June 2020 Ocean Pines Progress

June 2020

www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress

443-359-7527

Aquatics to reopen Sports Core pool before Mumford’s, dates pending

By TOM STAUSS Publisher

W THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY

COVER STORY

BACK OPEN

Almost ‘normal’ operations resume in Ocean Pines Most amenities open, some at limited capacity, but further easing of shut-down orders will occur later this month

By TOM STAUSS Publisher overnor Larry Hogan’s press conference on June 10 provided the impetus for another wave of reopenings in Ocean Pines, bringing operations of the Ocean Pines Association much closer to normal, in time for the heart of

G

the summer season.

“It changes weekly,” OPA General Manager John Violi said of guidance from the governor. That means the OPA has to be nimble in order to meet the expectations of its members.

That was apparent in a press release issued Jan. 13 announcing the reopening of the White Horse Play-

Membership office to reopen for in-person applications

O

cean Pines residents and property owners who have been unable or unwilling to drop off applications and checks to the drop-off box in the Administration Building to renew or purchase amenity memberships can do so in person beginning Friday, June 19, General Manager John Viola has announced.

The Administration Building’s membership office, closed because of the covid-19 pandemic, will reopen to accept applications and payments at 8 a.m. on Friday, June 19.

Hours will be Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays June 20 through July 25 from 8 a.m. to noon. The office will be closed on Saturday, July 4.

Social distancing practices will be in place. Anyone entering the building will be asked to wear face coverings. If “socially distant” places are fully occupied, then customers will be asked to wait outside until someone leaves the building. Plexiglass barriers have been installed to separate the staff from those needing service, Viola said.

Viola said that Ruth Ann Meyer’s department has been one person short in recent days, because of a resignation, but that should be remedied by the time the office reopens, he said.

“She’s been slammed, trying to keep up,” he added.

ground and skate park on Monday, June 15, at 9 a.m. Restrooms will remain closed for the time being.

The OPA will provide a handwashing station at the White Horse Park pavilion and hand sanitizer stations at both the playground and skate park.

The governor’s announcement that indoor dining could resume at 50 percent capacity meant that the Yacht Club, the new golf clubhouse and the Beach Club could move outside operations indoors.

The Yacht Club did beginning on Friday, June 12, while retaining the outside option for those who want it. In addition, the Yacht Club is continuing its popular delivery service and $40 family dinners.

With the arrival of indoor seating at the Clubhouse Bar and Grill, more Ocean Pines residents will discover that the new golf clubhouse’s restaurant venue includes a full breakfast menu. It opened for indoor dining on Saturday, June 13.

The Beach Club also reopened for indoor dining starting Saturday, June 13.

All three indoor venues are operating on an every-other-table protocol. Bars at all three have reopened as well, with every other To Page 28

ith the announcement

by Gov. Larry Hogan that indoor swimming pools in the state can open as soon as June 19, the Aquatics Department with the concurrence of General Manager John Viola has rearranged the order in which pools in Ocean Pines will reopen.

The Yacht Club and Beach Club pools opened with limited capacity the first weekend in June, and Swim and Racquet followed suit on Friday, June 12.

The plan had been to open Mumford’s Landing on June 20, depending on securing the necessary staffing, but that’s been been pushed back to a date to be determined.

According to Amenities and Logistical Operations Director Colby Phillips in a statement issued June 12, the new plan is to open the Sports Core “within the next two weeks” in order “to start offering exercise classes as well as lap swimming.”

She said the Sports Core pool will be open on shorter hours than the normal 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. hours because of limited staffing.

The new hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

“Once we have the staff hired and trained, we will release a date for reopening,” she said.

Then the plan will be to open Mumford’s Landing soon after, with a date to be released once staff is hired and trained.

Phillips said that because the Sports Core pool will be utilized for just exercise classes and lap swimmong, a decision has been made not to turn on the propane gas heater to warm the water.

“The water temperature in the summer gets pretty close to where we keep it year round and is around 80 right now,” she said.

“Our team is trying to cut costs wherever we can but still offer an enjoyable and safe environment.”

Phillips said that exercise class times will be released as soon as a reopening for the Sports Core pool is determined.

2 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

June 2020

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4 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

June 2020

The new Ocean Pines Golf Clubhouse, by all accounts a significant upgrade to the golf course, opened for outside dining the first weekend in June and expanded into indoor dining June 12.

New Golf Clubhouse opens for inside and outside dining Matt Ortt company introduces Clubhouse Bar and Grill, breakfast menu

By TOM STAUSS Publisher nder budget by roughly $100,000 including contributions from the Public Works Department, the new golf clubhouse opened for limited use in late May for carry-out meals and then, the first weekend in June, for outdoor dining on the L-shaped deck covered by the newly installed awning.

Then, beginning on Friday, June 12, with Gov. Larry Hogan’s phase 2 reopening throughout the state, the Matt Ortt Companies were autho-

U

rized to open the newly rebranded Clubhouse Bar and Grille.

This new Ocean Pines amenity, open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily to everyone in the community for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, has a spacious horseshoe shaped bar and a gas fireplace and ample seating for all comers.

The large windows in the restaurant and the adjoining community room, where meetings of the Board of Directors may soon take place, offer excellent views of the scenic nine and 18th greens and the ponds that

separate them.

The 12-foot ceilings in the building make the rooms look spacious.

General Manager John Viola, during a recent tour of the facility with local developer and builder Marvin Steen, along with his designer Bill Stamp, commended them for their role in making recommendations that had a major impact on the building.

He cited Steen’s insistence that large windows be installed to capture the views. Viola said his initial inclination was to go with drop-down The view of the pond between the 9th and 18th greens from inside the Clubhouse Bar and Grill.

ceilings, but Steen convinced him to opt for 12-foot ceilings. Ductless heating and cooling wall units were another Steen recommendation.

“Bringing Marvin in as a consultant was the best thing I did with this whole project,” Viola said.

“The finished product reflects all the excellent advice he gave us in designing this building.”

Steen also played a pivotal role in the decision to tear down the old Country Club building and replace it. Former boards had embarked on a project to renovate the old building, but it stalled out over design issues on the building’s second floor after the first floor renovation was complete.

Leaky roof issues compounded the sense that the old building had exceeded its useful life, a conclusion that Steen reached after a tour of the building that included opening walls and finding mold. When Steen revealed his change of opinion on the efficacy of renovation, opting instead for a new building, former supporters of renovation went along with Steen.

The board sent out bid proposals, with Whayland Construction of Delmar awarded the bid at a cost not to exceed $1.6 million, which kept it under the threshold that would have required a referendum of property owners.

Demolition of the old Country Club occurred in August of last year, with laying of the foundation following about a month later. The building was substantially under roof by year’s end. The covid-19 outbreak that began in March did not stop construction, although it did slow things down.

The awning over the back deck To Page 28

The Ocean Pines golf course is now better prepared than ever to host golf golf tournaments with a new leader board donated by area businesses. The fire pit was also donated to the OPA.

June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

5

6 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

June 2020

OPA to ‘spend’ entire payroll protection loan $1.4 million in loan proceeds will substantially reduce expected losses in amenity operations

By TOM STAUSS Publisher t turns out that the Ocean Pines Association was only expecting to spend or allocate about $800,000 of the $1.14 million payroll protection loan despite a consensus in a special meeting of the Board of Directors May 12 that the OPA was fully justified in keeping the entire loan provided the OPA by the Small Business Administration.

Unknown to many in Ocean Pines, the OPA also is benefiting from $277,000 in PPP funds received by the Matt Ortt Companies for the venues managed by that company for the OPA, bringing the total package to about $1.4 million.

The loan is forgivable if the OPA uses the loans for authorized purposes, such as payroll and utilities.

OPA General Manager John Viola

I

said in an early June telephone interview that under the initial terms of the loan, the OPA could allocate only $800,000 toward payroll and utility costs during an eight-week period following receipt of the loan proceeds.

It would have been necessary to return the remaining $300,000, he said.

But Congress, with both the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and the Republican-control Senate in near unanimous agreement, early this month passed an amendment to the federal CARES Act that extended the eight-week period that allowed for loan forgiveness to 24 weeks.

It also changed the so-called 7525 rule, which required PPP recipients to use three quarters of loan proceeds for payroll and the rest to

other costs.

The new formula is 60-40, which effectively means loan proceeds can be stretched to cover more expenses other than payroll.

Another effect of this amendment is that the OPA can now use the remaining $300,000 in PPP funds beyond the initial eight weeks that were set in motion after the OPA received the funds in March, Viola said.

Barring something unforseen, it now appears the entire $1.14 million can be kept by the OPA and used to offset salary and utility expense.

The general manager also provided additional details on how the PPP funds will be treated on OPA financial documents in the 2019-20 fiscal year that ended this past April 30 and in the new 2020-21 fiscal year that began May 1.

The loan proceeds of $1.14 million will show on the OPA’s 2019-20 yearend balance sheet as loan payables, Viola said, less a small amount that was allocated to the General Administration department for about one week in April, the last month of the fiscal year.

Then the remaining portion of the initial $800,000 tranche will be allocated to the General Administration Department in May and June, as an offset to payroll and utility expense throughout the OPA. Viola said that allocating the revenue to each department with payroll expense was considered, but after consulting with the OPA’s auditing firm it was decided to allocate the funding to general administration. This allows for a clear indication on monthly financials of the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on amenity operations.

This allocation serves to boost the OPA’s operating fund by $1.14 million.

Because of the CARES Act extension, the remaining tranche of $300,000 of the $1.14 million can be allocated to general administration in the summer months that follow, To Page 8

53 Wood Duck Drive • $687,500 Coastal contemporary with space for all your friends and family on the waterfront in Wood Duck I. New bulkhead just installed by Ocean Pines.

5 bedrooms, 2 full baths plus 2 half baths plus Sun Room and bonus/ craft rooms make this home perfect for your personal dream home. Cook’s delight kitchen with 2 refrigerators and gas stove. All new appliances in the kitchen. New roof in 2008. Tankless natural gas hot water heater and zoned gas heat and central A/C. House has been pre-inspected and any minor repairs mentioned have been addressed.

This is available upon request. Special workshop is in garage & was where the owner did his duck decoy carving.

There is also another bonus room on the first floor that could be an office. Another bonus room on 2nd floor could be playroom or craft room. Walk-in attic is huge and insulated. Outside shower room a don’t miss feature. Boat dock with a lift. A must see to appreciate all the unique features. Easy to see. Some remaining furniture negotiable. ©2020 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently owned and operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.

Take Out • Delivery (Until pandemic ends)

Catering • Curbside Pick-up Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner

Breakfast Served All Day APPETIZERS

WINGS Hot, Mild, BBQ or Naked with blue cheese or ranch dressing 10 PIECE $10.99 ~ 20 PIECE $19.86 FRIED SEAFOOD MIX 1 pc. fish chip, clam strips, 3 butterfly shrimp with cocktail sauce $11.99 NEW ~ CRAB BALLS (5) with cocktil or tartar sause $15.99 CHICKEN TENDERS (5) with honey mustard or BBQ sauce $8.99 MOZZARELLA STICKS (5) with side marinara sauce $7.99 BROCCOLI BITES (8) with RANCH $7.99’ ONION RINGS $5.99 CHEESE QUESADILLA with sour cream $5.90 CHEESESTEAK FRIES French fries, steak, cheddar cheese sauce & mozzarella cheese $7.99 MEGA FRIES French fries, bacon, cheddar cheese sauce & pizza cheese $7.99 CHEESE FRIES with cheddar cheese sauce $5.99 NEW ~ Crab Dip with garlic cheese bread & imperial sause $14.99 5 PC. BUTTERFLY SHRIMP with cocktail sauce $8.99 STEAMED SHRIMP (25) with cocktail sauce $12.99 HOMEMADE SOUP CUP $2.99 • BOWL $3.99 • QUART $14.99 $1 Upcharge for Cream of Crab ABI’S APPETIZER COMBO 2pc chicken tenders, 2 piece mozzarella sticks, 3pc broccoli bites, onion rings, french fries $11.99

FRESH SALADS

All of Our Salads are Made with Fresh Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, Carrot, Red Cabbage, Cucumber. Comes with Garlic Bread and Choice of Dressing

SIDE SALAD $3.99 GARDEN SALAD $6.99 CHEF SALAD Turkey, ham,Swiss cheese, iceberg, red onions, green peppers, tomato, cucumber, onions, hard-boiled egg $9.99 ANTIPASTO SALAD with ham, salami, capicola, provolone cheese, iceberg, tomato, green pepper, red onion and cucumber with hard-boiled egg $9.99 CAESAR SALAD Romaine, croutons, parmasan cheese & tomato $6.99 COBB SALAD Romaine, tomato, pecan, red onions, bacon, hard-boiled egg & bleu cheese crumbles $8.99 SPINACH SALAD Spinach, mushroom, pecan, onions & feta cheese $9.99 CHICKEN OR TUNA SALAD Over iceberg, croutons, tomato, cucumber, onions, green peppers, egg & cheese blend $9.99 STUFFED TOMATO with chicken or tuna salad, greens and garnish $9.99 GRILLED SEAFOOD SALAD with shrimp and scallops over iceberg, green peppers, red onions, cucumbers, tomato and chedder cheese $12.99 GREEK SALAD with romaine, tomato, red onion, green peper, cucumber, black olives, carrot, red cabbage, feta cheese, hard-boiled eggs and pita bread $7.99 TURKEY AND BACON SALAD $8.99 NEW! ~ BUFFALO CHICKEN SALAD $10.99 MONTREAL STEAK SALAD steak, iceberg, tomato, onion, cucumber, hard-boiled egg $11.99 ABI’S SALAD ham, turkey, roast beef, bacon, provolone cheese $10.99 COLD SALAD PLATTER chicken or tuna salad with potato salad, coleslaw over mixed grees and garnish $11.99 ADD THE FOLLOWING: Grilled or Crispy Chicken $3.99 • Grilled Shrimp $4.99 • Grilled Scallops $5.99 Lamb Gyro Meat $3.99 • Salmon $6.99 • Choice of Dressings: ranch, blue cheese, Caesar, Greek, French, 1000 Island, Honey Mustard, Creamy Italian, Raspberry Vinaigrette, Oil and Vinegar • Extra dressing .50

