost in the minds of the 50 or so residents attending the town hall meeting was how much Comcast services for cable television, Internet broadband and Internet telephone services will cost relative to Mediacom, which has had a monopoly of these services for many years in Ocean Pines. ~Page 5
Yacht Club model boat mystery solved by builder’s son Area resident Farrell John Lynch read local newspaper coverage of the recent dedication of the Yacht Club’s model boat display. No one seem to know who had built the model, which was dated back to the 1950s. “My father built that boat,” he told the OPA. “My father’s name [was] Farrell Wrendel Lynch, and that boat was built right over here on Gum Point Road.” ~ Page 31
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THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY
COVER STORY
Viola compensation package now close to predecessor’s
Directors suggest lawsuit to be handed off to insurance co. The lawsuit recently filed by former Ocean Pines Association Director Slobodan Trendic will be turned over to the OPA’s insurance company to handle in accord with normal procedures, two directors suggested to the Progress in recent interviews. OPA President Doug Parks has not returned recent phone ~ Page 13 calls to confirm.
www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress
Board approves 30-month contract extension By TOM STAUSS Publisher t took awhile, but General Manager John Viola’s compensation package is now close to that of his predecessor, John Bailey, who parted ways with the Ocean Pines Association early this year. Viola signed a six-month agreement in early June that expired on Dec. 1. He signed a new deal the first week of December. It runs from Dec. 1, 2019, to June 30, 2022, a somewhat unusual two-and-a-half year contract. “The Board (of Directors) thought a contract covering three budget cycles made sense,” Viola told the Progress in a recent telephone interview. The contract is similar to the agreement the Novak Consulting Group developed for Bailey, although Viola agreed to waive medical benefits in order to save the Association money. He did so in the earlier six-month contract as well. Viola had been named interim gen-
I
BERLIN i.g. Burton www.igburton.com 10419 Old Ocean City Blvd, Berlin, MD 410.641.0444
General Manager John Viola
eral manager in a special meeting in March. The action was then ratified and clarified in a closed session of the board following its regular meeting April 6, reportedly to fix what some considered inelegant or imperect language in the original motion in March appointing Viola. The initial March appointment was intended as an unpaid, voluntary role. He retained some insurance coverage as an officer of the corporation.
The arrangement was subsequently revised to pay Viola $700 per week, a minimum payment required under federal labor law. The action brought the OPA into compliance with its bylaws, which require an interim GM after the departure of a prior manager and during the period before a new one is hired and on board. At the time, Viola remained in a role as treasurer and chief financial officer of the OPA. He relinquished that role in August, after results of the annual board election were announced, with newly elected director Larry Perrone succeeding him. The six-month contract that Viola and the board agreed to in June paid him $70,000 over the six-month term and did not include insurance or retirement benefits. At that point he was no longer in an acting or interim capacity, but general manager of the OPA. The agreement specified that Viola’s tenure could be extended in To Page 37