(March 17, 2016) The OPA Board of Directors met with members of its comprehensive planning committee on Monday to finalize questions for a study that is to be the basis of a long-term comprehensive plan.
That meeting was short lived, however, as BEACON Director Dr. Memo Diriker did not show up for the session.
Last March, the board voted 5-1 to hire the Business, Economic, and Community Outreach Network (BEACON) group, based at Salisbury University, for $33,000. During that meeting, Diriker said a grant from SU would cover half that cost, because he planned to use the data collected as a learning tool for graduate students.
Under the Diriker’s direction, the comprehensive planning committee had worked for several months to develop a questionnaire that would be sent to both homeowners and residents at all 8,452 homes in Ocean Pines. Before that could be done, the board had to approve the questions.
During a committee meeting on March 2, Diriker discussed his availability to attend a special board meeting to do just that.
“Luck would have it, the morning of the 14th was open,” Diriker told the committee and Board President Pat Renaud, in attendance. “If we send [the questionnaire] ahead of them, it shouldn’t take about an hour.”
Diriker agreed to an 8:30 a.m. start to the meeting, and said he would have the questions ready for the directors to preview by Monday, March 7. Renaud said he would call the meeting for March 14.
On Monday there was exactly one item up for discussion on the agenda – the comprehensive plan survey. Several directors came loaded with questions. Diriker, however, had taken the day off for medical reasons. He said in a later interview that he informed committee Chairman Steve Cohen of the change in his schedule, but that Cohen apparently forgot.
The board members attempted to carry on with the meeting, with Director Jack Collins suggesting that the committee make a presentation. Collins said he was uncertain of the survey’s purpose or what it entailed.
“I’m unaware, as I think most board members are,” he said.
Cohen said the study would be the “first part of our comprehensive plan,” and would help his committee advise the board.
He estimated around “70 percent of the people in Ocean Pines” could be reached via email. Hard copies of the survey would also be made available via mail, and public computers could be set up specifically for the questionnaire.
“Dr. Diriker said he’s done this for 25 years, and there are programs … that prevent fraud,” Cohen said. “I don’t really understand, but he can tell where these answers are coming from, based on the program.”
Cohen said the questionnaire would be released on April 15 and hoped it could be collected by the end of May.
“Once we get these answers back, we will then sit down as a committee and get an idea what the people want, where they think we are,” he said.
During the second phase of the study, Cohen said Diriker would use the data to create computer modules that would help “set priorities.” Diriker had demonstrated such modules on March 2, when only one board member, Renaud, was in attendance.
“I have not seen one tangible thing to tell me what these programs are going to do, or what they consist of, or what the relationships are within the programs,” Director Dave Stevens said. “What is it, and if you can’t say what it is, then I think we have good reason to be suspect.”
Director Cheryl Jacobs made the point that Diriker had already discussed the survey during prior meetings.
“I’m kind of not understanding why, all of the sudden, there is this lack of knowledge about this, when it obviously was discussed at length before the prior board voted to go ahead with this expenditure,” she said. “I’m not understanding why you would have done that without having any sort of knowledge [with] what you were paying for.”
Collins said he was not present during that original vote. Stevens, who was president of the board when the item was approved – and voted yes – admitted he did not fully grasp the concept.
“If you’re asking did we vote for something without understanding [it], I can tell you right now it’s one of the few times that I’ve done it,” he said. “I absolutely voted for that without knowing what we were going to get out of it – and I still don’t know.”
Bill Cordwell, the lone “no” vote when the board approved the study, said he still did not know what the association expected to get out of it.
“If we were looking for college kids sitting behind a computer to tell us we were going to do with our community, then that scared me,” he said.
Jacobs then suggested having the meeting, without having Diriker there to answer questions, was a “complete waste of time.”
“I have questions, of course, about all of this … but Dr. Diriker is not here. That is the person that I thought was supposed to be here to be able to deal with our questions,” she said. “I think this needs to be rescheduled when we know he’s going to be available.”
