By Greg Ellison

(April 7, 2022) Countering misguided perceptions about community association operations was the focus of an Ocean Pines Board of Directors work session last week with the Strategic Planning Committee.

Committee Chair Bernie McGorry opened the meeting last Tuesday at the Golf Clubhouse with the intention of defining the association’s overall approach to countering the public misunderstandings and faulty assumptions revealed in the recent community survey.

“Strategic Planning  is the process of determining the future of the organization and what resources will be needed to achieve … goals,” he said.

McGorry said businesses lacking such processes tend to flounder without a clear direction charted.

Looking at demographic data for Ocean Pines compared the entirety of Worcester County, McGorry said the Pines has a higher percentage of white residents than the county on average (91 percent versus 79 percent) a higher population over the age of 65 (39 percent versus 27 percent)  and a greater number of college graduates (35 percent versus 29 percent).

Ocean Pines also has a larger percentage of homeowners (88 percent versus a county average of 75 percent ) and fewer renters (11 percent versus 25 percent).

McGorry also reviewed a breakdown of assessment allocations, which showed amenities accounting for a half-percent, compared to 29 percent for reserves and 25 percent for emergency services.

McGorry said the top ranking issues of importance drawn from the survey were safety, maintenance of infrastructure and community aesthetics.

General Manager John Viola noted a gap in perception regarding infrastructure upkeep.

“Over last three years, we have done lots of infrastructure work,” he said.

Viola said prior administrations were focused more on keeping assessments from increasing.

“They would not spend money in the past on amenities where it could have been recouped,” he said. “That’s a mindset [but] it’s changed.”

Director Larry Perrone agreed the earlier focus was shortsighted.

“There’s been a group of people in Ocean Pines for 30 years that their main concern was keeping the assessments down,” he said. “They didn’t care what happened to the appearance of this community or the maintenance on the infrastructure.”

Perrone said assessments in that era were rarely raised for nearly a decade.

Perrone added that the association is classified as a not-for-profit entity, with amenities intended to be self-sufficient

“The goal for each amenity is to break even, the goal is not to make a profit,” he said. “We are making a profit at this point and that’s bringing down our assessments.”

Committee member Becky Colt-Ferguson requested clarification about the association’s not-for-profit status.

“If Ocean Pines doesn’t make money, how do we survive without raising dues?” she asked.

“The way the community survives is through the assessments,” Perrone replied said. “If amenities are losing money, then we have to charge more on assessments.”

McGorry said an opportunity exists to explain to the public how the return on investment from amenities works.

“The public is not as aware as they should be on what the ROI gets them,” he said. “The profitability benefits each of us.”

Director Doug Parks stressed the importance of educating residents regarding amenities and overall operations.

“People that answered the survey are probably not the ones we need to target,” he said. “They’re the ones that are probably already listening and have some vested interest.”

Parks questioned what approaches could be taken to reach a wider demographic.

Association President Colette Horn recommended taking stronger “control of the narrative.”

“You open up these newspapers there’s a heck of a lot of negativity about Ocean Pines being published,” she said. “So, how do we flip that [because] a lot of it’s not factual.”

Committee members offered no response to her comment.