(June 29, 2017) The four remaining Ocean Pines Board of Directors candidates met during a nearly two-hour candidate forum in the community center last Wednesday.
Two candidates, newcomer Dr. Colette Horn and former Director Marty Clarke, exchanged several barbs on issues, including the budget and the yacht club, and Horn repeatedly went after the current leadership and interim General Manager Brett Hill.
Incumbent Director Doug Parks, meanwhile, highlighted his one-year term as an appointed director and another newcomer, Nicole Schafer Crosariol, spoke about the fresh approach she hoped to bring to the board.
In August, the two directors with the highest number of votes will be awarded a three-year term on the Ocean Pines board.
During opening remarks, Horn remarked that candidates at the forum last year seemed to dwell on the amount of conflict on the board. The current group of directors, she said, was no different.
“I’m all for healthy conflict – conflict that’s about issues. But, like you guys, I don’t like the conflict we see now. This is conflict that’s about personal attacks and personal business interest,” she said.
Horn has a doctorate in psychology from the University of Southern California.
“Our board needs a psychologist. Where is Dr. Phil when we need him?” she said.
Last year’s candidates, she said, promised to bring about a culture of transparency, including competitive bidding, due diligence and financial accountability. Four of those candidates were now on the board.
“Did you get what was promised?” Horn asked. “What about having a board member as acting GM, despite obvious conflicts of interest, for almost a year, who spent the year sowing controversy that impugns the character of honest volunteers and employees? Is that what you wanted?”
She said Hill pitted families against seniors at the Oasis pool, and she took issue with changes to the beach club parking policy and the installation of a pirate ship playground at Mumford’s Landing. She also brought up newly introduced fees for pickleball players at the community gym, the projected $170,000 salary in job listings for a new general manager and a roughly $273,000 deficit in the last budget.
“What happened to that financial accountability we were promised? What happened to those sound business practices? Where’s that promise of principled leadership? Whose agenda did all that serve?” she asked.
Crosariol said she is a lifelong resident of Ocean Pines and has cultivated many good relationships.
“As a multiyear homeowner and a local business owner, I’m seeking to serve on a board that wants to promote a vision for our community as well as encourage first-time homebuyers who want to live here not to be scared their home and livelihood would be scrutinized.”
She said amenities should be self-sustaining, “not a financial burden on our community.”
“Ocean Pines needs real leadership, not nepotism and back channels that guide and delegate departments,” she said. “I believe in transparency for all homeowners.”
If elected, she said she would help develop a “fall and winter plan for the Cove,” implement quarterly rather than yearly budgets, and help with the transition in hiring a new general manager. She also said she would look into revitalizing the North Gate entrance and fix dilapidated community mailboxes.
“My value as a board member will be my tireless work ethic, unwavering principles and my abilities to succeed at difficult tasks,” she said. “My goal is to promote the community and its amenities to sustain the value of the community as a whole.”
Parks said the current board accomplished several notable things, including renovations to the beach club and country club, repairing several bridges and installing a new playground at Manklin Meadows.
“We’ve also, at the same time, run into some challenges,” he said. “We need to get better. We need to hold ourselves accountable. There are some things that we should’ve done that we didn’t get done, but at the very least we know that they need to be done.”
He said the focus shouldn’t be on the current situation, but “where we need to be going forward.”
“The renovations that I mentioned – they’re behind us. They’re done. The emphasis needs to be on what the community needs [and] what we need to do to benefit the community going forward,” he said.
First, Parks said the directors needed to finish the process of hiring a new general manager. He added it’s no secret there were operational deficiencies at the Cove restaurant.
“We need to seriously consider other options, bringing in a professional proprietor … [or] consider leasing the place,” he said. “Continuing to move forward with negative revenue, even in the most profitable months, is not the way to continue to use that facility and provide services to the membership.”
He also called for the development of a new capital improvement plan and for more involvement with Ocean Pines advisory committees.
Clarke jokingly referred to himself as Bond villain “Dr. No” and took exception with Horn’s categorization of the budget.
“A $273,000 deficit in the budget? Not bad. In 2013 it was double that. It’s a guess,” he said. “This board that’s sitting today deserves our thanks. They’ve accomplished more good in Ocean Pines in the last year that I can remember since Tim Stoner.”
Stoner was the general manager of Ocean Pines from 1983-1995.
Clarke said he’s been a member of Ocean Pines since 1977, “which is why I look so old.” He said he assisted on the steering committee that wrote the original condominium act in Maryland, which evolved into the Homeowner’s Association Act that governs Ocean Pines today.
