410-641-6029
Vol. 9, No. 7
October-Early November 2013
www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress Board votes to move food, beverage ops to Country Club As expected, the Ocean Pines Association’s Board of Directors in September formally approved a plan to shift food and beverage operations from the Yacht Club to the Country Club’s upper floor beginning in early November, when Billy Casper Golf will be closing down operations in the lower level Tern Grille for the winter. OPA General Manager Bob Thompson, asked by the directors in August to project budgetary impacts from keeping the Country Club open for the winter, said operating the Country Club during the November through March period will only cost the OPA about $14,000 in additional losses for the year. ~ Page 7
Thompson forecasts modest surplus for current fiscal year A projected year-end forecast for the Ocean Pines Association’s current fiscal year released by OPA General Manager Bob Thompson in September indicates that, in the aggregate, he expects the association to have a reasonably positive operating result, even with a slightly negative variance to budget. In a by-the-numbers chart he displayed during the general manager’s segment of the Sept. 18 board of directors meeting, Thompson indicated that he and OPA Controller Art Carmine expect operations to generate a $5,063 surplus for the year. ~ Page 12
Developer hopes to open medical center building in’15 Work will soon begin on the long-awaited medical office building near the North Gate of Ocean Pines. Commercial general contractor Palmer Gillis, speaking at Worcester County Commissioner Judy Boggs’ town meeting Saturday, Sept. 28, said he would like to see “keys in the door by the fall of 2015.” Planned is a 20,000-square-foot facility first proposed in 1994 on what Gillis called “an ideal site, a perfect transitional site from highway to residential.” Medical offices blend well with neighborhoods, he said. ~ Page 19
THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY
Board acts to tighten tracking of Yacht Club change orders Implementation panel reconstituted after division arises over replacement of original river rock exterior accents with split block By TOM STAUSS Publisher
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fter the Ocean Pines Association received a lot of criticism about the way General Manager Bob Thompson has been managing the new Yacht Club project, the OPA has tightened up the system for monitoring change orders during construction of the new Yacht Club and has restored a volunteer implementation task force that will help Thompson oversee the project. Thompson remains as the project manager and has the authority to spend up to $40,000 on the new Yacht Club project without obtaining specific board approval. In an aerial photo taken in early October, the footprint of the new Ocean Pines Yacht Club became That’s an increase over apparent in a way that it hadn’t been just a week or so before. The foundation was poured in late the $15,000 he can spend September, and the exterior framing will be the next visible evidence that the new facility is beon budget expenditures ginning to catch up from earlier delays. OPA General Manager Bob Thompson said recently that without board approval builder Harkins Construction is only two or three weeks behind schedule, meaning that a spring generally, a boost in his opening remains a realistic possibility. spending authority that passed in a 5-2 vote at the board’s Sept. 18 monthly meeting. Directors Marty Clarke and Jack Collins were opposed. Near the conclusion of that meeting, however, Thompson let slip some information about a change order for the By TOM STAUSS troversy over Yacht Club change orders, Yacht Club project that had the poten- Publisher OPA General Manager Bob Thompson tial of changing board opinion on the ny Ocean Pines Association mem- confirmed that the harbor master wing extent to which the general manager ber wondering whether the Java of the new facility will be dual use, with should continue to oversee the project. Bay cafe will be resurrected in a section of it reserved for the sale of cofThere was some sentiment in favor of the new Yacht Club under construction fee, beer, wine, soda and ice and relattaking project oversight out of Thomp- now has an answer: It will and it won’t. ed products for boaters using the Yacht son’s control and perhaps hiring an How’s that for clarity. Club marina. outsider to take over the role. That idea In answer to a question from OPA DiThompson said the OPA previousnever gained traction with a board ma- rector Marty Clarke at a special meeting ly had acquired a liquor license for the jority, however. To Page 18 To Page 17 of the board Sept. 26 to discuss a con-
Thompson confirms beverage shop ‘rumors’ for new Yacht Club
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