Ocean Pines General Manager John Viola

By Cindy Hoffman, Staff Writer

(April 20, 2023) Ocean Pines General Manager John Viola provided a rapid-fire report on the association’s successes over the past month, focusing on police, racquet center and maintenance at Saturday’s board of directors meeting.

Viola said the police department has seen some successes, which uses a new process for police testing.

“We get the applications and we test them before they go to the academy. We have had success with this. We have three top candidates presented to Lt. Toppin and have been submitted for the July 5 academy.  I am excited about this,” Viola said.

“We also have a potential dispatcher, who could possibly go to the next academy.”

“This is the best I have seen in the past five years. We are competitive in compensation and moving in the right direction,” Viola said.

“The golf course is in the best shape it has been in the 15-18 years I have been here,” said Viola.

“If I look at the past six months of golf: the Bob Beckelman era. Look at those numbers, compare them to the same time last year, revenue is up 15 percent. This is not our busy season. That is about $45,000, the operating profit line is up $36,000.

“All the maintenance has been done, the place is packed,” Viola said.

Viola announced the hiring of the new racquet center manager, Tim Johnson. Viola said the job description was developed with guidance from the racquet sports committee. He said Johnson is eager to give lessons and provide a wealth of professional experience to the position.

He noted that he received numerous questions on the salary for the position.

“We paid him what was in the budget, and he gets a percentage of his lessons,” Viola said.

Viola also provided high level sketches of a proposed new racquet center design, with options for a one- and two-story building. The two-story building has a wrap-around deck because the input he received from the racquet sports advisory committee suggested a deck for watching matches.

He met with the racquet sports advisory committee over the past two years to understand their needs. The committee will be given these sketches and provide feedback.

“This is to be a working document. This is how we started with the golf club house,” said Viola.

“We also took the same approach with the fire house. Hopefully, we will come next month with that. We have very detailed diagrams and drawings that we have been working with the fire department,” Viola said.

“The diagrams will certainly save us money. We are using these diagrams as we sit down with contractors,” he said.

In the category of maintenance, Viola said the work at the marina dock, including replacing the C-Dock and fuel lines are progressing and remain on schedule, weather permitting, for an opening prior to Memorial Day.

The Aquatics Swim and Racquet roof was replaced March 13. The budget for this project was $28,300 and it came in at $29,200.

Clean-up efforts at the various parks have occurred, including landscaping, trail maintenance, and power washing, court maintenance and repainting of the lounge and pro-shop at the racquet center. Mailboxes have been replaced or painted.

“We’re committed to maintenance and have listened to requests from the board, our committees, and our homeowners,” he said. “Public Works does an outstanding job and, with the help of our local contractors, everything on our list is getting done.”