WRAPS ~ $9.99 Served with Fries, Soup or Salad on Tortilla Wrap

TURKEY BLT with turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, myo CHICKEN OR TUNA SALAD SALAD lettuce, tomato, mayo and provolone cheese VEGGIE with onion, mushrooms, green peppers, lettuce, black olives, tomato, spinach CHICKEN CAESAR with grilled chicken, mozzarella cheese, Caesar dressing and romaine CHEESEBURGER with yellow American cheese, lettuce, tomat REUBEN with corned beef, sauerkraut, 1000 island and Swiss cheese CHEESESTEAK with yellow American cheese, lettuce, tomat CHICKEN CHEESE STEAK with yellow American cheese, lettuce, tomato SHRIMP SALAD Lettuce & tomato ITALIAN Ham, capicola, genoa salami, lettuce, tomato, onion, provolone cheese & Italian dressing SEAFOOD WRAP with shrimp and scallops, lettuce, tomato and tartar sauce $12.99

MELTS ~ $9.99 Served with Fries, Soup or Salad

CRAB MELT tomato & Swiss cheese on English muffin $11.99 REUBEN MELT Corned beef, sauerkraut, Russian dressing & Swiss cheese on grilled rye TUNA MELT Tuna salad, tomato & Swiss on grilled rye CHICKEN CORDON BLEU Grilled chicken breast, ham & swiss on a hamburger roll ROAST BEEF MELT Roast beef, cole slaw, thousand island & Swiss cheese on grilled rye TURKEY MELT Turkey, cole slaw, thousand island & Swiss cheese on grilled rye PATTY MELT Hamburger, mushroom, onion & Swiss cheese on grilled rye CRAB CAKE SANDWICH (FRIED) Crab cake, lettuce,tomato on hamburger roll FRENCH DIP Tender roast beef on garlic bread with Swiss cheese & side cup of au jus MONTE CRISTO ham, turkey, provolone on French toast

HAND-CRAFTED ½ POUND FRESH BURGERS Served with Fries, Soup or Salad • Add Cheese $1 Add Topping .25 • All Burgers are Charbroiled and Served on a Brioche Bun

HAMBURGER $7.99 • DELUXE with lettuce, tomato, onion & mayo $8.99 CHEESEBURGER yellow American cheese $8.99 • DELUXE with lettuce, tomato, onion & mayo $9.99 BACON CHEESEBURGER bacon, yellow American cheese $8.99 DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER yellow American cheese $12.99 REUBEN BURGER with hamburger, sauerkraut, 1000 Island and Swiss cheese $9.99 PIZZA BURGER with maranara & mozzarella ALPINE BURGER with sauteed onions, mushrooms, and provolone cheese $9.99 TEXAS BURGER with sauteed onions, mushrooms, BBQ sauce, bacon and shredded cheddar cheese $9.99 BERLIN CHEESEBURGER with sauteed mushrooms, onions, green peppers, bacon and Swiss cheese $10.99 CHESAPEAKE BURGER with crab meat and cheddar cheese $12.99

Abi’s

DINER

BASKETS ~ $11.99 ~ All baskets served with French Fries, Soup or Salad CLAM STRIP • CHICKEN TENDERS • FRIED SHRIMP • FISH & CHIP (Pollock)

SANDWICHES Includes French Fries, Soup or Salad Served on Your Choice of Bread (White, Wheat or Rye) or Toast Substitute for Brioche Bun or Croissant $1 Extra • Add Cheese $1 •Additional Toppings .25

NEW! ~ HOT DOG with relish and mustard $7.99 B.L.T. SANDWICH Bacon lettuce, tomato & mayo $8.49 CORNED BEEF Grilled corned beef and Swiss cheese $8.49 GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH $5.99 Add tomato $1 • Add bacon or ham $1.99 ROAST BEEF roast beef, lettuce, tomato & mayo $8.49 TURKEY Turkey, lettuce, tomato & mayo $8.49 HAM lettuce, tomato & mayo $8.49 CHICKEN OR TUNA SALAD lettuce and tomato $8.99 SHRIMP SALAD Lettuce & tomato $11.99 FRIED CRABCAKE with lettuce, tomato on brioche bun with tartar sauce $12.99 CRISPY CHICKEN with lettuce, tomato on brioche bun $8.99 FRIED FLOUNDER with lettuce, tomato on bricohe bun $9.99 CHEF’S COLD CUT ham, turkey, yellow American cheese, lettuce, tomato & mayo $9.49 TURKEY BLT turkey, lettuce, tomato & mayo $7.99 NEW! ~ GYRO LAMB SANDWICH $9.99 NEW! ~ GYRO PLATTER lamb gyro, rice, Greek salad, pita bread, tzatziki $12.99

ITALIAN PLATTERS Served with Your Choice of 2 Sides and Garlic Bread

CHICKEN PARMESAN with maranara, mozzarella cheese and spaghetti $14.99 VEAL PARMESAN with maranara, mozzarella cheese and spaghetti $15.99 EGGPLANT PARMESAN with maranara, mozzarella cheese and spaghetti $13.99 SHRIMP PARMESAN with maranara, mozzarella cheese and spaghetti $16.99 BAKED ZITI with maranara and mozzarella cheese $11.99 SPAGHETTI WITH MARINARA $9.99 STUFFED SHELLS PARMESAN with maranara and mozzarella cheese $11.99 MANICOTTI PARMESAN with maranara and mozzarella cheese $11.99 CHEESE RAVIOLI with maranara and mozzarella cheese $11.99 HOMEMADE MEAT LASAGNA $14.99 SAUSAGE PEPPER PARMESAN hot Italian sausage, sweet peppers, marinara, spaghetti, mozzarella cheese $13.99 ITALIAN PASATA COMBO cheese ravioli, stuffed shells, manicotti, meatball $14.99 Additions: Sauteed Mushrooms $1 Meatsauce, Meatball or Hot Italian Sausage $3.99

ENTRÉE DINNERS

All Dinners Come with Your Choice of Two Sides

FRESH 4-PC FRIED CHICKEN breast, thigh, wing & leg $12.99 STUFFED CHICKEN BREAST stuffed with homemade crab & covered in Alfredo sauce $19.99 MEATLOAF with brown gravy $14.99 HOT ROAST BEEF SANDWICH with brown gravy $13.99 HOT ROAST TURKEY SANDWICH with turkey gravy $11.31 STUFFED PORK CHOPS (2PC) with bread stuffing and brown gravy $16.99 NEW! ~ STUFFED PORK LOINS with bread stuffing and brown gravy $14.99 FRESH ROASTED TURKEY with stuffing and turkey gravy $14.99 COUNTRY FRIED STEAK with brown gravy $14.99 VEAL CUTLET with brown gravy $14.99 CHICKEN CUTLET with chicken gravy $14.99 LIVER AND ONIONS with brown gravy $13.99 LIVER WITH BACON $13.99 TEXAS CHICKEN BREAST green peppers, onions, mushrooms & chicken gravy $14.99

SEAFOOD

Served with Your Choice of Two Sides and Cocktail and Tartar Sauce

BROILED SEAFOOD COMBO flounder, crab cake, shrimp & scallops $24.99 FRIED SEAFOOD COMBO flounder, clam strips, shrimp & scallops $23.99 SEAFOOD TRIO (FRIED OR BROILED) flounder, shrimp & scallops $20.99 FLOUNDER (FRIED OR BROILED) (2) $16.99 JUMBO SHRIMP (FRIED OR BROILED) (8) $19.99 SCALLOPS (FRIED OR BROILED) (8) $19.99 STUFFED FLOUNDER homemade crab stuffing and topped with imperial sauce $19.99 STUFFED SHRIMP (3) with homemade crab stuffing $20.99 STUFFED SCALLOPS (3) with homemade crab stuffing $20.99 STUFFED SEA COMBO flounder, shrimp,scallops with homemade crabmeat stuffing $27.99 CRAB CAKE (FRIED OR BROILED) (1) $14.99 CRAB CAKE (FRIED OR BROILED) (2) $19.99 FRIED OYSTER PLATTER $16.99 FRIED SOFTSHELL CRABS (2) $17.99 SEAFOOD DREAM crab meat, shrimp & scallops broiled with provolone cheese and imperial sauce $20.99 CRAB IMPERIAL homemade crabcake topped with provolone cheese & imperial sauce $18.99 BROILED SALMON $18.99 STUFFED SALMON homemade crabmeat stuffing and topped with provolone sauce $20.99

SEAFOOD SAUTEES

Served with Your Choice of One Side and Garlic Bread

SEAFOOD PARADISE shrimp, scallops and crabmeat in Alfredo sauce over ziti $19.99 ABI’S SEAFOOD with shrimp, scallops, cherry tomatoes in tomato cream sauce ove ziti $18.99 SEAFOOD ALFREDO shrimp and scallops over linguini $18.99 SEAFOOD FRA DIAVOLO shrimp, scallops, cherry tomatoes cooked in spicy tomato sauce over linguini $18.99 SHRIMP OR SCALLOP ALFREDO Afredo sauce over linguini $18.99 SHRIMP OR SCALLOP STIR FRY fresh vegetables and stir fry sauce over rice $18.99 SHRIMP OR SCALLOP MARSALA sauteed mushrooms in marsala wine sauce over linguini $18.99 SHRIMP OR SCALLOP TERIYAKI peppers, onions, mushrooms, teriyaki sauce over rice $18.99

June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

7

OPEN 9 AM - 8 PM

410-973-2139

10514 Racetrack Road,Suite H Ocean Pines

www.abisdiner.com

SEAFOOD MARINARA shrimp and scallops cooked in marinara sauce $18.99 FLOUNDER FANCAISE dipped in egg, sauteed with lemon butter garlic sauce over linguini $17.99 SHRIMP OR SCALLOP SCAMPI white wine lemon garlic sauce over linguini $18.99 SEAFOOD SCAMPI shrimp and scallop in white wine lemon garlic sauce over linguini $18.99

CHICKEN SAUTEES

Served with Your Choice of One Side and Garlic Bread

CHICKEN AFREDO Alfredo sauce ove linguini $15.99 CHICKEN AKA BROCCOLI sauteed broccoli and Alfredo sauce over linguini $16.49 CHICKEN MARYLAND crabmeat, lemon butter garlic sauce over linguini $17.99 CHICKEN FLORENTINE spinach, feta cheese, lemon butter garlic sauce over linguini $16.99 CHICKEN MARSALA sauteed mushrooms & marsala wine sauce over linguini $15.99 CHICKEN SCAMPI lemon butter garlic sauce over linguini $15.99 CHICKEN STIR FRY fresh vegetables and stir fry sauce over rice $18.99 CHICKEN TERIYAKI sweet peppers, onions, mushrooms, teriyaki sauce over rice $16.99 CHICKEN FRANCAISE dipped in egg, sauteed with lemon butter garlic sauce over linguini $16.99 CHICKEN MARINARA marinara sauce over linguini $15.99 ABI’S CHICKEN tomato cream sauce ove linguini $15.99 ADDITIONS: Shrimp $4.99 • Scallops $5.99 •

EGGS

Served with Homefries & Your Choice of Toast (White, Wheat or Rye).

Substitute Homefries for Cup of Fruit $2. Substitute Toast for Croissant, Brioche Bun, English Muffin or Biscuit $1, Add Cheese $1

2 EGGS (Any Style) $6.99 ~ with crispy bacon, sausage, Virginia ham, Canadian bacon, scrapple or pork roll $8.99 CORNED BEEF HASH AND TWO EGGS $9.99 • HAM STEAK AND TWO EGGS $13.99 COUNTRY BENEDICT 2 poached eggs, sausage on English muffin with country gravy $8.49

CHEF SPECIALS Substitute Home Fries for Cup of Fruit $2

CREAMED CHIPPED BEEF over toast or biscuit with homefries $9.99 SAUSAGE GRAVY over toast or biscuit with homefies $9.99

BREAKFAST SANDWICHES Made with 2 Fried Eggs. Choice of Bread or Toast (Wheat, White, Rye. Bagel add $1

Egg & Cheese $6.99 • Sausage, Egg & Cheese $7.99 • Bacon, Egg & Cheese $7.99 Ham, Egg & Cheese $7.99 • Scrapple, Egg & Cheese $7.99 • Pork Roll Egg & Cheese $7.99

FRENCH TOAST/HOT CAKES Served with Butter & Syrup 1 SINGLE STACK (1 PIECE) $4.99 Add 2 eggs $5.99 • add breakfast meat $6.99 • Add 2 eggs & breakfast meat $7.99 SHORT STACK (2 PIECE) $5.99 Add 2 eggs $6.3 • Add only breakfast meat $7.99 • Add 2 eggs & breakfast meat $8.99 FULL STACK (3 PIECE) $6.99 Add only 2 eggs $7.99 • Add breakfast meat $8.99 • Add 2 eggs & breakfast meat $9.99 ADD FRUIT TOPPINGS $1.99 (strawberry or blueberry or cherry) FRESH FRUIT $1.99 (Banana or Blueberry) CHOICE OF MEATS: bacon, sausage, ham, scrapple, Canadian bacon, Taylor ork roll or Virginia ham (extra cheese) $1 • chocolate chips $1.99

BREAKFAST SIDES (Split Charge $2.50)

HOMEFRIES $2.99 • MEAT CHOICES: bacon, sausage, scrapple, ham, hot Italian sausage, Canadian bacon or pork roll $3.99 • CORNED BEEF HASH $4.99 • CUP OF CREAM CHIPPED BEEF $4.99, DISH $2.99 • CUP OF SAUSAGE GRAVY $4.99, DISH $2.99 GRITS $2.99 • FRESH CUP OF FRUIT $3.99 • BAGEL $2.99 with cream cheese and jelly $3.99 •TOAST: white, wheat, or rye $1.99 • BISCUIT $1.99

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June 2020

Parks, forum continue skirmish on whether board authorized PPP application

T

he Ocean Pines Association has had a $1.1 million paycheck protection program check in hand for three months, and last month the Board of Directors voted to keep it.

