April 2019 Ocean Pines Progress

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Round-about may affect future of North Gate Bridge

April 2019

Alrhough no board decision has been made and nothing is imminent, Ocean Pines Association President Doug Parks said in last month’s town meeting that should the state find the money for a round-about at the North Gate entrance into Ocean Pines, it’s possible that the Board of Directors will consider modifying the North Gate bridge in coordination with the state project. Parks said the old guardhouse could be eliminated and additional ingress and egress lanes added. ~ Page 13

Board shoots down compensation work group proposal Director Collette Horn’s proposal to develop a “compensation philosophy” for the Ocean Pines Association received a lukewarm welcome during an April 6 Board of Directors meeting, ultimately failing to pass by a margin of 2-4.

Only Horn and OPA President Doug Parks voted in favor of the motion to develop a resolution on compensation philosophy that forms the basis for the organization’s pay and benefit package structure. ~ Page 22

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THE SPENDING SPIGOT OPENS Board approves $3 million in capital projects with no notice to membership

Viola named interim GM, Colby Phillips is operations director OPA treasurer and chief financial officer John Viola was named interim general manager in a special meeting of the Board of Directors last month.

The action was then ratified and clarified in a closed session of the board following its regular meeting April 6.

Also at the meeting of April 6 meeting, on Viola’s recommendation, the board approved Colby Phillips as director of operations. ~ Page 16

www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress

Trendic motion for referendum fails

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer s a last minute addition to its April 6 meeting agenda, the Board of Directors approved $3.15 million in capital projects for the Ocean Pines Association, including an expanded police station, golf clubhouse to replace the Country Club, and a new golf cart barn.

Directors voted 6-1 to award the contracts for all three projects to the Whayland Company of Laurel, De., but not without first debating the merits of the OPA’s procurement process.

Director Frank Daly presented a trio of motions to approve the capital projects despite a lackluster response to a request for proposals from area contractors.

“We reached out to a large number of contractors for each one of these projects,” he said but only received a handful of responses to the OPA’s request for bids. He said the OPA contacted 13 contractors but many of them said they didn’t bid because there is already a plethora of work available due to a very strong construction market on the Eastern Shore.

Ultimately, the OPA recommended awarding all three contracts to the same contractor, the Whayland To Page 5

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Daly, Steen insist golf clubhouse cost won’t exceed $1.6 million Critics, opponents debate costs of exclusion list

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he approved guaranteed maximum price cost of the golf clubhouse is $1.6 million, and that includes a $180,000 contingency for change orders and unanticipated expenditures.

The requirement for a referendum under Ocean Pines Association bylaws is $1.8 million, based on 20 percent of the projected revenues from annual assessments this year.

Based on those numbers alone, there would, on the surface at least, be no legal reason to deny the right of the Board of Directors to proceed with a contract to build the building, without a referendum.

But the successful bid submitted by the Whayland Company of Laurel, De., contains some fine print or “exclusions” that suggest to some critics that it’s almost impossible to know whether the $1.6 million contract amount will be what the project costs the OPA. They say that the OPA will be unable to avoid change orders that will boost the final cost.

To Page 35

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Trendic resigns, citing board refusal to consider clubhouse-cart barn referendum, invites OPA members to join petition drive ~ Page 6

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Capital projects From Page 1

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“One of the things that was unexpected in this process, that in fact affects the process both in how it’s run and in the costs and in the benefits to the association, is one contractor ended up through the leveling process and bidding process as being the recommended contractor for all three projects,” Daly said.

He argued there are many benefits and cost savings to be realized by working with a single contractor for all three projects, including a reduction in the number of management employees required to oversee the work.

For example, he said, instead of three separate site management teams only one would be needed to oversee all three capital projects.

Those cost savings are passed along to the OPA, he said.

Daly said the board has learned from problems with the remodeling of the Country Club and building the Yacht Club. He said it recogniz-

es and acknowle d g e s “the serious and u n a c ceptable shortcomings in the planning and execution of our past two major Frank Daly construction projects. Simply unacceptable.”

To ensure similar problems don’t happen again, Daly said the police, clubhouse, and cart barn capital projects will have specific contractual and oversight parameters to prevent those shortcomings from recurring.

Some of the steps that will be taken on each project include having local builders Marvin Steen and Frank Brown work with an operations team and the general manager to provide design quality and cost

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Additionally, Daly said there will be contractual provisions enabling OPA to review and approve of all subcontractors on the projects.

“That’s a huge benefit to us both in terms of quality and that’s a huge benefit in terms of cost.” Further, he said there will be ongoing oversight by the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee and the board to ensure the projects stay on schedule and within budget.

Director Slobodan Trendic refused to vote for any of the capital projects because he took issue with the OPA’s procurement process, which he called “pretty disappointing and disturbing.” He said the OPA should not have allowed one contractor to bid on all of the projects as a package without providing the same opportunity for others who may be interested in the work.

He said the OPA failed in procurement and “to receive only one bid for each project probably should be of great concern to the board and to the association.”

In fact, Gillis Gilkerson submitted a bid for the golf clubhouse, but the review team determined that key components were missing and therefore found the Whayland bid to be more acceptable.

Trendic didn’t buy the argument that awarding all three projects to a single contractor would result in efficiency and cost savings.

Instead, he said, by doing so “you’re changing the RFP procurement process in the middle of it.” He said the same opportunity should have been offered to encourage any contractor to bid on the trio of projects and they should have all been scored based on that criteria.

However, the OPA did not do that and instead is going back after the fact and changing the process to deal with a single bidder, Trendic said.

He said the OPA having the right to review and approve project sub-contractors is really no big deal, a simple addition to the RFP’s terms and conditions.

Trendic said his biggest concern the with procurement process is the lack of requirement for performance and bid bonds.

“I didn’t see a request performance bonds, bid bonds at all in this RFP. For me to be working on a project of this size or projects of this size, it’s just inconceivable, incomprehensible that we don’t have a performance bond, bid bond.”

He said he was uncomfortable

5

with approving the capital projects having just received the bid information 48 hours prior to the meeting.

“I’m sorry. As much as I would like to see these projects go forward there is just so much what I believe is wrong with the way this procurement process has been handled that I’m just really worried that we will rush through something that later on is going to cost a lot more money, that is not showing in the numbers are presented as of now.”

Director Jeff Knepper said he too is “not an enormous fan of our procurement process.”

He cited examples from his career in managing large contracts and said bidders would be disqualified if they were asked to bid one project and instead bid for three projects as a package.

He said, however, that “every once in a while a bidder will have a really brilliant idea that for all my work, education and experience I didn’t think of. Why would I want to throw that away on some technicality? What I want to do is I want to be fair to the people that are bidding so I could stop and RFP and reissue it.”

Knepper said the OPA could use “a little bit of tune-up in the way we do some of our procurement.”

Director Steve Tuttle said Ocean Pines has a reputation among contractors of submitting RFPs, getting bids, and then not doing anything.

“That’s part of the reason people are not bidding on our projects because they’re sick and tired of putting all the effort into preparing a bid, which is a very expensive process on these jobs, and then not hearing anything back from us, not getting an award.

They just can’t keep doing that.”

As a result the OPA often only receives one bid for its projects, Tuttle said.

For the three capital projects, Tuttle said the OPA will be working with a good contractor. “I think we’ve got a great opportunity to move forward and a great opportunity to improve the reputation of Ocean Pines and its bidding and contractual process.”

Director Esther Diller agreed and said no one wants to work with the OPA. “We keep forgetting the obvious. Nobody wants to work here.

That’s the obvious. Nobody wants to come into Ocean Pines and work here.”

She said the board has to make a decision based on bids it did receive.

“We have what we have, let’s move,” she said.

6 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

April 2019

Trendic resigns, cites board rejection of referendum for golf clubhouse, cart barn Says board ‘disenfranchised” OPA membership, calls for petition drive to force community-wide vote

By TOM STAUSS Publisher irector Slobodan Trendic resigned suddenly from the Board of Directors April 10, citing a motion he introduced at the April 6 board meeting that would have required the board to initiate a referendum to obtain homeowners’ approval for the replacement of the golf clubhouse and the cart barn facilities.

“Your unwillingness to second my motion for discussion and your rejection of my proposed referendum leads me to make this difficult decision,” Trendic told his colleagues in an email.

In an April 11 interview with the Progress, Trendic said his resignation was to “make a statement’ to the community that he fundamentally disagreed with the board decision not to conduct a referendum and “to free

D

myself from board handcuffs that constrain me” from advocating for and even leading a petition effort that would force the board to conduct a r e f e r e n d u m Slobodan Trendic before signing a contract with the Whayland Company to build a new golf clubhouse and golf cart barn. The board on April 6 approved spending up to $1.6 million on a golf clubhouse.

Trendic said that judging by comments posted on oceanpinesforum. com in reaction to his resignation, “people are upset. They’re questioning the board’s integrity. The posts

are validating the position that this is time to step up and force the board to allow the community to decide this important issue.”

By resigning, he said he could lead a petition drive without constraints placed on him by a board ethics policy that he says stifles dissent once the board has taken an official position.

“The impression I get from reading the posts is that there is substantial agreement with what I stood up for (on April 6) and that perhaps I’m the person” who could coordinate a petition drive that needs about 800 valid signatures of Ocean Pines property owners to force a referendum, Trendic said.

The petition drive shouldn’t be focused on the question of whether the board is within its rights under OPA bylaws to avoid a referendum, Trendic said, but on a “higher level”

Golf clubhouse front elevation.

OPA approves spending $2 million for golf clubhouse, cart barn projects Daly says both are needed because of decades of neglect

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer pair of capital projects at the Ocean Pines Association’s golf course totaling more than $2 million are set to proceed following a 6-1 vote by the Board of Directors.

During an April 6 meeting, the board voted to award contracts for both reconstruction of the golf clubhouse at the Country Club and a construction of a new cart barn to the Whayland Company of Laurel, Del.

A

Director Frank Daly said the high cost of the capital projects is the result of decades of neglect by the OPA and lack of maintenance at the existing golf facilities.

“When you fail to maintain a building like you have in the situation of specifically the golf clubhouse in the name of fiscal responsibility, when it comes time to do those repairs that should have been done over the years where you’ve saved the nickels, you’re gonna

be paying dollars and its gonna be big dollars. And it’s an unnecessary waste of your resources,” he said.

Daly said the situation at those two building is due to “fiscal and management irresponsibility in maintaining the assets of the association.”

The OPA initially received a single bid in response to a request for proposals for the golf clubhouse project, which includes demolition of the existing facilities and construction

consideration of who should make a decision of this magnitude, the board or the entire community.

“The board is disenfranchising the community from this important decision,” he said.

“The board is deciding unilaterally to spend more than $2 million on an amenity that has decreased in membership from a peak of 800 to 120 today. The OPA membership might prefer to spend that kind of money on more important priorities.

