September - Early October 2015
www.oceanpinestoday.com
Vol. 11, No. 6
443-359-7527
www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress Comp plan committee continues work on sommunity survey
THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY
Low-key Renaud takes OPA reins, looks for less process, more action Newly installed president says Vice President Cheryl Jacobs will be a full partner in his interactions with General Manager Bob Thompson By TOM STAUSS Publisher e’s been called a turn-coat, a lightweight, a puppet. Ouch. There’s even been the whiff of a suggestion that he’s the front man for a sinister cabal that has taken over the Ocean Pines Association. Not to worry, newly installed OPA President Pat Renaud said during a recent sit-down interview with the Progress. He’s not a puppet of anyone and will no more take direction from General Manager Bob Thompson than he will from his bestie Tom Terry, a former four-year president of the board who some say made it possible through some behind-the-scenes machinations for Renaud to assume the presidency in August. Thompson asked why he was agreeing to an interview with the Progress,
H
Renaud said in some introductory remarks, and his response to the general manager captures what he regards as one important role of the OPA president. “I told him that I told thought it was part of my job to talk to the media,” Renaud said. “Keeping property owners informed about what we’re doing as a board and association is something I want to do. Communicating through the newspaper is one way to do it.” Without going into a lot of detail, Renaud at one point hinted that perhaps Terry had crossed an invisible line in offering some unsolicited advice. “I asked him not to do that, and he hasn’t since,” Renaud said. “I told him I would look to him for advice on finances,” consistent with Terry’s election as OPA treasurer in August, by the same 4-3 vote spread, and the votes of the same four directors, that elected Re-
Pines not immune to heroin epidemic As Worcester County’s largest year round community, Ocean Pines is not immune to the problems that plague the rest of the nation, including criminal activity that can be directly traced to the resurgence of heroin among drug users. “We’re no different than any other community,” Ocean Pines Police Chief David Massey said of the spike in heroin related calls to which his agency responds. ~ Page 14
naud. Renaud is looking forward to the year ahead, in the hopes that it will be a year of accomplishment and action rather than one that gets bogged down in process.
OPA PresidentPat Renaud
“That’s going to be the theme of this next year,” he said. Implicitly if not explicitly criticizing his predecessor as president, Dave Stevens, Renaud said that too often this past year the board seemed to him to lose momentum by becoming too involved in process and argument. He cited Stevens’ “take-over” of the process that is supposed to produce an updated capital improvement plan for the OPA. There’s not much to show for the To Page 20
Even with the acknowledgment by its chairman that the process to develop a community-wide survey in support of a comprehensive plan rewrite has been at times mired in confusion – he might have said controversy and acrimony in addition to confusion – the Ocean Pines Association’s Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee seems intent on doing whatever it takes to accomplish its goal. ~ Page 6
Trendic “not guility’ of leaving scene of late night accident It’s too late to make a difference in the 2015 Board of Directors election, but former candidate Slobodan Trendic, who pulled 1,179 votes to place third in this summer’s balloting, received at least a partial exoneration in court on a raft of charges related to an accident in Ocean Pines on June 20. Of the 16 separate counts he faced in court on Aug. 27, all but two resulted in not guilty verdicts. ~ Page 11
Renaud to restore general manager’s responsibilities In a move likely to engender some push-back from a minority of members of the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors, newly installed OPA President Pat Renaud has moved to restore to General Manager Bob Thompson some responsibilities once held by him but taken away by the previous board president. In a recent interview with the Progress, Renaud said that he had returned certain responsibilities to Thompson under his authority as OPA president, involving golf course oversight and development of a revised Capital Improvement Plan. ~ Page 25
MARC ANTHONY HOME SERVICES DRYER VENT AC TUNE-UP Cooling • Heating • Plumbing • Electric • Appliances CLEANING Only CENTRAL SYSTEMSPECIALS SPECIALS CENTRALHVAC AC SYSTEM Call $ only $ 0% FOR 1 1 YEAR! YEAR! 0% FINANCING FINANCING FOR NOW!
89
888-353-4050 • www.marcanthonyservices.com
90!
Duct Cleaning Also Available