(April 6, 2017) Two years ago two-term former Director Marty Clarke vowed if Ocean Pines passed a controversial budget that he would not stand for reelection.
Earlier this year, he vowed if the board did pass a controversial budget he would run again.
Clarke, 69, is making good on that promise.
“I think we have a great board, but I don’t think we have any institutional history or perspective of what we’ve done to get where we are. And I don’t want to see us repeat it all again, which Ocean Pines is famous for,” Clarke said. “If you take Dave Stevens out, I have more experience than the balance of them combined.”
Stevens, a three-term director, has said he would not run again. Two directors, Tom Herrick and Cheryl Jacobs, were elected to their first terms in 2015. Four others were either elected or appointed last fall.
The budget passed by that group in February, according to Clarke, was not a budget in the strictest terms.
“I know how to do a budget – I’ve got to spend A, B, C, D. They add up to X, divided by 8,452 [homeowners]. That’s how you do a budget. That’s not what they did,” Clarke said.
Instead, he said the board worked to reverse-engineer the basic annual assessment, $921, set during the previous fiscal year.
“I’m not making this up. I’ve got this face-to-face from the directors and the acting GM,” Clarke said. “And when they were done they had over $600,000 left over, just sitting there to make the $921. So, rather than reduce assessments $77 they just put it in reserves and claimed that they got rid of the legacy fund – yet they still funded three quarters of the legacy fund.”
He said fears of a looming special assessment – one argument for not lowering the assessment – were unfounded because “Ocean Pines can’t have a special assessment” based on its bylaws.
“You could have a huge increase in the budget – welcome to the real world. But that doesn’t give them the right to pile my money up in their 1 percent bank account,” Clarke said.
Clarke also laughed at the notion that Ocean Pines’ reserves were in danger.
“They’re spending money right now like a broken fire hose spewing water – and they can’t dent the reserves,” he said. “As of the last controller’s report we had $6.5 million in cash.”
People in Ocean Pines tend to have a love-hate relationship with Clarke.
His supporters swear by his straightforward approach and many, including interim General Manager Brett Hill, have quoted his facts and figures during public meetings. Clarke keeps binders full of old budgets, monthly financial reports and audited financial statements going back more than a decade.
As for the motivation of his detractors?
“I’m abrupt. Rude. Some people don’t like it,” Clarke said. “It is what it is. I’m not political – enough. I’m not putting my nose up anybody’s [rear end], but I try to play nice in the sandbox.
“If they’re voting for me, they know me, and they know enough to know I’m working for them and not for a special interest group,” he continued. “A lot of times I get accused of doing the will of the nonresidents – well, that would put me in the majority. I’ll take that. That’s a happy burden to bear.”
Clarke said he is running again to bring some institutional history to the board and because he feels a sense of fiduciary duty.
If he loses, he’ll continue to serve as the chair of the bylaws and resolutions committee and continue to attend board meetings and advise anyone – anyone – who will listen on matters related to OPA financials.
If he wins, Clarke said he would double down on maintaining Ocean Pines facilities and work toward closing the yacht club from October to April.
“It’s never made a dime in November, December, January, February, March, April – ever,” Clarke said. “And if I get on the board, they’re either going to start funding roads [depreciation] again, or the newspapers will have a lot to write about,” Clarke said.
Earlier this year, he vowed if the board did pass a controversial budget he would run again.
Clarke, 69, is making good on that promise.
“I think we have a great board, but I don’t think we have any institutional history or perspective of what we’ve done to get where we are. And I don’t want to see us repeat it all again, which Ocean Pines is famous for,” Clarke said. “If you take Dave Stevens out, I have more experience than the balance of them combined.”
Stevens, a three-term director, has said he would not run again. Two directors, Tom Herrick and Cheryl Jacobs, were elected to their first terms in 2015. Four others were either elected or appointed last fall.
The budget passed by that group in February, according to Clarke, was not a budget in the strictest terms.
“I know how to do a budget – I’ve got to spend A, B, C, D. They add up to X, divided by 8,452 [homeowners]. That’s how you do a budget. That’s not what they did,” Clarke said.
Instead, he said the board worked to reverse-engineer the basic annual assessment, $921, set during the previous fiscal year.
“I’m not making this up. I’ve got this face-to-face from the directors and the acting GM,” Clarke said. “And when they were done they had over $600,000 left over, just sitting there to make the $921. So, rather than reduce assessments $77 they just put it in reserves and claimed that they got rid of the legacy fund – yet they still funded three quarters of the legacy fund.”
He said fears of a looming special assessment – one argument for not lowering the assessment – were unfounded because “Ocean Pines can’t have a special assessment” based on its bylaws.
“You could have a huge increase in the budget – welcome to the real world. But that doesn’t give them the right to pile my money up in their 1 percent bank account,” Clarke said.
Clarke also laughed at the notion that Ocean Pines’ reserves were in danger.
“They’re spending money right now like a broken fire hose spewing water – and they can’t dent the reserves,” he said. “As of the last controller’s report we had $6.5 million in cash.”
People in Ocean Pines tend to have a love-hate relationship with Clarke.
His supporters swear by his straightforward approach and many, including interim General Manager Brett Hill, have quoted his facts and figures during public meetings. Clarke keeps binders full of old budgets, monthly financial reports and audited financial statements going back more than a decade.
As for the motivation of his detractors?
“I’m abrupt. Rude. Some people don’t like it,” Clarke said. “It is what it is. I’m not political – enough. I’m not putting my nose up anybody’s [rear end], but I try to play nice in the sandbox.
“If they’re voting for me, they know me, and they know enough to know I’m working for them and not for a special interest group,” he continued. “A lot of times I get accused of doing the will of the nonresidents – well, that would put me in the majority. I’ll take that. That’s a happy burden to bear.”
Clarke said he is running again to bring some institutional history to the board and because he feels a sense of fiduciary duty.
If he loses, he’ll continue to serve as the chair of the bylaws and resolutions committee and continue to attend board meetings and advise anyone – anyone – who will listen on matters related to OPA financials.
If he wins, Clarke said he would double down on maintaining Ocean Pines facilities and work toward closing the yacht club from October to April.
“It’s never made a dime in November, December, January, February, March, April – ever,” Clarke said. “And if I get on the board, they’re either going to start funding roads [depreciation] again, or the newspapers will have a lot to write about,” Clarke said.