(Dec. 29, 2016) Newly elected leadership in Ocean Pines worked swiftly to make good on a key election promise to fire General Manager Bob Thompson just days after the results were announced.
On Aug. 21, the board met and elected Tom Herrick, the leading vote-getter in 2015, the new president, replacing Pat Renaud after one year in that office.
Veteran Director Dave Stevens was elected vice president and two newly elected directors, Slobodan Trendic and Pat Supik, were confirmed as secretary and treasurer, respectively.
Brett Hill, who received the most votes during the summer election, was not appointed to an office.
Five days later, the new board fired Thompson in a 4-3 vote and appointed Hill as interim general manager.
Thompson, whose six-year tenure as the association’s chief operating officer was a political lightning rod during the election, worked at the pleasure of the board and was dismissed for “convenience,” or without specific cause.
The vote happened during a closed meeting and followed a special session of the board in the administration building. As the board wrapped up its more routine business, Hill called for a closed session to discuss “contractual issues … specifically the general manager’s contract.”
Although Hill’s motion related to a potential renegotiation of Thompson’s agreement, he tabled his proposal once the closed session began and, according to reports, Stevens then introduced a motion to dismiss Thompson immediately.
“It was a guise – it was a setup,” Renaud later said in an interview. “We were all shocked. When (Hill’s motion) was tabled, Dave said, ‘Well, I have an alternative motion.’ I said to him, before we table the motion, I’d like to know what the alternate is, and he said ‘no.’ So, they tabled the motion and he produced this alternative, which was to fire [Thompson].
“I thought it was unusual, at least from the standpoint of Brett, why didn’t he go back and say, ‘I won’t vote for the motion – I would rather go back to the table.’ But he didn’t. So, it was a setup all the way.”
According to Renaud, when Herrick appointed Hill as the interim general manager, Hill replied that he “had a business to run.”
“He didn’t object too strongly,” Renaud added.
Thompson was not present during any portion of the meeting, but was presumed to be in his office working just a few feet away from the boardroom.
“[The directors] were all sort of sitting around looking at each other and I said to Tom, you have to go tell him – you’re the president,” Renaud said. “He did not like that.”
Leaving the building that night, Renaud said the lights were still on in Thompson’s office.
“I don’t think Bob was surprised about it at all, but I was surprised that it was this fast,” Renaud said. “Obviously, this special meeting was a setup to get Bob. I hate to be that way, but the way it came down, that’s what the whole intent of the meeting was – was to fire Bob.”
According to reports, Thompson’s severance package includes nine months pay and benefits, as well as compensation for any unused vacation time, believed to be valued at a total of close to $200,000.
Thompson became general manager in August 2010 after a newly elected board ended its contract with then-general manager Tom Olson, who had been brought on in October 2006.
Olson fell out of favor with the board for failing to make the association’s amenities, especially the yacht club, profitable.
That was a complicated move in that Thompson, who operated a financial advisory business in West Ocean City, was a member of the board of directors while also running for Worcester County commissioner against eventual winner Judy Boggs. He stepped down as a director to assume the general manager’s post and closed his business.
A day after the firing, Hill issued a statement on the matter.
“To the residents of Ocean Pines, thank you to all of you who voted for me to serve on your board of directors,” he wrote. “When I was elected two weeks ago, I would never have thought in such a short period of time my peers would ask me to step up and serve the community as an interim general manager.
“I am very confident in the staff of our association and I firmly believe that the community is in a strong position. This community is not run by one person, but a large staff that possess a wide range of skills and deep knowledge base within their trade to support the diversity of services offered by our HOA. That staff will still be here, as it was during the last general manager change, continuing to support our daily operations.
“The next few months, under the guidance of the current board, will allow this community to take a fresh look at our future plans, and set the course for the next chapter of Ocean Pines. I believe the short tenure of the new board has already shown we have a great leadership team. We took aggressive steps early in the board year to start setting our financial plans, commenced budget reform and project evaluations, and we implemented measures to begin moving our community forward. I am honored to work with a team of such fine individuals, and know with their support, we will quickly move to bring the best solution for the management of the Association.
“Additionally, I wish to thank all of those who support our community as volunteers, like myself. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but trust that with all of the support that exists within the community, we will make great things happen and enjoy the success together.”
Renaud announced his resignation from the board during the following week, as did the entire membership of the Ocean Pines Association Elections Committee.
