(June 29, 2017) Ocean Pines Association Board President Tom Herrick began a meeting last Friday by refuting an editorial recently printed in this paper.
The subject of the editorial was a closed board meeting on June 19.
“It’s unfortunate, but I feel the need to address yet another misrepresentation of fact by one of our local newspapers, in an opinion column,” Herrick said. “And I’d like to add the truth and clarity regarding this issue for the benefit of our membership, as it affect the majority of your board of directors.
“One of the reasons for the reasons for the closed board meeting this past week was to discuss management concerns and board member contact with staff. Our attorney was contacted to discuss the content of these conversations that were conducted with a number of our staff members, and he advised it would be right and proper for our board to discuss this matter in a closed session.
“Circumstances were not as reported in the local newspaper, and they were being classified as obvious to the writer that an employee bypassed the immediate supervisor, Brett Hill, and expressed concerns to one of our directors. But, in fact, the truth is the complete opposite. A director, repeatedly, was bypassing the acting GM and went directly to individual staff members, causing alarm to a number of our employees. These were not routine inquiries that are permitted by our bylaws.
“Some members of the board understood the need to not allow this type activity to continue, and in order to protect our association employees from this type of behavior in the future, brought the discussion to the entire board of directors for our review. I hope this clears up any previous misconceptions of what had actually transpired.”
The director in question, Slobodan Trendic, took issue with several of those comments on Monday.
Trendic said he was not told in advance the board sought the opinion of an attorney. He did not know if other directors were made aware that was being done.
He said Herrick’s characterization of a director “bypassing the acting GM and [going] directly to individual staff members, causing alarm” was untrue.
“I want to clarify the perception that was created that I’m going after our acting general manager. That is absolute nonsense,” Trendic said. “I am trying to do what the community elected me to do, and that is to represent the best interest of this community. All of my actions have been motivated by that. It has nothing to with individuals on a personal level – whether it’s the acting GM or anybody else.”
Trendic specifically objected to the claims he repeatedly bypassed Hill and violated bylaws.
He said he talked with three Ocean Pines staff members during the last several weeks in a series of “unplanned encounters.” In one instance, Trendic said he was in the administration building and walked by Hill’s office.
“I happened to observe a person in his office that I had seen for the first time,” Trendic said. “I also observed a tremendous amount of equipment in the office of the acting general manager – computer equipment, a point of sales system. The place looked like a staging lab from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”
Curious, Trendic said he walked in to say “hello” and the person introduced himself as the new information technology manager.
“I congratulated him on his hiring and welcomed him aboard, and I told him I hoped he was also working on fixing the network and firewall problems that we’ve been having recently,” he said. “His reply to me was, no, he is not, because that is not his area of expertise. I wished him good luck and walked out of the office. That was it.”
He said the second encounter was with another staff member and occurred “shortly after I learned about the surveillance cameras placed in private offices” in the administration building.
“I felt, after the board was accused of allowing such surveillance to take place, that it was my duty to go and find out and see for myself what’s going on,” Trendic said. “I want to go on the record and state that I had no knowledge of the cameras being in place in the private offices and if that was ever brought to the board’s attention I would have absolutely voted against such action taking place.”
Trendic said cameras with audio and video capabilities were installed in the offices of the general manager, director of finance and payroll director. He did not know why they were installed.
“I wanted to see for myself, so I went into the office of the director of finance and I observed a new person in that room, a former chairman of the budget and finance committee,” Trendic said.
John Viola was announced as the new chief financial officer, replacing Mary Bosack, on May 22. He was previously the chairman of the budget and finance committee.
“I congratulated him and then asked him if he knew anything about the camera and where the camera was,” Trendic said. “He pointed the camera out to me and then we had a chat and I wished him good luck.”
At the time, Trendic said he observed the camera in that office was not active.
“I went around the corner to the [payroll] office to see the third camera and the person that works in that office happened to be there,” he said. “I observed the camera to be still on, the light was on, and I proceeded to ask her whether she gave any consent and whether she was aware the camera had audio capability. I will not comment on what her answer was.”
Trendic said that was the only interaction he had with that staffer, or with the new IT manager.
He declined to comment whether any staff members had reached out to him, but said he objected to the notion that he caused alarm.