Despite all that, there’s still a festering dispute ongoing between the OPA president and the proprietor of oceanpinesforum.com on whether the application for the loan filed with the Bank of Ocean City was done properly.

Joe Reynolds of the online forum has been vociferous and unrelenting in his criticism of Doug Parks, the OPA president who is running for reelection this summer, for what Reynolds contends was a misrepre-

Payroll protection

From Page 6 again offsetting salary and utility expense during that period.

The OPA also will be benefiting from $277,000 in payroll protection program funding received by the Matt Ortt Companies for Yacht Club operations, Viola said, although the accounting treatment will differ.

Instead of showing up as Yacht Club “other” income, or general administration income, Viola said that MOC decided to subtract the $277,000 in monthly prorated amounts from payroll expense. This will have the effect of reducing payroll expense in the early months of the current fiscal year. As a result, the bottom line at the Yacht Club will look better than it would have without the $277,000 in PPP fuding.

Viola said that MOC’s PPP funding might reduce payroll expense in other MOC-managed food and beverage operations in Ocean Pines.

Over the course of the fiscal year, the OPA’s operating fund will reflect this MOC PPP funding, he said.

Together, the two sources of PPP funding will improve the OPA’s operating fund balance by about $1.4 million during the 2020-21 fiscal year, substantially offsetting any significant losses that might occur as a result of pandemic-related restrictions on amenity operations.

sentation to the bank on whether the Board of Directors had authorized the general manager to apply for the PPP funding.

A two-sentence letter from Parks to the bank said the board had authorized the GM to apply for the funds. The same letter said that

Parks would be the signatory to the loan request.

Reynolds wrote a commentary to the effect that the board had not authorized the action in a formal vote, which he said the OPA bylaws require.

Parks, in a response recently published in a local weekly, defended his actions and said that Reynolds “would have those reading his commentary believe that there were q

8 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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OCEAN PINES Parks vs. Reynolds From Page 8 legal concerns” regarding the OPA’s application for PPP funds.

“What he fails to ackowledge is that members of the board and the general manager engaged in multiple conversations with our attorneys and the Bank of Ocean City as we followed the developing situation with the federal government’s qualification criteria and loan approval

June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS status,” Parks wrote.

Parks went on to say that Reynolds accused the OPA president of making a material misrepresentation to the bank and that he signed the application without board authority. Parks said that both statements were “patently false.”

The only evidence in the letter in support of that statement was Parks’s reference to “multiple conversations” that the board and general manager had with attorneys

and bank representatives.

Parks may also have employed the term “material misrepresentation” as a way of suggesting that while the board may not have formally voted to authorize the general manager to proceed with an application, tacit approval had occurred during board discussions, thus rendering Reynolds’s objections immaterial.

Reynolds told the Progress in response to Parks that the issue is a

9

simple one: Parks had failed to hold a formal vote on the application before sending the letter to the bank.

He called that failure a significant and material breach of OPA bylaws.

“If Doug will produce any evidence at all that a vote occurred before he sent the letter, I will happy to apologize,” he said.

Reynolds added that Parks as OPA president has made a habit of ignoring the bylaws, noting that he had signed the Seacrets lease last year for two parking lots in Ocean City owned by the OPA without board approval.

Four or five months after the lease was executed, the board retroactively voted to approve the lease, more or less acknowleding that Parks had not followed proper procedure, Reynolds said.

He told the Progress he would be following up with another letter to Parks rebutting the president’s published contentions.

Reynolds stopped short of demanding that the OPA return the PPP funds because of procedural errors.

“I’m not asking that,” he said.

Viola announces two department head promotions

G

eneral Manager John Viola in a June 5 posting on the Ocean Pines Association Facebook page announced the promotion of two staffers.

Debbie Donahue has assumed the role of Director of Parks and Recreation and Kathleen Cook has been named Director of Aquatics. Both were “managers” of their respective departments. Their day-to-jobs and responsibilities do not appear to have been changed by their official promotions.

According to Viola’s Facebook posting, Donahue reports to Viola in the OPA organizational chart and Cook reports to Colby Phillips, Director of Amenities and Logistical Operations. Phillips had been aquatics director prior to various title changes in recent years.

Donahue had been listed as parks and rec director in an organizational chart adopted after Viola’s appointment as GM last year, while Cook’s appointment is more recent.

The appointments were not immediately posted on the OPA Web site.

10 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

June 2020

OPA still looking for at least one more board candidate Tuttle striking out on recruitment efforts

By TOM STAUSS Publisher cean Pines Association Vice President Steve Tuttle seems no closer to finding another candidate to run for the Board of Directors this summer than he was a month ago.

In a telephone interview June 6, Tuttle said that it appears that there will be only three candidates running for two available seats on the board this summer.

There was still time for a fourth candidate to emerge in mid-month, but after that the window will be closing.

Tuttle said apathy and the lack of contentious issues are contributing factors in the dearth of candidates so far. He recalls the recent year when there were 11 candidates running.

O

“There were a lot of people who thought the place needed to be fixed,” he said, contrasting that to the current environment when many people feel the current board has been working well together and moving Ocean Pines forward.

“But even when things are moving in the right direction, there should be people who are willing to contribute to their community by volunteering to serve on the board for three years,” he said.

Ass of the official filing date of May 11, there were an insufficient number of candidates to file to meet the threshold in OPA by-laws requiring two more candidates than the number of seats to be filled.

Two seats are up for grab’s in this summer’s contest, with Directors Doug Parks and Colette Horn launching reelection bids..

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Also filing as a candidate is Stuart Kapernick, husband of former director Esther Diller.

The drawing for positioning on the ballot took place June 12. Horn will appear first on the ballot, followed

by Parks and then Kapernick.

Parks, the OPA president, announced the candidate shortage at a special meeting of the board May 12.

Citing the by-laws that give the president the authority to search for additional candidates, Parks said he had to recuse himself from that task because of the obvious conflict of interest.

He appointed OPA Vice-president Steve Tuttle to the role of candidate headhunter.

Parks said that Tuttle had until the first Friday in July to come up with at least one more candidate in

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Actually, as a practical matter, Tuttle will have to come up with one or more candidates sooner than that first week of July because of the time required to print ballots and election materials, as well as the summer edition of the OPA newsletter, that includes candidate information.

Deadline for inclusion of election materials is on or about June 15.

The prospect of an insufficient number of candidates for this summer’s board election was noted during a meeting of the Elections Committee May 8.

Bylaws and Resolutions Advisory Committee chair Jim Trummel told members of the elections panel that if the May 11 deadline passed with only three candidates, someone would have to take on the role of finding at least one more.

Tuttle, before being elected to the board in 2018, served as chairman of the Elections Committee.

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OCEAN PINES

June 2020

Directors comfortable with Viola decision to reopen the pools Payroll protection plan funds made it possible, general manager says

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer sing a manual reservation-based system and funding received from the federal government through the Payroll Protection Program, the Ocean Pines Association opened its pools to homeowners and residents in early June.

General Manager John Viola told the Board of Directors during a June 3 virtual meeting that the Yacht Club and Beach Club pools would be the first to open to a limited number of people the first weekend in June and Swim and Racquet June 12.

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Core pool reopening are still to be announced.

Viola said actions taken by his staff team and the board, more specifically securing more than $1.14 million John Viola in PPP funding through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, gives the OPA the opportunity to open the pools and other amenities,

as well as support overall OPA operations.

“That to me is the intent of PPP to keep people employed, the reason and the purpose. We have this money now. We gave it a shot with golf. Let’s give it a shot with aquatics, especially now when we have that situation. Let’s see what happens. That also weighed into my decision to open them and I still feel we should,” Viola argued in support of his decision to open the pools to property owners and residents.

As with the Yacht Club, golf course, and racquet sports, Viola said the management team has developed a plan for aquatics this summer,

including a reservation-only system that will limit the number of people at each pool during specific blocks of time. That since has been modified to apply to the Yacht Club pool only.

He said because a plan had already been developed, the golf course was able to reopen within a day of Governor Larry Hogan lifting that restriction and the operation has been successful.

“Same thing with aquatics. The team’s been in place. We’ve been able to keep our teams in place because of actions taken by this Board and others,” he reiterated.

Viola said the pools are initially expected to operate at 25 percent capacity with staff taking reservations for open slots via cell phone calls.

He acknowledged the process is going to be very labor intensive to manage.

Swim club members will receive priority for reservations, with non-member property owners and other Ocean Pines residents next in line. The pools will not be open to outside patrons at this time, but q

12 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS facility after each reservation block.

“I believe we have that team,” he said, adding. “I believe that they’re ready there.”

Director Camilla Rogers asked for more detail on the reservation system, including if everyone will have to exit the pool at the end of their reservation block of time.

Viola responded that everyone will have to leave even if there are open slots still available in the next reservation block. Staff will fill those slots after the pool is cleared and the area sanitized.

Rogers said she spent a considerable amount of time on the phone calling organizations that are similar to the OPA, like Rehoboth Beach Country Club and Maryland Country Club in Bel Air to find out how they are addressing amenity operations. She said they are taking a similar approach to that being implemented in ocean Pines. “I think we are on the right track.”

OPA President Doug Parks the objective is not to prevent people from using the pools but rather to encourage them to come and follow the rules. He said he is confident that pool-goers will be respectful of the schedule and cooperative with staff, but there will be challenges.

“Just be aware that there’s a lot of thought that’s been gone into this.

That it’s a collaborative effort. At the end of the day if everybody understands what’s going on, we do our

Viola decision From Page 10

that could be revisited later in the summer as capacity restrictions are eased.

Under the governor’s latest directive, pools are limited to 50 percent capacity.

After the first week of operation, staff applied another option for determining pool capacity under health department rules and that increased the capacity at all the pools, making it possible to remove the reservation system at all but the Yacht Club pool.

In effect, the two OPA pools that opened the first week of June were running at roughly 50 percent capacity.

“There’s no playbook for what’s going on with COVID19 and its unanticipated challenges. One thing I can tell you is that the golf team has been successful as far as I’m concerned and the feedback I’m receiving from everybody,” Viola said.

“Aquatics is taking the same approach. We didn’t just wake up yesterday and say OK we’re going to do aquatics. Just like with golf they have been working on this,” he told the board.

He said the key to a successful operation will be constant monitoring by the senior staff. Additional seasonal staff is being hired and guidelines are in place for sanitizing each

job in communicating, they do their job in understanding and complying, I think we’ll have a very good experience. So communication is the key right now and an understanding that we’ll continue to monitor the situation as it develops,” Parks said.

Director Frank Daly was supportive of the staff plan for opening the pools, but said the operation will need to be monitored, evaluated, and changed as needed. “We’re truly in uncharted waters. The team’s doing the best they can but it’s extraordinarily difficult to do something for the first time and be right every time.”

Daly said the OPA, the State of Maryland, and even the country are managing in 14-day increments.

“This virus is gonna takes us where its gonna take us. We have to manage in a 14-day increment or something close to it, be on top of it. And we have a good team to do that. We have a good team at the board level, a good team at the operations level. Let’s just see what happens and

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Director Colette Horn said she feels comfortable with the pool operations plan with the reservation system. “It is a fluid situation,” she said, adding that she expects senior management to be on site in this first week or so to monitored and make any changes that are needed.

“I’m in support of this plan. I think the team has done a great job…”

“I’m all in agreeance with the plan,” Director Tom Janasek said, adding, “I think they’re gonna do great.”

Parks said the aquatics program will still lose money this year due to the impact of covid-19 and the reduced operational capacity, but Viola and his staff are taking an appropriate approach to managing the losses. “Are we gonna come in in the red on our budget next year? Yes, we will. Plain and simple. Yes, we will.

Nobody could have predicted that.

Rather than worry about it, our best approach is to manage it.” He said the OPA has to do whatever possible to minimize those losses.

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Kiwanis food drive

On Wednesday June 3, the local Kiwanis Club’s food drive to help resupply the Diakonia Food Pantry continued. Three Kiwanis members, left to right, Diane Denk, Diane Sparzak and Sue Wineke, were in the Ocean Pines Community Center parking lot from 10 a.m. to noon to accept donations. Three vehicles were filled with non-perishables that were immediately delivered to the Diakonia shelter in West Ocean City. The club will do it again on Wednesday, June 17, at the same time and place.

June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Perrone, Janasek clash over aquatics loss projections OPA treasurer says the OPA could lose $1.5 million or more this year

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer pening the Ocean Pines Association’s pools for homeowners and residents only at a limited capacity this summer could cost each member an additional $52 to $79 on their annual property assessments next year, said the OPA’s chief financial officer.

Director and OPA Treasurer Larry Perrone during a June 3 Board meeting said operating the pools at just 25 to 50 percent of their typical capacity will cause a loss of between $546,000 to $768,000 in the aquatics program.

Coupled with another $1.5 to $2 million in anticipated operational losses across the OPA as a result of the covid 19 pandemic, that could mean a boost in assessments next year by $230 to $315 per property, Perrone said.

Director Tom Janasek called

O

Larry Perrone

Tom Janasek

Perrone’s presentation of financial information related to the aquatics program “scare tactics” designed to keep the pools closed this summer.

He said the board didn’t do a public deep dive into the financial projections for reduced operational capacity at either the golf course or the racquet sports amenities before reopening them, and questioned Perrone’s motives for doing so with only aquatics.