Director Tom Terry moved to discontinue the meeting and reschedule when Diriker could attend. The board agreed unanimously.
That meeting was short lived, however, as BEACON Director Dr. Memo Diriker did not show up for the session.
Last March, the board voted 5-1 to hire the Business, Economic, and Community Outreach Network (BEACON) group, based at Salisbury University, for $33,000. During that meeting, Diriker said a grant from SU would cover half that cost, because he planned to use the data collected as a learning tool for graduate students.
Under the Diriker’s direction, the comprehensive planning committee had worked for several months to develop a questionnaire that would be sent to both homeowners and residents at all 8,452 homes in Ocean Pines. Before that could be done, the board had to approve the questions.
During a committee meeting on March 2, Diriker discussed his availability to attend a special board meeting to do just that.
“Luck would have it, the morning of the 14th was open,” Diriker told the committee and Board President Pat Renaud, in attendance. “If we send [the questionnaire] ahead of them, it shouldn’t take about an hour.”
Diriker agreed to an 8:30 a.m. start to the meeting, and said he would have the questions ready for the directors to preview by Monday, March 7. Renaud said he would call the meeting for March 14.
On Monday there was exactly one item up for discussion on the agenda – the comprehensive plan survey. Several directors came loaded with questions. Diriker, however, had taken the day off for medical reasons. He said in a later interview that he informed committee Chairman Steve Cohen of the change in his schedule, but that Cohen apparently forgot.
The board members attempted to carry on with the meeting, with Director Jack Collins suggesting that the committee make a presentation. Collins said he was uncertain of the survey’s purpose or what it entailed.
“I’m unaware, as I think most board members are,” he said.
Cohen said the study would be the “first part of our comprehensive plan,” and would help his committee advise the board.
He estimated around “70 percent of the people in Ocean Pines” could be reached via email. Hard copies of the survey would also be made available via mail, and public computers could be set up specifically for the questionnaire.
“Dr. Diriker said he’s done this for 25 years, and there are programs … that prevent fraud,” Cohen said. “I don’t really understand, but he can tell where these answers are coming from, based on the program.”
Cohen said the questionnaire would be released on April 15 and hoped it could be collected by the end of May.
“Once we get these answers back, we will then sit down as a committee and get an idea what the people want, where they think we are,” he said.
During the second phase of the study, Cohen said Diriker would use the data to create computer modules that would help “set priorities.” Diriker had demonstrated such modules on March 2, when only one board member, Renaud, was in attendance.
“I have not seen one tangible thing to tell me what these programs are going to do, or what they consist of, or what the relationships are within the programs,” Director Dave Stevens said. “What is it, and if you can’t say what it is, then I think we have good reason to be suspect.”
Director Cheryl Jacobs made the point that Diriker had already discussed the survey during prior meetings.
“I’m kind of not understanding why, all of the sudden, there is this lack of knowledge about this, when it obviously was discussed at length before the prior board voted to go ahead with this expenditure,” she said. “I’m not understanding why you would have done that without having any sort of knowledge [with] what you were paying for.”
Collins said he was not present during that original vote. Stevens, who was president of the board when the item was approved – and voted yes – admitted he did not fully grasp the concept.
“If you’re asking did we vote for something without understanding [it], I can tell you right now it’s one of the few times that I’ve done it,” he said. “I absolutely voted for that without knowing what we were going to get out of it – and I still don’t know.”
Bill Cordwell, the lone “no” vote when the board approved the study, said he still did not know what the association expected to get out of it.
“If we were looking for college kids sitting behind a computer to tell us we were going to do with our community, then that scared me,” he said.
Jacobs then suggested having the meeting, without having Diriker there to answer questions, was a “complete waste of time.”
“I have questions, of course, about all of this … but Dr. Diriker is not here. That is the person that I thought was supposed to be here to be able to deal with our questions,” she said. “I think this needs to be rescheduled when we know he’s going to be available.”
Director Tom Terry moved to discontinue the meeting and reschedule when Diriker could attend. The board agreed unanimously.