Everything about golf, including a decrease in rounds played by members and non-member golfers who live here, is heading north to south.”

According to Trendic, golf cost the OPA membership $2.2 million in losses before depreciation in the last ten years, $6.4 million with depreciation factored in.

For the board to decide whether to make such a large capital investment in golf “is blatantly wrong,” Trendic said.

He is calling on OPA members who agree with him to participate in the referendum drive and also contribute $100 for hiring an attorney to help with formulating a proper question for a referendum and legal issues that might arise.

“One hundred of us would raise $10,000 for the cause,” he said. The task ahead would include finding a lawyer, fund-raising and formulating a working group, he said.

“I can’t do this alone,” he added.

“To try (without support) would be to put up a spinnaker with no wind behind it.”

He invited OPA members who agree with him to contact him by phone or email. His contact information is strendic@yahoo.com and 410-972-8003 or 410-973-1574. of new, from the Whayland Company. However, prior to release of the RFP, the OPA received a bid from Gillis Gilkerson. Both bids were leveled within the criteria of the RFP and a six-person review team recommended a bid award to Whayland at a total project cost of $1.6 million, with $1.42 million for the clubhouse design-build and $180,000 in contingency.

The RFP called for complete demolition of the existing clubhouse, but leaving the existing foundation system intact as much as practicable.

Subsquently, Whayland determined that the foundation is cracked on places and will have to be removed.

The company’s bid reflected that upTo Page 7

OCEAN PINES Golf contracts From Page 6

April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

date.

OPA will remove all desired items from old clubhouse prior to the demolition date. The savings in using the existing foundation versus a new foundation is not significant, according to Daly.

Director Slobodan Trendic was the lone opponent to the project, calling for a referendum on the projects. He made a separate motion during the meeting to initiate a referendum but the motion failed to garner a second to bring it to the floor for board discussion.

“Building a new clubhouse is not whar would I would call a comprehensive long-term view. It’s basically one piece of what I would describe as a long-term vision for this amenity and I am concerned about that.

I’m concerned with the way we are spending the association’s money.

This is not board money. This is not management money. This is every homeowner’s money,” Trendic said.

He took issue with the performance of the golf course, saying excluding depreciation it has suffered $2.2 million in losses over the last ten years. He said in reviewing the business plan for the golf course he was shocked to see how many critical best practices are missing. For

example, he said the business plan doesn’t mention the golf pro shop, so he can’t tell if it is making any money or not. Yet, the new clubhouse plans call for a 1,000 square foot golf pro shop.

Trendic said the OPA’s governing documents call for the amenities to be managed to cover operating costs through fees and operating revenue, but for the last ten years it has not been in compliance. In fact, he said, the golf operation is budgeted to lose another $100,000 this year.

“It’s like basically planning to fail,” Trendic said.

Director Esther Diller said she does not take lightly the decision to spend property owners’ money for golf facility capital improvements.

She said it’s too late for a referendum, that something needs to be done now.

“I felt a referendum which does cost tens of thousands of dollars was no longer at this point a valid option for us,” she added.

Diller said the Country Club is in major disrepair and even if the community were to go to referendum and vote down a new structure, the OPA bylaws require the association to maintain the amenity. To make the repairs instead of building new would have cost more than $1 milTo Page 8

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April 2019

Board gives go-ahead $1.15 million … WE L DO WIL E BESTfor TH ONLY WHEN police, admin building AT AN youexpansion E FOR E HER AR

By ROTA L. KNOTT only bidder.

T said, adding that they call for DABLE COSDaly AFFOR Contributing Writer Director Frank Daly said the cur- military grade construction to pro-

A

$1 million expansion of the Ocean Pines Police Department facilities and Ocean Pines Association administration building garnered approval by the Board of Directors during an April 6 meeting. In a 6-1 vote the board approved awarding a $1.155 million contract, including $1.005 million in design and build costs and a $150,000 contingency, to the Whayland Company of Laurel, De., the

rent police station has 1,780 square feet but needs to be about 5,000 square feet in size. Additionally, it was designed 30 years ago and hasn’t been updated to meet current law enforcement needs.

“Right now the building is totally unacceptable and unsafe for operating a police department,” Daly said.

“The current police station specifications for communities require somewhat hardened structures,”

vide for bullet proof and bomb proof situations. “That building there is far from that.”

He said Police Chief Dave Massey is working with staff to incorporate the standards needed for the OPPD. Director Steve Tuttle said the $1.155 million price tag, including contingency, is the guaranteed maximum price from the contractor.

“So it’s not quite as bad as it looks up there on that number,” he added.

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Only Director Slobodan Trendic opposed the project approval. He took issue with the OPA’s procurement process and lack of performance and bid bonds for the work.

The OPA solicited proposals to provide design-build services for renovations to the police department facilities and administrative offices, including an addition to the existing building. The goal is to provide adequate space for the OPA police department and the administrative offices of the OPA using standard construction processes.

The project will be developed on the existing police department and administration site. A floor plan for the police department facility was created with the assistance of criminal justice facility design experts.

Any design-build plan for the police department must meet current criminal justice design and construction standards. Bidders were instructed to use the concept drawing as a basis for the proposal and estimate.

The necessary square footage for the police department portion of the building is 5,300 square feet, with the size of the addition for the administrative offices is 3,000 square feet. The estimated total square footage of the building, with the addition, is approximately 11,000 To Page 11

Golf clubhouse From Page 7

lion dollars. “Unfortunately the time to repair has long passed,” she said.

The motion to approve the clubhouse reconstruction contract with the Whayland Company ultimately passed in a 6-1 vote with Trendic opposed.

Similarly, the board approved a $430,000 contract with the same company for construction of a new golf cart barn in a 6-1 vote, with Trendic once again opposed. The contract includes $375,00 in project costs and a $55,000 contingency.

The Whayland Company was the lone bidder for the cart barn project but the OPA also reached out to another contractor, Tulls. Following review by a panel of evaluators, the OPA recommended contract award to Whayland.

The project includes design-build services for a new golf cart barn with a layout and floor plan to meet the square footage requirement of about 3,300 square feet and a building design that adheres to the governing space limitations of the site.

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Maureen Kennedy (left)of My Backyard in Ocean Pines, pictured with club president Linda Baker, recently gave a presentation on attracting hummingbirds to backyards at a meeting of the Ocean Pines Garden Club. The OPGC’s next gathering will be at the club’s Arbor Day Memorial Tree Planting Ceremony on April 11 in Pintail Park in Ocean Pines. The May 9 meeting will be at the Ocean Pines Community Center at 10:00 a.m. and will feature Kellie Romanowski, the head of landscaping in Ocean Pines. New members are welcome.

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square feet.

The Whayland Company proposal includes all necessary field labor, supervision and coordination, equipment, project management, general liability, workman’s compensation, and safety measures for all work associated with the project. Architectural specifications include standard building code construction, with minor criminal justice design considerations, and site engineering.

The firm will secure all permits, and provide general conditions and supervision with minimal site work for building and disturbed area only.

The project will use a concrete foundations slab on grade construction with masonry as needed for foundation design and a wood frame construction per county building code.

The roof will be shingled ad the building exterior will be vinyl siding with composite trims with gutters and downspouts to be standard sizing. The insulation and windows will be designed to meet Worcester

April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 11

Trendic explains need for performance bonds

By TOM STAUSS Publisher irector Slobodan Trendic was clearly upset at the April 6 Board of Directors meeting when his comments about the need to include bid and performance bonds in the cost of the golf clubhouse and their omission from the winning bid submitted by Whayland Company of Laurel, Del.

D

County energy code.

The building will require a fire separation wall per county code between the police department facilities and the administration section.

The police department’s reception window is the only area to have bullet proof glass Jailcraft, Inc. will be the vendor for the detention equipment that is included in the police facilities.

Building finishes, including drywall, painting, flooring, wood trim and interior doors will all be standard commercial grade.

In a follow-up response to the Progress, Trendic explained why he was so upset “when I observed these bonds being missing from the proposals received, and why they are so important and necessary to have.”

Trendic said that in the $1.6 million golf clubhouse proposal, the estimated additional cost for bid and performance bonds could be $48,000.

This does not include the cost of

policy for the builders risk insurance.

On the added cost of the bid bond, “if OPA follows the federal standard the penality sum would be $320,000 (20 percent of $1.6 million),” Trendic said.

“The bid bond premium range is 1 to 5 percent. So, if you go with the highest range the estimated added q

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12 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

April 2019

Tuttle offers robust defense of new golf clubhouse Says half of new building will be available for community use

By TOM STAUSS Publisher ressed by an Ocean Pines resident during a March 31 town hall meeting opposed to spending roughly $2 million for two golf-related buildings, a new golf clubhouse to replace the aging Country Club and a replacement golf cart barn, Director Steve Tuttle offered a robust defense of plans for the new golf clubhouse.

While the board had not yet approved the expenditure of $1.6 million or the new clubhouse as of the March 31 meeting, that approval came during the regular monthly meeting of the board April 6.

Tuttle’s remarks served as context for what a board majority approved.

He implicitly rejected the resi-

P

dent’s contention that golf is a dead or dying sport, without getting into a debate about it.

In response to the resident’s suggestion that the board should build a new clubhouse for all clubs and organizations to use as opposed to golfers, Tuttle said roughly half the 8,000 square feet in the new clubhouse would be available for community use when not needed for golf activities or in particular golf banquets.

He described as potentially lucrative events that, if successfully marketed, could help offset losses in golf operations.

During a recent walk-through of the Country Club, Tuttle said that roughly $120,000 in kitchen equipment and fixtures such as bar taps had been identified and could be

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removed prior to demolition of the Country Club and reused in the new clubhouse.

He also said the cost of the new building could be reduced if the existing Country Club foundation could be retained, a possibility that seems to have faded by the time the board voted to approve a new $1.6 million clubhouse April 6.

The successful Wayland Companies bid included a new foundation, which suggested that a test probe of the foundation the following week using a backhoe had not yielded a positive result.

During the town hall meeting, Tuttle also said that the new clubhouse including a Tern Grille would not be set up to compete with the Yacht Club as a full-service restaurant. He said it would be limited to burgers, fries and similar fare as a bar and grill operation.

That’s no change from current Tern Grille operations.

Golf banquets will be catered by the Yacht Club, Tuttle said, with a “warming kitchen” to be added to

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From Page 11

cost for bid bond is 16,000 (5 percentp of $320,000),” he said.

Regarding a performance bond, “the cost of this bond range is between 1 to 2 percent of full contract value. And the ultimate cost is greatly influenced by the creditworthiness of the contractor. So in the case of the golf clubhouse 1.6M and using 2% the cost would $32,000,” he said.

Trendic also noted the numerous exclusions from the Whayland bid.

“The cost of some of these exclusions should have been considered in order to come up with the total projected costs,” he said.

the equipment mix to make that possible. He seemed to suggest that the kitchen in the new clubhouse would be a “warming kitchen” as opposed to a grill operation, but the Progress has been informed it will include both.