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“I hate to be the wet blanket on this thing but as the chief financial officer I want to make sure everybody understands what we’re talking about dollarwise and impact on the assessments,” Perrone said, adding the fiscal year 2020-21 aquatics budget included revenue of $887,000 and expenses of $990,000 for a loss of $102,000. That impact on the assessment, which was built into the budget by the Board, was $12.17 per property. “Not a big deal when things are going well,” he said.

But things aren’t going well because of the coronavirus. Perrone said while revenue is going to be down, expenses may increase because of the enhanced cleaning and monitoring protocols required to open the pools because of the coronavirus “If our income from the pools is reduced to 25 percent, which is a distinct possibility, the loss goes from

15

$102,000 to $768,000. If we obtain 50 percent of the projected revenue, the loss now goes to $546,000, which is better but it’s still not great.”

That could have a significant impact on property assessments next year in order to cover the losses, he said.

“If we only obtain 25 percent, that adds another about $79 to our assessment next year. If we go 50 percent, it adds about $52 next year,” Perrone said. “That doesn’t seem like it’s too bad.”

But the community needs to understand that the OPA’s overall operational loss this year could be in the range of $1.5 to $2 million, he said.

But he later acknowledged, in a response to a Progress inquiry, that this projection did not include offsetting revenue from the federal payroll protection plan in the amount of $1.14 million, and another $277,000 in PPP funding obtained by the Matt Ortt Companies to be allocated to the Yacht Club.

“We don’t know for sure, but we certainly know it’s going to be a large number. So with those numbers with a $1.5 million operational

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Perrone vs. Janasek From Page 15 loss this year that adds $178 to the assessment. If it’s a $2 million loss it adds $236.”

Opening the pools with a loss of 75 percent of budgeted aquatics revenue and a $1.5 million operational loss brings the addition to the assessment to about $256, and if the operational loss is $2 million and 25 percent of pool revenue, the assessment would have to go up by $315, Perrone said.

At 50 percent of aquatics revenue and a $1.5 million operational loss the additional assessment would be $230, but if the operational loss increases to $2 million the assessment would have to increase by $289 next year to cover it.

“So my concern is that everyone understands today by opening the pools at 25 percent of revenue or 50 percent of revenue the impact that we’re gonna be looking at when we get to January and February. Whether you want to consider it or not, I think you need to hear it and I wanted to make sure everyone does hear

it because these are not fantasy numbers. They are projections, no doubt, but these are serious numbers,” Perrone said.

Anxious to speak during the meeting, when his turn Frank Daly finally came Janasek told Perrone that he has “massive objections to everything you said.” He said the board didn’t publicly review the projected financials for the golf operation or for racquet sports before those amenities were reopened.

“I don’t remember when we opened the golf course having this exact same discussion. How much money we’re gonna lose at the golf course because we can only put one person per cart, which limits people going to play golf, therefore sending people away,” he said, adding “We didn’t have this conversation about tennis. Period. Never. There’s money going to be lost at every amenity we have this year. There’s no way

around it. Plain and simple.”

Janasek said it’s not fair to single out the pools because it will be more challenging to manage them than golf or racquet sports.

“We’ll figure it out. The same way we figured out the fact that we could do the Yacht Club. The same way we figured out that we could do golf and the same way we figured out that we could do tennis and racquet sports.”

He said he has “a huge problem” that the board publicly review the numbers for aquatics yet he hasn’t seen similar figures for the other amenities.

“I’m tired of speculating. We’re gonna lose money. Everybody knows it. You cannot make a spectacle or a point to just give away aquatics because it’s harder to open. There’s my problem. I just don’t even like the fact that we went through all these numbers but I never heard any when we opened golf the day after Hogan said we could do it, or two days.”

Director Frank Daly jumped into the discussion saying no homeowners association has ever before had to manage its way through a pan-

demic in a highly amenitized community with government mandated capacity restraints. “And that’s what we’re in. And I think that we just approach it this way with the folks.

The amenities are part of the community. We’re gonna open them up.

We have deep, deep concerns on the part of people about personal safety….”

Daly said property owners have to recognize there will be financial challenges this year. “One thing everybody has to understand. The losses this year will be staggering.

There is no goddamn way out of it.”

He said some property owners have been emailing asking for a reduction in assessments because of the pandemic.

“No you can’t have a reduction,” he said. “The cost of the amenities are going up because of government regulations and the capacity is going down to cover the cost. So costs go up and income is going down and that’s not a time to cut your prices.”

General Manager John Viola said similar financial projections were provided to the board for golf and q

16 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

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OCEAN PINES Perrone vs. Janasek From Page 16 racquet sports but not at a board meeting.

He questioned why Janasek would bring up those amenities during a discussion about the pools.

“Maybe you truly believe that there were no discussions on what we would lose or what the effects were with golf and tennis, but I have to tell you it’s not true. We did talk about it, Tom. There was a lot of talk about it,” he told Janasek.

He said similar projections of 25 percent revenue for the year were originally discussed, but golf is already closer to 60 percent.

Now, however, Viola said, “focus on the numbers, what the CFO is trying to tell you about the pools.

That where you should be focused.”

Janasek responded that “I don’t doubt for a second that you guys went over the numbers and the losses in golf. I don’t doubt that you went over it with your team for tennis and racquet sports.”

But, he said the projections weren’t presented publicly. “Granted we’re having a board meeting.

June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Maybe we should have had a special meeting when we opened golf and maybe we should have had one when we opened tennis. To me, what this looks like, it looks like a scare tactic to try and close…”

Talking at the same time as Janasek, Viola said he was “trying to answer, to give you information like I always do.”

“Nobody knows what that number is, and frankly I’m not real happy that we did it this way. John (Viola) makes the decision to open the amenities. He decided to open the amenities,” Janasek said.

He thanked Perrone for presenting the financial projections for aquatics, but reiterated the board never saw similar numbers for any of the other amenities.

Viola said when the OPA received $1.143 million in federal Payroll Protection Program funding discussion was held about that funding helping to cover staffing and other costs of operating the amenities.

That discussion just wasn’t held at a board meeting.

Director Colette Horn said she hopes people are not scared by Perrone’s numbers.

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“I think it’s responsible of him to give us those numbers so that we know what we may be facing. But I know that is not meant to scare anybody off from making a decision that the pools should or shouldn’t be open,” she said.

She said the OPA would be remiss if it didn’t share the projected losses with property owners.

“We can hope that the projections are more dismal than the actuality but we need that transparency with those numbers.”

Perrone said he is not “directly attacking the aquatics operation.” As a swimmer, he said he supports and uses the pools regularly.

“I’m a pool guy,” he said. “I’ve been a swimmer my whole life.”

As CFO for the association, Perrone said he is responsible for informing the board about potential financial challenges. “That’s what I’m doing.”

He said he hopes his projections are wrong.

“It doesn’t thrill me that based on the numbers I’m looking at – and I hope the numbers are wrong – that we could be facing significant losses. I’m gonna beat that dead horse,”

17

Perrone told his colleagues.

Janasek, too, wanted to hammer home his point one last time, and again said the OPA didn’t announce projected losses for its other amenities before opening them for the season.

“Did we have a meeting and tell everybody online that this is how much we might lose and this is how much the assessments might go up?

Cause I missed it.”

OPA president Doug Parks said even if Perrone’s worst case scenario came to pass, the board probably wouldn’t try to make up a $1.5 million or more deficit on the assessment in one year.

A similar loss occurred several years ago when the Yacht Club Club racked up a huge operating deficit, and it was made up in the following two years with assessment increases that were larger than would have been required otherwise.

That payback process concluded in 2019-20, at the end of this past April, with an operating fund deficit of about $150,000.

Parks suggested a similar approach would be taken if Perrone’s projections materialize.

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18 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

June 2020

Perrone announces pessimistic projections after declining to do so a month earlier OPA treasurer omits impact of payroll protection funds on forecast

By TOM STAUSS Publisher month after saying he didn’t want to discuss what might be called scary budget projections from lost amenity business caused by the covid-19 pandemic, OPA Treasurer and Director Larry Perrone changed his mind.

Telling his colleagues and Ocean Pines Association members watching the virtual meeting of the Board of Directors June 3 that releasing the projections was required by his role as the OPA’s chief financial officer, he proceeded to project operational losses in 2020-21 of $1.5 million to $2 million, with assessment increases of more than $100 or even $200 needed to pay for it next year.

He offered his projections in the context of a discussion of whether the board would approve of the plan offered by General Manager John

A

Viola and the Aquatics staff to open Ocean Pines pools on a limited basis the weekend of June 5.

The context led one of his colleagues, Tom Janasek, to question why Perrone seemed to be singling out the Aquatics Department as the reason for projected losses.

He said that Perrone had not publicly discussed his loss projections when other OPA amenities, such as the golf course and raquet sports, reopened to the membership.

Although Perrone stopped well short of recommending that pools not reopen for the summer, his projections led some OPA members who posted comments on the OPA Facebook page to question whether the pools should reopen and whether layoffs should be imposed on staff.

Perrone did not mention in his June 3 remarks that payroll protection program funding of $1.1 million

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and another $277,000 received by the Matt Ortt Companies for the Ocean Pines Yacht Club food and beverage operation will substantially offset any of the operational losses at OPA amenities this year.

Perrone also did not really explain the change in his thinking from May to June.

At the May board meeting, he had said he didn’t want to disclose projections in open session because of criticism that might be directed at Viola and Finance Director Steve Phillips.

Viola had not been quite as reticent in discussing certain projections, but he, too, said the projections should be discussed only in closed session last month.

Viola said the projections he and Phillips worked up contained assumptions that may prove to be inaccurate.

The assumptions ranged from a loss of 25 percent to 75 percent of amenity revenues of about $3 million.

If it reaches the high end of that range, the result could be an operational loss extendng into the millions of dollars. How many millions depends on the assumptions.

Because of the uncertainty, Viola told the board he did not want to release the projections to the OPA members out of concern it would sow confusion in the OPA membership. “I have a 12-month projection with a ton of assumptions,” he said, with results that he said were “all

over the place.”

Director Colette Horn suggested that discussing the projections in public could also involve the possibility of staff layoffs, something she said should be done in closed session only.

Viola told the Progress that layoffs are not currently on the table in Ocean Pines, in part because of the $1.14 million PPP loan.

In an email response to the Progress asking about his decision to release the projections, Perrone said “my job as CFO (chief financial officer) is to make my fellow board members and the community think about what could happen and to make sure they are looking at the total picture.

“I never said I didn’t want the pools open,” he added. “That is an operational decision. My loss projections are for discussion purposes.

PPP will make an impact. There are so many moving parts at this time any numbers are possible projections that can change daily.

“I really have no more comments.

You can replay my comments. Do not put words in my mouth or assume anything. I love our pools and use them,” he said, more or less what he said in response to Janasek’s critique.

In the end, he declined to answer two follow-up questions posed by the Progress.

The first question asked why he argued against having a public discussion of the pessimisitic projections in May but not in June when the discussion involved aquatics.

The second question asked him why he did not incorporate the PPP funds into his projections, which would have made a huge difference in worst-case assessment increases next year.

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This zucchini or squash casserole beat eggs, stir in mayonnaise, onion, Pines represe June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 19 is an excellent vegetarian dish or a green pepper, cheese and seasonand unique t it had with the beach parkside to any dinner. ings. Add squash those and turn into Directors push backwelcome against Perrone concerns ing.

“That’s greased 1-1/2 qt. baking dish.gonna Dot be an issue. My recommendation is that we just I ask fornotyou that priority use of pools violate tax court ruling Zucchini or Squash Casserole with butter. Bake at 350 for havedegrees summer memberships.

That it Primary Elec be a complete pay-as-you-go.

Those Board rejects recommendation to4 ‘not summer memberships cupssell’ chopped (skinaquatics on) 30 minutes. individuals who have sent money in for thedistrict. sumBy ROTA L. KNOTT unrelated business taxablehearing income.” from derived by the association from squash or zucchini orits a combinaI enjoy mymemberships readers forour Contributing Writer The OPA is a 501(c)(4) non-profit mer, my suggestion is we refund parking lots and beach club benefittion ofinterests both of the as- social welfareand will be happy the answer money.” any cean Pines Director Lar- ted the private organization under to Perrone had no support for that ry Perrone thinks that the sociation members rather than the the tax code.

2 eggs questions about my recipes.

Ocean Pines Association general public, and therefore was not Perrone said the plan for mem- idea, and indeed the OPA is selling aquatics memberships in acmay be violating tax law by giving substantially 1related to the associ- bership priority in the pool reservacup mayonnaise bevwisch@aol.com preference to aquatics members, ation’s purpose of promoting social tion process opens up the OPA for cordance with decisions made this Ocean Pines residents and property welfare, but rather was taxable as problems with the IRS similar to If you’d like owners to the exclusion of everyone I can else when reopening Ocean Pines pools in the era of covid-19 when Berti

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pools can’t operate at full capacity.

During a June 3 Board meeting, he cited a United States Tax Court ruling from 2012 that said revenue from the OPA’s beach parking permits was considered taxable business income when only homeowners could use the parking lot. He said the management team’s plan to limit pool access via a reservation system that gives priority to aquatics members, Ocean Pines residents and property owners could run afoul of that tax court ruling.

Initially, the plan was for reservations to be taken manually for time slots at each of the pools this summer. That has since been revised and now only applies to the Yacht Club.

Those purchasing individual or family memberships will receive priority over non-member owners and residents in making reservations for the Yacht Club and the other pools where access is firstcome first-served. Indeed, for the first hour that each pool is open every day, pool members are explicitly given priority access.

“I think that trying to give priority to somebody is just gonna create a lot of problems for us. If we’re gonna do this I think it needs to be first come, first served whether they’re members, whether they’re homeowners here, or whether they’re from outside the community. That’s where we got in trouble before because we limited our amenities to the outside. So I have a real concern about that,” Perrone said.

