The question of whether local organizations should somehow be obligated to book the Ocean Pines Yacht Club for its special events requires a stronger answer than that which was given by association officials this week.
When residents and a board member noted last week that some organizations weren’t using the club, one interpretation of those observations might have been that these potential customers have some kind of duty to use the community-financed facility.
They don’t.
While it would be nice if every Ocean Pines-oriented entity rented space at the club for their large gatherings and thereby increased the return on the community’s investment, that’s just not how it works.
In short, it would be like pushing all organizations and businesses to use taxpayer-funded properties for their gatherings and events at the expense of private operations that offer the same thing.
As OPA General Manager Bob Thompson observed, the association is managing the club as a business, which means it has to compete with every other operation of similar size and scope for the attention of potential customers.
That means setting pricing at a competitive level and giving good value for the dollar spent.
Apparently, the club’s overseers are doing that very thing and are doing so successfully, with a number of reservations already recorded. Hopefully, those bookings will increase over time, as positive reviews make their way out into the marketplace and reach other entities searching for a well-appointed venue suited to their needs.
In the meantime, however, when a group or organization elects to take its business to some other location, that decision should not reflect badly on that body, on the administration or on the Yacht Club itself.
That’s just how business works.