Laurel native Tom Janasek, 50, came to Ocean Pines in 1984. He’s been a presence during board meetings for years, often offering his opinions during public comments, and is one of 12 candidates running in this year’s board of directors race.
Janasek sold real estate straight out of high school and started his own construction company in the early 1990s. He ran his company for more than 20 years, and now works with AC Beverage out of Bishopville. He still dabbles in real estate, buying and flipping houses.
He entered the 2016 race, he said, because he finally has had enough time to devote to the job.
“This is the first year that I can physically spend time in Ocean Pines and be at the meetings and be part of committee work, and try to change something,” he said. “I never had that amount of time. We still live part-time in West River, Maryland, so I commute back and forth because I still have another house there that we’re flipping.”
Simply showing up to the meetings, he said, “gets nothing accomplished.” Janasek wants to change that culture on the board, as well as move the meeting times to weekends or during the afternoon to accommodate the work schedules of the general public.
“Up until the last meeting, when the election started and everyone [on the board] decided to be nice to you, when you spoke, no one ever said ‘thank you’ after you make a comment,” he said. “Usually, they stare blankly at you like you have a third eye. It’s ridiculous, and that’s one of the things I want to change – they just look so superior than thou to people who want to speak, and I want to give other people like myself the chance to be able to come and talk.”
Given his construction background, Janasek said aging infrastructure is an issue he would like to address, and he singled out the country club as one of the major buildings that desperately needs repairs.
“People say there’s no mold in the country club, but you walk in the door and that’s the first thing you smell,” he said. “You can’t tell me there’s not an issue with that building, and it should have been addressed a long time ago. The fact that they put the board in there [during budget meetings] with jackets in the winter is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.
“That’s a big one for me, because I’m in construction and I can see what needs to be done,” Janasek said, adding that he favors repairing rather than replacing the building. “I would have to look deeper into it as far as how bad the structure is, but based on the 2011 report, the structure is fine. Why spend $4 million on a new building when you could renovate and make that building into something [better]?”
Other ailing structures that Janasek is concerned about include the beach club, which is still undergoing roof repairs. He said a request for proposals for improvements to the bathrooms has yet to be released, despite board approval of the project in March.
He also has issues with the yacht club, which he called “poorly designed.” Janasek opposed the association’s plan to build new rather than renovate when that issue came up, about three years ago.
“Our biggest thing with the yacht club today is poor service and bad food, and I’m afraid we’ve lost so many people that it’s going to be hard to get them back,” he said. “It’s gotten better. My last couple meals there have been great, with the exception of when I go there on Sunday and order a fancy burger, which comes with Gouda cheese, but they’re out of Gouda cheese.
“It’s a $16 burger – for Christ’s sake, go to Food Lion and get a couple slices of cheese. That’s my problem with service – it doesn’t seem like anyone is held accountable for just dumb stuff like that,” he added.
Payroll, he said, is also an issue. Although he doesn’t favor closing the club during the winter, he would recommend cutting back to a “skeleton crew” during some of the leaner months.
“Our payroll is exorbitant – it’s just outrageous,” he said. “If you look at our payroll in March, it was $100 more than our food and beverage intake – that’s ridiculous,” he said. “I think that’s a GM issue personally, but I don’t know how micromanaged [Yacht Club Manager] Jerry Lewis is.”
He promised to bring “fiscal responsibility” to the board, addressing payroll issues all around, as well as the addition of last-minute capital spending proposals that General Manager Bob Thompson only shows the board “days before” public meetings.
Of the current board, Janasek sees a “huge amount of dissention,” and believes it’s become a major problem.
“I don’t like it,” he said. “They were bitching about Marty Clarke when he was there and went after him with [attorney] Joe Moore, and I think it’s worse now than it was before,” he said.
“[Bill] Cordwell should have been thrown off the board for what he said about Marty [in the Gazette]. You’re still on the board – you still represent the people of Ocean Pines. You don’t speak like that about previous board members, or anybody on the board.
“You don’t want to have all like-minded people on the board, because you want to have that interaction and have people with different ideas, but you have to be civil,” he continued. “I owned a construction company for close to 30 years – you learn who has strengths and who has weaknesses, and you figure out how to get along.
“You can’t be so divisive and so set in your ways that this is the only way you’re going to go,” Janasek said. “I just think it’s been that way for too long, and I’m not a fan of some of the people on the board who are bitter and sarcastic. It just drives me crazy. You’ve just got to work together – it’s the only thing you can do.”
Despite all the political infighting, Janasek said he loves the community. He wants to preserve it, trim some of the fat, and fix what’s obviously falling apart.
“I’ll be the first to tell you, when I’m in Ocean Pines I don’t want to leave Ocean Pines. I love it here,” he said. “I like to ride my bike to the yacht club, I like to take my boat to the yacht club. We like to stay here as much as possible – but it’s not the same for everybody. Some people are just a little too tickled with the status quo.”
