July 2020
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Doug Parks
THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY
COVER STORY
Lakernick disagrees with Horn on need for assessment hike, services decrease next year Candidate says incumbent overlooks impact of payroll protection plan revenues on this year’s bottom line By TOM STAUSS Publisher andidates for the Board of Directors in annual Ocean Pines Association elections have seldom if ever called for increases in the annual lot assessment, but one candidate, Colette Horn, came close to that in a recent statement in response to a question from the Elections Committee. One of the other candidates for the board this summer, Stuart Lakernick, took exception to Horn’s position in a recent interview with the Progress. Because of the covid-19 pandemic, Horn wrote, “it is expected that things will be different. We will likely face reduction in services and access to amenities and at the same time increase in assessments due to expected financial losses.” Lakernick disagreed. He said that Horn “fundamentally misunderstands” the situation if she truly believes Ocean Pines is facing assessment increases, reduction in services and less access to amenities next year. Lakernick said that Horn is failing to take into account the $1.4 million in payroll protection program funds that Ocean Pines and the Matt Ortt Companies have received that directly benefit Ocean Pines’ finances in the current fiscal year. Even without the PPP revenues, “many OPA ame-
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nities are performing well in the early weeks of the new fiscal year, Lakernick said. “There is no indication of a ‘doom and gloom” scenario.” Next year’s OPA budget should more Stuart Lakernick or less return to nor- Colette Horn mal as fears of the pandemic recede and a covid-19 vaccine is made available, he said. “We should not be budgeting for declines in amenity revenues based on what happens this year,” he said, noting that the MOC and the OPA had no wedding banquet revenue in the spring months this year because of the pandemic. But Lakernick said there’s no reason to anticipate that this revenue won’t return next year. The same should be true for aquatics revenue, he said, once pools are restored to full operations with swim lessons, parties, membership and classes generating the usual revenue. “It’s not right to be forecasting” pessimistic scenarios, he said. “At least not until we know a lot more. We’ll certainly know a lot more as the summer unfolds, and I beTo Page 5
Steve Tuttle
Tuttle says Parks won’t serve again as OPA president
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oug Parks, the Ocean Pines Association president since the fall of 2017, won’t serve again as president if he’s reelected to the board in this summer’s Board of Directors election, a colleague of his on the board has disclosed. OPA Vice-President Steve Tuttle told the Progress in a brief conversation after the July 1 monthly board meeting that Parks has taken himself out of the running for a fourth term as OPA president. “That was smart,” Tuttle said, without elaborating. Parks has been subjected to criticism on oceanpinesforum. com by its manager, Joe Reynolds, for failing to observe the letter of language in the OPA bylaws and the Maryland Homeowners Association Act regarding the conduct of open and closed meetings. Tuttle said he might decide to be a candidate for the presidency when the board meets to reorganize itself after the annual meeting in early August. He said that Director and OPA Treasurer Larry Perrone also has indicated interest in serving as OPA president. He said Perrone is “edgy,” without saying whether that would be a positive or negative attribute in an OPA president. OPA officers are elected by majority vote of all seven directors.
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