During a phone interview Renaud said, simply, “I’ve had enough.”
He said he had handed in a formal resignation letter and sent copies to each director.
The termination of Thompson’s contract, Renaud added, was “one of the main reasons” for his resignation.
“Another reason is that I have had some health problems that I have to take care of,” Renaud said. “I’ve had enough. I’ve talked to my doctor and everything. It’s all done.
“I don’t think there’s anything I could accomplish in this year if I stayed on, except to be more frustrated” he added.
Renaud had missed several meetings because of health issues and was once hospitalized after being diagnosed with sepsis and cellulitis.
On Sept. 9, Doug Parks was selected to replace Renaud on the board. Parks had finished ninth during the August vote.
Election Committee Chairman Bill Wentworth and committee members Steve Smith, Cheryl Bissell and Judy Butler also announced resignations.
In part, Wentworth said the committee members left because of controversies that arose during the most-recent election cycle, which officially ended with the announcement of three new directors on Aug. 13.
Several of the candidates and some board members believed the votes should be counted in public as opposed to the closed vote-count under current Ocean Pines guidelines.
“It all rolls back to, we were in a situation where the bylaws and the resolutions, which everyone is expected to follow, we followed to the Nth degree and unfortunately we had two board of directors who didn’t think it was important to follow those things,” Wentworth said.
“They kept pimping the idea of, ‘well it should be transparent – people should be able to be in there,’ which is a violation – until they change it – of the resolutions and the bylaws.”
Wentworth said the firing of Thompson affected the timeline of his decision.
“I definitely was not going to do another round of [committee work], but the fact of Bob Thompson being terminated certainly had an impact on my feelings toward exactly how I was going to end what I was doing,” he said. “I had some things together for the year-end report, but I’m just not going to do it.
“What’s going on [with the new board] just makes no sense at all,” Wentworth continued. “You’ve got a group of people who are in a situation for maybe seven or eight days, and then they’re going to fire somebody. You just can’t live with some of the things that they’re doing – that they’ve done.”
He went on to say there was “no rhyme or reason” to the actions of the new board.
“It seems to me they want to make change just for change’s sake,” he said. “I think it may have devastating effects on the direction of the community with what’s going to happen.
“I feel sorry for the employees,” Wentworth added. “They’re under the gun. If they did that to the general manager with no provocation – or in the night of darkness so to speak – what could happen to one of these people if they happen to say the wrong thing? Are they going to just move them out? It’s got to be a very uncomfortable climate for those people who are working in the administration office, and I feel for them.”
In a separate interview, Thompson later admitted he was not at all surprised at his dismissal.
“Any time there’s a change in a board of directors – and certainly in Ocean Pines – it opens up the opportunity for changes, either in direction or in management itself,” he said. “I think Tom Herrick dealt with it appropriately. It’s a tough situation.”
He did, however, admit the move was a “disappointing” one.
“At the same time the board has the right to make decisions. The community voted for the new board members that were clear on the direction that they wanted to head in, and the community supported that,” he said.
“I can’t really fault anybody – it’s the process. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” he added. “The community spoke and the board took the action they thought they were elected to do. I can’t have hard feelings about that.”
Thompson feels he is leaving the association on strong footing. Ocean Pines was again named one of the safest communities in the state, based on its low crime rate, and amenities like the yacht club were honored by several publications as “best” in the region.
He said he was “absolutely” upbeat about the future of Ocean Pines.
“I’ve been here a long time. For me, I support the community where I live and I think I’ve shown that over the years,” he said. “I’ve raised my kids here, I’ve been involved building playgrounds and being on all the committees. I was very active and involved, and I think I did it with integrity and being upfront. Admittedly, I have a strong personality, but that’s part of what I believe a good leader has to do.”
“I appreciate the opportunity to serve the community for six years,” Thompson continued. “I feel real good from where we started to where we are. From when I arrived to when I departed, I think the community is stronger for it and I feel pretty good about that. I like to think I leave a place a little better then when I stepped into it, and with the team in place now, I feel very comfortable that’s occurred.”
During the most recent board meeting, Dec. 9, Hill said two other directors had helped narrow a list of general manager search firms down to three, and said request for quotes would be drafted shortly.
Ironically, Hill came under fire during a meeting on Dec. 5 when members of his company, FTS Fiber, made a presentation to bring high-speed Internet infrastructure to the community.