The estimated $1.6 million cost of a new clubhouse does not include the cost of removing, storing, returning and reinstalling existing kitchen equipment.

Nor does it include the cost of “warming kitchen” equipment that would be added to accommodate golf banquets.

Tuttle in answer to a question from OPA Treasurer John Viola confirmed that revenue from banquets would be allocated to Yacht Club operations controlled by the Matt Ortt Companies.

Tuttle was not asked how such accounting would then help to offset golf operational losses.

Viola seemed to know but didn’t say but didn’t have to.

The answer would seem to be that it wouldn’t.

“If one looks at the proposal for the clubhouse of $1.6 million and one starts adding estimated costs for the two bonds, the builders risk insurance, driveway, landscaping, electrical and cable and utilities, decorations and furnishings, kitchen and bar.... you get the picture.

The likely total cost for the clubhouse could easily exceed the amount of the board’s spending authority of 20 percent of annual revenue derived from annual assessments, Trendic said.

“And that is the reason I introduced my motion that required the board to issue a referendum asking homeowners to approve the cost of clubhouse and cart barn buildings,” he concluded.

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OCEAN PINES BRIEFS

Parks says North Gate bridge may be modified as part of state’s round-about project

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lthough no board decision has been made and nothing is imminent, Ocean Pines Association President Doug Parks said in last month’s town meeting that should the state find the money for a round-about at the North Gate entrance into Ocean Pines, it’s possible that the Board of Directors will consider modifying the North Gate bridge in coordination with the state project.

Parks said the old guardhouse could be eliminated and additional ingress and egress lanes added to what is a summertime bottleneck.

The ponds would remain in place, with a culvert running under the roadway connecting them, he said.

He offered no details on whether the wood planks and siding and 70s-era lighting fixtures would be retained.

The iconic North Gate bridge has its critics and its supporters, so any bridge replacement proposal would probably be a hot topic for debate before any decisions are made.

Parks said it makes sense for the OPA to consider removing the bridge at the same time that the State Highway Administration considers a round-about solution to North Gate congestion and traffic flow issues related to the right-turnonly policy from the adjacent medical center.

Parks said the OPA is likely to cooperate with the state’s request for an easement to use OPA property for the proposed round-about. The alternative is an adversarial eminent domain process that the OPA would probably lose, he said.

It’s better to work with the SHA for a solution that works for everyone concerned, he said.

Knepper replaces Moroney on board

Jeff Knepper made a return to the Ocean Pines Association’s governing body on April 6 after being appointed to fill a vacancy on the Board of Directors.

OPA President Doug Parks made a motion, which was approved unanimously, to approve Jeff Knepper as director on the board. His appointment complies with the requirements of the OPA by-laws to ap-

point an individual to fill a vacancy on the board. A vacancy was created by the resignation from the board of Ted Moroney. Knepper will complete the remainder of Moroney’s term through 2020.

With the recent departure of

: lots, E L 0 SA ded ch; ,00 R o 0 a FO wo 00 e , $5 o ,0 ot Tw $50 ed l ar e l ec on

Director Maroney, the Board is obligated to appoint an individual to replace him for the remainder of his current term.

Parks said Knepper is a former board member and has the experience to step into the role and integrate himself into the current Board level activities and responsibilities.

“Thank you for filling in,” he told Knepper.

Knepper was previously appointed in 2014 to complete the term of Dan Stachurski when he resigned from the board.

13

Moroney was originally appointed to the board in 2017 following the resignation of director Brett Hill. He ran in the 2018 OPA election and won a full term on the board.

Forensic audit may end by end of April, Parks says

Pressed for more information by OPA members about the ongoing forensic audit during the March 31 town meeting, Parks largely avoided offering up any substantive detail.

Instead, he reminded attendees q

OCEAN PINES

14 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OCEAN PINES

April 2019

OCEAN PINES BRIEFS From Page 13

of the town meeting that the board has kept a hands-off approach to the forensic audit, which is being handled by the Gross, Mendelsohn firm in coordination with the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation.

Very general reports have been issued to Director of Finance Steve Phillips, Parks reported. The audit is covering two years.

Parks did say, however, that the forensic audit could be concluded by the end of the month, with results forwarded to the board for review.

The final product will come in two parts, one related to financial oper-

ations and the other to the Public Works department, he said.

Once it’s delivered to the board, Parks said the board will take appropriate action in consultation with the OPA attorney, specifically if the report identifies any incidents of theft.

He declined to speculate on the amount of total losses that the forensic audit might identify.

He did not say whether a final report by Gross, Mendelsohn would be made available to the OPA membership.

Board addresses property violations

The Board of Directors voted

unanimously during an April 6 meeting to send two properties to the Ocean Pines Association’s attorney for resolution of violations of the restrictive covenants.

The Architectural Review Committee referred the properties to the Board of Directors for consideration and action due to lack of response by the owners to written and telephone requests for compliance by inspectors.

At 16 Sandyhook Road, the property owner was first notified in December 2018 about a violation for having a box trailer parked on the lot. Box trailers cannot be parked on properties within Ocean Pines.

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11304 Manklin Creek Road, South Gate Ocean Pines (Manklin Creek Road & Ocean Parkway)

spectors from Compliance, Permits, and Inspections found maintenance issues and debris on the property in December 2018. Homes and lots in Ocean Pines must be maintained to prevent them from becoming unsightly.

The property owner was notified to remove vines growing on the front of the house and all the debris but has not done so.

Directors found the properties in continuing violation of the restrictions and agreed unanimously to send them to legal counsel for action.

Police department praised for ring recovery efforts

During the town meeting, Parks recounted an incident involving guests to Ocean Pines, who somehow lost wedding rings somewhere on the parking lot that serves the Community Center. The rings were recovered by the Ocean Pines Police Department with the assistance of surveillance cameras.

Individuals who found the missing rings were caught on camera and traced by police officers, Parks said.

The rings were returned to the owners without further incident. No arrests occurred.

The OPA president praised the OPPD for its diligence in reconnecting the missing rings with their owners.

Board appoints committee members

The Board of Directors unanimously made five appointments to the Ocean Pines Association’s standing advisory committees during an April 6 meeting.

Directors reappointed Jennifer Cropper Rines to a third term on the Communications Advisory Committee. Cropper Rines serves as the committee’s chairman and said she wants to use her next term to prepare the committee for a new leader.

Elaine Brady was also reappointed for a third term on the Communications Advisory Committee.

John O’Connor was given a oneyear extension to serve on the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee. O’Connor has already served three full terms.

Jim Trummel was appointed chairman of the By-Laws and Resolutions Advisory Committee and Larry Perrone was appointed chairman of the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee.

OCEAN PINES

April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

15

Daly outlines construction timetable for new projects Cracked foundation is a source of some of mold, director says

By TOM STAUSS Publisher irector Frank Daly, horizontal asset overseer for the Ocean Pines Association under the current temporary management plan, has provided some details on the construction timeline for the new golf clubhouse, with work on the golf cart barn and the expanded Ocean Pines Police Department station overlapping.

The aim is to have thw new golf clubhouse and cart barn open by July 1 of next year. Daly said the current plan is to give the Public Works Department roughly two weeks after Labor Day to remove all reusable equipment from the Country Club, including HVAC, kitchen and even bar taps, and furniture, to be stored in the Public Works building behind the Southside Firehouse.

Then by mid-September, work will begin on the new 7,280 golf clubhouse that will include 2439 square feet of community space, with another 900 square feet or so of Tern Grille seating space available for cpmmunity uses, Daly said. The Tern Grille bar area will take up about 656

D

square feet.

The timeline allows the Country Club and its downstairs pro shop and Tern Grille to be open during the summer months.

Daly said the new building reduces space for golf-related activities by 50 percent and at the same time it provides much improved space for golf banquets that could turn out to be lucrative.

He noted that golf member play on the golf course is on a declining trend line, while non-member rounds are on an upswing, a reason to invest in an amenity that continues to bring in significant revenues to the OPA. Daly also revealed new information on the reason why mold has been such an issue at the Country Club.

He said recent tests have revealed that the existing slab foundation is cracked, allowing moisture to rise up into the flooring. Heretofore, leaky roofing and siding have been blamed on the mold outbreak.

Evidence of a cracked foundation is why Whayland Company has decided not to try to salvage it and use it in a new building, Daly said.

Crafter of the month

The Pine’eer Craft Club has announced that the crafter of the month for April is Diane Denk, who teaches crochet and supplies the Pine’eer Craft shop with her creations. The shop is open Saturday and Sundays in White Horse Park.

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OCEAN PINES

April 2019

Viola named interim general manager; Colby Phillips elevated to operations director Board continues oversight role over individual departments

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Board of Directors has approved two appointments at the top of the Ocean Pines Association management flow chart, interim general manager and director of operations.

OPA treasurer and chief financial officer John Viola was named interim general manager in a special meeting last month. The action was then ratified and clarified in a closed session of the board following its regular meeting April 6, reportedly to fix what some considered inelegant or imperect language in the original motion appointing Viola, who will not be paid in what is strictly a voluntary role. He retains some insurance coverage as an officer of the corporation.

The action brought the OPA into compliance with its bylaws, which require an interim GM after the departure of a prior manager and during the period before a new one is hired and on board.

T

Viola is remaining in his role as treasurer and chief financial officer.

Also at the April 6 board meeting, the directors uanimously John Viola approved a recommendation by Viola to elevate Colby Phillips, the aquatics and tecreation and parks director, to director of operations, a title that seems more in keeping with additional responsibilities she was given last month as part of a management restructuring.

While retaining her oversight of aquatics, parks and recreation, and racket sports, she was given new responsibility over the Public Works department.

Ocean Pines 6th Annual Car Show Sunday, May 26th The Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce that it will be hosting its 6th Annual Car Show on Sunday, May 26th. The Car Show will be held at Veterans Memorial Park located on the corner of Cathell and Racetrack Roads. There will be several food and business vendors as well as music and a live radio remote.

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T h e promotion reportedly comes with a $5000 increase in compensation, paid for out of the Public Works budget.

MeanColby Phillips w h i l e , there has been no change in a transitional management team structure put in place by the Board of Directors last month following the departure of former General Manager John Bailey.

It gives the seven directors more oversight responsibility over the day-to-day affairs of the OPA than a board has ever had in the 50-year history of Ocean Pines.

While the management structure is not thought to be in violation of

OPA bylaws because the directors are stopping short of telling department heads what to do, it’s probably the case that the board is bumping against language in the bylaws which allow contact but not specific direction.

So far, no reports of abuse or board interference in operations have surfaced.

As explained by Director Frank Daly, the new structure is designed to improve the flow of information from department heads to the board of directors.