In 2012 the tax court ruled against the OPA in its appeal of an Internal Revenue Service decision after an audit that determined that the OPA owed taxes for income derived from the sale of beach parking passes to property owners. The decision stated that the “net income

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OCEAN PINES

June 2020

Priority pool usage From Page 19 past winter as part of the 2020-21 budget process. Summer memberships are part of the mix. The membership office has struggled with keeping up with demand since word of pool reopenings began circulating earlier this month.

Director Colette Horn said the IRS issues was one of residents versus non-residents, not of amenity member versus non-member. “As I see the limited reservation plan, I see the pools open to residents only, and pool members will get first priority on reservation.”

She said if the pools are only being opened to property owners and

residents, she favored retaining the pool membership option. Since members are “losing some time on their membership” this year, she was also supportive of allowing them to have priority in reserving entry times to the pools.

Perrone responded that is precisely his point. “I don’t think we can limit it just to OPA members or pool members. We have to keep the system open to everyone. That’s my opinion.”

“We don’t have an accountant or legal opinion on that,” Horn said.

“We have an IRS ruling,” Perrone said.

Director Tom Janasek didn’t buy the argument that the OPA can’t prioritize pool access for members.

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He said the OPA has given aquatics members priority at the Yacht Club for years when it comes to early access for lap swimming at the amenity. “And it’s been for all of the people that have yearly memberships. So that happens already. Maybe we’ve haven’t called the IRS and let them know, but it happens.”

Director Frank Daly commented that the OPA has no idea what the demand for use of the pools will be this summer.

“One thing we have not talked about - and it deals with the reservations and it deals with whether we can prioritize our assessment paying homeowners above anybody else - is this. We have no idea what the hell the demand is going to be,” he said.

“People may want to stay away from the pools because they’re afraid. So we’re in a supply and demand thing where we know we have a fixed supply right now of pool spaces. We have no idea what the demand will be,” he contended.

Therefore, he said, it makes sense to begin by opening the pools first to those who own property or live in Ocean Pines.

Additionally, he said it is incumbent upon the association to ensure that behavior at all the amenities leads to safe outcome for everybody.

“It may not. We may have to regroup based on that. We may have to regroup in two weeks based on what

we’re seeing in terms of people coming into the pool, how the reservation system works.”

He acknowledged that the OPA has never before operated a reservation system for pools. “And we’re trying to put it together so we got to give this stuff time.”

Director Camilla Rogers said she has reached out to a network of fellow attorneys and none seem concerned about a tax issue as broached

by Perrone. “I am not convinced from talking with other lawyers that are dealing with these issues that our 501(c)4 would suffer an immediate hardship because we are not letting people in who are coming from the outside.”

She agreed that the OPA is in a unique situation and “because these are extraordinary conditions” she believes the OPA has a duty to “isolate our population to the extent possible.” She said that means for a specific amount of time limiting pool access to those who are residents and members of Ocean Pines.

OPA President Doug Parks agreed with Rogers in doubting the OPA’s 501(c)4 status would be in jeopardy as a result of limiting pools to use by property owners and residents this summer.

“I think that we could indeed be able to say without any issues that we had to limit it due to these extenuating circumstances,” he said referring to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Parks did express concern about restricting use of the pools for the full summer season as well as making sure all available reservation slots are filled.

He was concerned that if not all slots are filled, “we sorta legislated ourselves out of the ability to collect that revenue. It’s a conundrum one way or the other.”

He said the situation at the pools should be tracked daily and the management plan adjusted quickly as needed.

Indeed, that is precisely what happened. After the first week of operating two pools on the reservation system, the staff determined it was only needed at the high-volume Yacht Club pool.

“It’s a fluid situation. They’re gonna look at it. They’re gonna assess it. They’re gonna make adjustments.

And the state’s gonna make adjustments and we’re gonna come back and make more adjustments,” Parks said of the OPA’s management team.

General manager John Viola q

20 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES Priority pool usage From Page 19 wasn’t concerned about tax ramifications from opening the pools with restricted access because the action is the direct result of the covid-19 outbreak. “I believe we’d be fine. We go from there. I don’t believe with everything going on that would affect us. Now, I’m not saying do this for a year. I’m saying that we could start that way and I don’t believe we would have a problem. I really don’t.”

While he agreed that it is probably not a significant concern, Perrone said he just wants to make sure everyone understands there are potential tax implications.

“It’s an issue we need to talk about and I think from a financial standpoint everybody needs to understand that this is what we could be looking at.”

Perrone also expressed concern about enforcement of the restricted access to the pools and the potential for problems. “I am very concerned about the enforcement and conflict

A

June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS resolution,” he said.

He said he expects OPA senior management to be on hand at the pools on weekends, which are likely to Camilla Rogers be the busiest days, to ensure operations run as smoothly as possible.

“While I would like to think that our residents are going to try to play by the rules and be cooperative, I’m not so sure about people coming from outside or renters who may be using the pool. I think we need to make sure we have a conflict resolution plan here. We can hope that nothing’s gonna happen but I can anticipate that there are going to be problems.”

Janasek asked if such a conflict resolution plan was in place before the OPA reopened other amenities like the golf course. Viola said no.

Trendic lawsuit court date canceled; judge to render decision on dueling filings

court date in the lawsuit involving former Ocean Pines Association director Slobodan Trendic and the OPA Board of Directors scheduled for June 19 in Worcester County Circuit Court in Snow Hill has been canceled.

In its place will be a decision by a judge based on filings and arguments in the case made by competing lawyers.

A decision could be rendered at any time.

The case originally had been scheduled for a March 25 court date in Snow Hill but was postponed at the request of the defendants.

The cancelation of the new court came about in response to the covid-19 pandemic.

The suit asks the court to order the OPA to conduct a referendum limiting Board of Directors’ spending authority.

The defendants are asking the court to dismiss the suit outright or grant a motion for summary judgment in favor of the OPA. The OPA argues that the board relied in good faith on legal advice

21

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Rating: (XXX/XXX) (Address) Other:410-208-1704 (Obligor) The MoU was approved unan410-208-1704 (City, ST 00000) Carrie.Dupuie@RaymondJames.com imously without discussion of re(000-000-0000) I (Toll-Free: Carrie Dupuie, AAMS 800-000-0000) Raymond James(Financial Financial Services Inc.,Name) Member FINRA/SIPC Advisor vised lease terms by the board.

(Approved Title) James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. nvestments advisory services offered Raymond Fax:through (000-000-0000) OPA General Manager John Vio(Address) (E-mail (City, STAddress) 00000) la told the Progress in a telephone (000-000-0000) I (Toll-Free: 800-000-0000) (Website) Fax: (000-000-0000) interview that the MoU reduces the (E-mail Address) (Website) lease payments on the two parcels by roughly one third.

He said the reductions were reSubject to availability and price change. Minimum purchases may apply. The yield is the lesser of yield to maturity or yield to call. Interest is generally exempt from federal taxation and may quested

by Seacrets owner Leighton also be free of state and local taxes for investors residing in the state and/or locality where the bonds were issued. However, bonds may be subject to federal alternative tax (AMT), and Moore because of the financial improfits and losses on tax-exempt bonds may be subject to capital gains tax treatment. Ratings by Moody’s/Standard & Poor’s. A credit rating of a security is not a recommendation to 18 pact that covid-19 closures will have buy, sell or hold the security and may be subject to review, revision, suspension, reduction or withdrawal at any time by the assigning Rating Agency. Insurance pertains only to the timely payment of principal and interest. No representation is made to any insurer’s ability to meet its operations in Marynd price change.

Minimum purchases may apply. The yield is the lesser of yield to maturity or yield to call. on Interesthigh-density is generally exempt financial commitments. Ratings and insurance do not remove risk since they do not guarantee nd may alsothebemarket free ofvalue stateof and local taxes for investors residing in the state and/or locality where the bonds were issued. However, the bond. land like Seacrets. to federal alternative minimum tax (AMT), and profits and losses on tax-exempt bonds may be subject to capital gains tax treatment.

Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FNRA/SIPC. andard & Poor’s.

A credit rating of a security is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold the security and may After be subject to review, negotiations, the two sides (c) 2015 Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC 15-MFI-0113 ICD BS 8/15

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Subject to availability and price change. Minimum purchases may apply. The yield is the lesser of yield to maturity or yield to call. Interest is generally exempt from federal taxation and may also be free of state and local taxes for investors residing in the state and/or locality where the bonds were issued. However, bonds may be subject to federal alternative minimum tax (AMT), and profits and losses on tax-exempt bonds may be subject to capital gains tax treatment.

Ratings by Moody’s/Standard & Poor’s. A credit rating of a security is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold the security and may be subject to review, revision, suspension, reduction or withdrawal at any time by the assigning Rating Agency. Insurance pertains only to the timely payment of principal and interest. No representation is made as to any insurer’s ability to meet its financial commitments. Ratings and insurance do not remove market risk since they do not guarantee the market value of the bond.

Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC.

©2015 Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC 15-MFI-0113 ICD BS 8/15

duction or withdrawal at any time by the assigning Rating Agency. Insurance pertains only to the timely payment of principal and inters made as to any insurer’s ability to meet its financial commitments. Ratings and insurance do not remove market risk since they do et value of the bond.

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agreed on the one third reduction, Viola said.

The reductions will affect the lease payment for the coming year only, Viola said, with the expectations that normal operations at Seacrets will return by the summer of 2021.

Then OPA Secretary Colette Horn at the Oct. 2 regular meeting last year announced a previous email vote approving a new five-year lease, but it was reported in the Progress that OPA President Doug Parks had signed the lease extension May 1 of last year, about five months before the board retroactively ratified it in an email vote.

Parks and the board came under some criticism for failing to vote on it before Parks signed the new agreement.

That procedural defect apparentl did note occur this year with the timely board approval of the new MoU. The contract between the OPA and Leighton Moore’s West End, L.L.C. (O.C. Seacrets, Inc. in previous contracts) allows patrons of Seacrets restaurant and nightclub bayside at 48th and 49th streets in Ocean City to park in a bayside lot owned by the OPA. The agreement also allows Seacrets patrons to use the parking lot at the Ocean Pines Beach Club in Ocean City for overflow parking after hours when the Beach Club is closed.

The five-year lease negotiated last year included an increase in payments to OPA, beginning at $63,914 and ending with $71,935, approximately $10,000 more per year than the prior lease.

The renegotiated terms reduce those numbers by roughly one third, Viola said.

At the beginning of the Oct. 2 regular meeting last year, Horn had announced that the board of directors had approved the lease with Seacrets in an email vote by a margin of 6 to 1, with Director Tom Janasek in opposition, reportedly objecting to the lack of public discussion of the lease.

Asked to clarify her opening statement, Horn acknowledged that the vote on the lease was not unan-

imous.

Parks then added that while a unanimous vote was required to take a vote on a motion via email, no unanimous vote was required to pass the motion.

However, Joe Reynolds of oceanpinesforum.com said Parks and the rest of the board had been incorrect and both votes had to have been unanimous in order for them to have been valid.

Reynolds said that “several board members were asked if they were aware the contract had already been signed when they voted via email to approve the contract.

One board member was aware; one member did not seem to be aware; another said it would require a review of the email stream leading up to the vote. Parks was obviously aware.

“What should have happened?

The right thing should have happened. The board President should have been transparent, admitted his mistake at the recent meeting, and board should have then voted on the contract at the meeting, a vote that would have required only four members approving.

“Regardless of the vote, regardless of the violation of Maryland law, the contract was very likely binding the instant ... Parks signed it back on May 1.

“After that, it is quite possible even a vote of the board not to approve the contract would be more or less meaningless,” he concluded.

OPA directors responding to inquiries from the Progress indicated that they don’t agree that votes on a motion in an email need to be unanimous.

Both OPA by-laws and Maryland corporate law are ambiguous on that point, they said.

They in effect were saying that Moore’s legal opinion on the matter is incorrect and they are not bound by it.

In addition, there didn’t seem to be any board concern over the May 1 signing of the lease because, according to directors, Parks owned up to what he admitted was a mistake and asked the board to rectify the mistake by an after-the-fact approval.

OCEAN PINES

June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Janasek questions pace of Northstar installation Viola acknowledges project is behind schedule and over budget, citing challenges of new software that requires a lot of customization

By TOM STAUSS Publisher ost projects that are under way or that have been completed under the administration of General Manager John Viola have come in on time and on if not under budget.

The notable exception to that has been slow roll-out of Northstar software, which Viola for many months has acknowledged is behind its original installation schedule and is

M

costing more than its original budgeted cost.

At the June 3 monthly meeting of the Board of Directors, Director Tom Janasek seemed unwilling to simply accept the general manager’s word that the project would be completed by the end of the year.

He probed for any previously undisclosed information that might suggest an inability to meet the revised deadline.

Viola responded with the same

Collections still running at 60 percent of normal

N

ot much has changed when it comes to the percentage of Ocean Pines who have paid their annual lot assessments in a timely way despite the board’s decision earlier this year to extend the deadline for paying asessments from May 1 to Aug. 1.

At the June 3 monthly meeting of the Board of Directors, OPA Director and Treasurer Larry Perrone said that the percentage of Ocean Pines property owners who have paid their assessments as of the end of May remains at 60 percent of what has normally been paid as of thate date year-over-year.

He didn’t identify the exact dollar amount that has been collected so far or what the shortfall is.

At the May board meeting, Perrone said that collections were running at roughly 60 percent of what normally occurs as of that date, the beginning of the OPA’s 2020-21 fiscal year.

Perrone was an initial opponent of extending the due date for assessments, but other directors were willing to do so in reponse to the covid-19 pandemic.

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information he’s been providing for months. He said there is no software suite on the market that provides every function needed by a complex homeowners association, and that means there is great deal of customization required. Particularly vexing is point of sale software needed to manage fod and beverage operations at the Yacht Club. Pending a more permanent solution, Viola said the Matt Ortt Companies, which manages the facility for the OPA, is using

23

its own software as it transitions to the Northstar point of sale system.

