(Aug. 3, 2017) For Gary Miller, a member of the Ocean Pines clubs and aquatics committees, July was one of those up-and-down months.
In three-week period, he faced and survived two attempts to remove him from those board-appointed assignments because of his letters to the editor in this paper that were critical of the board of directors and interim General Manager Brett Hill.
An effort by the board to remove Miller failed to get on the agenda of a July 9 special board meeting by a 4-3 vote. It was on the agenda of a regular board meeting, last Friday, but this time the vote deadlocked, 3-3, with one director, Doug Parks, absent.
Miller spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting Friday, holding up a copy of the application for Ocean Pines advisory committees.
“This application … says nothing about giving up your First Amendment right of free speech – at all,” Miller said. “Because I and a bunch of people questioned some of the things that were going on with Brett Hill and the way the board was not doing anything to monitor what was happening, I wrote a couple of letters to the editor to the Bayside Gazette. They were recently published. Apparently they hit a pretty sour note with a couple of the board members.”
Miller said he was not alone in being targeted for his opinions.
“The sad thing right now in Ocean Pines is that if you disagree or have a difference of opinion of the acting GM or a couple of the board members, you are silenced, whether it’s being fired or being asked to resign or being forced to resign,” he said. “If you look at the number of people that have left this organizations it’s staggering.
“Most of it is because of the actions and the conduct of the GM and a couple of the board members that support him,” Miller continued, drawing applause from the audience.
“Everyone who serves on any of the advisory committees spends a lot of time trying to make this community better. Mr. Hill has minimized and marginalized the efforts of all of the committees, and it’s a shame.”
He did agree that the board had the authority to remove him, not that the bylaws state that all committee members serve at the pleasure of the board and can be removed without cause at any time.
“I don’t think anybody has any issue with that,” Miller said. “Getting rid of somebody because they speak up – that’s the problem.”
Miller again received loud applause.
Board President Dave Stevens made the formal motion to remove Miller, stating he used his position on the committees “to continue to publicly debate board decisions that did not agree with his advice.”
He also said Miller recruited advocates to support his position on issues the board was considering that that he did “very publicly disparage the board and management in the local media.”
Stevens, the liaison to the clubs committee, said Miller’s letters “took the form of vitriolic attacks that were devoid of facts and filled with innuendo.”
Director Slobodan Trendic, himself a target for removal, opposed the motion.
“Any homeowner of this association has a right to publicly voice his or her opinion with regard to either the management or the board itself,” he said. “Many times homeowners have gone to the newspaper and critiqued the board and the performance, as well as the management. To take that right away from a homeowner that happens to a member of two committees, I believe, is really getting us into a gray area of censorship.”
Trendic added that many board members have written to local newspapers, including himself and director and interim General Manager Brett Hill, and both signed the letters “in their official capacity” as board members.
“I don’t think Mr. Miller spoke on behalf of the committee. He didn’t sign the letter as a committee member, but purely as a homeowner,” he said.
Director Tom Herrick pointed out that Trendic, ironically, asked for Miller’s resignation last year.
At the time, Trendic was the clubs committee liaison and Herrick was the board president. Trendic sent Herrick an email saying he did not endorse the application of committee Chairman Les Purcell and added, “I recommend that you please ask Mr. Miller to immediately resign from the Clubs Committee. The reason is the following. In the recent interview with the local newspaper, his comments as members of the committee were totally unprofessional and inappropriate. It reflected negatively on the OPA Board and its individual directors.”
Miller responded that his quotes in the newspaper, which were again in the Gazette, were not part of an interview, but were rather coverage of a committee meeting. He said he would not resign and countered, “Bring it up at a public meeting and let the entire BOD [board of directors] vote on it.”
“I’m surprised at your comments, only because they’re totally opposite of what you had spoken about last September, when you came out totally against Miller,” Herrick said on Friday.
According to Trendic, he and Miller had a “gentleman’s discussion” after the incident and resolved their differences.
Herrick went on to say that Miller abused his position as a committee member “to serve as a platform of his own personal agenda, both through the press and through the minutes of the meetings.”
He added he was surprised that association members appeared to support Miller.
“We are not censoring … statements of any association members. What we have to discuss is, is this serving at the pleasure of the board to continue as a committee member,” Herrick said. “The problem is he’s serving as a committee member and he’s supposed to help the board. I don’t see that in the duties of a committee member, to constantly disparage both the board and employees of the [association].”
Director Cheryl Jacobs said it’s unfortunate that differences of opinion were being categorized as disparaging.