He says he’s willing to entertain changes in the bylaws to permit a continuation of this degree of involvement in daily operations once a more permanent solution is arrived at for the general manager position.

He said he thinks his colleagues are willing to consider that possibility, as well.

Under the team structure that is labeled transitional, former Director Ted Moroney had oversight responsibility over the capital improvement plan and golf. Frank Daly oversees “vertical” assets in Public Works. Steve Tuttle oversees “horizontal” assets in Public Works, and Doug Parks is overseeing the NorthStar roll-out and information q

16 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Viola pledges no one will lose money with new expiration policy on debit cards

By TOM STAUSS Publisher new expiration policy on the use of discount debit cards for access to swimming pools in Ocean Pines won’t cost anyone who possesses a card any money or loss of access to the pools if they fail to use all the pool visits allowed before the expiration date, Ocean Pines Association Treasurer John

Viola promised during a March 31 town hall meeting.

His promise was met by some skepticism during the meeting, because he declined to offer an ironclad pledge that the OPA would refund any unused portion of the cards if requested by a cardholder, although that is a possibility. Without such a pledge, some OPA members seemed to think that the OPA would some-

Appointments

the OPA. They include Phillips, with oversight over the facilities manager, parks and recreation, aquatics and now Public Works.

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From Page 16

technology.

Esther Diller is overseeing aquatics and recreation, Collette Horn human resources and the pay study issue, and Slobodan Trendic oversees marketing, public relations and police. Viola has oversight over finance operations.

Under the transitional structure, there are four department heads who have been given a lot of supervisory authority over segments of

Director of Finance Steve Phillips oversees communication, information technology, payroll/human resources, administration, membership, NorthStar, and food and beverage, including Matt Ortt Companies operations. The other two individuals in key supervisory roles are Chief of Police Dave Massey and Director of Golf John Malinowski.

how try to renege on Viola’s romise.

One way he mentioned that the OPA could implement the promise would be to grandfather existing card-holders and allow them to use their cards until all the pool visits are used up. Another option would be allow existing card-holders to roll-over their credits into a newly issued debit card.

Any of these options would mean no one loses any money for not using their existing cards, Viola said, seeming somewhat baffled that his assurances were not greeted with more acceptance by critics.

Viola told the group that he himself has cards whose dollar amount of usasble credits probably exceed $100 and he has no interest in losing that investment.

Viola offered no defense of a new board policy -- if indeed that is what it is -- that any new debit card issued this year will expire in April of 2020 or that the OPA will not allow existing cards to be replenished

17

with new credits.

Viola did not mention either new policy, but Director Steve Tuttle did, declaring that they remain in place.

But it’s not clear whether Tuttle was offering a personal opinion or enunciating board policy, since the board has not taken a vote on either. The Budget and Finance Advisory Committee recommended an April 30, 2020, expiration date for debit cards during the January-February budget process this year, but the board took no action, Director Frank Daly told the Progress in early April that he definitely does not remember a board vote on an expiration date for debit cards and that as far as he’s concerned, there’s no board policy until that occurs. At the board’s March meeting, Daly had advised his colleagues that before implementing such a policy, the OPA should announce it to the membership.

That never happened, but it was disclosed on oceanpinesforum.com and met a generally hostile reaction from current debit card-holders who posted comments on-line.

Daly said the issue of an expiraq

OCEAN PINES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

April 2019

Trendic motions to lease golf course, hold referendum on capital projects fail Spars with new chair of B&F committee over merits of exploring lease idea

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer pair of motions related to operations and capital projects at the golf course posed by Slobodan Trendic failed to garner even a second that would have allowed discussion during an April 6 Board of Directors meeting. Trendic wanted the Ocean Pines Association to consider leasing out the golf course to a private management firm and to hold a referendum on proposed capital projects at the golf clubhouse and cart barn.

OPA President Doug Parks tried to prevent Trendic’s motion to solicit a Request for Proposal for leasing out the golf course from even appearing on the meeting agenda.

However, directors allowed him to make the motion, but no one offered a second.

At the start of the meeting Parks made a motion to remove the item

A

from the meeting agenda, but the motion ultimately failed to carry in a 1-1-4 vote. Parks was the only vote in favor, with Trendic opposed and D i r e c t o r s Doug Parks Frank Daly, Esther Diller, Collette Horn, and Steve Tuttle all abstaining.

“What you’re suggesting Mr. Chairman is basically that a majority of this board controls any director’s item that’s brought before this board for discussion and vote. This is not according to Robert’s rules,” Trendic told Parks.

“If this board passes what you’re suggesting in essence this majority

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is censoring individual directors to bring forward before the community, before the membership, any item any topic they so choose to discuss.”

Trendic said the motion should remain on the agenda and if no one wants to offer a second then it won’t proceed to discussion.

“But to remove any directors item from the agenda is not in compliance with Roberts rules.”

Parks said Trendic already had an opportunity to make the same motion regarding leasing out the golf course at a November board meeting. At that time the motion didn’t get a second from the board in order to make it to the floor for discussion then either.

“To introduce it again today is unprofessional and unnecessary,” he said because the board has already

Debit cards

From Page 17 tion date for existing and new cards remains an open one, and that he expects that newly appointed Director of Operations Colby Phillips and Viola, recently appointed interim general manager, will have some recommendations to offer for board consideration.

Daly said his initial thought was that this was operational matter that did not require board action.

But given the hostile reaction in the community to the expiration date, he said he is open to board review and a vote.

rendered a decision whether or not to move forward this discussion item in the form of a motion. “It’s been done already. There’s no need to do it again.”

Trendic said as a director he has the privilege to bring any item for discussion by the board. “Please stick to the Robert’s rules. If you do not, I will ask this board to remove you as the chair of this meeting,” he told Parks.

“Slobodan if you want to cause controversy do so. I’m merely pointing out that this sitting board, these same people had this motion at the Nov. 2 meeting,” Parks responded.

“Why we are bringing it up again is a waste of time. It’s a slap in the face to this board that has already rendered a decision on whether or not we want to bring this forward.

So you grandstanding does not do the community or anyone else here any good.”

Trendic simply responded “please follow Roberts rules of order. That’s what this board is supposed to do.”

His motion was for the board to issue an RFP, with the help from an independent industry expert, to lease OPA’s golf course with an intent to have the results presented to the Board by July 1, 2019.

“By leasing the golf course the Board of Directors will provide a long term financial stability for this valuable amenity that is also fair to all Association’s homeowners. The effect of this motion is to transfer the financial risk from the Association to the leasing party,” he said in making the motion.

As background, Trendic said that the OPA operated its golf course using in-house resources as well as feebased outside management services. q

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Referendum From Page 18

He argued that both approaches produced mixed and inconsistent results thereby placing sizable financial burden on all association homeowners.

According to the last ten years of OPA’s audited annual reports the golf operations’ cumulative total, net revenue under expenses including depreciation, is a negative dollar amount of more than $6.49 million, according to Trendic.

“With the golf industry continuing to experience negative trends and a growing competition from the surrounding courses it has become prudent for the OPA board to find a long-term leasing solution.”

Trendic’s second motion, which also failed for lack of a second, was for the board to initiate a referendum to obtain the approval of OPA membership on the planned action to replace existing golf amenity facilities, the Country Club and the cart barn buildings.

The purpose of the motion was to gain membership approval for these planned expenditures, which he argued when added together are very close to or could exceed board’s current spending authority as defined in the bylaws.

The effect of this motion is for the board to engage the membership in approving this very costly investment for one of OPA’s valuable amenities, he said.

During the public comments section of the board meeting, Larry Perrone, chairman of the OPA’s Budget and Finance Advisory Committee and president of the member’s golf council, urged the board not to give a second to Trendic’s motion.

“The motion to lease out the golf course was addressed last November and again as President Parks pointed out it wasn’t seconded at that time. I find it disgraceful that Director Trendic would try to bring this up again.”

Perrone also took issue with Trendic’s motion to put out to referendum replacement of the Country Club and cart barn when the cost for the projects would fall below the referendum threshold.

“This board has a historic opportunity to take some steps to restore the buildings in Ocean Pines to a level they should be. Our golf community and as an individual member of the association we urge the board to vote yes on these three motions and no Director Trendic’s mo-

April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS tion,” Perrone said.

Trendic stepped away from the board table during public comments segment of the meeting in order to respond to Perrone and Park’s comments.

He took issue with his intent to make the two motions being called “disgrace, unprofessional, irresponsible.”

Trendic said members of the Board of Directors are elected by 8,252 homeowners to represent them equally and should take their fiduciary duties seriously. He said his two motions provide the correct course of action to represent everybody equally and to track the association’s assets correctly.

“I take the comment describing my motion as a disgrace as a personal insult and I’m sorry to see that some members of this community have come down to that level to make these kind of comments,” Trendic said.

Director Esther Diller, while she didn’t offer a second to either of Trendic’s motions, supported his right to make them.

“Every director on this board has the right to bring whatever motion he or she chooses to bring and the board has a right to deny it or approve it,” she said. “I don’t agree with disgraceful. I think that is inappropriate. This is a discussion.

This is what we do. Yes, sometimes arguments ensue.”

She said individuals can disagree and not like a motion, but negative comments are not necessary.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

April 2019

Board shoots down compensation work group Horn wants to get started on a study of pay and benefits for OPA employees

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer irector Collette Horn’s proposal to develop a “compensation philosophy” for the Ocean Pines Association received a lukewarm welcome during an April 6 Board of Directors meeting, ultimately failing to pass by a margin of 2-4.

Only Horn and OPA President Doug Parks voted in favor of the motion, which called for the formation of a Compensation Work Group to develop a resolution on compensation philosophy for the OPA that forms the basis for the organization’s pay and benefit package structure.

Horn said the expectation is that it would be monitored and reviewed based on recommendations to the board by an ongoing general manager work group to include representatives from each OPA department.

She said the purpose was to ensure

D

consistency in the process of decision-making related to employee pay and benefits structure and conduct ongoing monitoring to ensure that Collette Horn it is reflective of national standards and the local marketplace.

“We don’t need a philosophy. We need a policy,” Director Frank Daly said. He said the OPA is a corporation and corporations have policies that establish wage ranges. If it is determined that an employees wages fall below, at, or over the appropriate range then there should be policies regarding how to address

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that issue. “That has to be established by board,” he said.

In the past two years, the board authorized pay studies to ensure consistency with the regional marketplace and made changes to the employee benefit offerings in order to ensure that they are in line with national standards, Horn said. She said historically OPA salaries and hourly pay rates have been below the local market for comparable positions, but that the generous benefit package offset this differential sufficiently to attract and retain high quality employees.

“While our recent benefit changes are justified by national trends in benefit offerings, it is acknowledged that with changes in board composition from year to year our employees are vulnerable to additional unexpected reduction in net compensation due to changes in the benefits and compensation program that are driven by budget pressures but

may not reflect local market trends,” Horn said in her justification for making the motion.

