By Greg Ellison

(March 25, 2021) The recently formed “Ocean Pines — Get Involved” Facebook community group and the soon-to-be-unveiled online “residents academy” dominated discussions during the Communications Committee meeting last Thursday.

Committee member Jenny Cropper Rines said the Get Involved Facebook group should provide insight on issues of concern to the community.

Rines, who joined the private Facebook group but has yet to attend any virtual meetings, questioned what, if any, role the committee should play.

Judging from online comments to this point, Rines said she recognized similarities between the Get Involved page comments and public observations obtained from a community survey sent to membership two years ago.

“It’s the same ongoing stuff, it’s just in a new platform,” she said.

Rines asked if the group’s formation indicated another town hall meeting would be warranted.

Committee Chair Cheryl Jacobs said the group is the latest example of a recurring theme.

“It’s what happens in Ocean Pines now and then,” she said. “It can never be peaceful and calm for very long.”

Rines suggested the committee could help with communication between Get Involved membership and the Board of Directors.

“That’s our charge,” she said. “Do you think it might be time for a town hall or do you want all this stuff to all shake out at a board meeting?”

Board Liaison Dr. Colette Horn asked what issues Rines would propose for a town hall agenda.

Rines said regardless of specifics, a town hall gathering could reduce tensions between the public and the board.

“To dissipate the negativity that going on,” she said.

Horn said previous town halls have been tied to topics, such as the short-term rental initiative proposed by Director Frank Daly, which is on the Board agenda for March 20.

“The intention is to open up public comments to dialogue in that meeting on Saturday,” she said. “That still remains to be decided if we would veer off into town hall meeting before deciding that issue.”

Horn said the Get Involved group and other online forums are helping to ascertain potential issues for future town halls.

“All of these platforms inform us what members are interested in debating,” she said.

While previously committed to staging a trio of town hall meetings annually, Horn said the coronavirus pandemic has blocked that effort because of bans on in-person gatherings.

“We’ve relied on the virtual format and we’ve had strong attendance at some virtual meetings depending on items on agenda,” she said.

Rines said the proliferation of forums full of complaints could harm property values and discourage people contemplating relocation to the community.

“I hate to see us airing our dirty laundry on Facebook,” she said. “We’re all property owners [and] it scares people.”

Horn said town halls permit community members to sort fact from fiction.

“Some of this controversy grows up out of misinformation,” she said. “People putting opinions out there as though those opinions are fact.”

Marketing Coordinator Julie Malinowski said the residents academy is overflowing with OPA specifics.

“It’s kind of all there in a nutshell,” she said.

Rines said while the committee could provide its own opinions on the final product, all involved parties should review their sections first.

“The department heads really needed to review their sections before it went anywhere,” she said.

Malinowski concurred that department heads have yet to view video content.