By Cindy Hoffman, Staff Writer

Capital requests, policies, appointments and public comments during meeting

(June 22, 2023) The Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors approved various capital requests, policies and appointments and heard from residents during its June meeting on Saturday.

The board approved requests from Public Works for $22,000 for a limb cutter and $30,000 for the replacement of John Deere Gators.

It also approved $19,000 for the replacement of a small dock removed during the 2022-23 bulkhead replacement in Pintail Park Recreation Area and $61,000 for a new Pintail Park kayak launch gangway and floating dock.

In other matters, the board approved the update for the financial policy manual. The manual was last updated in 2006. The general manager, the finance team, the Finance Advisory Committee and the board of directors reviewed and provided comments on the manual. The updates from these reviews have been included in this version of the policy manual.

The board then turned to resolutions.

It approved updates to Resolution M-06, Elections and Referendums, which were proposed by the Elections Advisory Committee. The board made clear that this would not be the end of changes to M-06.

“It is incumbent upon the elections committee, however it’s constructed, shortly after this next election, to sit down and align M-06 and all of the attachments, our bylaws, procedures, with an eye looking forward to what we are going to be facing in the future, as best they can. The Bylaws Committee should do the same,” Director Steve Jacobs said.

“This situation, where we are faced with an election coming up in the next two months, should not occur next year.”

He noted conflicting information in the documents.

“I would expect a number of things to happen after this election,” Director Doug Parks said.

“After conducting the elections itself, both the bylaws and the resolutions committee, and the new board will have new information pursuant to how the election was conducted.

“It’s incumbent on all three of those, specifically the elections committee and the bylaws and resolutions committee to work together to say what did we learn after this election.

“We know that we have to reintroduce at some point online voting. Now that we have all this information, let’s look at how it is referenced and integrated with the existing bylaws, and what needs to be changed in order to make sure we can conduct elections going forward. I suspect this will not be the final change to M-06.”

There were first readings for two resolutions.

The first was to revise Resolution B-08 to make it available as a policy statement on the principles of ethics and conduct to guide directors in carrying out their roles on the board.

“This iteration states the principles by which we would expect to conduct ourselves and added a section having to do with confidentiality issues,” Director Colette Horn said.

Resolution C-14 Racquet Sports Advisory Committee had changes based on the fact that the committee functions have changed now that the racquet center has a director.

The board approved the appointments of the following candidates to committees. Debbie Bennington for a first term on the Communications Advisory Committee; Amy Peck for a first term on the Rec and Parks Advisory Committee; Michael Reynolds for a first term on the Marine Activities Advisory Committee; and Laura Scharle for a second term on the Rec and Parks Advisory Committee.

There was discussion about Amy Peck’s appointment. Director Doug Parks said he could not, in good conscience, vote to support Peck and thus abstained.

Director Colette Horn came to Peck’s defense, saying that Peck has lived in Ocean Pines for many years and raised her children in rec and parks programs.

“She has been a veteran volunteer. She has invested a lot of herself and provided good ideas and good support to the rec and parks program.”

“We always say we highly value our volunteers,” Director Steve Jacobs said. “I am aware that Ms. Peck has raised issues and maybe angered some people with some of her comments. None of that has to do with rec and parks.

“We set a very bad precedent if we go through these sorts of acid tests as to who should serve,” he continued. “These are nothing more than advisory committees. When the committee chair has endorsed this person to be on the committee, I think we should accept it for what it is.”

With that, the board approved Amy Peck’s appointment to the Rec and Parks Advisory Committee.

Two residents provided comments during the board meeting.

Ann Williamson addressed three issues: yard waste, the crab pier in South Ocean Pines and parking.

Williamson, a part-time resident, outlined the difficulties she has with disposing of leaves throughout the year.  She requested two tags to access the Public Works yard.  General Manager John Viola asked her to provide him with her phone number so he could help provide a solution for her.

She also took issue with the lack of amenities on the south side of Ocean Pines. She said she regularly enjoyed the crabbing pier there, which she would like to see replaced so that people on the south side have access to the water. She noted that residents on the south side have to drive to get to any amenities in the community.

“We are putting in a pier in Pintail. We are going to try that. It’s not easy to get the permits for this,” Viola responded.

Finally, she asked that the association leadership encourage residents to park in their driveways and not on the roads.  As a biker, she said it is dangerous to have so many cars parked on the road.

The second resident to provide comments was Dave Tanner, who made his case for updating the racquet club and using the money that would be used for a new center to make other improvements.

“The building is in good shape. It’s looking a lot better with the painting,” Tanner said. “The idea of a second story does not have any merit. An elevator would be required along with stairs.  You will lose a lot of space on your first floor. Same thing is true up above. Plus, you are adding the cost of the elevator.”

He also questioned the purpose of a second floor. He said people want to be by the courts, “and the view from up there will not be good.”

He noted that the current building meets the needs and can be modified to add more storage space and more washrooms.

He suggested spending money on a deck next to the courts, which is currently gravel.

Viola agreed that the center needs more bathrooms and storage. He also agreed that the gravel was a problem but that the association has to also look at drainage and permeability of any surfaces.