Viola said the cost overrun is the result of needing to pay a Northstar employee for the customization needed by various OPA departments. He said that while it was known at the time of purchasing the Northstar suite that customization would be needed, the extent of it was not known and could not have been known at the time. It’s become clearer as more departments come on line with Northstar.

Among those departments that have almost implemented the new software are finance, parks and recreation, and aquatics.

The original budget called for $400,000 to be spent on Northstar installation. The latest projection is for an overrun in the neighborhood of 5 percent.

OCEAN PINES BRIEFS Committee encourages candidate forum questions

A virtual candidate forum for the 2020 Ocean Pines Board election is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, June 17, at 7 p.m. in the Assateague Room of the community center on 235 Ocean Parkway, in Ocean Pines.

The Elections Committee, who will host the event, encourages Association members to submit questions in advance of the forum.

Questions may be sent via email to elections@oceanpines.org, or left on the Elections Committee voicemail by calling 410-219-8972.

The committee will consider all questions submitted by Association members.

The meeting will be broadcast live via Microsoft Meetings.

Census officials focus on part-time residents

Recent Census statistics show that Census response rates in Ocean Pines and throughout the county continue to lag behind 2010 levels.

Worcester County officials are also focused on reaching part-time residents.

“While the highest number of vacant/secondary homes are in Ocean City, there are also large numbers in South Point, Ocean Pines and West Ocean City,” Kelly Henry, Worcester County’s Complete Count Coordinator, said. “There are still many areas throughout the county where residents, both primary and secondary homeowners, need to respond to the survey.”

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OPA FINANCES

June 2020

OPA concludes fiscal year with a $572,000 surplus Even with covid-19 putting the breaks on revenues in April, 2019-20 was the best year on record

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association concluded its 2019-20 fiscal year with a $572,000 operating surplus, coming close to erasing its operating fund deficit, despite facing headwinds in the final month of the year. Business restrictions from the covid-19 pandemic produced a $95,000 deficit in April.

These results are unaudited and subject to modification in the annual audit process that is already under way. Assuming the numbers hold up, this will be the best financial outcome in the history of the OPA. If the $572,000 surplus holds up, the OPA’s operating fund deficit will have been reduced to about $150,000, the best number for this fund in many years. It’s a substantial reversal

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of financial fortune since the OPA recorded a $1.5 million operating deficit several years ago, resulting from huge operating deficits at the Yacht Club and the Beach Club in Ocean City. Those adversities have been turned into surpluses under the management of the Matt Ortt Companies.

The covid-19 pandemic’s impact on OPA operations arrived in full force in April and continued into May and June, offset by a $1.14 million payroll protection program loan received by the OPA and another $277,000 received by MOC that will be allocated to the Yacht Club and perhaps other MOC-operated venues in the fiscal year that began May 1. Other than a small tranche of PPP funds that was allocated to general administration in April, the PPP funds will show up as general administrative revenue beginning in May, where it will offset losses expected in key amenities including golf and aquatics. q

24 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Management duo and volunteers work together to improve outdoor amenity

By SUSAN CANFORA Contributing Writer uckily for racquet sports lovers – and they abound in Ocean Pines – the coronavirus can only live a few seconds outdoors.

“That’s what the experts say.

Three seconds,” an amiable Terry Underkoffler, tennis director, said on a recent spring morning as he stood, racquet in hand, near a court, under a sunny blue sky, watching a match at the Pines’ Racquet Center on Manklin Creek Road.

With strong management and leadership, the help of eager volunteers and members and support of the Ocean Pines Association, the popular complex is well run, clean, nicely landscaped and certainly inviting.

Upgrades and changes are under way there, including installation of a new, 36-foot retractable awning over the outdoor seating area.

In March, the large complex, where tennis, pickleball and platform tennis are all played, as well as the new Timeless Tennis, and where lessons are given, was forced to close due to restrictions implemented to protect against the coronavirus.

It was shuttered for two months and during that time, considerable

L

2019-20 surplus From Page 24 Even with the pandemic taking a huge bite out of revenues that might have been realized in these two amenities, the 2019-20 fiscal year was on the best on record for the OPA. For the year, revenues were over budget by $263,190 and expenses were under budget by $308,722, resulting in a $571,912 operating surplus.

In April, the negative variance to budget of $94,653 was produced by revenues under budget by $135,985 and expenses under budget by $571,912.

Amenity departments that op-

Tennis Director Terry Underkoffler and Facilities Manager Tim McMullen, the leadership team at the Ocean Pines Recreation Complex.

erated in the black in 2019-20 include beach parking ($370,240), marinas ($230,255), the Yacht Club ($100,563), pickleball ($12,565), the Tern Grille ($10,712), and platform tennis ($3,872).

Amenity departments that produced deficits for the year include golf operations (-$160,193), aquatics (-$8,181), tennis (-$23,493), and parks and recreation (-$448,892).

The latter is a hybrid deparment in that it is financed by assessment dollars and program fees.

Amenity departments that performed better than budget include the Yacht Club, with a $201,650 positive variance to budget; marinas, with a $43,816 positive variance;

beach parking, with a $35,250 positive variance; the Beach Club, with a $21,367 positive variance; pickleball, with a $7,222 positive variance; and platform tennis, with a $1,201 positive variance.

Parks and recreation produced a $68,861 positive variance for the year.

Amenity departments that under performed relative to budget include golf, with a $94,670 negative variance; aquatics, with a $46,182 negative variance; and tennis, with a $3,797 negative variance.

The pandemic during April contributed to losses in golf (-$99,112), aquatics (-$57,290), Yacht Club (-$55,499), beach parking (-$10,462),

planning went into ways to keep players safe once it reopened, Underkoffler said.

He and Tim McMullen, facilities manager, planned how to make improvements and repairs and prepare for the thousands of players who go to the complex every season to swing a racquet for exercise, enjoyment and camaraderie.

“We started talking about it. We had a water leak. We had a fencing issue and some court issues. We had to prepare for the return of players and for their safe play,” he said.

Informational signs were erected. Water fountains were no longer used and are wrapped with strips of yellow caution tape. Jugs of community water vanished. Instead, bottled water is now made available.

A sign to the left of the entrance, in all red letters, reminds players how to protect against infections, to wash their hands, clean equipment, take water bottles from home, use new balls, consider wearing gloves and avoid touching gates, fences and benches.

When playing, they are advised to remain at least six feet apart, avoid touching their faces after handling balls and racquets, stay on their own side of the court, remain apart from other players when taking a break and kick wayward balls that fly from another court instead of picking them up and throwing them back.

One recent morning, some staff and players wore protective face masks, but not everyone.

Players are advised to wash their hands after a game and leave the court as quickly as possible when finished.

The racquet complex received a q

Racquet sports complex back in the swing with safety in mind

25

marinas (-$5,354), Tern Grille (-$4,045), platform tennis (-$672) and tennis (-$9,6010).

Pickleball ($13) and and the Beach Club ($715) managed to operate in the black for the month.

Relative to budget, only pickleball,platform tennis and the Beach Club outperformed in April.

Status of reserves: The OPA’s end-of-year reserve balance through April was $5.64 million, down from $6.95 million in March, $7.65 million in February and $8.33 million in January. There was a $3.49 million balance in the replacement reserve, $1.65 million in the bulkheads and waterways reserve, and $506,450 in the roads reserve.

OCEAN PINES

June 2020

Racquet complex From Page 25

$3,000 pandemic grant from the U.S. Tennis Association to purchase safety materials such as hand sanitizer and dispensers as well as teaching materials.

USTA guidelines are followed and now all teaching professionals there are certified. Instructors teach pickleball, tennis and platform tennis.

“All of our teachers have safe play training,” Underkoffler said.

“Now, because of the coronavirus, you have to teach differently. We are in Phase II of the state reopening and under Phase II you have to use a ball machine when you teach kids, so nobody is touching the balls. The less we touch anything, the better,” said Underkoffler, who teaches computer education at Worcester Preparatory School in Berlin. He and McMullen coach together and have 100 years of combined experience.

McMullen praised Colby Phillips, director of amenities and operational logistics for the Ocean Pines Association, who was instrumental in getting Bob Grant from Public Works assigned to the racquet complex to maintain the grounds.

John Viola, OPA general manager, walked around the complex with McMullen twice in one week, observing and asking what was needed and how the OPA could help. That’s the kind of attention to a facility that McMullen greatly appreciates.

“I definitely think those two gentlemen are doing a wonderful job there,” Viola said of Underloffler and McMullen. “They are bringing racquet sports to the next level. They are two individuals who have a wealth of information and experience that they have brought to Ocean Pines, and I am very fortunate to have them come on board and be part of the team.”

Phillips agrees.

“When we found out we were able

to open, the Racquet Center team along with myself and a rep from each sport met to discuss the best ways to open safely. We have been running now for a few weeks and everything is going great,” she said, adding that McMullen and Underkoffler “are such a blessing to our team and this community. Having people who care about what they are doing, and it shows in their actions and their work, is what it’s all about and makes our Racquet Center, in my opinion, the best on the Eastern Shore. ... Although covid slowed us down on some things we wanted to do this summer, I still seeing it being one of the best summers we will have there.”

Volunteers will help it happen.

Dick Schwartz volunteered to power wash the concrete in front of the complex office building and Underkoffler’s wife planted colorful flowers in large pots.

Volunteer spirit is strong among the players, who are also members of the Ocean Pines community, men and women who take pride in their amenities and are quick to assist, McMullen said.

He credited sisters Mallorie and Julie Parsons, who sign up players, as being ambitious self-starters who are always willing to help, and Brendan Miller, a staff attendant and athlete who “walks around and starts doing jobs without us asking.”

Everyone who arrives at the complex signs in and a database of e-mails is kept, to be used for contact tracing in case someone becomes ill with the coronavirus.

He also praised Vic Kareiva and Paul Rusko, who organized the 6 O’Clock Club for players who arrive for games at 6 a.m.,Vinn and Susan Morris who run platform tennis and Frank Creamer who oversees pickleball.

“When I have community people, people who are involved in the community, coming here and working together, that’s how everything comes together and you achieve success.

The team I have here is an extremely good group,” McMullen said.

Dale Ash, president of the Ocean Pines Tennis Club, maintains the e-mail data base.

The Racquet Center has 10 tennis courts, with eight composition and two hard-surface, six platform tennis courts and eight pickleball courts, plus a pro shop.

Memberships are available, or pickleball can be played for a $5 drop-in fee, tennis for $10 per player or $20 to rent a court and $5 for platform tennis.

The new Timeless Tennis, designed “for people who can’t move as well as they used to,” Underkoffler said, play with a tennis racquet on a smaller platform tennis court.

“Playing racquet sports is great for stress relief. Now with the coronavirus, the recommendation is to use your own balls and stay on your side. If you switch places, you do it in a counter-clockwise manner so you don’t cross paths. The experts have it all figured out.

“Racquet sports are great. To play tennis, all you need is one other body, but if you play soccer you

Courts at the Recreation Complex stay busy all day long.

need a whole team and now it isn’t allowed anyhow.

“You can run and play and keep score. If you like to move and you like to be outside, racquet sports are wonderful,” he said.

For a couple months this spring, children and teenagers chafed at being indoors, but now, “there is no better time to learn how to play tennis or pickleball or even paddle,” Underkoffler said.

“There is no baseball for kids right now. There’s no travel basketball. Summer camp is going to have restrictions. They can learn to play a racquet sport that they will play the rest of their lives.

“All these things, they are all here and they are all waiting for you.

There is no better time.”

Ocean Pines commissioners vote against $204 million county budget for FY 2020-21 Property tax rate remains the same

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer

Despite making tens of thousands of dollars in changes to a proposed $204 million fiscal year 2020-21 operating budget, the Worcester County Commissioners during a June 2 meeting failed to pass an initial motion for approval.

In order to garner majority support for the budget, the commissioners had to wrangle a fourth vote by shifting $100,000 to fund Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin.

Ocean Pines commissioners Chip Bertino and

Jim Bunting in the end voted against the approved budget.

Bertino said he remains concerned about the revenue estimates and fears they will be off. “I think we’re a little bit high with that.”

He also cited a lack of a holistic approach to emergency medical and fire companies in the county in the budget. “We’ve created a situation where we have no guidelines. We have no parameters. We have no system when it comes to this particular line item.”

He was also frustrated with the last minute budq

26 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES get request. He said he would not be voting for the budget this year.

Bunting was also worried about the projected revenue for FY21 and the Governor is predicting up to a 30 percent decrease in revenues.

“I think we’re gonna be in bad trouble and I won’t be voting for the budget either,” he said, Commission President Joe Mitrecic reiterated that he does not support providing funding to AGH but agreed to vote in favor of it in order to move the budget forward.

“I’m not willing to hold up this entire budget for that.”

Both the motion in favor of funding AGH and the motion to approve the overall budget carried 4-3, with Mitrecic, Bud Church, Diane Purnell, and Josh Nordstrom in favor, and Bertino, Bunting, and Elder opposed.

The operating budget of $204,320,631 in appropriations for the coming fiscal year reflects an increase of $3,035,079 or 1.5 percent more than the FY20 budget while reducing the requested expenditures of $221.3 million by $17.0 million.

The budget maintains the real property tax rate of 84.5 cents per $100 of assessed value effective July 1, 2020, and the county’s local income tax rate of 2.25 percent, which became effective January 1, 2020.

Worcester County residents will continue to benefit from the lowest income tax rate and the second lowest real property tax rate as compared to all other counties in Maryland.

Early in the budget season, the commissioners and county staff developed a revised FY21 budget to proactively address the potential financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Budget decisions were based upon current and historical data.