“People need to have a little bit tougher skins, I think, so they can absorb criticism without taking it personally,” she said. “This is a very slippery slope, in my opinion, one that I am adamantly opposed to.”
Jacobs said Miller is an active volunteer who put in many hours for the association and had every right to express an opinion “without fear that there will be retribution for doing so.”
She added the board had essentially already voted on whether to remove Miller, on July 9.
Director Pat Supik agreed.
“I don’t think we should try to control [what gets into newspapers],” she said. “I feel like it’s not in our purview or in our best interest to in any way sanction a member of the community.”
Stevens countered that Miller’s remarks were both vitriolic and damaging and said they gave the appearance that his views represented those of the advisory committees.
“He is on two committees. He is an active and vocal member of those two committees. When he sends a letter to the newspaper he, in fact, is implying that it’s coming from those committees,” Stevens said.
Several members of the audience booed and shouted, “no!” in reply.
“What Mr. Miller is doing is antithetical to role and responsibility of an advisory committee,” Stevens said. “He’s not being thrown out of the association. He can write a dozen letters to the papers and he can start this afternoon. But on the other hand, he can’t do that and serve the board … he can’t make a recommendation to the board and then say, ‘you didn’t follow my recommendation, therefore I’ll get a bunch of people in here and we’ll show you a thing or two.’”
Stevens said Miller’s letters included “one ‘when did you stop beating your wife?’ question after another.”
“I’m on the board. It is not my pleasure that Mr. Miller serve on the board any longer,” Stevens said.
Trendic responded that Miller wrote letters because he represented a public that was frustrated when the board “failed to take actions related to the acting general manager” and his conduct.
At one point, Trendic appeared to become frustrated and started to pack his things.
“I will not be part of this,” Trendic said, although several members of the audience encouraged him to stay and vote.
“The real reason we remove people from committees is because they are damaging or causing harm to the committee. [Miller has] done none of that,” Jacobs said. “There is no way to support a motion to remove him for any damage that he’s caused to the committees. It is simply retaliation and that kind of behavior really needs to stop on this board once and for all.”
Again, the audience burst into applause. Stevens briefly argued with several spectators.
“Anybody can get up and leave if they want to,” he said.
“So can you!” one person shouted.
“You work for us,” another said.
Trendic, Jacobs and Supik voted against removing Miller, while Herrick, Hill and Stevens voted for his removal. Because of the tie vote, Miller will remain on both committees.
In three-week period, he faced and survived two attempts to remove him from those board-appointed assignments because of his letters to the editor in this paper that were critical of the board of directors and interim General Manager Brett Hill.
An effort by the board to remove Miller failed to get on the agenda of a July 9 special board meeting by a 4-3 vote. It was on the agenda of a regular board meeting, last Friday, but this time the vote deadlocked, 3-3, with one director, Doug Parks, absent.
Miller spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting Friday, holding up a copy of the application for Ocean Pines advisory committees.
“This application … says nothing about giving up your First Amendment right of free speech – at all,” Miller said. “Because I and a bunch of people questioned some of the things that were going on with Brett Hill and the way the board was not doing anything to monitor what was happening, I wrote a couple of letters to the editor to the Bayside Gazette. They were recently published. Apparently they hit a pretty sour note with a couple of the board members.”
Miller said he was not alone in being targeted for his opinions.
“The sad thing right now in Ocean Pines is that if you disagree or have a difference of opinion of the acting GM or a couple of the board members, you are silenced, whether it’s being fired or being asked to resign or being forced to resign,” he said. “If you look at the number of people that have left this organizations it’s staggering.
“Most of it is because of the actions and the conduct of the GM and a couple of the board members that support him,” Miller continued, drawing applause from the audience.
“Everyone who serves on any of the advisory committees spends a lot of time trying to make this community better. Mr. Hill has minimized and marginalized the efforts of all of the committees, and it’s a shame.”
He did agree that the board had the authority to remove him, not that the bylaws state that all committee members serve at the pleasure of the board and can be removed without cause at any time.
“I don’t think anybody has any issue with that,” Miller said. “Getting rid of somebody because they speak up – that’s the problem.”
Miller again received loud applause.
Board President Dave Stevens made the formal motion to remove Miller, stating he used his position on the committees “to continue to publicly debate board decisions that did not agree with his advice.”
He also said Miller recruited advocates to support his position on issues the board was considering that that he did “very publicly disparage the board and management in the local media.”
Stevens, the liaison to the clubs committee, said Miller’s letters “took the form of vitriolic attacks that were devoid of facts and filled with innuendo.”
Director Slobodan Trendic, himself a target for removal, opposed the motion.
