(June 9, 2016) Ocean Pines Association’s Comprehensive Planning Committee is apparently down two members, following the resignations of Tom Butler and Mike Evans.
That’s according to OPA Board President Pat Renaud and new committee Chair Frank Daly, who spoke about the situation during the committee’s last meeting, June 1.
Also absent from that session was Steve Cohen, who was asked to resign as chair and sent a letter of resignation from the position to the board of directors last month. In the letter, however, Cohen said he would like to remain on the committee.
The departure of the members follows a fallout between the committee and the board, caused in part by a failed meeting on March 14 that involved the committee and Salisbury University group BEACON and its founder, Dr. Memo Diriker.
Last month, the board terminated a contract with BEACON and the committee’s existence also came into question, something Renaud spoke about last Wednesday.
“After that [March 14] meeting when Dr. Diriker did not show, the board members were very upset – to say the least,” Renaud said. “They were so upset that five out of seven said ‘let’s shut [the committee] down.’”
Renaud said he and Board Vice President Cheryl Jacobs still backed the committee, and with board permission they both traveled to Salisbury to speak with Diriker. The result, he said, was a “long and very productive conversation.”
“During the conversation, Dr. Diriker pretty much said that he thought he had gone about as far as he could go,” Renaud said. “He said that he would like to stop the contract at that point.”
The board agreed to mutually terminate the contract, which included a provision that neither would “say anything bad about each other in way, shape or form.”
“I still believe that this is a necessary committee,” Renaud said, adding that the biggest problem with the group involved the questions it had written for a planned communitywide survey. BEACON had been hired specifically to help with that effort.
“The survey questions … all dwelled in the past,” Renaud said. “They all said ‘how do you feel about the yacht club, how to do you feel about the swimming pool’ instead of saying, ‘What should we do going forward?’”
Of the 60 questions written by the committee for the survey, Renaud said only about three were still relevant.
“Now we’ve got the reserve study almost completed, we’ve got [the capital improvement plan] waiting in the wings. Now we need to know where do we want to go forward,” Renaud said. “What is it that they want?”
He suggested the committee now focus on restructuring the survey, and promised to attend all the committee meetings and lend his support.
Following that fateful meeting in March, Daly said it was clear to the committee members that they had “violated the trust and the confidence of the board.”
Since then the committee has tried to regroup, approving a comprehensive plan outline month and voting 3-0 to approve a new timeline of activities last week. During that meeting, Daly, Gail Blazer and Bill Neville were the only committee members present.
By July, the committee hopes to have a presentation ready to show the board, involving a restructured survey and options to either outsource the questionnaire, or use a free or low-cost option, like Survey Monkey, and keep it in house.
“I’m in that camp. Let’s just do the nice, simple thing and move on,” Neville said. “We’re holding up progress.”
Renaud cautioned that the committee would have to move quickly. In August as many as three new board members could take office.
“I don’t know who’s going to be on the next board,” he said. “We could have a totally negative board or we could have a totally positive board.”
The committee will next meet on June 9 at 4:30 p.m. in the community center.
That’s according to OPA Board President Pat Renaud and new committee Chair Frank Daly, who spoke about the situation during the committee’s last meeting, June 1.
Also absent from that session was Steve Cohen, who was asked to resign as chair and sent a letter of resignation from the position to the board of directors last month. In the letter, however, Cohen said he would like to remain on the committee.
The departure of the members follows a fallout between the committee and the board, caused in part by a failed meeting on March 14 that involved the committee and Salisbury University group BEACON and its founder, Dr. Memo Diriker.
Last month, the board terminated a contract with BEACON and the committee’s existence also came into question, something Renaud spoke about last Wednesday.
“After that [March 14] meeting when Dr. Diriker did not show, the board members were very upset – to say the least,” Renaud said. “They were so upset that five out of seven said ‘let’s shut [the committee] down.’”
Renaud said he and Board Vice President Cheryl Jacobs still backed the committee, and with board permission they both traveled to Salisbury to speak with Diriker. The result, he said, was a “long and very productive conversation.”
“During the conversation, Dr. Diriker pretty much said that he thought he had gone about as far as he could go,” Renaud said. “He said that he would like to stop the contract at that point.”
The board agreed to mutually terminate the contract, which included a provision that neither would “say anything bad about each other in way, shape or form.”
“I still believe that this is a necessary committee,” Renaud said, adding that the biggest problem with the group involved the questions it had written for a planned communitywide survey. BEACON had been hired specifically to help with that effort.
“The survey questions … all dwelled in the past,” Renaud said. “They all said ‘how do you feel about the yacht club, how to do you feel about the swimming pool’ instead of saying, ‘What should we do going forward?’”
Of the 60 questions written by the committee for the survey, Renaud said only about three were still relevant.
“Now we’ve got the reserve study almost completed, we’ve got [the capital improvement plan] waiting in the wings. Now we need to know where do we want to go forward,” Renaud said. “What is it that they want?”
He suggested the committee now focus on restructuring the survey, and promised to attend all the committee meetings and lend his support.
Following that fateful meeting in March, Daly said it was clear to the committee members that they had “violated the trust and the confidence of the board.”
Since then the committee has tried to regroup, approving a comprehensive plan outline month and voting 3-0 to approve a new timeline of activities last week. During that meeting, Daly, Gail Blazer and Bill Neville were the only committee members present.
By July, the committee hopes to have a presentation ready to show the board, involving a restructured survey and options to either outsource the questionnaire, or use a free or low-cost option, like Survey Monkey, and keep it in house.
“I’m in that camp. Let’s just do the nice, simple thing and move on,” Neville said. “We’re holding up progress.”
Renaud cautioned that the committee would have to move quickly. In August as many as three new board members could take office.
“I don’t know who’s going to be on the next board,” he said. “We could have a totally negative board or we could have a totally positive board.”
The committee will next meet on June 9 at 4:30 p.m. in the community center.