By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(March 12, 2026) Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors member Steve Jacobs has stepped down from the governing body this week, effective immediately.

The association announced Jacobs’ resignation in a press release on Monday.

“On behalf of the entire OPA Board of Directors, we express our sincere gratitude to Steve Jacobs for his dedicated service to the Ocean Pines Association. His contributions to our community have been invaluable, and we wish him well in his future endeavors. It was a pleasure to work with Steve,” Ocean Pines Board of Directors President John Latham said.

The reason for his resignation, Jacobs told the Bayside Gazette, is he is moving out of Ocean Pines to attend to a family matter.

The Ocean Pines Board of Directors has seven members who serve three-year terms after their election by association members. Their terms of directors are staggered.

Currently, OPA’s governing team consists of John Latham, president; Rick Farr, vice president; Monica Rakowski, treasurer; Jeff Heavner, secretary; Elaine Brady, director; and Stuart Lakernick, director.

With one of those seven seats abandoned, the remaining members are required by the association bylaws to appoint a replacement within 30 days of the vacancy’s creation.

On Tuesday, the association announced the appointment of Patrick Lehnerd to that post.

According to an OPA press release, Lehnerd has served as secretary on the community’s Elections Committee since 2024. Now a member of the board, the appointee must step down from his position with the elections team.

“His service on the committee has provided him with insight into the governance and election processes of the Ocean Pines Association, and he is well qualified to represent and serve the OPA community,” the announcement reads.

Lehnerd, originally from Ohio, earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Catholic University of America and has lived in Maryland since graduating in 1982. Ten years later, he received a master’s degree from John Hopkins University in systems engineering.

Lehnerd has been a homeowner in Ocean Pines since 2012 and a permanent resident since 2021. He a current member of the Pines Tones Chorus and the Ocean Pines Platform Tennis Association.

He is also a cantor at St. Paul’s by the Sea Episcopal Church in Ocean City and works part-time as a senior staff systems engineer at Northrop Grumman.

While Lehnerd will take over for Jacobs, residents Amy Peck, Colette Horn, and Lora Pangratz had also asked to be considered.

Peck served on the board for nine months after she was appointed in October 2021 to replace former board member Tom Janasek, who had resigned before his term expired.

Horn was elected to the board in 2017 and served two terms, acting at various points as vice president and then president.

Pangratz sat on the now-disbanded bylaws and resolutions committee for four and a half years. For more than two of those years, she served as the group’s chairperson.

Despite the additional volunteers, Lehnerd has been selected by the six remaining board members to fill the seat left vacant by Jacobs.

The community bylaws mandate that “any vacancies occurring on the board of directors 90 days or more before the annual meeting of the members shall be filled by a majority vote of the remaining directors within 30 days.”

Lehnerd shall serve as a director until the next annual meeting, held each year in August upon the conclusion of the board election. A successor must be elected to serve the remaining portion of the unexpired term.

At the time of resignation, Jacobs was serving his second term, which was set to end in 2028.