By Greg Ellison

(Aug. 20, 2020) Sparks flew during a hastily convened OPA Board meeting on Monday due to media reports a day earlier that insinuated General Manager John Viola put his thumb on the scale to influence the vote for president the previous week.

What was intended for, and eventually went into, closed session, kicked off with a contentious 20-minute exchange on published comments by Director Tom Janasek claiming a last-minute change of heart by Director Camilla Rogers nixed an earlier agreement to support Director Steve Tuttle as president.

The eventual vote for president during the OPA Board organizational meeting last Wednesday was split 4-3 in favor of Director Larry Perrone.

Tuttle opened the proceedings on Monday with a motion to enter into a closed session. Janasek instantly objected.

“We don’t do a discussion before a closed motion,” he said.

Perrone, who conducted the meeting as newly appointed president, insisted a discussion about the motion would occur prior to voting to enter closed session.

“I’m running the meeting and this is how I’m going to run it,” he said.

Board member Colette Horn, who was named vice president during the earlier organizational meeting, suggested the need to enter closed session was negated after text messages exchanged between Rogers and another Pines resident were leaked to the media.

“The subject of this motion, if we’re to believe the press, has already been made public,” she said.

According to news reports, Rogers had texted a friend and fellow association member, claiming to change positions from supporting Tuttle’s nomination as president after consulting with Viola shortly before the selection process.

Horn was vehement in her defense of Rogers.

“The press said this was a discussion of general manager conduct,” she said. “What was reported was an action by a sitting director [where] she requested information from our GM to help her decide how she might vote on an initiative, which is within her right.”

Director Frank Daly asked Tuttle and Janasek about the accuracy of the news reports in question.

Tuttle declined to comment, while Janasek claimed to have not read the news article.

Daly said after reading the newspaper article it was not evident Rogers had violated any OPA bylaws.

“It appears that [Rogers] in violating no rules of the association … asked John Viola a question or an opinion [that] John, in violating no issues with the association … answered.”

Daly suggested the matter should be vetted in public.

“This is not an issue for closed session. I want this discussion out in the open,” he said.

For her part, Rogers expressed frustration with the developments and also opposed entering closed session.

“This has been a very disappointing couple of days,” she said. “I have received 15 negative and hurtful emails.”

Rogers said she would be willing to share the entirety of the text thread that was leaked to media sources with fellow board members.

“I interviewed both Steve and Larry [and] asked them what the priorities were for our organization,” she said. “Both were open and honest with me.”

Rogers said the conversations were aimed at assessing both board members’ leadership abilities.

“I did due diligence on this,” she said. “I’m a lawyer; it’s what we do.”

Disputing any impropriety, Rogers said the reported text exchanges were innocuous.

“I want to make it clear that John Viola did not tell me who to vote for,” she said. “He would not interfere like that.”

Expressing strong support for Viola, Rogers said she called to gain his perspective after realizing she would likely cast the deciding vote for president.

“When I called him I said, ‘I’d like to talk to you about this election because I am apparently the swing vote,’” she said. “I don’t take this lightly.”

Rogers said Viola expressed ambivalence.

“John said to me … ‘I can work with any of them,’” she said. “There was no undue influence.”

Rogers alluded that other issues were at play and expressed fear that a “witch hunt” was underway.

“I think this is an attempt to squeeze John out for whatever other agenda exists out there and I think I know what it is,” she said.

While expressing a preference for the board to work in unison to resolve the underlying issues, Rogers also admitted exploring other legal avenues.

“I hired private counsel [who] has said to me you’ve got a good case in defamation,’” she said. “I’m not going to do that [because] I’m above that.”

Perrone expressed concern the reported comments could open the OPA up to allegations of implicit or actual defamation by either the GM or a sitting board member.

“Director Janasek discussed with the press an alleged performance issue with an employee of the association in violation of our code of conduct and the bylaws,” he said.

In response, Janasek said regardless of media reports, there were other issues at stake appropriate for discussion in closed session.

“You have no idea about the issues we’re going to speak of in closed session,” he said. “It’s not just about [Viola’s] conversation with [Rogers] zero hours before the vote for presidency.”

Janasek said he first learned of Rogers’ text messages from media reports the day before, where he had expressed disappointment that an earlier agreement to support Tuttle’s nomination was reversed at the last moment.

“I was told what the vote was supposed to be and it wasn’t,” he said. “I see where it’s going [and] the 4-3 [split] that’s going to happen for the next year.”

Parks, while initially in favor of the closed session motion, changed course during the back and forth discussion.

“I’m not going to have the media dictate whether or not we go into closed session,” he said. “We’re setting a bad precedent if we let that happen.”

Still, Parks agreed with Janasek’s earlier sentiments regarding unknown variables.

“I don’t have any personally, but there might be some information that’s probably relevant to a closed session,” he said.

Tuttle also mentioned there was more at play than the issue of Rogers and Viola conferring about the vote for president.

“I will not discuss it in an open session but there is a second issue that is of concern to me that I would like us to talk about as a team,” he said.  “I think it effects how we move forward as board.”

Tuttle also expressed overall support for Viola.

“It’s not a witch hunt on my part,” he said. “I’ve worked with John over 18 moths and I deeply appreciate the work he’s done.”

The board then voted unanimously to adjourn to closed session and issued a statement later that day.

“The board of directors has complete faith and confidence in our general manager and his management of Ocean Pines,” the statement read. “After adjournment, the board discussed matters concerning … policies and procedures.”