May-Early June 2014
Vol. 10, No. 2
410-641-6029
www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress Terry: Yacht Club opening on track
THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY
Stevens launches comeback bid Calls for Board of Directors to reassert control over general manager By TOM STAUSS Publisher contest for control of the Board of Directors and through that, the Ocean Pines Association, has suddenly become possible. That there even could be a contest for control is itself a departure from the usual playbook, in which the complexion of the board and its controlling bloc changes little from year-to-year, even as a few faces change most years. There’s a reason that Tom Terry is in his fourth year as president of the OPA. Former Director Dave Stevens, term limited after six years on the board last year, has announced his intention to seek a new three-year term on the board in this summer’s annual elections. He was to make it official by filing his application with the OPA executive secretary on the afternoon of May 9. Stevens isn’t any officially teaming up with any other candidate in his reelection bid, but unofficially it might appear that way when the signage wars heat up in next couple of months.
Mumford’s Pool fix won’t be complete by Memorial Day
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Dan Moul
Dave Stevens
“It wouldn’t surprise me if my signs are side by side with Pat Renaud’s,” Stevens said. At the same time, he said he could work with Jeff Knepper, a recently appointed director who is seeking reelection this summer in his own right. Renaud announced his candidacy in March and he was profiled in the April-Early May edition of the Progress. [See www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress for an archived copy.] Knepper disclosed his intent to file when he was appointed over the winter to fill the unexpired term of former director Dan Stachurski.
Jeff Knepper
Pat Renaud
Knepper voted with the board majority to increase the general manager’s base salary to $165,000 per year as part of a three-year contract extension. Stevens disagreed with that vote, calling $165,000 too high a salary for a homeowners association in Worcester County. Sitting directors Jack Collins and Marty Clarke voted against the new contract, which was adopted 5-2 in mid-April. A fourth candidate has filed for one of the two board seats to be contested in this summer’s election. He’s Dan Moul, To Page 19
Thompson contract divides OPA board Clarke, Collins vote against three-year extension
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establishes a $165,000 base salary and a path for an additional $40,000 in incentive payments, were OPA President Tom Terry and directors Bill Cordwell, Sharyn O’Hare, Terry Mohr and Jeff Knepper. Knepper is seeking reelection to the board this summer. Opposing the new contract were directors Jack Collins and Marty Clarke, both of whom thought it was too much money for a manager of a community on the Lower Shore, especially when compared to the salary of Ocean City’s town manager and Worcester County’s coun-
COMPLETE HVAC SYSTEMS STARTING AT
By TOM STAUSS Publisher n a decision that divided the Board of Directors and created an issue that could be debated during this summer’s Ocean Pines Association election, a supermajority of directors in midApril voted 5-2 to approve a three-year contract extension for General Manager Bob Thompson. Voting in favor of the contract, which
Not hearing anything to the contrary from the Ocean Pines Association general manager during the first week of May, OPA President Tom Terry said he believes the new Yacht Club will be open as anticipated Memorial Day weekend. The same applies to the swimming pool, he said. Planning is under way for a Grand Opening party at the new facility the first weekend in June. The OPA’s Web site, oceanpines. org, will continue to post updates as they occur.
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ty administrator, both of whom manage budgets that greatly exceed that of the OPA. While Collins’ evaluation of Thompson’s three-year-plus tenure basically is that his new salary and incentive package is too high for the area, Clarke takes it a step or two further by contending that the general manager’s financial stewardship of the OPA has not been successful. “There was a news release sent out on April 16, 2014, regarding the GM’s new To Page 20
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Major repairs at the popular Mumford’s Landing swimming pool won’t be completed by the traditional Memorial Day weekend reopening but could be done by the latter half of June if the Board of Directors agrees to $35,000 in an emergency no-bid expenditure. General Manager Bob Thompson informed the Ocean Pines Association’s Aquatics Advisory Committee in late April that he had received a letter from the contractor hired to do the repairs that fixing cracks in the pool and applying a new Diamond-Brite finish coat is more complicated than originally anticipated. ~ Page 6
Board approves new Casper golf contract
In the end, six of seven Ocean Pines Association directors were unwilling to cut the cord with Billy Casper Golf, the management company that has been running the Ocean Pines golf course for the OPA, at least for another full season. In early April, the board voted 6-1 to extend the management contract for another three years, effective May 1, with an easy optout clause that could be invoked later this year should BCG fail to meet or come close to meeting a $95,000 loss target. ~ Page 3
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