“I’m proud that I was elected in 2007 to serve on the board of directors and again in 2012,” he said. “I have a reputation in Ocean Pines of being sort of a pig-headed gadfly. You know, I’ll take it. My due diligence and commitment to the membership has saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars in the last 12 years. I treat every dollar of your assessment money like it was mine.”
Responding to a question about Ocean Pines finances, several candidates panned the current fiscal year budget.
Parks said he didn’t vote for the budget because it increased labor costs by $791,000.
“We didn’t do anything materially different in the operation than we did the year before,” he said. “I had a very tough time swallowing the idea of that kind of increase.”
Clarke said he could have lowered assessments $100 – easily.
“I think we’re doing an all right job, but we need to do a really good budget, and if the assessment goes down, God bless America,” he said.
Still, he said the board had a difficult task in crafting that budget because of what it inherited.
“It’s hard to remember the goal is to clean out the sewer when you’re fighting off the alligators,” he said. “They were all basically new.”
Horn, returning to the budget shortfall, argued it was not OK to miss by that much.
“If we do that every year, where are we going to make those funds up? Eventually it’s going to come back on increased assessments,” she said. “We need to be accountable.”
Two candidates, Clarke and Parks, advocated closing the yacht club during the winter to save money.
“In the last six months, the yacht club has lost $328,000,” Clarke said. “If this was our money … I don’t think there’s one of us crazy enough to open up in the offseason to lose $328,000. It makes zero business sense.”
He said he would close the yacht club from the end of September until April.
“If it was our money, yours and mine, would we open up to lose $328,000? No we wouldn’t,” Clarke said. “Asking the 8,400 people that aren’t here to do it is criminal.”
Parks said picking a reasonable timeframe for closing the facility would help cut losses.
“We understand what the fixed costs would be while the building is closed,” he said. “The other thing is that now that the Tern’s Grille is available, that could be a potential option for others to go to with regard to not having that yacht club, and that is a year-round building.”
Horn said it wasn’t fair to the people who paid $5 million for the new club, to shut it down for half of the year.
“There are a lot of people in this community who rely on that as a meeting place,” she said. “I’m a girl from Wisconsin and having a meeting place in the winter time when you can’t meet up with your friends outdoors is a very important value.”
The real problem, she said, was poor management, quality and service. She compared the club to Camden Yards and said success during the summer months should pay to keep the lights on for the rest of the year.
Crosariol said being open consistently and having the right management was key.
“Most of us, if we want to go out to eat [during the winter], we drive to Ocean City and there’s not much to choose from. So why not have some place right at home?” she said. “We can still gather and be that community when we don’t have a place outdoors to go to.
“Even having some weekly night specials like every other restaurant and bar does during the offseason would help bring people in, and I think that would help sustain it enough over time, with the right management,” Crosariol continued.
Clarke again returned to previous comments by Horn, this time focusing on the Baltimore Orioles analogy.
“Peter Angelos, the owner of the Orioles, has never done anything – anything – that doesn’t make money,” he said. “A couple people that don’t know anything about business – the Phillips family, the Harrison family, the people that own Embers, the Harmans at Fish Tails – they all close in the wintertime. I wonder why? Is that because they’re dumb? No, it’s because we’re dumb.”
Asked about community involvement, Parks returned to the subject of Ocean Pines advisory committees.
“We have them. They seem to, in some cases, provide a benefit, but I don’t think the board is taking enough advantage of advisory committees,” he said.
Horn said the inaccessibility of meetings was a detriment to community participation. She said they were difficult for weekend and otherwise part-time residents to attend, and caused many to feel disenfranchised.
“I think we can look at scheduling the meetings at different times that make it more accessible,” she said. “We need to look at options such as live streaming with interactive capability … the other thing we need to look at is allowing for written input for people. The bylaws require that we publicize, in advance, what the meetings are going to be about, when they’re going to occur. We need to make sure that what’s published is clear.”
She referenced a recent board meeting when she said the agenda was unclear and public comments were limited by that confusion.
“This is a problem. This disenfranchises us,” she said. “We need to make sure that members are apprised of what’s going to be happening.”
Clarke said he agreed with Horn and that Saturday meetings would help reach more members.
Crosariol said there was an app for that.
“There are some really easy apps … [where] you can actually put your input and ask questions,” she said.
Wrapping up the forum and during closing statements, the candidates were asked about the most significant issues they would, if elected, address first.
Clarke said he would craft a zero-base budget that did not include the legacy fund, which he called a slush fund.
