Arie Klapholz

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(July 5, 2018) Arie Klapholz is running for the Ocean Pines Board based on his record of fiscal conservatism.

The 71-year-old grew up on a farm in southern New Jersey and lived and worked in Philadelphia for about four decades.

He worked for the City of Philadelphia as a project manager for more than 30 years and in newspaper production with the Philadelphia Inquirer, between part-time and full-time, for 40 years.

Klapholz has owned property in Ocean Pines since around 1995.

“When we retired, we were going to move to a section of Berks County Pennsylvania right outside of Reading, and we turned around one day and realized it had become ‘Philadelphia West,’” he said. “We decided we were going to look somewhere else, and friends of ours had been coming down to Ocean City and then we came down and, before you know it … we bought a lot.”

Remembering his time working for a large city, Klapholz ,said he was “Always of the philosophy that other people’s money is not yours to spend willy nilly.”

“I’ve always been a rather strong fiscal conservative and when I looked at what’s been going on in the Pines, which has been 20 years, the more they do things differently, it seems to always be the same result,” he said. “I figured, let me try to run for the board of directors and see if maybe I can influence a slight change. If I can, that would be great and, if I can’t, I’ll still try to do something to influence decisions.”

He first filed for the board last year, but dropped out of the race because his wife, Caryn, was ill.

“My wife had some severe health issues and I was basically her primary caretaker,” he said. “She ended up being in the hospital just short of eight months and she passed away in December.

“I couldn’t give it [the election] the time it needed,” Klapholz continued. “This year, I don’t have those same restrictions on my time.”

For voters, Klapholz said his biggest message is, “That I care about other people’s money.”

“My father always used to say, ‘You don’t go into business with a friend or a relative, because money is always getting lost. If you go into business with your worst enemy, every last penny will be accounted for,’” he said. “That message has kind of stuck with me for all these years.”

He said his record on issues is evidenced by 10 years of op-ed columns in the “Voices” section of the Salisbury Daily Times.

“I’m just offering a different choice this year,” Klapholz said. “I’m independent from everybody else and my main concern is their pocketbook.”