Suit will establish if he’s legit candidate

By Greg Ellison

(Oct. 28, 2021) Ocean Pines Board candidate Rick Farr, although still awaiting resolution of the lawsuit he filed after being disqualified late in the game, was vindicated last week after the long-delayed ballot count revealed he led the pack.

“I was very confident and believed that I would be one of the top two,” he said.

Farr received 1,629 votes to top the list among four contestants vying for two open seats, followed by incumbent Frank Daly with 1,571, who was trailed by Stuart Lakernick with 1,511 and David Hardy with 941.

“I thought that it would be a very tight race,” he said.

Despite the apparent victory, Farr’s election fate remains in limbo until a decision is rendered in Worcester Circuit Court over his candidacy being disqualified in late July after initially being deemed eligible in May.

Former association secretary Camilla Rogers, who resigned during the Sept. 30 board meeting, concluded Farr was not an eligible candidate after an anonymous phone call questioned his property ownership status through a family trust.

Although the association has yet to re-certify Farr, the ballot count last Wednesday was ordered by Judge Sidney Campen during the most recent court hearing on Oct. 6.

In addition to requiring vote tallies by the end of October, Judge Campen also halted an attempted redo election the board had approved by a 4-3 decision on Sept. 30.

Following a split-vote on Sept. 30 to re-stage the 2021 contest without Farr, the board deadlocked 3-3 on counting the ballots in this summer’s contest.

While less concerned after learning the results, Farr speculated that the last-minute board maneuvers likely lowered vote totals.

“I did have a couple of neighbors that apologized and said, ‘I wanted to vote for you, but I heard that you were disqualified,’” he said.

Farr attributed the strong showing, even after being disqualified two weeks before an Aug. 11 ballot deadline, to making personal connections.

“I thought it was very important to connect with the residents of Ocean Pines,” he said.

“I did well over six hundred home 600 homes,” he said. “I would go out in the summertime and knock on doors in the evening.”

Farr felt assured the wide ranging contacts would put him ahead.

“I felt that I was going to do very well because of the outreach to the community and doing the [election] forums,” he said.

Farr, who retired from the Air Force with 22 years of service in 2007, moved into the corporate realm as a human resources executive.

He said his conversations with residents revealed a wide range of inquiries on numerous issues.

“There were a lot of questions or concerns,” he said. “There were people that were not happy with the current board structure as far as the leadership.”

Farr said his campaign objective was to put aside dissension and focus on attributes he could bring to the board.

“Let people hear my positions on certain things, to let them know what this guy is all about.”