“Any homeowner of this association has a right to publicly voice his or her opinion with regard to either the management or the board itself,” he said. “Many times homeowners have gone to the newspaper and critiqued the board and the performance, as well as the management. To take that right away from a homeowner that happens to a member of two committees, I believe, is really getting us into a gray area of censorship.”
Trendic added that many board members have written to local newspapers, including himself and director and interim General Manager Brett Hill, and both signed the letters “in their official capacity” as board members.
“I don’t think Mr. Miller spoke on behalf of the committee. He didn’t sign the letter as a committee member, but purely as a homeowner,” he said.
Director Tom Herrick pointed out that Trendic, ironically, asked for Miller’s resignation last year.
At the time, Trendic was the clubs committee liaison and Herrick was the board president. Trendic sent Herrick an email saying he did not endorse the application of committee Chairman Les Purcell and added, “I recommend that you please ask Mr. Miller to immediately resign from the Clubs Committee. The reason is the following. In the recent interview with the local newspaper, his comments as members of the committee were totally unprofessional and inappropriate. It reflected negatively on the OPA Board and its individual directors.”
Miller responded that his quotes in the newspaper, which were again in the Gazette, were not part of an interview, but were rather coverage of a committee meeting. He said he would not resign and countered, “Bring it up at a public meeting and let the entire BOD [board of directors] vote on it.”
“I’m surprised at your comments, only because they’re totally opposite of what you had spoken about last September, when you came out totally against Miller,” Herrick said on Friday.
According to Trendic, he and Miller had a “gentleman’s discussion” after the incident and resolved their differences.
Herrick went on to say that Miller abused his position as a committee member “to serve as a platform of his own personal agenda, both through the press and through the minutes of the meetings.”
He added he was surprised that association members appeared to support Miller.
“We are not censoring … statements of any association members. What we have to discuss is, is this serving at the pleasure of the board to continue as a committee member,” Herrick said. “The problem is he’s serving as a committee member and he’s supposed to help the board. I don’t see that in the duties of a committee member, to constantly disparage both the board and employees of the [association].”
Director Cheryl Jacobs said it’s unfortunate that differences of opinion were being categorized as disparaging.
“People need to have a little bit tougher skins, I think, so they can absorb criticism without taking it personally,” she said. “This is a very slippery slope, in my opinion, one that I am adamantly opposed to.”
Jacobs said Miller is an active volunteer who put in many hours for the association and had every right to express an opinion “without fear that there will be retribution for doing so.”
She added the board had essentially already voted on whether to remove Miller, on July 9.
Director Pat Supik agreed.
“I don’t think we should try to control [what gets into newspapers],” she said. “I feel like it’s not in our purview or in our best interest to in any way sanction a member of the community.”
Stevens countered that Miller’s remarks were both vitriolic and damaging and said they gave the appearance that his views represented those of the advisory committees.
“He is on two committees. He is an active and vocal member of those two committees. When he sends a letter to the newspaper he, in fact, is implying that it’s coming from those committees,” Stevens said.
Several members of the audience booed and shouted, “no!” in reply.
“What Mr. Miller is doing is antithetical to role and responsibility of an advisory committee,” Stevens said. “He’s not being thrown out of the association. He can write a dozen letters to the papers and he can start this afternoon. But on the other hand, he can’t do that and serve the board … he can’t make a recommendation to the board and then say, ‘you didn’t follow my recommendation, therefore I’ll get a bunch of people in here and we’ll show you a thing or two.’”
Stevens said Miller’s letters included “one ‘when did you stop beating your wife?’ question after another.”
“I’m on the board. It is not my pleasure that Mr. Miller serve on the board any longer,” Stevens said.
Trendic responded that Miller wrote letters because he represented a public that was frustrated when the board “failed to take actions related to the acting general manager” and his conduct.
At one point, Trendic appeared to become frustrated and started to pack his things.
“I will not be part of this,” Trendic said, although several members of the audience encouraged him to stay and vote.
“The real reason we remove people from committees is because they are damaging or causing harm to the committee. [Miller has] done none of that,” Jacobs said. “There is no way to support a motion to remove him for any damage that he’s caused to the committees. It is simply retaliation and that kind of behavior really needs to stop on this board once and for all.”
Again, the audience burst into applause. Stevens briefly argued with several spectators.
“Anybody can get up and leave if they want to,” he said.
“So can you!” one person shouted.
“You work for us,” another said.
Trendic, Jacobs and Supik voted against removing Miller, while Herrick, Hill and Stevens voted for his removal. Because of the tie vote, Miller will remain on both committees.