(May 11, 2017) Dr. Colette Horn is hoping to bring “a fresh perspective” to the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors.
Horn has owned property in Ocean Pines since 2009, but said she only started to pay close attention to the governance of the community during the last year or two.
“A lot of that has to do with the fact that [her husband] Gerry is a compulsive newspaper reader,” Horn said. “He would read these things in the newspaper and say, ‘listen to this – look what those guys have done now!’ So I started reading … and started noticing, yeah, there is some decision-making here that doesn’t seem terribly sound.”
That led Horn, 65, to file for election this year.
Originally from Wisconsin, she and her husband moved to Maryland in 1992. They also own a home in Hartford County.
Horn has a master’s in education from Marquette University and a doctorate in psychology from the University of Southern California. She has worked primarily with children and adolescents and has a specialty in developmental disabilities.
She also taught at several colleges, including Antioch University in California, served on consulting board for law enforcement agencies in Los Angels County and has numerous papers published in peer-review journals.
Horn now runs a psychological services business with her husband. He is also a member of the Ocean Pines Clubs Advisory Committee.
“The thing that caused concern for me is I wasn’t confident there was sound decision-making going on,” Horn said. “It didn’t seem to be based on objective data and facts. There seemed to be a lot of opinions.”
Horn said she views Ocean Pines as having three distinct constituencies: full-time residents, part-time residents and landlords. She feels not all of those are being represented well.
She and her husband, for instance, live in Ocean Pines during the colder months and go north during the summer. As such, she would like to see the amenities she pays for to stay open year-round.
Horn is a regular at Mumford’s Landing, where she goes to watch football each week during the season. She is not always pleased with the service or the quality, and said there are still plenty of issues that need to be addressed.
“One time I went over there and I really wanted to see the game and the bartender told me ‘I’ve been told that I have to close early today.’ It had to do with one of the weather events where there were high winds, but there were a bunch of customers who wanted to be there and were upset,” she said. “He told me, ‘I’ve turned away a lot of customers today and I’m not happy that I have to close – but I have to close.’
“There are management issues where I wonder how those decisions are made, what is the accountability, what kind of performance evaluation is in process for the GM and where is the accountability for the department heads and the people who run the amenities?” Horn said.
After she wrote a public letter to the board last month about the controversial policy change at the Oasis pool, she said several people approached her about running for office.
“Based on being a trustee [on a board in Hartford County] I had an idea of what I might be getting into as far as the workload goes,” she said.
Horn attended the most recent board work session and then studied the meeting video before making her decision.
“I had this hunch and I thought, well let me see how these people interact,” she said. “Let’s see how they engage in the decision-making process and get a sense of, is this something that would drive me stark-raving mad or is this something that I think I could contribute to in a positive way if I were elected?”
As for the Oasis pool and Family Fun Night, Horn said the board did the right thing – eventually.
“What I asked for was that it not move forward until the board had a chance to give it due consideration, discuss it and put it through the parliamentary process. That’s what they did and that’s what I was looking for,” she said.
“I wasn’t about the pool, for me – it was about the decision-making process,” she added. “The board wasn’t the one that made the decision. It was a policy change that is the purview of the board – not the GM.
“That’s the kind of stuff that concerns me, that decisions are happening, changings are being made without proper … adherence to the limits and scope of the roles of the people making decisions,” Horn said. “It seems like there are a lot of opinions and agendas that are not necessarily consistent with the responsibility to protect the financial investment of the membership and to protect our property.”
Horn said her experience as a researcher who went through the vigor of a university Ph.D. program would make her an asset to the board, as would her career experience.
“I think I bring a perspective that’s different,” she said. “From my training as a psychologist, I’m trained to look at things from different perspectives and different angles and to understand and to respect different points of view that people have on the same issue or the same problem.
“I think that’s a valuable thing for the board, to be able to step out of your own skin and look at these problems and challenges from a variety or perspectives – or at least be able to listen to different perspectives without bias and preconception and closing down the argument just because it’s different,” Horn added.
She said her part-time residency would not get in the way of serving on the board. Horn is able to set her own work schedule and she discussed balancing the workload with a career with several current directors.
“We’re here usually Thursday through Monday, every week,” she said. “I compress my work into a few days, and our long-term plan well could evolve into us moving here permanently. That is why we bought property here – we anticipated at some point we would be here full time.”