“The feedback I got is that many employees are happy that I am a director and that I am available, and they feel that my interaction is a breath of fresh air,” he said. “They felt comfortable and hopeful knowing that a director was paying attention to what’s going on, which is the reason I requested that we immediately put in HR support onsite so that staff has the ability to reach out to somebody in absolute confidentiality and express their concerns.
“I, as an individual director, have set a deadline by this Friday expecting this to happen, and if it doesn’t I want a good explanation why,” Trendic added.
Trendic said he contact one former employee, Bosack, immediately upon hearing she had resigned and that Hill accepted her resignation.
“When I reached out to her, she was no longer an employee of the association. I had a lengthy conversation with her and the information she conveyed to me was, to use Director Herrick’s word, alarming – in a true sense,” Trendic said. “It was very, very, very alarming – enough to raise the hair on anybody’s head.”
He and another director met with Bosack on the day after her departure.
“I know there’s been a lot of speculation about a recording of her meeting with the acting general manager,” Trendic said. “I can speak for myself that I’m aware of such recording.”
Trendic reiterated, firmly, he did not violate any Ocean Pines bylaws.
“These statements by Director Herrick are very disappointing to me,” he said. “It appears there is an attempt to intimidate me. I don’t know why, because all of my conduct has been always honest, truthful and in the best interest of the association.”
He said again that he had no foreknowledge of cameras being installed in the administration building.
“I believe this should not have been decided at the association level by the acting general manager. This is a policy decision,” he said. “And there’s a big difference between this and installing cameras as a surveillance in public spaces where the public gathers, like the yacht club or one of our restaurants. When you place three audio and video cameras in private offices, I consider that a policy decision – which I would never have approved.
“It was a sad set of circumstances the board had to deal with,” Trendic continued. “Maybe if the board had allowed for a closed session two months ago when I called for one, much of this could have been addressed, discussed and resolved prior to creating a controversy in the community, which is what we are now facing.”
Trendic added he was not aware of any disciplinary actions taken against him, and said did not fall into any of the categories in Ocean Pines bylaws that allow for the removal of a director: possessing a conflict of interest, missing three consecutive meetings or being delinquent on assessments.
“A lot of members of the community have reached out to me since that [June 19] meeting and asked me if I was still a director. My reply to them was I am and I will continue to be as long as the community wants me to be,” Trendic said.
The subject of the editorial was a closed board meeting on June 19.
“It’s unfortunate, but I feel the need to address yet another misrepresentation of fact by one of our local newspapers, in an opinion column,” Herrick said. “And I’d like to add the truth and clarity regarding this issue for the benefit of our membership, as it affect the majority of your board of directors.
“One of the reasons for the reasons for the closed board meeting this past week was to discuss management concerns and board member contact with staff. Our attorney was contacted to discuss the content of these conversations that were conducted with a number of our staff members, and he advised it would be right and proper for our board to discuss this matter in a closed session.
“Circumstances were not as reported in the local newspaper, and they were being classified as obvious to the writer that an employee bypassed the immediate supervisor, Brett Hill, and expressed concerns to one of our directors. But, in fact, the truth is the complete opposite. A director, repeatedly, was bypassing the acting GM and went directly to individual staff members, causing alarm to a number of our employees. These were not routine inquiries that are permitted by our bylaws.
“Some members of the board understood the need to not allow this type activity to continue, and in order to protect our association employees from this type of behavior in the future, brought the discussion to the entire board of directors for our review. I hope this clears up any previous misconceptions of what had actually transpired.”
The director in question, Slobodan Trendic, took issue with several of those comments on Monday.
Trendic said he was not told in advance the board sought the opinion of an attorney. He did not know if other directors were made aware that was being done.
He said Herrick’s characterization of a director “bypassing the acting GM and [going] directly to individual staff members, causing alarm” was untrue.
“I want to clarify the perception that was created that I’m going after our acting general manager. That is absolute nonsense,” Trendic said. “I am trying to do what the community elected me to do, and that is to represent the best interest of this community. All of my actions have been motivated by that. It has nothing to with individuals on a personal level – whether it’s the acting GM or anybody else.”
Trendic specifically objected to the claims he repeatedly bypassed Hill and violated bylaws.
He said he talked with three Ocean Pines staff members during the last several weeks in a series of “unplanned encounters.” In one instance, Trendic said he was in the administration building and walked by Hill’s office.
