Strategic Planning Co-Chair Bernie McGorry presented summary of data on Saturday

By Greg Ellison

(Dec. 16, 2021) The Ocean Pines Board of Directors received a preliminary summary of data compiled from the recently completed property owners’ survey during its meeting on Saturday.

Strategic Planning Committee Co-Chair Bernie McGorry said 1,838 survey responses were received by. the Nov. 15 deadline.

“The headline here is to thank the property owners for the tremendous engagement,” he said.

The overall tally far exceeded the previously stated goal of 1,000 replies.

“We’re working on a … long-range plan for Ocean Pines,” he said.

McGorry said the committee was aiming for a minimum of 500 responses from full and part-time residents.

Although the mark was reached for both segments, full-time owners outpaced part-timers by 1,127 to 684.

Electronic or online survey responses significantly outpaced hard copy replies by 1,773 to 65.

“We really expected more hardcopy surveys  to be completed,” he said. “We had put them throughout the community to make them readily available.”

In terms of age ranges, McGorry said most respondents were between 61-70 years of age, followed by 71-80, which narrowly outpaced ages 51-60.

Among the survey aims were identifying issues of highest importance to property owners, ranking values and receiving feedback on strengths and weaknesses.

“We wanted to really look at the overall satisfaction number one,” he said.

McGorry said survey results indicate that 95 percent of residents are either somewhat, very or extremely satisfied.

“Overall, Ocean Pines residents are very satisfied and they’re very likely to recommended Ocean Pines to others,” he said.

Further, McGorry said 68.5 percent indicated being very or extremely satisfied

“The numbers speak for themselves,” he said.

In total, 83 percent would recommend Ocean Pines as an ideal location to live for family or friends.

Survey rankings for the top five issues of importance start with 95.2 percent listing safety as very or extremely important, followed by maintenance of infrastructure at 94.2 percent, community aesthetics at 89.8 percent, assessment fee value at 83.1 percent and customer service at 83.2 percent.

McGorry said customer service ranked lower than assessment fee value on a 1-5 scale at 4.13 to 4.18.

“Customer service ranked fifth,” he said. “It’s something that we want to get better at.”

The top five issues of importance are all at least meeting expectations.

“Safety was rated slightly above expectations,” he said.

McGorry noted amenities failed to make the top five in terms of issues of importance to residents.

“People love the amenities, but a lot of people don’t use them,” he said. “They support continued investment in current amenities as opposed to investing in new amenities.”

The survey also ranked community values.

“We benchmarked other communities,” he said.

McGorry credited committee member Helen Johnson for taking charge to research similar homeowner associations in the region.

Topping the value list was integrity, with 86.4 percent ranking as very or extremely important, followed by accountability at 82.2 percent, collaboration at 76.3 percent and sustainability at 74 percent.

In terms of the community’s greatest challenges, transparency between the association and members ranked first at 86.7 percent, followed by infrastructure issues at 84.5 percent.

Next on the list was collaboration between the board and general manager at 80 percent, responsiveness to member requests followed at 76.9 percent, with enforcement of regulations at 66 percent.

McGorry said transparency, infrastructure and collaboration were seen as the top three challenges.

“The good news is transparency and collaboration don’t cost a lot of money,” he said.

Turning to amenities, McGorry said a minority of residents expressed interest in improving walkways, adding a fitness center and improving street lighting.

“My conclusion here is, in general, there was only lukewarm interest for any new or improved amenities,” he said.

In terms of next steps, McGorry said further analysis is planned.

“We want to look at the data more in the next two months,” he said.

Later this month, the committee will present a report to the Ocean Pines Executive Council, which is comprised of advisory committee chairs, and then a summary would be published in the January newsletter.

McGorry also recommended holding a town hall meeting in February to answer questions from residents.

McGorry said the full results of the survey should be posted on the association website in March.

Up through March, the Strategic Planning Committee will continue crafting long-range recommendations to present to the board in July.

Director Doug Parks, noting integrity was listed as a high priority by residents, suggested the committee provide more details for future board reference.

“How do you measure … evaluate and, obviously, report on integrity?” he said. “I would ask the committee for insights … so we could make a decision if we had to.”