“Seven million dollars in the bank [in reserves] scare me to death – and I’m fearless,” Clarke said. “The second thing I would do is I would do my very best – my very best – to stop this bleeding, and if that means closing the yacht club in the offseason, like the Phillips would, like the Harrisons would, then I would close it.
“It’s not a sign of losing or giving up – it’s a sign of doing business the smart way. You can’t run a 200-seat venue in the middle of Ocean Pines in the winter time,” he added. “If you don’t believe me, we’ve been through five managers in 11 years, all red, never made one dollar in November, December, January, February, March or April – ever.”
Parks also said he would focus on the budget and the yacht club.
“Because we didn’t have a GM, because a lot of people were pressed in duty, the budget was done well enough to get us through this year and I think the folks that put it together should be commended, but we can’t do it the same next year,” he said.
He called for voters to look for experience and to express confidence in continuity, and said directors needed to have the courage to do something different at the yacht club.
“We can no longer consider talking about it – we have to take action,” he said. “For 10 years we’ve been doing the same thing.”
Crosariol said she would bring new ideas to the board.
“Obviously I’m a little bit younger than any other candidate – maybe ever,” she said. “Making essential structure updates will ensure constant growth and please all demographics – not just for current residents, but for future generations to come.”
She touted her business and marketing background and said she would be fiscally responsible in terms of budgeting.
“Obviously, we all want to pay less in collection fees,” she said.
Horn said she would work to eliminate conflicts of interest and would promote real transparency. She added many residents were “feeling a bit burned” after the last election.
“Some good things were accomplished this past year – projects that had been set in motion and budgeted by the previous board and administration were finally completed. But, there was a lot of controversy sown this past year – controversy that has distracted our board from some of the important work that you elected them to do,” she said. “You won’t have to worry about being burned by me, if I’m elected.”
Horn said she would have voted, last September, in support of a working group to expedite the process of finding a new general manager.
“If the majority of the board would have voted with me, I believe we would have avoided many of the problems that we have now,” she said. “When it became clear that the acting GM’s interactions with staff were ceding chaos, I would’ve joined with directors who voted for his removal from the GM position. I would’ve voted to stabilize the personnel problems and institute corrective actions that were reasoned and balanced – not to throw capable and loyal people out with the proverbial bathwater.”
She added she would have voted against paying a new general manager more than the governor of the state receives, without first commissioning a salary study.
A second forum is scheduled for July 22 at 10 a.m.
Two candidates, newcomer Dr. Colette Horn and former Director Marty Clarke, exchanged several barbs on issues, including the budget and the yacht club, and Horn repeatedly went after the current leadership and interim General Manager Brett Hill.
Incumbent Director Doug Parks, meanwhile, highlighted his one-year term as an appointed director and another newcomer, Nicole Schafer Crosariol, spoke about the fresh approach she hoped to bring to the board.
In August, the two directors with the highest number of votes will be awarded a three-year term on the Ocean Pines board.
During opening remarks, Horn remarked that candidates at the forum last year seemed to dwell on the amount of conflict on the board. The current group of directors, she said, was no different.
“I’m all for healthy conflict – conflict that’s about issues. But, like you guys, I don’t like the conflict we see now. This is conflict that’s about personal attacks and personal business interest,” she said.
Horn has a doctorate in psychology from the University of Southern California.
“Our board needs a psychologist. Where is Dr. Phil when we need him?” she said.
Last year’s candidates, she said, promised to bring about a culture of transparency, including competitive bidding, due diligence and financial accountability. Four of those candidates were now on the board.
“Did you get what was promised?” Horn asked. “What about having a board member as acting GM, despite obvious conflicts of interest, for almost a year, who spent the year sowing controversy that impugns the character of honest volunteers and employees? Is that what you wanted?”
She said Hill pitted families against seniors at the Oasis pool, and she took issue with changes to the beach club parking policy and the installation of a pirate ship playground at Mumford’s Landing. She also brought up newly introduced fees for pickleball players at the community gym, the projected $170,000 salary in job listings for a new general manager and a roughly $273,000 deficit in the last budget.
“What happened to that financial accountability we were promised? What happened to those sound business practices? Where’s that promise of principled leadership? Whose agenda did all that serve?” she asked.
Crosariol said she is a lifelong resident of Ocean Pines and has cultivated many good relationships.
“As a multiyear homeowner and a local business owner, I’m seeking to serve on a board that wants to promote a vision for our community as well as encourage first-time homebuyers who want to live here not to be scared their home and livelihood would be scrutinized.”
She said amenities should be self-sustaining, “not a financial burden on our community.”