She said the goal of her motion is to create consistency and stability in the process by which future decisions are made regarding the employee compensation.

Daly disagreed with Horn’s statement that historically OPA pays its employees below local market in comparable positions. “The facts are we have two compensation studies, one done internally and one done by an external firm that we have questions on but one shows nobody overpaid, One shows ten percent of our workforce overpaid.”

He said the first step should be to complete a wage study so the board knows “what our people should be paid in terms of wages” and then it can determine how to make adjustment in the upcoming budget year.

“I agree with you we need a policy but I think we need an overarching philosophy that provides a structure for policy and decision-making that has to do not just with how we level people within a pay grades and systems but also an overall philosophy,” Horn told Daly.

She argued that only after the q

22 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Compensation From Page 22

proposed framework is created should the board’s decision to hire a firm to conduct a compensation study be executed. The firm should be charged with reviewing the quality of the compensation plan approach set by the resolution on compensation philosophy, measure the current pay and benefit structure against the marketplace, and propose a path to move to a new plan that reflects the OPA compensation philosophy, national standards, and the regional marketplace.

“We’re not a business that generates revenue largely based on efforts of employees,” Horn said, adding that is different than typical businesses where compensation and awards correspond with revenue generated. She said the OPA needs to set a compensation philosophy for an organization where excellence in employee performance is not reflected by profit increases.

Parks supported the motion saying it simply establishes a work group to “do a lot of leg work for us” in order to help the board be more informed. He called it preparatory work for future decision-making by the board. “I think what may come out of that is a policy. I would also expect that this work group would interact with budget and finance in some way, shape or form to get an idea of different things that they’d look at from their perspective.”

Daly said he doesn’t see any reason why the wage study can’t be done concurrently with the development of a compensation philosophy.

“My objection is delaying the wage study, not having this group.”

Director Slobodan Trendic asked if the OPA has up-to-date job descriptions and classifications for all employees. He said he would prefer to defer the motion and give OPA staff the opportunity to make recommendations regarding how and when to proceed. “My perspective let this come from the association, let this come from the management from the operation level to the board to take the actions as opposed to us doing it.”

Director Jeff Knepper saud that the board needs to verify that accurate job descriptions exist. “You can’t figure out what to pay somebody if you don’t know what they’re doing.”

He added that the OPA also needs to review what the market is paying for jobs with similar responsibilities.

“Sometimes you can’t pay market.

April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

You just don’t have the money. I don’t think that’s our case but you have to consider that and you have to look at it.”

Knepper said it is important to have a policy in place to address issues of employee compensation and whether it is below, at, or above market value before those issues arise.

By having a policy in place prior to addressing any issues of market comparability, Knepper said the OPA will be looking at the job itself without the pay scales being tied to specific employees. “That’s takes the individual bias out of the transaction because you’re not talking about individual people,” he said.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

April 2019

Board tables Horn motion on executive search OPA issues RFP on GM outsourcing option

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer aying they want to evaluate resumes that are already on file and re-envision the position before authorizing a search for a new Ocean Pines Association general manager, the Board of Di-

S

rectors tabled a motion calling for a Request for Proposals for executive search firms to aid in identifying candidates for the position.

Director Collette Horn made the motion during an April 6 board meeting, saying the purpose was to engage in a competitive process for

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identifying an executive search firm to aid in identifying candidates for the vacant general manager’s position. She said the OPA is in the process of determining next steps for leadership of Ocean Pines since John Bailey left the general manager’s position.

The board has begun pursuing an outsource option through an RFP process to solicit operations and management services. That RFP seeks proposals, due back to the OPA by May 3, to provide third party management services to oversee the operational environment of the association. OPA bylaws provide the option of using a management firm to provide these services.

“In order to provide the association with all possible options, and to ensure the best and most cost-effective alternative we also should be engaging a process for locating candidates to hire to fill the position with an individual who would be hired as an employee of OPA. This motion is meant to initiate that process through solicitation of bids from executive search firms,” Horn said in making her motion.

With other directors calling it premature, Horn ultimately agreed to tabling her motion until a future meeting. She said her goal in pre-

senting the motion was to initiate discussion about the topic.

Director Frank Daly said he was fine with the motion but not with paying any money for an executive search firm at this time. If implemented, he said it should be a contingency search only because the board is not yet not sure what direction to pursue for hiring a new general manager. A contingency search RFP could be sent to multiple firms.

If not, the OPA could retain a firm to conduct a search at a later time.

“I don’t support the hiring of an executive search firm only because we’ve done this before and we probably have a filing cabinet with a tons of resumes…” Director Esther Diller said. She said it isn’t prudent for the OPA to pay out $20,000 to $25,000 for an executive search firm when it just conducted a general manager search a few years ago. With the OPA currently exploring changes to its management structure, “I just don’t feel that this is an accurate or wise use of our money at this point,” she said.

Horn disagreed and said in the past executive search firms used by the OPA solicited resumes from people from in the homeowners association industry. “I think our organization has changed and I think we need to look at qualified candidates coming from the municipal management population.”

She said the association has already reviewed options for outsourcing management of the OPA and found that would be costlier than having its own employees. “I think it would be fiscally prudent of us to look at an employee option as well as the management firm option.”

Director Jeff Knepper, who was appointed earlier in the meeting to fill the board seat vacated by Ted Moroney, also opposed the proposal.

“I do not support the engagement of an executive search firm at this point. If, however, we do that, we must put a clause in the contract that says if we find someone, particularly someone who’s internal, there is no fee due. And if you don’t put that clause in there guess what -you’ll pay.”

Knepper said the positions of manager of an HOA and a municipal manager “are about as far apart as you can get. Very few HOAs have the kind of infrastructure that we have. It makes us look like more like a city in many aspects.”

He said if search firms advertise the position as manager of a homeq

24 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

25

Bay Day

Maryland Coastal Bays Program and the Association are hosting a 2nd Annual Ocean Pines Bay Day, a free public event, on Sunday, May 5 from 11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. at White Horse Park. The family event aims to capture the interest of all age groups through hands-on environmental activities, free boat tours and kayaking, live music by The String Beanz, a bay-friendly garden demonstration and live animal exhibits. New this year is an interactive workshop pavilion, a recycling corner and live interactive artwork. The workshop pavilion will include on-site construction of bird, bat and bee homes; seed bomb creation and an interactive bottle cap art piece. Conservation partners from* Assateague State Park, Pocomoke River State Park and Chincoteague Bay Field Prince Md of Muni Bond) Station are just a(Name few Georges of theCnty exhibitors that will be in attendance.

Price: 98.500 (00.00) They will offer event participants the opportunity to meet Coupon: 3.25 (00/00/00) animals likeMaturity birds, fish and snakes. The Date: 07/15/2036 (00/00/00) National Aquarium will haveoraN/A) 56-foot inCallable Date: 07/15/2028 (00/00/00 flatable sei whale on display, giving Prince Georges Cnty Mdvisitors (Name of Muni Bond) Call Price: 100 (000) access to walk through the life-size replica. / AAA Rating: Aaa (XXX/XXX)

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Ratings andName) insurance do not remove market risk since they do Advisor (Approved Title) Financial Advisor a RFP has already been distributedest.not guarantee the market value of the bond.

215 North Main Street 07/15/2036 Maturity Date: (00/00/00) Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services,Berlin, Inc. member FINRA/SIPC. MD 21811 (Approved Title) seeking a management firm that will (Address) or 07/15/2028 Callable Date: (00/00/00 N/A) 215 North Main Street 410-208-1704 ST 00000) 100 Call Price:(City, (000) assign an individual to act as generCarrie.Dupuie@RaymondJames.com (000-000-0000) I (Toll-Free: 800-000-0000) Berlin, MD 21811 / AAA Rating: Aaa (XXX/XXX) (Address) al manager. He said the board has Fax: (Obligor) (000-000-0000) Other: 410-208-1704 (E-mailST Address) discussed how the organization has (City, 00000) (Website) Carrie.Dupuie@RaymondJames.com evolved and it is incumbent upon (000-000-0000) I (Toll-Free: Carrie Dupuie, AAMS 800-000-0000) (Financial Advisor Name) the board to review and adjust the (Approved Title) Fax: (000-000-0000) general manager’s job description.

(Address) (E-mail (City, STAddress) 00000) Parks said the consultant may (000-000-0000) I (Toll-Free: 800-000-0000) 06/07/2018 (Website) **As As ofof00/00/00.

Fax: (000-000-0000) be able to aid the OPA in determin-Subject to availability and price change. Minimum purchases may (E-mail Address) apply. The yield is the lesser of yield to maturity or yield to call. Interest is generally exempt 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, (Website) ing what the association needs in afrom 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, suspension, reduction or withdrawal at any time by the assigning Rating Agency. Insurance pertains only to the timely payment of principal and intergeneral manager and help to modifyrevision, est. 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. the job description. “We don’t reallySecurities offeredSubject through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. member FINRA/SIPC. 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 have an operational problem from 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 a staffing perspective, an organizaprofits 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 tional perspective. What **As we have 06/07/2018 buy, sell or hold the security and may be subject to review, revision, suspension, reduction or As ofof00/00/00. withdrawal at any time by the assigning Rating Agency. Insurance pertains only to the timely is an opportunity to take Subject a look at payment of principal and interest. No representation is made to any insurer’s ability to meet its to availability and price change.

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OPA FINANCES

April 2019

OPA records $53,700 operating fund surplus in February, ahead for the year by $184,048

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Ocean Pines Association produced an operating fund surplus in February in the amount of $53,700, reversing the pattern of the last several months.

For the first ten months of the fiscal year, the positive variance to budget was $184,048, including new

capital, or $203,164 excluding it.

New capital expenditures are treated as operating expenses in yearend financial reporting.

The positive variance to budget in February resulted from revenues over budget by $50,056 and expenses under budget by $3,914.

The solid performance in February boosted the positive operating

fund variance for the year so far to $184,048. Through February, revenues are over budget by $5111,859, expenses are over budget by $308,695 and new capital expenses are over budget by $19,116.

The February financial report, produced by Director of Finance Steve Phillips, is posted on the OPA Web site under Forms and Docu-

Executive search

ly develop its management team. He supported pursuing a hybrid management model.

Diller agreed the job description for the general manager needs to be modified. “We have some legwork to do in defining what we want.”

Horn said her primary concern is the length of time the interim general manager may be in place while the board discusses how to move forward with hiring a new GM. She said the last time the OPA conducted a general manager search, an interim general manager was in place for “a very long period of time.”

Therefore, she suggested the OPA

run parallel courses in order to expedite the process. “I think that it would be prudent for us to look at both the outsourcing and the employee model.”

Tuttle reiterated his opposition to expending any funds for an executive search firm right now. In fact, he said the OPA is already receiving resumes from interested candidates because the word has gotten out that Ocean Pines needs a new general manager.

