Although the matter was discussed Thursday and whatever resolution might have resulted occurred after this publication went to press, the philosophy behind the proposal to form a committee to study the Ocean Pines Association’s management situation by itself deserves some discussion.
The short question, obviously, is why the OPA Board of Directors needs a committee to do what it is capable of doing itself?
As it is, governments, including homeowners associations, occasionally create committees or employ independent consulting firms to produce studies to justify politically what they want to do anyway.
We’re not saying that what this approach is about, nor are we saying that the work of all such groups is pointless — the OPA Budget Committee, for instance, performs a valuable service – but there are situations when the purpose of an ad hoc entity is to seek answers to questions that members of a governing body don’t to explore publicly.
In this particular instance, it appears there is some thought on the board that the OPA might be better off without General Manager Bob Thompson, whose contract is up for discussion this spring, and that signing on with an outside management group might provide better management continuity.
The situation would be much cleaner and clearer, however, if the board members who feel this way would just say so and suggest that someone on the board call major HOA management firms directly and ask for a presentation.
Similarly, the board has done and can still do what the Town of Ocean City did this past year, when it let its city manager go and, per the city charter, called on Mayor Rick Meehan to fill in until a suitable replacement could be found.
Having solid department heads, which Ocean Pines has as well, make that sort of thing possible.
True, changing management can be a big deal, but given the composition of the board of directors, they are equipped to handle the matter themselves.