“Ocean Pines needs real leadership, not nepotism and back channels that guide and delegate departments,” she said. “I believe in transparency for all homeowners.”
If elected, she said she would help develop a “fall and winter plan for the Cove,” implement quarterly rather than yearly budgets, and help with the transition in hiring a new general manager. She also said she would look into revitalizing the North Gate entrance and fix dilapidated community mailboxes.
“My value as a board member will be my tireless work ethic, unwavering principles and my abilities to succeed at difficult tasks,” she said. “My goal is to promote the community and its amenities to sustain the value of the community as a whole.”
Parks said the current board accomplished several notable things, including renovations to the beach club and country club, repairing several bridges and installing a new playground at Manklin Meadows.
“We’ve also, at the same time, run into some challenges,” he said. “We need to get better. We need to hold ourselves accountable. There are some things that we should’ve done that we didn’t get done, but at the very least we know that they need to be done.”
He said the focus shouldn’t be on the current situation, but “where we need to be going forward.”
“The renovations that I mentioned – they’re behind us. They’re done. The emphasis needs to be on what the community needs [and] what we need to do to benefit the community going forward,” he said.
First, Parks said the directors needed to finish the process of hiring a new general manager. He added it’s no secret there were operational deficiencies at the Cove restaurant.
“We need to seriously consider other options, bringing in a professional proprietor … [or] consider leasing the place,” he said. “Continuing to move forward with negative revenue, even in the most profitable months, is not the way to continue to use that facility and provide services to the membership.”
He also called for the development of a new capital improvement plan and for more involvement with Ocean Pines advisory committees.
Clarke jokingly referred to himself as Bond villain “Dr. No” and took exception with Horn’s categorization of the budget.
“A $273,000 deficit in the budget? Not bad. In 2013 it was double that. It’s a guess,” he said. “This board that’s sitting today deserves our thanks. They’ve accomplished more good in Ocean Pines in the last year that I can remember since Tim Stoner.”
Stoner was the general manager of Ocean Pines from 1983-1995.
Clarke said he’s been a member of Ocean Pines since 1977, “which is why I look so old.” He said he assisted on the steering committee that wrote the original condominium act in Maryland, which evolved into the Homeowner’s Association Act that governs Ocean Pines today.
“I’m proud that I was elected in 2007 to serve on the board of directors and again in 2012,” he said. “I have a reputation in Ocean Pines of being sort of a pig-headed gadfly. You know, I’ll take it. My due diligence and commitment to the membership has saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars in the last 12 years. I treat every dollar of your assessment money like it was mine.”
Responding to a question about Ocean Pines finances, several candidates panned the current fiscal year budget.
Parks said he didn’t vote for the budget because it increased labor costs by $791,000.
“We didn’t do anything materially different in the operation than we did the year before,” he said. “I had a very tough time swallowing the idea of that kind of increase.”
Clarke said he could have lowered assessments $100 – easily.
“I think we’re doing an all right job, but we need to do a really good budget, and if the assessment goes down, God bless America,” he said.
Still, he said the board had a difficult task in crafting that budget because of what it inherited.
“It’s hard to remember the goal is to clean out the sewer when you’re fighting off the alligators,” he said. “They were all basically new.”
Horn, returning to the budget shortfall, argued it was not OK to miss by that much.
“If we do that every year, where are we going to make those funds up? Eventually it’s going to come back on increased assessments,” she said. “We need to be accountable.”
Two candidates, Clarke and Parks, advocated closing the yacht club during the winter to save money.
“In the last six months, the yacht club has lost $328,000,” Clarke said. “If this was our money … I don’t think there’s one of us crazy enough to open up in the offseason to lose $328,000. It makes zero business sense.”
He said he would close the yacht club from the end of September until April.
“If it was our money, yours and mine, would we open up to lose $328,000? No we wouldn’t,” Clarke said. “Asking the 8,400 people that aren’t here to do it is criminal.”
Parks said picking a reasonable timeframe for closing the facility would help cut losses.
“We understand what the fixed costs would be while the building is closed,” he said. “The other thing is that now that the Tern’s Grille is available, that could be a potential option for others to go to with regard to not having that yacht club, and that is a year-round building.”
Horn said it wasn’t fair to the people who paid $5 million for the new club, to shut it down for half of the year.
“There are a lot of people in this community who rely on that as a meeting place,” she said. “I’m a girl from Wisconsin and having a meeting place in the winter time when you can’t meet up with your friends outdoors is a very important value.”
The real problem, she said, was poor management, quality and service. She compared the club to Camden Yards and said success during the summer months should pay to keep the lights on for the rest of the year.