Diller ultimately recommended, and the board unanimously supported, tabling discussion of the motion until a future meeting.

Meanwhile, the RFP for opera-

T

From Page 25

ing environment we have here in Ocean Pines.”

He liked Daly’s proposal for a contingency search RFP that would not require any output of funds by the OPA. He said the OPA has more homework to do before circulating a competitive RFP and actively seeking a new general manager.

Director Slobodan Trendic also opposed the motion saying the OPA really needs to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing staff leadership and that will help the board determine how to ful-

ments, monthly financials.

Departments reporting favorable results compared to budget for the month included General Administration, the manager’s office, public relations, Public Works, police, golf, recreation and parks, and pickleball.

Parks and Rec generated a $17,219 favorable variance to budget; Aquatics’ positive variance was $17,161, the two department leaders.

The Yacht Club had another month in the red, improving on the $50,000 loss in January. q

26 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

tions and management services that was released on April 8 calls for the proposer to furnish a “manager” to provide the services necessary to oversee the daily operations of the association.

The responsibilities include oversight of all administrative tasks necessary for the association operations, maintain the fiscal budget, advise the Board of Directors on the implementation and oversight of policies, documenting and presenting the fiscal budget, interfacing with the community to develop new programs and assist with external relations with Worcester County and State agencies as required.

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OPA FINANCES OPA Finances From Page 26 It lost $40,637 in February, missing its budget by $19,994.

Net revenues, however, were strong at $38,272, over budget by just over $20,000.

However, wages and benefits to generated that revenue was well over budget, $44,393 compared to $10,026, missing budget by $34,367, For the year, the Yacht Club slipped into a slight deficit through February.

The deficit of $468 nontheless is ahead of budget by $67,762 for the year. A year ago through February, the Yacht Club had generated red ink in the amount of $563,697.

Golf operations lost $26,200 in February, ahead of budget by $2,461.

For the year so far, golf has lost $39,622 but is ahead of budget by $27,040.

The Tern Grille, the golf food and beverage operation, lost $4,650 for the month and missed its budget by $1,886.

For the year through February, the Tern Grille has a $2,900 surplus and is ahead of budget by $5,285.

Aquatics had an excellent February, losing $10,580 but ahead of bud-

April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

27

Source: Department of Finance, Ocean Pines Association

get by $17,161.

For the year, Aquatics is in the black by $202,961 but under budget by $13,782.

Deferred swipe card revenue of roughly $14,000 per month will be credited to Aquatics for the duration of the fiscal year, which could help bring the department close to its budget for the year.

Other amenity departments ex-

cept pickleball lost money for the month and missed their budgets by modest amounts.

Reserve summary -- As of Feb. 28, the OPA had $9.5 million in reserve accounts, comprised of $5.74 million in the replacement reserve, $2.6 million in the bulkhead and waterways reserve, and $1.15 million in the roads reserve. This was little changed from January.

Balance sheet -- The OPA balance sheet as of Feb. 28 showed $9 million in short-term investments, compared to $6.1 million year-overyear.

Operating cash of $1,124, 006 compared to $1.75 million yearover-year. Total assets were $33.48 million, balanced by $1.3 million in liabilities and $32.18 million in owners equity.

OPA BUDGET

April 2019

Board approves amenity fees with little debate Directors lower Realtor package rates after complaints

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he the Board of Directors approved the 2019-20 Ocean Pines Association budget in late February, amenity membership and user rates were also approved, little changed from what had been proposed in the original draft budget in January.

After complaints from local Realtors, the board approved tweaks to the Realtor packages.

Six weeky packages will cost $900, down from over $1,000, including a Beach Club parking permit and four passes valid at any Ocean Pines pool.

Twelve weekly passes will cost $1500, also including the permit and pool passes. Weeks over 12 can be purchased for $80.

Boat slip rental fees were not increased. They’re set at $1800 for

W

boats 15- to 25-feet, $2450 for boats 26- to 39-feet; and $3355 for boats 40- to 42-feet.

Golfers will be paying substantially more in percentage terms for annual memberships than they did this year.

Family membership rates for golf will rise from $2,000 to $2,300, a 15 percent increase. Individual memberships will increase from $1,200 to $1,315, 9.58 percent higher yearover-year.

The family after 12 noon rate will increase from $1200 to $1365, 13.75 percent higher, and the individual after 12 noon rate will increase from $800 to $875, a hike of $9.37 percent.

The approved budget does not change one golf membership category, the one that offers 30 18-hole rounds or 60 nine-hole rounds for $1,290.

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It was $1,440 during the 2015 through 2017 fiscal years, but lowered with the other rates in 2017-18.

It remains at $1,290.

Aquatics memberships have been adjusted only modestly for families and individuals.

For families, the summer mem-

bership will increase from $315 to $325, winter membership from $445 to $460, and yearly from $580 to $660.

That’s slightly more than three percent higher, year-over year.

For individuals, the summer membership will increase from $190 to $195, winter membership from $290 to $300, and yearly from $370 to $385, with increases of 2.5, 3 and 3.9 percent, respectively.

Racket sport memberships will increase modestly this summer, in q

28 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

MEMBERSHIP DUES FISCAL YEAR 2019-20 TYPE

FAMILY

INDIVIDUAL

NON-MEMBERS

SWIM SUMMER WINTER YEARLY

325 460 600

195 300 385

440-265 620-405 810-520

TENNIS

435

270

615-385

TENNIS - AFTER 12

165

105

215-135

PLATFORM TENNIS

260

155

370-220

PICKLEBALL

260

155

370-220

GOLF

2,300

1,315

2,990-1,710

GOLF - AFTER 12

1,365

875

1,775-1,140

1,290

1,680

GOLF - 30/60 PLAYS WEEKLY BUNDLES (*) 12 WEEKS 6 WEEKS

1,500 900

WEEKLY (1) 7-DAY (2) 3-DAY (3) BEACH PARKING ONLY (4) ANNUAL (MEMBER)(5) ANNUAL (NO MEMBER WEEKLY (6) (*) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

165

75

85

40

215

215

115 165

115 165

60

60

510

For Realtors & Owners.

Includes Swiming (5 pools).

Fee includes any four persons. Each added child - $20; each added adult - $35.

Fee includes any four persons. Each added child - $10; each added adult - $20.

Includes Family Beach Club Pool Photo I.D. cards OR $120 debit card for pools only.

Available only when purchasing swim, tennis, platform tennis, pickleball or golf.

Available only when purchasing a weekly membership and only for days purchased.

OPA BUDGET

29

Board approves aggressive capital spending program in 2019-20 budget Roughly $6.5 million projected, but that’s already been overtaken by recent events

By TOM STAUSS Publisher he Board of Directors has approved what can only be described as an aggressive capital spending plan as part of the 2019-20 budget approved last month.

T

According to the updated final version of the budget posted on the Ocean Pines Association Web site, the OPA is projecting $6500 in new capital spending, $3,822,079 in replacement reserve funding, and $1,253,000 in roads reserve spending.

The latter number has already been overtaken by events that have occurred since the budget was approved.

In addition, the budget includes a projected $1,619,057 in spending from the bulkhead and waterways reserve.

Combined, total capital spending is projected at $6.7 million.

The $3.8 million in replacement reserve spending number is already out-of-date.

The $3.8 million included $1.253 million in roads spending, of which about $620,000 was intended for drainage repairs.

But about $244,000 of that has been eliminated because the Public Works Department repaired rather than replaced some defective piping in the Mumford’s Landing area of Ocean Pines.

That reduces budgeted roads spending (including drainage projects) to a little more than $1 million next year. Whether that much spending occurs remains to be seen.

Total capital spending for next year is now projected at less than $6.5 million with the drainage adjustment.

The merging of drainage and road resurfacing into a single budget line item caught the attention of the Budget and Finance Advisory Committee earlier this year.

Fomer Committee chair John Viola told the Progress in recent email that the panel will be recommending that the two categories be divided om the future for budgeting purposes.

That could include creating a new drainage reserve, adding to replacement, bulkheads and roads currently in place.

The Board of Directors has not yet taken up the committee’s recommendation.

The capital summary approved by the board includes several major projects.

Country Club replacement, which is more accurately described as a

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percentage and dollar terms.

Tennis family rates will increase from $425 to $435 (2.4 percent), individual rates from $260 to $270 (4.3 percent), families after 12 from $160 to $165 (3.1 percent), and individuals after 12 from $100 to $105 (5 percent).

Platform tennis rates will increase from $250 to $260 for families (5 percent) and from $150 to $155 for individual members (3.3 percent).

Pickleball individual and family rates will increase the same as platform tennis.

The racket sport combo rate, which is currently set at $625 for families and $400 for individuals, remains the same.

OPA members may also purchase weekly and partial weekly memberships for access to the swimming pools.

Three-day individual passes are $40, three-day household passes are $85 up to four people, seven-day individual passes are $75, and seven-day household passes are $165.

Discount debit cards for daily use ag the pools are also available for purchase.

April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

30 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPA BUDGET

April 2019

Capital budget

Some 2019-20 budget leftovers ...

From Page 29

new golf clubhouse, is projected at $1.6 million.

That’s the amount the board approved in a vote April 6. It includes a $180,000 contingency.

The police station expansion/ renovation project had an estimated price tag of $800,000 in the approved capital budget.

The cost is now projected at about $1.155 million, including a $155,000 contingency.

NorthStar software implementation is projected to cost $250,000 in capital expenditures.

Replacement playground equipment in White Horse Park will cost roughly $150,000.

The Whitetail Sanctuary crabbing pier replacement is budgeted at $135,000.

A replacement golf cartbarn had an estimated cost of $120,000.

It’s increased to more than $400,000 according to a board of vote of approval April 6 Other capital expenditures are projected at $100,000 or less per item.

S

till grousing over the $35 increase in the lot assessment that showed in the mail last month?

It could have been a lot more. The Board of Directors made a lot of cuts on the way to budget approval.

Here’s a list of some of the major policy decisions the Board of dorectors made before approving the 2019-20 budget: • The board eliminated $128,000 in spending related to a payroll study that the directors concluded was biased toward higher salaries. Director Frank Daly said the study relied too heavily on data from area county and municipal governments and assumed that Worcester County is an over-heated labor market. With unemployment in excess of ten percent during the non-summer months, Daly said that isn’t true.

• As a way of saving members $19 in the lot assessment, the directors opted again for a holiday in the collection of funds for common area bulkhead repair and replacement. They also decided to retain the $465 waterfront differential that most owners of bulkheaded property in Ocean Pines pay.

• The directors adopted an 80-20 split in health insurance premiums for employees, but partially offset that by retaining a one-time lumpsum for employees. But on a compromise offered by Director Colette Horn, the board also eliminated a two percent merit pay pool that had been included in earlier iterations of the budget.

• The directors opted again to eliminate funding of roads depreciation, on the grounds that there still was no plan for roads resurfacing that justified adding more money to the roads reserve other than what comes in annually from casino local impact fees.