The amended FY21 budget will fund the required Maintenance of Effort budget for the Board of Education, new debt service for the Showell Elementary School, provide funding for Other Post-Employment Benefits for County and school system employees as previously committed by using the county’s current year local income tax rate, and maintain valuable County services by ensuring qualified staff is hired and retained.

Most county operating budgets were decreased or level funded, and most requested capital items were removed in response to the covid-19 environment.

June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

27

If elected, what would be your top two priorities?

Colette Horn

Doug Parks

Stuart Lakernick

OPA’s Board and management face some difficult decisions about how best to manage the financial impact of the pandemic. We will be facing fixed costs at our amenities and reduced revenues due to reductions in capacity due to social distancing recommendations and reduced member utilization owing to reluctance about health risks.

No matter how we manage this, 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 next year due to expected financial losses.

My top priority is to support efforts to recover financially from the impact of the pandemic while also supporting stability in our workforce and amenities.

In order for us to continue the level of productivity we achieved over the past 3 years it is important that we cement the cultural changes that contributed to those successes.

I think another three years with the focus on teamwork, disciplined communication, and respectful airing of differing opinions is vital toward the goal of creating a lasting culture of professionalism and productivity on the OPA board. I hope to continue to work with my colleagues to make these cultural changes lasting.

My two top priorities would be preparing the 2021-22 budget and succession planning for the General Manager position.

Given the effect the covid-19 pandemic has had we need to focus on how best to budget for next fiscal year. Membership and usage fees for various Ocean Pines amenities account for approximately 40 percent of our revenue. With the delay in opening and the restrictions on usage, the revenue for these amenities will be reduced significantly.

The challenge will be to produce a budget that attempts to minimize the increase to the annual assessment while ensuring that programs and services can still be provided and that our reserve funds are maintained at the appropriate levels.

Another priority is to begin succession planning for the GM position as the current employment contract expires June 2022.

I have had discussions with our GM on this issue and now that most of the major projects have been completed and overall operations are stable, he can focus his efforts on specific aspects of the succession planning.

I would work with the other Directors with the intent that succession planning outcome be a smooth transition to a stable, documented, well-managed and well-staffed organization ...

Drainage is a high focus to me and a multi level issue.

Areas like Bainbridge park, sections 2 and 3 are prime examples of how bad the situation is. We need to address the standing water around homes, scheduled ditch maintenance, stormwater diversion, water quality issues and rising tides.

I know Colby [Phillips] has been working along with the County on getting Ocean Pines a grant which if received should benefit a lot of homeowners. Public Works is in need for additional staffing to be able to routinely and systematically handle all the issues in Ocean Pines.

We have a drainage crew that can’t focus solely on routine maintenance of ditches because they get put on other areas of need. What we should do is have enough staffing that the drianage crew can stay dedicated to preventive ditch maintenance all the time.

Public health during the pandemic. I feel that my background as a doctor can be offered to management and the community for input on public safety parameters.

With the current covid crisis, it’s important to implement protocols for any future pandemics or emergency situations our community may face. Being able to utilize our amenities safely will require new board [focus] ...

The above are responses to a question posed to the three candidates for the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors by the Elections Committee.

28 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Cover story

OCEAN PINES

June 2020

From Page 1 barstool removed. The tiki bar at the Yacht Club is open, too.

Regular hours at the Yacht Club are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., at the Beach Club 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the Clubhouse Bar and Grille, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“We’re all really excited to let people back inside our three Ocean Pines restaurants,” Ralph DeAngelus, founding partner of the Matt Ortt Companies, said. “The community has been incredibly supportive of us when we were limited to just carryout and delivery, and they’ve been fantastic with our outdoor reopening so far. Now, with indoor dining too, we can’t wait to see everyone and to show them all the great things we have planned for them.”

The governor also announced that outdoor pools in the state can operate at 50 percent capacity, up from 25 percent announced the week prior. This means that Ocean Pines’ four outdoor pools are less likely to turn swimmers away, not that that has occurred during the limited reopening implemented the first weekend in June at the Yacht Club and Beach Club pools.

The Yacht Club will be the only pool that operates on a reservation system, for the time being at least, because of higher demand. This is a change from the original plan that had all five community pools operating with a reservation system.

The increased capacity rule also went into the effect June 12.

The Swim and Racquet Club pool reopened on that date, not including the splash pad.

With the Swim and Racquet Club pool’s reopening, that leaves only one outdoor pool closed as of June 14.

Mumford’s Landing pool had been scheduled to reopen June 20, staffing permitting, not including the baby pool. That’s been pushed back some, as a decision has been made to reopen the indoor Sports Core before Mumford’s.

The indoor Sports Core pool is defined as an indoor fitness facility under the governor’s latest announcement so it could reopen as soon June 20.

The Aquatics staff has not yet announced the date, however, as it deals with staffing issues. tThe staff has come up with a plan to reserve that pool for lap swimming, classes and training, at least during the period when capacity is limited.

The governor announced that indoor gyms and fitness establishments can reopen on Friday, June 17, which means that the Ocean Pines Community Center gymnasium can reopen for classes and other activities on that date.

The Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department is currently offering outdoor exercise classes and will soon add outdoor sports programs.

Recreation and Parks Director Debbie Donahue said staff, including Program Supervisor and Camp Director Brittany Jarman, have kept in close contact with state and local government officials regarding all the new regulations and guidelines.

Donahue said summer camps are scheduled to start on June 22, with limited capacities. For program updates, visit www.facebook.com/oprecandparks.

Anyone interested in registering for for outdoor summer classes should call Katie Goetzinger at 410641-7052.

Donahue is also working closely with the Worcester County Health Department and state officials in the hopes of making announcement soon on plans to reopen playgrounds and other outdoor recreational facilities in Ocean Pines.

“The Recreation and Parks team is working diligently to get things open again and also to follow the guideline set by Gov. Hogan and our local health department,” Donahue said.

Summer concerts are still on hold at this time, as the department awaits new guidelines.

“We are hopeful that we may be able to hold concerts later in the summer,” Donahue said. “As for the Fourth of July, we have decided to postpone fireworks until later in the year. New date will be posted soon.”

For more information or questions, contact the Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department at 410-641-7052, email rec@oceanpines.org, or visit www.oceanpines. org/web/pages/recreation-parks.

The outdoor racquet complex off Manklin Creek Road in South Ocean Pines had already been operating more or less normally before the governor’s June 10 announcement, with social distancing practices in place.

The same is more or less true at the Ocean Pines golf course, which had been operating at a one-personper-golf-cart restriction when it reopened June 5. Director of Golf John

Malinowski eased that rule before the governor’s press conference, allowing golfers who request it to ride two per cart.

That’s not a trivial change. The number of golf carts available for use has a significant impact on golf

revenue, as one-person-per-cart means fewer rounds can be booked per day when the course runs out of available carts.

That happened the first weekend of June when the course reopened for play.

Builder Marvin Steen of Steen Associates, Ocean Pines General Manager John Viola, and Steen Associate’s designer Bill Stamp on a recent tour of the new golf clubhouse.

Golf clubhouse

From Page 4 was one of the last items to arrive.

The golf pro shop is still not yet fully functional, awaiting furnishings that were delayed because of work stoppages related to the covid-19 pandemic. Director of Golf John Malinowski hopes to have the pro shop open by the end of this month.

Also on order is the boardapproved golf simulator, a device that can help custom-fit golf clubs by taking finite measurements of a golf swing. It also allows golfers to play a round of golf indoors on a screen depicting famous golf courses. Once it arrives, it will be set up in a room adjoining the pro shop, although it could be relocated to the clubhouse bar and grill during the winter months.

Anyone checking out the facility for the first time will notice some items that had not been part of the original design. There’s a large leader board for tournaments located on one side of the building not far from the 18th green, with advertisements paying for its construction. The Bank of Ocean City donated funds used to build a nearby firepit, Viola said.

The general manager commended the Matt Ortt Companies for helping to design the building.

With the facility now open for breakfast and lunch, plans are to install a radio on the 9th tee box to allow golfers to call in orders that can be picked up on the turn for the second nine.

When golf courses in the state were allowed to reopen as part of a phase 1 process, golf carts were limited to one person per cart, a restriction that cost the course money because it reduced the numbers of carts that were allowed out on the course per day.

That restriction remained in place as this edition of the Progress was going to press, but Viola and Malinowski are looking forward to normal usage of golf carts in the near future.

The course also is operating under social distancing restrictions.

Flagsticks have been locked in place, and golf carts continue to be wiped down after each use as preventative measures.

Tables both inside and outside the clubouse have been spaced six feet apart consistent with state guidance for social distancing.

As a result of a board decision this past February, a state of the art audio system has been installed in the community room, which will make it possible to host golf banquets and meetings of the OPA board of directors.

The audio package includes installation of a networked audio control processor, two multi-channel anplifiers, one AV rack with battery back-up, nine ceiling speakers in the clubhouse meeting room, nine ceiling speakers in the Tern Grille, 18 ceiling speakers throughout the rest of the building, two outdoor speakers in the outside patio area, and three outdoor speakers for the golf cart staging area.

June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Golf course play no longer ‘free’ to Captain’s Cove property owners Board unanimously approves licensing agreement with Billy Casper Golf

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Captain’s Cove association Board of Directors June 4 approved a new licensing agreement with Billy Casper Golf that changes the way the Captain’s Cove golf course is managed and paid for.

As a result of the agreement, member play of the golf course will no longer be included as part of the $1200 annual assessment and the fee structure for greens fees and cart usage will be set by BCG. The change was promoted as a way for the association to avoid an increase the annual dues in the 2020-21 fiscal year that begins this October. It saves the association about $100 or half of an anticipated increase in assessments next year.

Another $100 in savings will have to be found elsewhere in the budget to avoid the dues increase.

Under the agreement, BCG will be licensed to manage the “front” of the house -- pro shop operations and member relations, keeping all the proceeds from daily greens fees and annual memberships that most likely will be sold Cove residents who don’t want to pay-as-they-go.

Cove association president Tim Hearn said Captain’s Cove Yacht and Golf Club, the property owners association, will continue to pick up the cost of golf course maintenance, which he said should guarantee the course remains in good condition.

Hearn said the licensing agreement evolved after the golf committee in a letter to the board resigned, ending its involvement in serving as marshals on the golf course and setting policy on course usage during the covid-19 restrictions, effective June 11.

The course was limited in its hours of operations, and it became apparent that the committee’s volunteer involvement in managing the course, though saving the association money, was an untenable business model.

Hearn said that BCG executives proposed the licensing fee arrangement as a way of returning the course to a seven-day-a-week operation, with a pro shop staff and carts available for rent.

It’s a management concept that

T

BCG uses on courses it manages elsewhere in the country.

Hearn said that since course maintenance costs of roughly $200,000 continue to be the responsibility of the POA, BCG should be able to make a profit on annual proceeds that should exceed $100,000.

He said that most Cove property owners, especially non-residents who don’t play golf, will be pleased with the changes because they will no longer have to subsidize an amenity they don’t use to a lesser extent. He acknowledged that Cove members who play a lot of golf, and who will now have to pay greens fees, cart fee or purchase some sort of membership, won’t be as happy.

Indeed, a fair number of golfers participated in the virtual June 4 meeting and registered their negative views about the change, some saying that it ran counter to the understanding they had when they purchased their Cove properties that the annual assessment covered all amenities, with the exception of golf carts.

Hearn didn’t try to sugarcoat the change, but defended it as a way of keeping costs down for most members of the Cove association.

He said the golf committee agreed

with the new licensing agrement.

It was approved unanimously by the board.

In response to a question on the Cove Web site, Hearn outlined financial details about course operations in 2019.

He said golf course revenue netted about $145,000, after pro shop costs.

Budgeted expenses were about $200,000 in fixed costs for golf course maintenance, about $200,000 in variable costs, and about $100,000 in depreciation.

Course capital expenditures have been ranging from $25,000 to $50,000 per year. Specific line item details about all of this are posted within the financial statements on the members Web site, Hearn said.

In addition, he said that 800 outing rounds from non-members in 2019 generated $2,649, while 2,000 public rounds from non-members in 2019 generated $34,367. Golf cart revenue was $80,000, and pro shop sales were $74,000, with cost of services $45,000, for net revenue of $29,000.

The 7,100 member rounds in 2019 generated no revenue, which under the licensing agreement BCG would expect to improve

29

upon dramatically.

Broadband Connection -- Also during the June 4 meeting, board member Jim Silfee announced that Broadband Connection will begin the task of laying fiber optic cable throughout the Cove beginning the first week of July if not sooner.

The pandemic and other considerations had delayed the onset of construction, but it now appears that the days when Cove residents will be able to contract for high-speed Internet are approaching.

Amenity reopening -- As a result of Executive Order 65 issued by the governor of Virginia, Captain’s Cove has begun the process of reopening its amenities to the membership.

As part of Virginia’s Phase 2 reopening, the wearing of masks or other face coverings continue to be a requirement for accessing all amenities and amenity areas.

According to a recent post on the members Web site by General Manager Justin Wilder, updated information on the expansion of golf course operating hours and other conditions at this amenity will be provided by Billy Casper Golf in the coming weeks.

The Town Center pool is open for water aerobics from 10 to 11 a.m.

Monday through Friday. Lap swimming will continue to be available from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week. During periods when capacity is not an issue, guests will be allowed to accompany members to the pool.

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30 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

June 2020

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June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

FEATURED MODEL

From Page 29

Activities other than aerobics and lap swimming are not permitted at this time. Limited seating will be available and current occupancy is no more than 37 individuals.

Marina Club Building: Since Monday, June 8, the reception desk has ben staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Fitness Center: Since Monday, June 8, the Fitness Center has been open from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven seven days per week. No more than three individuals are permitted to use the Fitness Center at a time Indoor Pool: Since Tuesday, June 9, the indoor pool has been open for lap swimming and water aerobics from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, for aerobics and lap swimming only.

