With each passing month during the course of the forensic audit of the Ocean Pines Association’s ledgers, speculating about what the investigation might reveal became almost a parlor game amongst a fair number of property owners. Those would be the ones who, for various reasons, keep a close eye on the association’s management and board… Read more »
Editorial
Pines better off with in-house management
In most instances, the local administration of community or business affairs is better than regional or broader corporate management, which frequently suffers from a lack of knowledge about the area it serves. As many an operator of a corporate-owned outpost will admit, a fair amount of time is wasted trying to work around one-size-fits-all directives… Read more »
Do more than thank them for their service
Dear veterans and active duty military personnel: Thank you for your service … whoever you are. Chances are we don’t know you, what you’re like, where you’re from or what you’ll be doing tomorrow. Still, it makes us feel patriotic to say it, like we’re in this with you all the way, even though we… Read more »
Berlin at crossroads of preservation and cost
Letter writer Jeff Smith makes a good point this week: no one wants to see a repeat of the money scramble Berlin officials and residents experienced during this year’s budget process. It’s certain that the mayor and council don’t want to go through that mess again, and property owners, who never like tax surprises, will… Read more »
Low approval rates impacting elections
When most people in Ocean Pines rate the current board of directors’ performance as between fair and poor, it’s no wonder candidates aren’t lining up to vie for one of the three seats up for election this year. That’s according to the results of the community survey conducted last summer by the Communications Advisory Committee…. Read more »
If they hadn’t built it, nobody would’ve come
The irony of the Town of Berlin’s budget and taxation predicament is if it had focused on maintaining a financially self-sufficient water and wastewater operation 10 or 15 years ago, kept tax rates closer to that of other area towns, and not devoted so many resources to infrastructure improvements and revitalizing the town’s economy and… Read more »
OPA candidates like playing waiting game
With no candidates having filed to run for the Ocean Pines Board of Directors and just three weeks left until the May 10 filing deadline, and no board-appointed candidate search committee out scouring the neighborhoods for possible participants, this year’s Ocean Pines election is … not shaping up. This doesn’t mean there won’t be a… Read more »
Gazette Editorial: Credit due for Ocean Pines’ fiscal recovery
Rare would be the business that could say its operations suffered a million-dollar loss against budget the year before, but would reduce that by half in the current year and post a profit in the next. Rarer still would be the organization that foundered in a $1.3 million sea of red ink and 12 months… Read more »
Editorial Cartoon: Slobodan Trendic
Gazette Editorial: Ethics generally deal with actions, not words
The Berlin Ethics Commission’s decision that At-Large Councilman Thom Gulyas committed no breach when he allegedly criticized a citizen in harsh terms during a telephone call is almost a head-shaker. This isn’t because the commission failed to do its job, or that Gulyas was right or wrong or that public officials just shouldn’t criticize non-officeholders…. Read more »