• Individual departments were not immune to trims from what had been originally proposed. The Aquatics budget was trimmed by $29,599 and Marketing and Public Works by $47,000, mostly out of radio and television advertising.

Slobodan Trendic was the only director to vote against the budget, contending that the board could have trimmed further just by adopting zero deficit budgets for the golf course and the Yacht Club.

The Yacht Club’s projected loss probably could have been trimmed by budgeting for banquet earnings, which the board declined to do because the Matt Ortt Companies, which was not asked to provide banquet data until late in the process, had not provided it in time.

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April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

31

OPA hosting Easter events

T

he Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks, and Aquatics departments invite Ocean Pines residents and guests to celebrate Easter at its upcoming special events that are scheduled for April 13 to April 20.

Breakfast with the Easter Bunny includes a morning of food, photos and festivities on Saturday, April 13, from 8 to 11 a.m.

The menu will consist of pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, pastries, fruit, juice, milk, and coffee. The cost of the breakfast is $5 for children ages 4 -11, $7 for adults and free for those 5 and under.

Dozens of young divers and snorkelers ages 11 and under will get a chance to fish out brightly colored eggs from the indoor heated Sports Core pool on Friday, April 19, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Swimmers at the annual Easter Egg-stravaganza Dive and Pool Party will be divided into different age groups to ensure everyone has a chance to collect eggs.

The cost of the special event is $6 per swimmer and $3 for non-swimmers. Children under age 6 must have an adult in the water with them. Life jackets are available at no charge.

On April 20, families will be able to scout the field for lots of colorful eggs at White Horse Park in Ocean Pines at the the Easter/Spring Celebration.

It will inclyde will include egg hunts, carnival games, moon bounces, face painting, pony rides, arts and crafts, an Easter bonnet parade.

Easter egg hunts will be held during the event for children up to age 10 as follows: 11:30 a.m. for ages 1-3, 12 p.m. for ages 4-6, and 1 p.m. for ages 7-10. The Easter bonnet parade and contest, which is open to children and adults, will begin at 12:30 p.m.

Volunteers and candy donations are needed for the Easter/Spring Celebration. The Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department can be reached at 410-641-7052.

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CAPTAIN’S COVE

April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

Tenth foreclosure sale pending

By TOM STAUSS Publisher n audited financial report presented in the Captain’s Cove association’s midMarch Board of Directors meeting

by TGM of Salisbury shows that the Cove generated $435,703 in revenues over expenses in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 of last year, a slight improvement over the $426,000 surplus earned n 2017.

According to the report, the Cove generated $5,149,835 last year in general fund revenue, $4.18 million in annual assessments and $705,658 in food and beverage revenue. Expenses were recorded in the amount of $4,738,663.

There was an transfer from the operating fund to the capital fund (reserves) of $189,569.

A

The Cove’s fund balances at the end of the fiscal appeared to be quite healthy, comprised of $6.47 million in the operating fund, $218,735 in the waterfront fund (primarily used for dredging), and $368,288 in the capital fund, for a total end-of-year balance of $7.06 million. That’s up from $6.63 million on Sept. 30 of 2017 On the revenue side, key areas showed increase year-overyear. Food and beverage grew from $626,000 in 2017 to $705,658 last year. Golf fees and cart rentals rose from $104,422 in 2017 to $111,695 last year. The pro shop generated $57,400 in revenues last year compared to $51,068 in 2017.

Foreclosure sale pending -- A list of 85 lots owned by individuals, partnerships, limited liability com-

Cindy Welsh 302-381-6910 (cell)

888-241-9590 (office) candhwelsh@aol.com

panies and various other entities slated for the Cove’s tenth foreclosure sale has been posted on the Cove Web site. There is no date indicated for the foreclosure sale. The lawyer who handles foreclosures for the Cove said in recent email that it “looks like” May 17 will be the date.

In previous foreclosures, the Cove association often was the only bidder on most of the foreclosed lots, whose owners usually owe substantial sums in unpaid prior year assessments. The association eventually acquires clear title to the properties.

The 85 lots on the list are heavily skewed to the undeveloped sections 14 through 18, where many property owners have walked away from assessment obligations over the years.

It seems unlikely that there will be a lot of buyers for these sections’ lot

on the day of the auction.

But the list also includes eight lots in Section 1, eight lots in Section 2, two lots in Section 3 and one lot in Section 4. Presumably because these lots are at least theoretically buildable, there may be more interest in acquiring them by the general public.

Liens on these lots are in the $1200 to $1400 range.

Although 85 lots appeared on the initial list of lots to be sold at auction, it’s likely that this number will be whittled down as the date of the auction nears.

Some property owners decide to pay arrearages rather than lose the property. Whether this will occur in the Section 14-18 lots remains to be seen, as some of the unpaid balances are substantial, ranging in the tens of thousands of dollars.

The largest unpaid balance in the inventory to be be sold is for $55,131, a lot in Section 18.

As for the past due amounts, the purchaser at a foreclosure sale is not responsible to pay this. The purchasq

Cove records $436,000 surplus in 2017-18

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CAPTAIN’S COVE

April 2019

Lot sales From Page 33 er only pays the purchase price (bid) and the costs to complete the transaction (i.e. settlement amounts).

The purchaser is responsible for dues and utilities starting on the date of the purchase.

Broadband Internet RFP -- A copy of the recently issued request for proposals for high speed Internet

service in Captain’s Cove has been posted on the Cove Web. Responses to the RFP are due later this month, with a bid award possible in May but not later than June.

The Cove’s declarant/developer will play an important role in the roll-out of high-speed Internet service in the Cove and will share in the revenues generated by it.

“The expectation for the Declar-

ant, CCG Note LLC, is that it will receive a revenue share of the monthly customer payment. Understanding that the Provider must be able to forecast its Return on Investment, CCG Note LLC as the Declarant of the community owns and controls the utility easements throughout the community. Dependent upon the full terms of the negotiation, CCG Note LLC will consider agreeing to a non-compete agreement that would

exclude competition from building new or augmenting existing infrastructure (to the maximum extent possible) for a period of not less than 10 years,” according to the RFP. This provision of the RFP suggests that there will have to be a negotiation between the successful bidder and the declarant/development on the issue of revenue sharing in exchange for easements to developer-owned land.

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COVER STORY Golf clubhouse From Page 1 Supporters, on the other hand, say that that $1.6 million is an absolute ceiling, that Whayland has agreed to a guaranteed maxumum price as specified in the original request for proposals, and that the OPA, with the help of a vigilant oversight team that includes local builder Marvin Steen, will make sure there are no change orders, with the possible exception of those that might be covered by the contingency.

The mantra of supporters is that the exclusions in the Whayland bid are of no or minimal cost or will be handled in-house by the OPA’s Public Works Department.

Opposition to the project has appeared on the oceanpinesforum.com message board. OPA Director Slobodan Trendic has said he can’t support the spending of $3 million including an expanded police station, golf cart barn and golf clubhouse unless all three projects are approved

by OPA members in a referendum.

Director Frank Daly and Steen, in separate interviews with Progress, dissected the exclusion list, rebutting concerns that they constitute costs that run the risk of significant cost overruns.

One bullet item protects Whayland from extreme increases in materials prices, with no definition of what constitutes “extreme”. Other exclusions include any item added as a result of agency reviews, or any items not shown on bid documents or not mentioned in the exclusion list. So if the bid specs omitted something important, the OPA probably would be on the hook for it. Also on the exclusion list are telephone data boxes and wiring; telephone data, cable TV, sound system, and punch down and termination for new wiring.

Steen said any such extreme increase in materials prices is unlikely, that the greater danger to the OPA is failure to lock in a contract price within the 30 days called for in the Whayland bid. Notwithstanding the language in the exclusion list, Daly said that Whayland is legally bound to the guaranteed maximum price requirement.

Steen said county regulators, unlike in year’s past, are generally cooperative with applicants who submit the detailed designs required by code and that the golf course clubhouse is a relatively simple one-story building not likely to generate controversy.

April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS Fire and security systems are not included in the $1.6 million. A new sprinkler system at the Beach Club cost the OPA about $50,000.

Daly said to the extent possible the fire system will be salvaged but in any event is not that expensive to replace.

He didn’t think the security system could be used, however.

“Think of your home security system. Not a big deal,” he said.

Another bullet item on the exclusion list includes electric, telephone, CATV and gas services. Telephone and CATV are listed twice on the exclusion list, for no obvious reason, while electric and gas services merit only one mention.

Daly said these services essentially are connection services by service providers such as Choptank Electric, Mediacom and Chesapeake or Sharp Energy.

“Of course these would not be contractor costs,” Daly said.

The Whayland bid makes clear that HVAC and electrical system installation is the responsibility of the contractor.

Steen added that some of the existing HVAC equipment is relatively new and is reusable.

The exclusion list also includes possible relocation of utility lines, ranging from water and sewer piping to electrical lines. Will county regulators allow use of existing lines, which were installed almost 50 years ago, or require new ones? If county agencies decide the old lines have to be replaced, the OPA might be on the hook for that, as well.

Both Daly and Steen said that was unlikely and that utility companies are responsible for replacing utility lines that are no longer functional.

Then there’s kitchen equipment in the Tern Grille, and bar taps. and furnishings. At the March 31 town hall meeting, Director Steve Tuttle mentioned about $120,000 worth of items, including kitchen equipment, that he says could be salvaged and reused in a new clubhouse.

Similar pronouncements were made about the new Yacht Club, and the OPA ended up outfitting two new kitchens at the Yacht Club because “salvageable” equipment from the old building turned out not to be. That mistake cost OPA property owners $500,000 for two kitchens that OPA officials are determined not to repeat, Daly said.

The solution will be for Public Works to take two weeks in late summer to salvage any and all re-

35

Drone acquisition

The Ocean Pines Police Department recently acquired a Mavid Pro drone.

The intended purpose is to survey the area for reported missing residents.

An officer who doubles as a drone-certified pilot used a newly purchased drone on Thursday, March 28 to assist with the search of a missing 79-yearold woman. That’s one of many uses Chief Dave Massey sees for it, according to an Ocean Pines Association press release. The drone has a transmission system with a 4.3-mile range, five vision sensors, and a 4K camera stabilized by a 3-axis mechanical gimbal.

usable equipment and furnishings from the Country Club, relocate it to the Public Works building behind the Southside firehouse, and then move it into the new building, Steen said.

In the area of site management, the exclusion list includes dewatering, dealing with unforseen site conditions and unsuitable soils, and landscaping.

Daly said a land engineer has reviewed the area and determined no issues of concern with the first three items.

As for landscaping, Public Works will salvage as much of the existing landscaping as possible, to be put back later, Daly said.

Finally, the exclusion list includes tap and impact fees, builders risk insurance and performance and payments bonds. Trendic has made an issue of insurance and performance bonds.