Janasek sold real estate straight out of high school and started his own construction company in the early 1990s. He ran his company for more than 20 years, and now works with AC Beverage out of Bishopville. He still dabbles in real estate, buying and flipping houses.
He entered the 2016 race, he said, because he finally has had enough time to devote to the job.
“This is the first year that I can physically spend time in Ocean Pines and be at the meetings and be part of committee work, and try to change something,” he said. “I never had that amount of time. We still live part-time in West River, Maryland, so I commute back and forth because I still have another house there that we’re flipping.”
Simply showing up to the meetings, he said, “gets nothing accomplished.” Janasek wants to change that culture on the board, as well as move the meeting times to weekends or during the afternoon to accommodate the work schedules of the general public.
“Up until the last meeting, when the election started and everyone [on the board] decided to be nice to you, when you spoke, no one ever said ‘thank you’ after you make a comment,” he said. “Usually, they stare blankly at you like you have a third eye. It’s ridiculous, and that’s one of the things I want to change – they just look so superior than thou to people who want to speak, and I want to give other people like myself the chance to be able to come and talk.”
Given his construction background, Janasek said aging infrastructure is an issue he would like to address, and he singled out the country club as one of the major buildings that desperately needs repairs.
“People say there’s no mold in the country club, but you walk in the door and that’s the first thing you smell,” he said. “You can’t tell me there’s not an issue with that building, and it should have been addressed a long time ago. The fact that they put the board in there [during budget meetings] with jackets in the winter is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.
“That’s a big one for me, because I’m in construction and I can see what needs to be done,” Janasek said, adding that he favors repairing rather than replacing the building. “I would have to look deeper into it as far as how bad the structure is, but based on the 2011 report, the structure is fine. Why spend $4 million on a new building when you could renovate and make that building into something [better]?”
Other ailing structures that Janasek is concerned about include the beach club, which is still undergoing roof repairs. He said a request for proposals for improvements to the bathrooms has yet to be released, despite board approval of the project in March.
He also has issues with the yacht club, which he called “poorly designed.” Janasek opposed the association’s plan to build new rather than renovate when that issue came up, about three years ago.
“Our biggest thing with the yacht club today is poor service and bad food, and I’m afraid we’ve lost so many people that it’s going to be hard to get them back,” he said. “It’s gotten better. My last couple meals there have been great, with the exception of when I go there on Sunday and order a fancy burger, which comes with Gouda cheese, but they’re out of Gouda cheese.
“It’s a $16 burger – for Christ’s sake, go to Food Lion and get a couple slices of cheese. That’s my problem with service – it doesn’t seem like anyone is held accountable for just dumb stuff like that,” he added.
Payroll, he said, is also an issue. Although he doesn’t favor closing the club during the winter, he would recommend cutting back to a “skeleton crew” during some of the leaner months.
“Our payroll is exorbitant – it’s just outrageous,” he said. “If you look at our payroll in March, it was $100 more than our food and beverage intake – that’s ridiculous,” he said. “I think that’s a GM issue personally, but I don’t know how micromanaged [Yacht Club Manager] Jerry Lewis is.”
He promised to bring “fiscal responsibility” to the board, addressing payroll issues all around, as well as the addition of last-minute capital spending proposals that General Manager Bob Thompson only shows the board “days before” public meetings.
Of the current board, Janasek sees a “huge amount of dissention,” and believes it’s become a major problem.
“I don’t like it,” he said. “They were bitching about Marty Clarke when he was there and went after him with [attorney] Joe Moore, and I think it’s worse now than it was before,” he said.
“[Bill] Cordwell should have been thrown off the board for what he said about Marty [in the Gazette]. You’re still on the board – you still represent the people of Ocean Pines. You don’t speak like that about previous board members, or anybody on the board.
“You don’t want to have all like-minded people on the board, because you want to have that interaction and have people with different ideas, but you have to be civil,” he continued. “I owned a construction company for close to 30 years – you learn who has strengths and who has weaknesses, and you figure out how to get along.
“You can’t be so divisive and so set in your ways that this is the only way you’re going to go,” Janasek said. “I just think it’s been that way for too long, and I’m not a fan of some of the people on the board who are bitter and sarcastic. It just drives me crazy. You’ve just got to work together – it’s the only thing you can do.”
Despite all the political infighting, Janasek said he loves the community. He wants to preserve it, trim some of the fat, and fix what’s obviously falling apart.
“I’ll be the first to tell you, when I’m in Ocean Pines I don’t want to leave Ocean Pines. I love it here,” he said. “I like to ride my bike to the yacht club, I like to take my boat to the yacht club. We like to stay here as much as possible – but it’s not the same for everybody. Some people are just a little too tickled with the status quo.”