Crosariol said being open consistently and having the right management was key.
“Most of us, if we want to go out to eat [during the winter], we drive to Ocean City and there’s not much to choose from. So why not have some place right at home?” she said. “We can still gather and be that community when we don’t have a place outdoors to go to.
“Even having some weekly night specials like every other restaurant and bar does during the offseason would help bring people in, and I think that would help sustain it enough over time, with the right management,” Crosariol continued.
Clarke again returned to previous comments by Horn, this time focusing on the Baltimore Orioles analogy.
“Peter Angelos, the owner of the Orioles, has never done anything – anything – that doesn’t make money,” he said. “A couple people that don’t know anything about business – the Phillips family, the Harrison family, the people that own Embers, the Harmans at Fish Tails – they all close in the wintertime. I wonder why? Is that because they’re dumb? No, it’s because we’re dumb.”
Asked about community involvement, Parks returned to the subject of Ocean Pines advisory committees.
“We have them. They seem to, in some cases, provide a benefit, but I don’t think the board is taking enough advantage of advisory committees,” he said.
Horn said the inaccessibility of meetings was a detriment to community participation. She said they were difficult for weekend and otherwise part-time residents to attend, and caused many to feel disenfranchised.
“I think we can look at scheduling the meetings at different times that make it more accessible,” she said. “We need to look at options such as live streaming with interactive capability … the other thing we need to look at is allowing for written input for people. The bylaws require that we publicize, in advance, what the meetings are going to be about, when they’re going to occur. We need to make sure that what’s published is clear.”
She referenced a recent board meeting when she said the agenda was unclear and public comments were limited by that confusion.
“This is a problem. This disenfranchises us,” she said. “We need to make sure that members are apprised of what’s going to be happening.”
Clarke said he agreed with Horn and that Saturday meetings would help reach more members.
Crosariol said there was an app for that.
“There are some really easy apps … [where] you can actually put your input and ask questions,” she said.
Wrapping up the forum and during closing statements, the candidates were asked about the most significant issues they would, if elected, address first.
Clarke said he would craft a zero-base budget that did not include the legacy fund, which he called a slush fund.
“Seven million dollars in the bank [in reserves] scare me to death – and I’m fearless,” Clarke said. “The second thing I would do is I would do my very best – my very best – to stop this bleeding, and if that means closing the yacht club in the offseason, like the Phillips would, like the Harrisons would, then I would close it.
“It’s not a sign of losing or giving up – it’s a sign of doing business the smart way. You can’t run a 200-seat venue in the middle of Ocean Pines in the winter time,” he added. “If you don’t believe me, we’ve been through five managers in 11 years, all red, never made one dollar in November, December, January, February, March or April – ever.”
Parks also said he would focus on the budget and the yacht club.
“Because we didn’t have a GM, because a lot of people were pressed in duty, the budget was done well enough to get us through this year and I think the folks that put it together should be commended, but we can’t do it the same next year,” he said.
He called for voters to look for experience and to express confidence in continuity, and said directors needed to have the courage to do something different at the yacht club.
“We can no longer consider talking about it – we have to take action,” he said. “For 10 years we’ve been doing the same thing.”
Crosariol said she would bring new ideas to the board.
“Obviously I’m a little bit younger than any other candidate – maybe ever,” she said. “Making essential structure updates will ensure constant growth and please all demographics – not just for current residents, but for future generations to come.”
She touted her business and marketing background and said she would be fiscally responsible in terms of budgeting.
“Obviously, we all want to pay less in collection fees,” she said.
Horn said she would work to eliminate conflicts of interest and would promote real transparency. She added many residents were “feeling a bit burned” after the last election.
“Some good things were accomplished this past year – projects that had been set in motion and budgeted by the previous board and administration were finally completed. But, there was a lot of controversy sown this past year – controversy that has distracted our board from some of the important work that you elected them to do,” she said. “You won’t have to worry about being burned by me, if I’m elected.”
Horn said she would have voted, last September, in support of a working group to expedite the process of finding a new general manager.
“If the majority of the board would have voted with me, I believe we would have avoided many of the problems that we have now,” she said. “When it became clear that the acting GM’s interactions with staff were ceding chaos, I would’ve joined with directors who voted for his removal from the GM position. I would’ve voted to stabilize the personnel problems and institute corrective actions that were reasoned and balanced – not to throw capable and loyal people out with the proverbial bathwater.”
She added she would have voted against paying a new general manager more than the governor of the state receives, without first commissioning a salary study.
A second forum is scheduled for July 22 at 10 a.m.