Daly said that there are no significant issues over tap and impact fees.

Steen said that at a April 10 meeting of OPA officials including three board members, there was a consensus that the insurance and performance bonds were an unnecessary expense.

“If there are performance issues, then simply withhold the draw until

it’s fixed,” Steen said.

In addition to exclusions from the contract price, there has been one significant omission from any public discussion of project costs in recent weeks.

That’s the cost associated with construction trailers or portable “facilities” required by crews working on site.

Daly said that’s the responsibility of Whayland to provide for its crews.

The OPA will be responsible for a replacement golf pro shop trailer, Daly said, at a cost of $6000 or so.

It will be set up in the vicinity of the golf course parking lot and driving range. There will be no substitute Tern Grille during construction, Daly said, possibly saving the OPA some money is losses that don’t materialize.

Daly and Steen said another factor in controlling costs is an agreement by Whayland to allow less expensive subcontractors to do work at the site should Steen be able to find them among those he has worked with over the years.

“The savings gets passed on to the OPA,” Steen said.

Both Daly and Steen are determined that the clubhouse project will come in at less than $1.6 million and that Whayland wants the same thing.

36 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

April 2019

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OPINION

April 2019 Ocean Pines PROGRESS 37

COMMENTARY

T

Some thoughts on a golf clubhouse referendum

he Board of Directors’ approval of a $1.6 million “not to exceed” expenditure for a new golf clubhouse is a nuance away from violating Ocean Pines Association bylaws that require a referendum when expenditures exceed 20 percent percent of annual assessment collections.

The threshold is currently $1.8 million. The nuance is $200,000, and OPA members could have reason to be skeptical that the final cost of the project will come under the referendum threshold, given acknowledged exclusions that the contractor, Whayland Company of Laurel, De., included in its bid.

Reproduced elsewhere on this page is the Whayland bid and the items not included in the $1.6 million.

The OPA is protected to a certain extent by a $180,000 contingency that could address some unanticipated change orders and exclusion items.

The contingency is included in the $1.6 million.

Not included in the bid price are items such as utility services, furnishings, fixtures and kitchen equipment, landscaping, fire and security services, “extreme price escalation in raw materials,” items resulting from county or state agency reviews and any items that somebody forgot to include in the bid specs.

We have it on good authority that every effort will be made to retain existing Tern Grille kitchen equipment and other existing furnishings for use in the new building, but similar intentions were part of the promises made to property owners in the run-up to the Yacht Club referendum, too.

No one in the OPA seems interested in repeating that kind of mistake this time.

One cost not included in the $1.6 million will be the cost of relocating and storing existing kitchen equipment (and furnishings) during construction of a new building and then moving it back in and reinstalling it.

According to Director Frank Daly, that task will be handled by Public Works, with a plan already in the works to make it happen.

Similarly, Public Works will be tasked with salvaging existing landscaping features and then recreating them.

The cost of performance and payment bonds is an issue raised by Slobodan Trendic, the only director to oppose the golf clubhouse project without a referendum. He has since resigned from the board in protest.

Daly doesn’t seem to suggest that this was a trivial issue, but the Progress has been been informed that there is a consensus that neither will be necessary. If work is determined to be unsatisfactory, which no one expects, OPA’s recourse will be to withhold draws until such time as corrective measures are taken.

That won’t satisfy Trendic at all.

It was possible to interpret the exclusion list as excluding electrical and HVAC installation, but that would not be correct. The Whayland bid

specifically said the contractor would be responsible for these in accord with county code.

That’s a fact of major significance. There’s simply no way the OPA can incur additional costs for electrical and HVAC. Indeed among the reusable assets from the Country Club is some newer HVAC equipment installed during the first floor renovation three years ago.

Local builders Marvin Steen and Frank Brown have volunteered to help with oversight of the project as it unfolds, with a particular interest in making sure change orders are kept to an absolute minimum. So, too, will newly promoted Director of Operations Colby Phillips. These are solid, cost-conscious people and represent offsets to concern about exclusions and unanticipated change orders that some directors and some members of the local golfing community might be tempted to promote.

OPA members can be confident that newly appointed interim General Manager John Viola will be vigilant as well.

The exclusion list on the surface might seem to offer lots of ways to increase the cost of this project above the referendum threshold, but Daly seems to be of the opinion that the list consists of items that the OPA will handle in-house or will be covered by the contingency. A couple of items on the list have already been determined to be of no concern, soil conditions and dewatering, according to Daly.

It’s more difficult to defend the board’s decision to push through $3 million in expenditures for three projects without the courtesy of at least three days notice to property owners prior to the April 6 board meeting.

The rationale that the directors had not received final cost estimates for these projects until just before the meeting is not a convincing excuse for not considering a slight delay.

Putting off a vote for a special meeting to give property owners a chance to at least consider and offer opinions on $3 million plus in capital expenditures would have been the better approach.

The board was obviously in a hurry to push these projects forward.

Daly makes a convincing case for why, barring something truly disastrous and unanticipated, the contingency of $180,000 will be more than adequate to keep the project under $1.6 million. well under the referendum threshold.

If OPA members want a referendum on these projects, either separately or in their totality, they’re going to have to gather signatures in a petition to force a referendum. Trendic is leading such an effort. His main point: Property owners, not the board, should decide projects of this magnitude.

The board super-majority is probably banking on the notion that many property owners will be happy that the OPA is proceeding with dealing with these issues, after years of frustrating lack of progress. To be sure, the Country Club is a well-past-its-prime eyesore that won’t be missed by many once demolition occurs.

The existing police station is an antiquated throwback to the 1980s and represents safety and security threats to department staffers.

It could be a reasonable bet to conclude that many OPA members won’t be motivated to push back against the board.

It’s also reasonable to assume that some property owners will be mildly to extremely upset with the process, at the same time they are generally OK with the proposed solutions, such as they are. That’s tacit approval of board action to date.

Does anyone care enough to gather signatures for a referendum petition?

Time well tell. -- Tom Stauss

The Ocean Pines Progress, a journal of news and commentary, is published monthly throughout the year. It is circulated in Ocean Pines, Berlin, Ocean City, and Captain’s Cove, Va. 127 Nottingham Lane Ocean Pines, MD 21811

PUBLISHER/EDITOR

Tom Stauss tstauss1@mchsi.com 443-359-7527 eetingAdvertising Sales Frank Bottone 410-430-3660

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

38 Ocean Pines PROGRESS

OPINION

April 2019

Viola, Colby Phillips appointments good news for OPA Board majority still has GM outsourcing option on the front burner

O

cean Pines Association members should be feeling really good about two recent personnel decisions made by the Board of Directors.

Appointing someone, anyone to the position of interim general manager is an absolute requirement according to OPA bylaws, something that some directors, but not all, were slow to grasp. Once local pundit Joe Reynolds informed the board of its non-compliance in some texts to directors and in an online commentary, the board reacted, fairly quickly by historic standards.

The decision to appoint John Viola, the current OPA treasurer, as an unpaid interim manager was an inspired one, and he deserves a lot of credit for agreeing to a job that he assuredly could do without. He had declined to fill a vacancy on the board resulting from the recent resignation of Ted Moroney, so there was no particular reason to believe he would jump at the opportunity to serve as an interim GM, a role that could last for much longer than he anticipates. Then again, it could last for much less, such are the vagaries and vicissitues of life in the Pines.

As long-time chairman of the Budget and Finance Advisory Com-

LIFE IN THE LIFE INPINES THE PINES

At the same time, the board completed in late March and issued a An excursion through the curious cul-de-sacs An excursion through theby-ways curious and by-ways and cul-de-sacs request for proposals from national of Worcester County’s County’s most densely community. of Worcester mostpopulated densely populated community. homeowner association manageBy TOM STAUSS/

By TOM Publisher STAUSS/Publisher ment firms that could result in a mittee, and treasurer of the OPA, change the current role of Director future decision by the board to “outsource” an appointment of a generthere’s simply no one else around of Golf John Malinowski. who understands the inner workThe new responsibilities and ti- al manager that is an employee of ings of the OPA as well as Viola. He tle reportedly come with a modest a national company that survives also is a lucid communicator, as his $5000 increase in basic compensa- the post-RFP vetting and approval monthly treasurer’s reports demon- tion, not tens of thousands of dollars process.

There has been no decision to go strate. The good news is he is con- that, given the nature of the Ocean this route; it will depend largely on tinuing as OPA treasurer and chief Pines rumor mill, some might bethe response of national firms to financial officer, both unpaid posi- lieve as fact. It isn’t; greed is not the RFP and the OPA’s assessment tions, while multi-tasking as inter- part of Colby’s DNA. The increase is of those responses.

The whole thing im GM. Good Ship OPA won’t run coming out of the Public Works budcould go belly-up if national firms aground while JV is around to pilot. get, which makes sense, given her shy away from participation in the Indeed, it might even run better new oversight role. process or submit proposals that are than it has under many previous She would have made an excelnot financially beneficial to the OPA. GMs. lent interim GM, of course, but she Another excellent personnel de- and Viola work well together and All of this will unfold in due course. cision, made at Viola’s recommen- already are part of an functional A good sign, though, is a well-put-todation, was to elevate Aquatics and management structure that also gether RFP that is posted on the Recreation Director Colby Phillips includes involvement by directors OPA Web site for anyone interested to the position of Drector of Opera- in key operations. This structure enough to peruse. It was reportedly tions, commensurate with addition- could have been a disaster, with di- a joint effort of OPA President Doug al responsibilities she was given in rectors interfering and making life Parks and Director Slobodan Trena management reshuffle that oc- miserable for department heads, but dic, a collaboration that should be curred after the departure of former so far there have been no reports of celebrated by the membership beGM John Bailey. Aquatics, parks that happening. When and if it does, cause for the most part these two and recreation, racquet sports and it can be dealt with, but early in- gentleman really don’t care for one Public Works are departments in dications are that this temporary another all that much.

Meanwhile, at the April 6 board her oversight porfolio, with some structure is delivering competent meeting, a board majority tabled a new involvement in golf that doesn’t self-governance for the OPA. motion offered by Director Colette Horn to begin a more traditional approach to hiring a new general manager. The failed motion would have authorized an RFP for national search firms to aid in the process of soliciting and vetting GM candidates.

This motion was premature, as the outsourcing option offers an opportunity to avoid that time-consuming and frustrating process that can yield disappointing results. Under the outsourcing model that is now front and center on the board’s radar, a GM who turns out to be a bad fit for the job could be easily and at little cost to the OPA be replaced by the management firm hired to supply candidates for the position.

Should the outsourcing RFP yield disappointment, then there’s plenty of time to resurrect the Horn motion and proceed with the more traditional approach to choosing a GM. Meanwhile, though, the OPA is in good hands with Viola, Colby Phillips, Director of Finance Steve Phillips, Chief of Police Dave Massey, and Malinowski.

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