Horn set up an email address to answer questions and concerns from potential voters at VoteForDrHorn@gmail.com.
Horn has owned property in Ocean Pines since 2009, but said she only started to pay close attention to the governance of the community during the last year or two.
“A lot of that has to do with the fact that [her husband] Gerry is a compulsive newspaper reader,” Horn said. “He would read these things in the newspaper and say, ‘listen to this – look what those guys have done now!’ So I started reading … and started noticing, yeah, there is some decision-making here that doesn’t seem terribly sound.”
That led Horn, 65, to file for election this year.
Originally from Wisconsin, she and her husband moved to Maryland in 1992. They also own a home in Hartford County.
Horn has a master’s in education from Marquette University and a doctorate in psychology from the University of Southern California. She has worked primarily with children and adolescents and has a specialty in developmental disabilities.
She also taught at several colleges, including Antioch University in California, served on consulting board for law enforcement agencies in Los Angels County and has numerous papers published in peer-review journals.
Horn now runs a psychological services business with her husband. He is also a member of the Ocean Pines Clubs Advisory Committee.
“The thing that caused concern for me is I wasn’t confident there was sound decision-making going on,” Horn said. “It didn’t seem to be based on objective data and facts. There seemed to be a lot of opinions.”
Horn said she views Ocean Pines as having three distinct constituencies: full-time residents, part-time residents and landlords. She feels not all of those are being represented well.
She and her husband, for instance, live in Ocean Pines during the colder months and go north during the summer. As such, she would like to see the amenities she pays for to stay open year-round.
Horn is a regular at Mumford’s Landing, where she goes to watch football each week during the season. She is not always pleased with the service or the quality, and said there are still plenty of issues that need to be addressed.
“One time I went over there and I really wanted to see the game and the bartender told me ‘I’ve been told that I have to close early today.’ It had to do with one of the weather events where there were high winds, but there were a bunch of customers who wanted to be there and were upset,” she said. “He told me, ‘I’ve turned away a lot of customers today and I’m not happy that I have to close – but I have to close.’
“There are management issues where I wonder how those decisions are made, what is the accountability, what kind of performance evaluation is in process for the GM and where is the accountability for the department heads and the people who run the amenities?” Horn said.
After she wrote a public letter to the board last month about the controversial policy change at the Oasis pool, she said several people approached her about running for office.
“Based on being a trustee [on a board in Hartford County] I had an idea of what I might be getting into as far as the workload goes,” she said.
Horn attended the most recent board work session and then studied the meeting video before making her decision.
“I had this hunch and I thought, well let me see how these people interact,” she said. “Let’s see how they engage in the decision-making process and get a sense of, is this something that would drive me stark-raving mad or is this something that I think I could contribute to in a positive way if I were elected?”
As for the Oasis pool and Family Fun Night, Horn said the board did the right thing – eventually.
“What I asked for was that it not move forward until the board had a chance to give it due consideration, discuss it and put it through the parliamentary process. That’s what they did and that’s what I was looking for,” she said.
“I wasn’t about the pool, for me – it was about the decision-making process,” she added. “The board wasn’t the one that made the decision. It was a policy change that is the purview of the board – not the GM.
“That’s the kind of stuff that concerns me, that decisions are happening, changings are being made without proper … adherence to the limits and scope of the roles of the people making decisions,” Horn said. “It seems like there are a lot of opinions and agendas that are not necessarily consistent with the responsibility to protect the financial investment of the membership and to protect our property.”
Horn said her experience as a researcher who went through the vigor of a university Ph.D. program would make her an asset to the board, as would her career experience.
“I think I bring a perspective that’s different,” she said. “From my training as a psychologist, I’m trained to look at things from different perspectives and different angles and to understand and to respect different points of view that people have on the same issue or the same problem.
“I think that’s a valuable thing for the board, to be able to step out of your own skin and look at these problems and challenges from a variety or perspectives – or at least be able to listen to different perspectives without bias and preconception and closing down the argument just because it’s different,” Horn added.
She said her part-time residency would not get in the way of serving on the board. Horn is able to set her own work schedule and she discussed balancing the workload with a career with several current directors.
“We’re here usually Thursday through Monday, every week,” she said. “I compress my work into a few days, and our long-term plan well could evolve into us moving here permanently. That is why we bought property here – we anticipated at some point we would be here full time.”
Horn set up an email address to answer questions and concerns from potential voters at VoteForDrHorn@gmail.com.