OPA, Ortt Companies reach agreement on contract extension
July 2019
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he Ocean Pines Association and Matt Ortt Companies on July 19 agreed to terms of a three -year contract extension to continue to manage the Association’s Yacht Club and Beach Club. OPA General Manager John Viola announced that MOC will also manage the Tern Grille bar and grill operation when the new golf clubhouse opens next year. “This agreement is win-win,” Viola told the Progress. The Matt Ortt Companies originally signed an agreement to manage the Yacht Club and Beach Club last year. MOC is in the second year of the original two-year agreement. Viola said that the terms agreed to will need to be put into contract language by OPA and MOC attorneys. OPA board approval is also part of the process. “I’m not expecting any issues. We have a handshake deal,” Viola said. Viola said the agreement: • Specifies a three-year extension of MOC’s management contract, with fourth- and fifth-year extensions “if they meet certain profit goals,” Viola said. • Establishes a fixed annual fee of $200,000 to manage the Yacht Club, Beach Club and Tern Grille. • Specifes that MOC will receive 5 percent of banquet revenue, as occurs now • Spells out that expenses related to operations at these venues will be “fully loaded” or included for profit-sharing purposes, except for marketing. “There will be no ‘backing out’ of certain expenses that has occurred in the first two years. • The OPA and MOC will split profits 50-50 after targets are met. For the first year, the target is $130,000; the second year it’s $160,000. In the third year it’s $190,000. To Page 6
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THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY
COVER STORY
Comcast interested in providing Internet, cable and telephone services to Ocean Pines Company approaches the OPA and says a change in corporate philosophy makes it willing to invest millions of dollars to install fiber optic cable throughout the community By TOM STAUSS Publisher he days of monopoly cable television and Internet services in Ocean Pines may be coming to end. Ocean Pines Association Director Frank Daly recently disclosed that Comcast Corporation, cable television, Internet and telephone provider in nearby Ocean City, Berlin and Salisbury, has expressed an interest in providing the same services to Ocean Pines. The company would directly compete with Mediacom, Ocean Pines’ long-time cable television provider, for customers in Ocean Pines. Mediacom and the OPA have just agreed to a new contract that allows the company to operate its systems on OPA-owned and controlled rights-of-way, in exchange for a 1.6 percent cut of gross revenues that constitutes a non-exclusive franchise fee. Mediacom also provides commercial Internet services to the OPA and its various amenities and facilities. Daly said Comcast recently has had a “change in corporate philosophy,” which apparently means it is now willing to invest millions of dollars in fiber optic cable and related infrastructure in a community that already has a dominant provider of cable televison, Internet and telephone services. As late as last October, OPA officials said that despite inquiries by the association, Comcast had indicated it was not interested in making the sizable investment in Ocean Pines needed to serve the community. Daly said that if Comcast is willing to live with the same terms offered to Mediacom in its new right-of-way or access contract, particularly the 1.6 percent of revenues for all services as part of a franchise, then he sus-
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pected that the Board of Directors would quickly agree to a deal. “This group has proven it is willing to make decisions,” Daly said. If a contract with Comcast can be quickly agreed to using the Mediacom contract as a template, then Daly said he personally would not be surprised to see Comcast beginning to lay fiber optic cable as soon as August, with roughly a year build-out needed. Daly said he did not anticipate the OPA dropping Mediacom as its primary high-speed Internet provider. But he said he believed there would be interest in contracting with Comcast for back-up Internet service, to be activiated in the event of a Mediacom outage. “A year ago on Memorial Day weekend at the Yacht Club, there was a serious Mediacom outage that caused all sorts of problems,” Daly said. With back-up available, the OPA would be covered in most instances of a Mediacom outage, Daly said. At the July 6 meeting of the OPA Board of Directors, OPA President Doug Parks said that Mediacom currently controls the “crux” of cable television and Internet service in Ocean Pines. But with Comcast coming in as a serious and well-capitalized competitor, Mediacom’s dominance might be challenged. A quick perusal of the Comcast Web site for its operations in Salisbury indicates a rate structure for bundled services that offers more flexibility than currently offered by Mediacom in Ocean Pines and lower prices. Comcast, for instance, offers a stripped down option of To Page 3