By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer

Photo By Morgan Pilz
The Board of Directors candidates, from left, Tom Janasek, Larry Perrone, Camilla Rogers, Paula Gray, Shawn Kotwica, Edward Solum and Greg Turner, prepare for the final candidates’ forum atthe Ocean Pines Community Center, Saturday, June 22.

(June 27, 2019) All seven candidates for the Ocean Pines Board of Directors participated in the second and final official candidate forum in the community center last Saturday.

The candidates, in ballot order, Tom Janasek, Larry Perrone, Camilla Rogers, Paula Gray, Shawn Kotwica, Edward Solum and Greg Turner, took turns answering questions developed by the Elections Committee and property owners.

Unlike the routine in the previous forum, when questions were answered by the candidates in ballot order, this week’s questions were directed at candidates at random.

One of the most discussed issues for Ocean Pines homeowners is how future board will address the State Highway Administration’s proposed roundabout in front of the North Gate entrance.

A majority of the candidates were adamantly against the proposal.

“Look at the one in front of Wor-Wic college,” Turner said. “There’s only a small line of vehicles there. If you’re going to put one out here on North Gate, you’re looking at hundreds of cars coming in and out of Ocean Pines. That roundabout is just going to produce a lot of fender benders.”

Several of Turner’s opponents agreed with him.

“My experience has been they work well in more rural areas where you don’t have the volume of traffic you have at the North Gate entrance,” Solum said. “The problem is I don’t think there’s been a micro-analysis of this. That open field is eventually going to be developed … more traffic is being generated.”

“I have no fondness for this,” Rogers said. “I don’t believe that there has been enough done to really study this program or study this prospect in its entirety. I know that for some of you … that perhaps the North bridge has outgrown its usefulness. I would hate to see it go, because it’s an important part of who we are. I agree that maybe we should have another alternative route into Ocean Pines.”

However, some also mentioned that it would be difficult to fight the proposal if the state already has a design set.

“This is not an Ocean Pines decision; this is state-decided and this is what they’re going to do,” Perrone said. “I don’t know that there’s a whole lot we can do. They can take the land from us if they choose and I think the best thing we can do at this point is try to cooperate with the state.”

“It looks as though it’s already a done deal, though I’m not so sure it is … I’d like to do a little more research into it” Janasek said. “Apparently somebody has already taken a lot of action to make sure this will happen. What I would like to see if it’s going to happen, maybe we can leverage some it and get some dualization on 589 that we’ve been talking about for the last 20 years or so. If we don’t have any recourse … I’d like to at least leverage what we have and get more information about dualization throughout the Pines area.”

Another question asked was what the board would do to search for a permanent general manager. John Viola, who has taken on the role temporarily, has extended his term until the end of the year.

For most, Viola seems to be the best choice.

“[Viola] has brought us back into the black,” Gray said. “I also have kudos to the current board for having the daring to have that happen, to take a step out into something you’ve never done before and look how it has benefitted us. It’s very difficult to go outside and get a person to come in as a general manager position, who might not understand the culture. John understands that culture.”

Others, however, felt it would be important to look at someone from outside the community.

“Getting someone with experience and knowledge on how to run an operation objectively from an outside view is very important,” Kotwica said. “We need checks and balances, not somebody who’s saying, ‘Hey, I’m here.’ We need somebody with outside experience and knowledge on how to run this operation with an objective view.”

In his statement favoring an outside manager, however, Kotwica unintentionally spurred some tension when other candidates inferred one of his statements, “We can’t have someone who’s hand is already in the cookie jar,” was a reference to Viola.

“John and I are personal friends and I take offense to your comment that he has his fingers in the cookie jar,” Perrone said. “John goes out of his way to never touch money here, he did the same thing as the treasurer, and for you to make a comment like that I find offensive.

“Besides that, knowing how John operates, I think the big difference that we see here is that John understands that he does not know everything about everything,” he continued. “He’s going out of his way to rely on people who are experts and are using them.”

Kotwica responded to the panel and the residents watching the forum that this was not his intention and he believed Viola was “doing a fine job.”

Another question Elections Committee Chairman Steve Habeger asked regarded how the candidates would work to reduce legal costs, which have increased for the last few years.

“Law firms have overhead,” Solum, a retired lawyer, said. “A lot of them have big staffs and bill $400-500 an hour. As a practicing attorney, I learned that overhead is the bane of business and you’ve got to watch your cost. I believe that there are other ways to deal with legal situations without paying those [costly] firms.”

Kotwica suggested looking for an Eastern Shore-based firm instead of hiring someone from across the bay bridge.

“We need to bring legal counsel back to the shore,” he said. “Maybe someone right around the corner from Ocean Pines could be our council. Why do we go across the bridge to choose the best person to deal with the situation?”

Some other questions included concerns about storm water management, which was addressed in the first forum, and how to promote more volunteers for the Ocean Pines Fire Department, which has seen a shortage in active volunteers.

The top three vote-getters will be elected to three-year terms on the Ocean Pines Board.

The cutoff for voter eligibility is July 3. As of this week, about 960 Ocean Pines homeowners are not eligible to vote because they are “not in good standing,” meaning they either have outstanding violations or unpaid assessments. Under the Ocean Pines bylaws, homeowners on a monthly payment plan are ineligible to vote.

For questions about voter eligibility, contact Membership and Assessment Supervisor Ruth Ann Meyer at 410-641-7717 ext. 3031, or email rmeyer@oceanpines.org.

Last year, 7,614 ballots were mailed and 3,119 were counted, a return rate of about 41 percent. Eighty total ballots were rejected, with the vast majority, 66, disqualified because they were received after the voting deadline.

Also last year, the difference between the third-place finisher, who was elected, and the fourth-place finisher, who was not, was just 23 votes.

With that in mind, the Elections Committee is reminding homeowners “Your Vote Counts” though a campaign encouraging all voters to pay close attention both to election deadlines and to ballot instructions.

Ballots will be mailed to all association members in good standing during the week of July 8. They may be returned either to the ballot box inside the police department office in the Ocean Pines Administration Building on 239 Ocean Parkway or mailed to the Ocean Pines post office box in Berlin.

Ballots will be counted, and vote totals announced, on Aug. 9 at 10 a.m. in the East Room of the Ocean Pines Community Center on 235 Ocean Parkway. The election results will be validated on Aug. 10 at 10 a.m. during the Annual Meeting of Membership in the Assateague Room of the Ocean Pines Community Center on 235 Ocean Parkway.

For questions about the election, email elections@oceanpines.org.