Hill recused himself during the pitch, but some members of the board and the association suggested a conflict of interest was present and called on him to resign.
On Aug. 21, the board met and elected Tom Herrick, the leading vote-getter in 2015, the new president, replacing Pat Renaud after one year in that office.
Veteran Director Dave Stevens was elected vice president and two newly elected directors, Slobodan Trendic and Pat Supik, were confirmed as secretary and treasurer, respectively.
Brett Hill, who received the most votes during the summer election, was not appointed to an office.
Five days later, the new board fired Thompson in a 4-3 vote and appointed Hill as interim general manager.
Thompson, whose six-year tenure as the association’s chief operating officer was a political lightning rod during the election, worked at the pleasure of the board and was dismissed for “convenience,” or without specific cause.
The vote happened during a closed meeting and followed a special session of the board in the administration building. As the board wrapped up its more routine business, Hill called for a closed session to discuss “contractual issues … specifically the general manager’s contract.”
Although Hill’s motion related to a potential renegotiation of Thompson’s agreement, he tabled his proposal once the closed session began and, according to reports, Stevens then introduced a motion to dismiss Thompson immediately.
“It was a guise – it was a setup,” Renaud later said in an interview. “We were all shocked. When (Hill’s motion) was tabled, Dave said, ‘Well, I have an alternative motion.’ I said to him, before we table the motion, I’d like to know what the alternate is, and he said ‘no.’ So, they tabled the motion and he produced this alternative, which was to fire [Thompson].
“I thought it was unusual, at least from the standpoint of Brett, why didn’t he go back and say, ‘I won’t vote for the motion – I would rather go back to the table.’ But he didn’t. So, it was a setup all the way.”
According to Renaud, when Herrick appointed Hill as the interim general manager, Hill replied that he “had a business to run.”
“He didn’t object too strongly,” Renaud added.
Thompson was not present during any portion of the meeting, but was presumed to be in his office working just a few feet away from the boardroom.
“[The directors] were all sort of sitting around looking at each other and I said to Tom, you have to go tell him – you’re the president,” Renaud said. “He did not like that.”
Leaving the building that night, Renaud said the lights were still on in Thompson’s office.
“I don’t think Bob was surprised about it at all, but I was surprised that it was this fast,” Renaud said. “Obviously, this special meeting was a setup to get Bob. I hate to be that way, but the way it came down, that’s what the whole intent of the meeting was – was to fire Bob.”
According to reports, Thompson’s severance package includes nine months pay and benefits, as well as compensation for any unused vacation time, believed to be valued at a total of close to $200,000.
Thompson became general manager in August 2010 after a newly elected board ended its contract with then-general manager Tom Olson, who had been brought on in October 2006.
Olson fell out of favor with the board for failing to make the association’s amenities, especially the yacht club, profitable.
That was a complicated move in that Thompson, who operated a financial advisory business in West Ocean City, was a member of the board of directors while also running for Worcester County commissioner against eventual winner Judy Boggs. He stepped down as a director to assume the general manager’s post and closed his business.
A day after the firing, Hill issued a statement on the matter.
“To the residents of Ocean Pines, thank you to all of you who voted for me to serve on your board of directors,” he wrote. “When I was elected two weeks ago, I would never have thought in such a short period of time my peers would ask me to step up and serve the community as an interim general manager.
“I am very confident in the staff of our association and I firmly believe that the community is in a strong position. This community is not run by one person, but a large staff that possess a wide range of skills and deep knowledge base within their trade to support the diversity of services offered by our HOA. That staff will still be here, as it was during the last general manager change, continuing to support our daily operations.
“The next few months, under the guidance of the current board, will allow this community to take a fresh look at our future plans, and set the course for the next chapter of Ocean Pines. I believe the short tenure of the new board has already shown we have a great leadership team. We took aggressive steps early in the board year to start setting our financial plans, commenced budget reform and project evaluations, and we implemented measures to begin moving our community forward. I am honored to work with a team of such fine individuals, and know with their support, we will quickly move to bring the best solution for the management of the Association.
“Additionally, I wish to thank all of those who support our community as volunteers, like myself. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but trust that with all of the support that exists within the community, we will make great things happen and enjoy the success together.”
Renaud announced his resignation from the board during the following week, as did the entire membership of the Ocean Pines Association Elections Committee.
During a phone interview Renaud said, simply, “I’ve had enough.”