“I happened to observe a person in his office that I had seen for the first time,” Trendic said. “I also observed a tremendous amount of equipment in the office of the acting general manager – computer equipment, a point of sales system. The place looked like a staging lab from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”
Curious, Trendic said he walked in to say “hello” and the person introduced himself as the new information technology manager.
“I congratulated him on his hiring and welcomed him aboard, and I told him I hoped he was also working on fixing the network and firewall problems that we’ve been having recently,” he said. “His reply to me was, no, he is not, because that is not his area of expertise. I wished him good luck and walked out of the office. That was it.”
He said the second encounter was with another staff member and occurred “shortly after I learned about the surveillance cameras placed in private offices” in the administration building.
“I felt, after the board was accused of allowing such surveillance to take place, that it was my duty to go and find out and see for myself what’s going on,” Trendic said. “I want to go on the record and state that I had no knowledge of the cameras being in place in the private offices and if that was ever brought to the board’s attention I would have absolutely voted against such action taking place.”
Trendic said cameras with audio and video capabilities were installed in the offices of the general manager, director of finance and payroll director. He did not know why they were installed.
“I wanted to see for myself, so I went into the office of the director of finance and I observed a new person in that room, a former chairman of the budget and finance committee,” Trendic said.
John Viola was announced as the new chief financial officer, replacing Mary Bosack, on May 22. He was previously the chairman of the budget and finance committee.
“I congratulated him and then asked him if he knew anything about the camera and where the camera was,” Trendic said. “He pointed the camera out to me and then we had a chat and I wished him good luck.”
At the time, Trendic said he observed the camera in that office was not active.
“I went around the corner to the [payroll] office to see the third camera and the person that works in that office happened to be there,” he said. “I observed the camera to be still on, the light was on, and I proceeded to ask her whether she gave any consent and whether she was aware the camera had audio capability. I will not comment on what her answer was.”
Trendic said that was the only interaction he had with that staffer, or with the new IT manager.
He declined to comment whether any staff members had reached out to him, but said he objected to the notion that he caused alarm.
“The feedback I got is that many employees are happy that I am a director and that I am available, and they feel that my interaction is a breath of fresh air,” he said. “They felt comfortable and hopeful knowing that a director was paying attention to what’s going on, which is the reason I requested that we immediately put in HR support onsite so that staff has the ability to reach out to somebody in absolute confidentiality and express their concerns.
“I, as an individual director, have set a deadline by this Friday expecting this to happen, and if it doesn’t I want a good explanation why,” Trendic added.
Trendic said he contact one former employee, Bosack, immediately upon hearing she had resigned and that Hill accepted her resignation.
“When I reached out to her, she was no longer an employee of the association. I had a lengthy conversation with her and the information she conveyed to me was, to use Director Herrick’s word, alarming – in a true sense,” Trendic said. “It was very, very, very alarming – enough to raise the hair on anybody’s head.”
He and another director met with Bosack on the day after her departure.
“I know there’s been a lot of speculation about a recording of her meeting with the acting general manager,” Trendic said. “I can speak for myself that I’m aware of such recording.”
Trendic reiterated, firmly, he did not violate any Ocean Pines bylaws.
“These statements by Director Herrick are very disappointing to me,” he said. “It appears there is an attempt to intimidate me. I don’t know why, because all of my conduct has been always honest, truthful and in the best interest of the association.”
He said again that he had no foreknowledge of cameras being installed in the administration building.
“I believe this should not have been decided at the association level by the acting general manager. This is a policy decision,” he said. “And there’s a big difference between this and installing cameras as a surveillance in public spaces where the public gathers, like the yacht club or one of our restaurants. When you place three audio and video cameras in private offices, I consider that a policy decision – which I would never have approved.
“It was a sad set of circumstances the board had to deal with,” Trendic continued. “Maybe if the board had allowed for a closed session two months ago when I called for one, much of this could have been addressed, discussed and resolved prior to creating a controversy in the community, which is what we are now facing.”
Trendic added he was not aware of any disciplinary actions taken against him, and said did not fall into any of the categories in Ocean Pines bylaws that allow for the removal of a director: possessing a conflict of interest, missing three consecutive meetings or being delinquent on assessments.
“A lot of members of the community have reached out to me since that [June 19] meeting and asked me if I was still a director. My reply to them was I am and I will continue to be as long as the community wants me to be,” Trendic said.