October 2017
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THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY
bailey era BEGINS New GM calls Country Club second floor renovation a priority worth waiting for Says the OPA should take the time to get the proposed uses and floor plan right before proceeding with the project By TOM STAUSS Publisher General Manager John Bailey two weeks into his new job wasn’t telegraphing his recommendations on how to proceed with the renovation of the second floor of the Ocean Pines Country Club. During his first regular meeting of the Board of Directors on Sept. 29, Bailey said the stalled renovation projection was a top priority. He advised that the latest iteration of floor plans for the second floor renovation, recently completed by George, Miles and Buhr engineering firm, would probably need some revision. He also said he and the board will want to decide “what we want out of the end game” – by which he probably meant the longer term business plan for the amenity – before finalizing a floor plan. He told the board that he wanted
Abi’s DINER
New OPA General Manager John Bailey
to get the project done “right” as opposed to quickly. He also said that the second floor, which he described as a mess after the demolition that occurred this past spring, would need to be insulated before the onset of the winter months. Bailey’s brief, non-specific remarks dovetailed with those offered by Director Slobodan Trendic in re-
cent months. He has said that management and the board need to agree on a business plan for the amenity’s second floor, including specifically what it will be used for. Trendic said he had not yet seen a business justification for a new kitchen on the second floor, for instance. Last fall, a preliminary floor plan included a second level kitchen to serve up to 140 people attending golf banquets or similar events. The first floor renovation that occurred this past winter included an expansion of the Tern Grille. Trendic said that the occasional golf banquet upstairs could be accommodated by the downstairs kitchen or, perhaps, a large banquet event could be relocated to the Yacht Club. He has also suggested uses for part of the second floor that might not be golf-related. One idea worth considering is a fitness center, an
County agency investigating missing funds
Mum’s the word on an investigation of missing cash that was serious enough that Ocean Pines Association officials felt compelled to call in the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation to do what it does – investigate – the very first week of new General Manager John Bailey’s tenure as chief executive officer of the Ocean Pines Association. President Doug Parks made it very clear that, on the basis of legal advice offered by OPA legal counsel Jeremy Tucker, no OPA official would be offering comment.
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Viola: Resignation not related to OPA financial probe John Viola resigned as director of finance for the Ocean Pines Association effective on Sept. 22, having served in the position for roughly six months following the abrupt resignation of Mary Bosack. Viola, who had been the former chair and member of the OPA’s Budget and Finance Advisory Committee, took on the position in what seems, in retrospect, to have been a temporary caretaker role. Viola says his resignation had nothing to do with the ongoing investigation of missing funds.
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Fued between Herrick, Trendic continues to fester
While the newly reorganized Board of Directors and newly anointed General Manager John Bailey seem to have ushered in a new era of collegiality – or at least what newly elected President Doug Parks calls an era of “no surprises’ – some of the resentments from the previous board continue to fester.
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