New limit of $1 million will  replace percentage formula

By Greg Ellison

(May 20, 2021) Vote totals for an Ocean Pines Association referendum on limiting spending by the board of directors to $1 million were confirmed last week, with a strong majority of Ocean Pines residents approving the measure.

The Ocean Pines Elections Committee convened on Friday to tally the referendum totals, with manual count results finding 2,531 votes in favor and 1,358 votes opposed.

The referendum was triggered after an attempt to reduce the spending cap by former Director Slobodan Trendic was thwarted by the board.

Trendic stepped down as a director after abstaining from a vote on April 6, 2019 to approve expansions of the police and administration building, as well as the golf clubhouse and cart barn, which combined cost more than $3 million.

During the OPA homeowners annual meeting that August, Trendic presented a pair of petitions. One called for limiting the board’s unauthorized spending authority, and the other sought a referendum on the recently begun clubhouse project at the Ocean Pines Golf Course.

Trendic filed suit in November 2019 in response to the OPA Board of Directors’ rejection that August of a petition containing more than 800 signatures seeking to amend the OPA bylaws to require the board to conduct a membership vote to approve any single capital expenditure over $1 million.

In February of this year, Ocean Pines President Larry Perrone announced the association had reached a settlement with Trendic and would proceed with drafting a referendum question to consider amending bylaws.

Last revised in 2008, association bylaws had included a board spending threshold of 20 percent of annual assessment fees without authorization of residents.

In FY20/21 the 20 percent total amounted to roughly $1.8 million.