He said he had handed in a formal resignation letter and sent copies to each director.
The termination of Thompson’s contract, Renaud added, was “one of the main reasons” for his resignation.
“Another reason is that I have had some health problems that I have to take care of,” Renaud said. “I’ve had enough. I’ve talked to my doctor and everything. It’s all done.
“I don’t think there’s anything I could accomplish in this year if I stayed on, except to be more frustrated” he added.
Renaud had missed several meetings because of health issues and was once hospitalized after being diagnosed with sepsis and cellulitis.
On Sept. 9, Doug Parks was selected to replace Renaud on the board. Parks had finished ninth during the August vote.
Election Committee Chairman Bill Wentworth and committee members Steve Smith, Cheryl Bissell and Judy Butler also announced resignations.
In part, Wentworth said the committee members left because of controversies that arose during the most-recent election cycle, which officially ended with the announcement of three new directors on Aug. 13.
Several of the candidates and some board members believed the votes should be counted in public as opposed to the closed vote-count under current Ocean Pines guidelines.
“It all rolls back to, we were in a situation where the bylaws and the resolutions, which everyone is expected to follow, we followed to the Nth degree and unfortunately we had two board of directors who didn’t think it was important to follow those things,” Wentworth said.
“They kept pimping the idea of, ‘well it should be transparent – people should be able to be in there,’ which is a violation – until they change it – of the resolutions and the bylaws.”
Wentworth said the firing of Thompson affected the timeline of his decision.
“I definitely was not going to do another round of [committee work], but the fact of Bob Thompson being terminated certainly had an impact on my feelings toward exactly how I was going to end what I was doing,” he said. “I had some things together for the year-end report, but I’m just not going to do it.
“What’s going on [with the new board] just makes no sense at all,” Wentworth continued. “You’ve got a group of people who are in a situation for maybe seven or eight days, and then they’re going to fire somebody. You just can’t live with some of the things that they’re doing – that they’ve done.”
He went on to say there was “no rhyme or reason” to the actions of the new board.
“It seems to me they want to make change just for change’s sake,” he said. “I think it may have devastating effects on the direction of the community with what’s going to happen.
“I feel sorry for the employees,” Wentworth added. “They’re under the gun. If they did that to the general manager with no provocation – or in the night of darkness so to speak – what could happen to one of these people if they happen to say the wrong thing? Are they going to just move them out? It’s got to be a very uncomfortable climate for those people who are working in the administration office, and I feel for them.”
In a separate interview, Thompson later admitted he was not at all surprised at his dismissal.
“Any time there’s a change in a board of directors – and certainly in Ocean Pines – it opens up the opportunity for changes, either in direction or in management itself,” he said. “I think Tom Herrick dealt with it appropriately. It’s a tough situation.”
He did, however, admit the move was a “disappointing” one.
“At the same time the board has the right to make decisions. The community voted for the new board members that were clear on the direction that they wanted to head in, and the community supported that,” he said.
“I can’t really fault anybody – it’s the process. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” he added. “The community spoke and the board took the action they thought they were elected to do. I can’t have hard feelings about that.”
Thompson feels he is leaving the association on strong footing. Ocean Pines was again named one of the safest communities in the state, based on its low crime rate, and amenities like the yacht club were honored by several publications as “best” in the region.
He said he was “absolutely” upbeat about the future of Ocean Pines.
“I’ve been here a long time. For me, I support the community where I live and I think I’ve shown that over the years,” he said. “I’ve raised my kids here, I’ve been involved building playgrounds and being on all the committees. I was very active and involved, and I think I did it with integrity and being upfront. Admittedly, I have a strong personality, but that’s part of what I believe a good leader has to do.”
“I appreciate the opportunity to serve the community for six years,” Thompson continued. “I feel real good from where we started to where we are. From when I arrived to when I departed, I think the community is stronger for it and I feel pretty good about that. I like to think I leave a place a little better then when I stepped into it, and with the team in place now, I feel very comfortable that’s occurred.”
During the most recent board meeting, Dec. 9, Hill said two other directors had helped narrow a list of general manager search firms down to three, and said request for quotes would be drafted shortly.
Ironically, Hill came under fire during a meeting on Dec. 5 when members of his company, FTS Fiber, made a presentation to bring high-speed Internet infrastructure to the community.
Hill recused himself during the pitch, but some members of the board and the association suggested a conflict of interest was present and called on him to resign.