Let’s take a breath and reflect on how the dismissal of Ocean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson last week will affect the community’s property owners, who are, after all, the real stakeholders in this mess.
How about not at all? Unless some unusually bizarre twist takes place — and no jokes about how bizarre that would have to be to qualify as “unusual” — property owners will experience about as much change as they did when Thompson took over for GM Tom Olson in 2010.
Back then, Olson had been expected to work toward making the association’s amenities profitable. That didn’t happen, he was let go and life went on. Thompson was brought in to do the things that Olson didn’t or couldn’t do and that, apparently, didn’t happen either. Life will go on in this case as well.
Community association managers, like city managers and county administrators, come and go relatively quickly in the scheme of things, and rare to nonexistent would be a subsequent societal collapse.
Obviously, some lose their jobs because they can’t do the work. In other instances, this turnover is more about politics and ego than it is ability, as some elected officials tend to believe they know more than the manager about how things should run, while the manager resents and resists the interference or is aligned with the wrong side in policy arguments.
The Thompson dismissal falls into the politics and ego category. Regardless of his performance, whether it was good, bad or indifferent, he gets the blame for all the things board members say they will fix — and can’t— when they run for office.
The reality is there’s no such thing as a quick turnaround of any major problem in any democratically elected government at any level. People desperately want to believe it can happen (see presidential elections for reference) and they’re wrong.
Of greater concern to property owners is how Thompson’s firing was handled.
The board’s four-member majority sprang its privately discussed decision on the other three directors without notice and without discussion. That is such a clear sign of disrespect for them that the board’s capacity to work together to address significant matters in the year ahead is close to ruined.
That’s the real concern for property owners, who would no doubt like to see some progress made in certain areas instead of the usual disharmonious showdowns between factions that just don’t trust each other.
This also must be especially frustrating for the only two female members of the board, Cheryl Jacobs and Pat Supik, who, despite their considerable abilities (as well as Cheryl Jacobs’ intelligent punch list of things the board should attend to) are apparently going to be ignored, as the male directors harrumph their way through the agendas.
Ocean Pines has been through manager controversies before without property owners feeling much of a ripple and that’s how this one will play out as well.
But as for the board’s effectiveness and its ability to function smoothly and respectfully? That’s the question.
How about not at all? Unless some unusually bizarre twist takes place — and no jokes about how bizarre that would have to be to qualify as “unusual” — property owners will experience about as much change as they did when Thompson took over for GM Tom Olson in 2010.
Back then, Olson had been expected to work toward making the association’s amenities profitable. That didn’t happen, he was let go and life went on. Thompson was brought in to do the things that Olson didn’t or couldn’t do and that, apparently, didn’t happen either. Life will go on in this case as well.
Community association managers, like city managers and county administrators, come and go relatively quickly in the scheme of things, and rare to nonexistent would be a subsequent societal collapse.
Obviously, some lose their jobs because they can’t do the work. In other instances, this turnover is more about politics and ego than it is ability, as some elected officials tend to believe they know more than the manager about how things should run, while the manager resents and resists the interference or is aligned with the wrong side in policy arguments.
The Thompson dismissal falls into the politics and ego category. Regardless of his performance, whether it was good, bad or indifferent, he gets the blame for all the things board members say they will fix — and can’t— when they run for office.
The reality is there’s no such thing as a quick turnaround of any major problem in any democratically elected government at any level. People desperately want to believe it can happen (see presidential elections for reference) and they’re wrong.
Of greater concern to property owners is how Thompson’s firing was handled.
The board’s four-member majority sprang its privately discussed decision on the other three directors without notice and without discussion. That is such a clear sign of disrespect for them that the board’s capacity to work together to address significant matters in the year ahead is close to ruined.
That’s the real concern for property owners, who would no doubt like to see some progress made in certain areas instead of the usual disharmonious showdowns between factions that just don’t trust each other.
This also must be especially frustrating for the only two female members of the board, Cheryl Jacobs and Pat Supik, who, despite their considerable abilities (as well as Cheryl Jacobs’ intelligent punch list of things the board should attend to) are apparently going to be ignored, as the male directors harrumph their way through the agendas.
Ocean Pines has been through manager controversies before without property owners feeling much of a ripple and that’s how this one will play out as well.
But as for the board’s effectiveness and its ability to function smoothly and respectfully? That’s the question.