Masks must be worn when not in the water, and capacity restrictions are also in place. During periods when capacity is not an issue, guests will be allowed to accompany members to the pool.

Conference Room, Library, Aerobics Room and Arts & Crafts Room: Since Monday, June 8, the Conference Room will be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days per week. The library will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

No more than one individual is permitted at a time in the library and four individuals at a time in the conference room. Access to the Aerobics and Arts & Crafts Rooms is not permitted at this time.

The Marina Club outdoor pool is closed at this time due to the restrictions under Virginia Executive Order 65, which permits only lap swimming and aerobics.

The Marina Club pool, unlike the Town Center pool and Marina Club indoor pool, is not configured for laps and aerobics.

Marina Club Restaurant: The Marina Store Marketplace service will continue.

Carry-out services will be launched soon from the Marina Club Restaurant. In addition, BCG will be announcing operating hours for inside and outside seating at the Marina Club Restaurant.

Details as to the specific opening date and operating hours will be announced shortly to the membership.

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OPINION

June 2020 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

33

COMMENTARY Lakernick would be a welcome addition to the board

U

nless someone steps up in the 11th hour as the fourth candidate to run for the Board of Directors, only three candidates will be running for the two seats on the board to be contested in this summer’s election. It’s hard to believe in a community of this size and number of homes, there’s so little interest among the membership for this volunteer position serving the community. With advisory committees a traditional feeding ground for potential board candidates, is it really possible that only three candidates, two of whom are incumbents, believe they are worthy of serving?

The door is about to close on a fourth candidate. To be included in the summer OPA newsletter, election materials will need to be submitted on or about June 15 or 16, after which the window will be effectively closed because of deadline and production considerations.

Board vice-president Steve Tuttle attributes the dearth of candidates to apathy and the lack of issues that might stir interest in running for the board. Another factor is that, over the years, directors take flak for positions they hold or comments they have made. Serving as a director isn’t for the faint of heart, but then why should it be.

Plenty of property owners have weathered the occasional turbulence that comes with the job.

So it certainly was a welcome development when Stuart Lakernick threw his hat in the ring a couple of months ago as a candidate. He’s a low-key, unassuming guy who happens to be the husband of Esther Diller, a director elected two years ago who then had to resign because of a serious health issue that needed attention.

By voting for and electing Dr. Lakernick, Ocean Pines property owners would essentially be getting two directors for the price of one, and that’s not a bad deal considering that in about a year of service on the board, Diller proved herself to be an able and perceptive director who, with the good sense of someone who successfully manages multiple businesses, came down on the right side of issues she confronted as a director. She was a good influence on one of the candidates who is running for reelection this year, Doug Parks, when he needed some subtle nudging to make the right decisions for Ocean Pines.

Lakernick, of course, has to appeal to voters because of his own strengths as a candidate and not rely simply on the good will of those who voted for Diller and liked what she did as a director. On that score, he seems like he would be a good fit with the carry-over directors. Lakernick is not running as a political foe of the current board but as someone who would be a fresh set of eyes on the range of issues that any board has to address.

In a published interview back in April, Lakernick did suggest that the OPA could do a better job of promoting the Ocean Pines golf course both to non-member Ocean Pines residents and outside golfers. Perhaps he could flesh those

ideas out in candidate forums scheduled for this campaign season.

More recently, he has emphasized the need for continued focus on drainage issues, commending Amenities and Logistical Operations Director Colby Phillips for her good work in applying for state grant money for drainage improvements.

Of the two candidates other on the three-person slate after Lakernick, Parks is more deserving of reelection. He has demonstrated a bit of thin skin at times, a penchant for pomposity, and often clashed with former director Slobodan Trendic before his resignation from the board over a year ago. As board president, Parks has on occasion ignored clear instructions in the bylaws regarding process.

For no apparent reason, other than personal preference, he didn’t see fit to conduct a formal vote on whether the board would authorize the general manager to apply for the payroll protection program loan that the OPA has received to help it weather the covid-19 shutdown. Yes, he apparently did discuss the matter with his colleagues but he wouldn’t take the 15 minutes needed to conduct an email vote.

Similarly, last year, he signed with no board vote authorizing it a new five-year lease with Seacrets restaurant for two OPA-owned parking lots in Ocean City. Many months later he retroactively asked the board to authorize him to do what he did without asking. The lease was clearly in the best interests of the OPA, but, again, Parks as OPA president seemed unwilling or incapable of complying with procedures spelled out in the bylaws.

But these were lapses as OPA president rather than as a director. They do not disqualify him from reelection as a director. His positions on issues before the board were usually well thought out and articulated. A recent example: When Director and Treasurer Larry Perrone at the June board meeting suggested that losses in operations this year might result in very large assessment increases next year, Parks reminded Perrone that deficits in the operating fund need not be made up all in one year. Indeed, there is precedent for spreading the pain over multiple years, as Perrone surely knew and should not have needed Parks to point out.

Should Parks win reelection to the board this summer, as certainly seems likely, he would be well advised to give one of his colleagues the opportunity to serve as OPA president by voluntarily bowing out. Whoever would take over the role -- and there are lots of good choices -should declare his or her intention of adhering strictly to the bylaws when serving as president.

As for the third candidate, Colette Horn, she has volunteered her time for almost three years now as a director and deserves the thanks of the community for that service. As OPA secretary for much of that time, however, she took a number of wrong-headed positions. She went out of her

way to deny former director and acting general manager Brett Hill the opportunity to run again as a candidate for the board, wrongly asserting that he no longer owned property in Ocean Pines when in fact he owned property in partnership that was not evident when the normal search of proof of ownership was conducted.

Rather than allow Hill the opportunity to cure the defect, whatever it was exactly or indeed if there was one, she took a hard line and simply said he couldn’t run. It was an ungenerous and high-handed position that resulted in a lawsuit that Hill eventually dropped because the election was over before the case could be heard.

Similarly, Horn seemingly went out of her way to deny the efforts of Slobodan Trendic and his Start organization to petition the board for a referendum on the question of decreasing board spending authority. Rather than comply with the letter of the bylaws requiring the secretary to issue a statement why he or she denied the petition, she hid behind a legal opinion issued by the OPA attorney that offered an unconvincing argument for why the petition should be denied.

The petition, in fact, followed exactly the format outlined in the OPA bylaws for a petition.

But within her discretion as secretary to accept or deny a petition, she opted against the specific wishes of the 800-plus property owners who signed it.

She took a technocratic and mean-spirited position on a matter apparently because she could and because she opposed the objectives of the petition signatatories.

More recently, she denied any role in formulating an emergency organizational chart for the OPA or discussing it with her colleagues in a closed meeting called for another purpose entirely. Discussing an unannounced topic in closed session is a violation of the spirit if not the letter of the Maryland Homeowners Association Act that governs how an elected board can conduct business in private.

But two of her colleagues said she had indeed introduced and discussed the matter and one director said he may have seen a draft copy of the emergency chart that just happened to overtly disrespect Colby Phillips by relegating her to a box under the director of golf.

Horn’s denial seems unconvincing given the testimony of her colleagues.

She also denies that has ever told anyone that Phillips shouldn’t be considered as a GM candidate in the future because she happens to lack a college degree. But a very informed source told the Progress that he or she heard that statement first-hand from Horn, and so there is legitimate conjecture on whether Horn continues to hold a position she is said to have articulated at one time.

If she no longer holds that view, it would be easy enough to issue a very precise statement to that effect. -- Tom Stauss

34 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPINION

June 2020

Janasek and Rogers rise to the occasion

T

wo Ocean Pines Association directors elected last year, Tom Janasek and Camille Rogers, stepped up during the June 3 board of directors meeting in support of the rational plan to reopen OPA swimming pools.

In the end, all but one director supported the plan unambiguously, and the one who seemed ambivalent tried to sell the notion that he really does like the pools.

And, besides, he said, it’s a management issue, with the implication that whatever management wants, management can do so long as it doesn’t offend the sensibilities of a board majority.

To be sure, a plan to reopen pools is so obviously a day-to-day management issue squarely in the hands of the GM and staff that under normal conditions it wouldn’t come to the attention of the board.

It only did this year because of the covid-19 shutdowns and the gradual reopening of economic and recreational activity in the state by Gov. Larry Hogan, at a pace that makes sense to him but not to those engaged in business in the Greater Ocean City area.

Here’s the backstory that may be of interest to Ocean Pines residents: A month ago, during the early May meeting of the directors, the consensus was that General Manager John Viola and all seven directors didn’t want to discuss scary financial projections in public should the covid-19 shutdowns persist.

Viola suggested it might “confuse” the membership. Director Colette Horn said the discussion should be held in private because it might involve layoffs.

Director Larry Perrone said it might unfairly result in criticism of Viola and Finance Director Steve Phillips.

The directors, without revealing the details of worst-case covid-19 shutdown projections, debated at length the related issue of whether to accept or return the payroll protection plan money of $1.1 million.

It was a civilized and intelligent discussion, in the end resulting in a closed door decision to keep the cash as a way of protecting the jobs of OPA employees.

Fast forward to the June 3 meeting a month later and Perrone, the OPA treasurer and chief financial officer of the corporation, reversed

“outsiders” banned from using the pools until such time as capacity reAn excursion through the curious cul-de-sacs An excursion through theby-ways curious and by-ways and cul-de-sacs strictions are eased by the governor of Worcester County’s County’s most densely community. and the state health department. of Worcester mostpopulated densely populated community.

Perrone suggested that it might Publisher

By TOM STAUSS/

By TOM STAUSS/Publisher violate a 2012 U.S. tax court ruling his earlier position and decided his numbers into the equation at pre- requiring the OPA to open its amerole required him to give his col- cisely the moment when reopening nities to outsiders as a way of preleagues and the OPA membership the pools was the issue under dis- serving its 501(c)(4) “social welfare” the full benefit of pessimistic finan- cussion. organizational tax-exempt status. cial scenarios and what it might cost If that wasn’t Perrone’s hidden This is where Camille Rogers in assessment increases next year if agenda, which he insisted was not proved her value as a director. A these scenarios come to pass. the case, he certainly chose some lawyer herself, she checked with Projections under certain as- odd timing to make his comments. colleagues in her profession with sumptions could result in operating Janasek probably made a lot of expertise in tax law. She concluded deficits this year of $1.5 million or friends in the aquatics membership that, under extraordinary covid-19 more and assessment increases of by pushing back on Perrone’s unfor- pandemic conditions, it was unlikely $100, $200 or even more, Perrone tunate introduction of worst-case that the OPA would run afoul of any said. numbers into the debate about re- tax auditor.

The context of his revelations opening the pools.

Her conclusions didn’t seem to was a board discussion whether the Perrone, not so much, despite his convince Perrone, but the miniscule board should accept the plan of Ame- comment that he likes the pools and risk of tax trouble for a temporary nities Director Colby Phillips and uses them himself. That’s not exact- preferential treatment of OPA memAquatics Director Kathleen Cook to ly a persuasive defense, is it? It’s bers and residents didn’t seem to open the pools in a methodical step- possible to like the pools and to have bother any other director. Perrone by-step process. visited them on occasion and still needs to temper his pessimistic comThe first weekend in June saw believe it makes sense to keep them ments on OPA finances and affairs, two pools open, at the Beach Club closed this summer. lest he earn the title “Scary Larry.” and Yacht Club.

Janasek made it clear he was fulResidents and OPA members pay The Swim and Racquet Club pool ly on board with the reopening plan for these amenities, and giving them was set to reopen the weekend of as detailed by Viola, who to his cred- a temporary exclusive use preferJune 12, and probably the Sports it backed his staff 100 percent. ence for using them seems reasonCore pool subject to staffing a week What was doubly odd about Per- able under current conditions, which later, rone’s presentation of pessimistic won’t last forever.

Although he later said he was not financial scenarios is that they did suggesting that the pools shouldn’t not take into account the fact that open as a way of reducing deficits, the OPA had already received the a reasonable person could have in- $1.1 million payroll protection plan ferred that was exactly what Per- money and the benefit of another The Ocean Pines Progress, a journal rone was suggesting but in a way $277,000 received by the Matt Ortt of news and commentary, is pubthat he could deny. Fancy verbal Companies, to be treated as Yacht lished monthly throughout the year. footwork, one could say.

Club revenue against payroll exIt is circulated in Ocean Pines, BerOne director who found it odd pense, according to Viola. lin, Ocean City, and Captain’s Cove, that Perrone was introducing his That’s a huge cash infusion that Va. worst-case scenarios into the dis- would offset most of a $1.5 million cussion about pool reopenings was operating deficit that might arise 127 Nottingham Lane Janasek, who reminded Perrone under one of Perrone’s scenarios.

Ocean Pines, MD 21811 that there had been no public disThis was precisely the reason cussion of alarming financial sce- that the OPA applied for and acPUBLISHER/EDITOR narios when other amenities opened cepted the PPP funding. The alterTom Stauss up under the governor’s phase 1 -- native could have been a lot of laystausstom@gmail.com among them the golf course and the offs throughout the organization or 443-359-7527 racquet sports complex. a massive operating deficit, neither Why was that? Janasek won- option an attractive one.

Advertising Sales dered.

That Perrone didn’t make a point Frank Bottone It was a good question, for which of mentioning that the PPP funding 410-430-3660 Perrone really didn’t offer much of largely addresses his concern about an explanation, other than that he large operating losses was inexpliCONTRIBUTING WRITERS wanted the membership to “under- cable and could have created unnecRota Knott stand” the possible implication of essary fear in the membership.

InkwellMedia@comcast.net reopening the pools.

The OPA treasurer also pushed 443-880-3953 Janasek plausibly had reason to back against the aquatics reopenSusan Canfora suspect that Perrone was singling ing plan’s preferential treatment of myboyruss@earthlink.net out aquatics for possible budget cuts OPA members and residents with 410-208-8721 and staff layoffs by introducing his respect to accessing the pools, with

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