(Dec. 10, 2015) Looking to institute safeguards regarding future investments, the Ocean Pines Association’s Budget and Finance Committee met last Thursday to discuss an overhaul of community investment guidelines, also known as Resolution F-01.
Adjunct committee member Tom Beery, who drafted a proposed set of guidelines, said the existing document was only about three paragraphs long and was “sorely lacking in protections and direction for investments of the association funds.”
“Ocean Pines is not a municipality. We’re technically a [home owner’s association],” he said. “We operate as if we are a municipality in a lot of ways, but we don’t have taxing authority, and as a result we need to have the same protections, by agreement, that the state provides for municipalities.”
Beery said the new document would provide guiding principals and that some of the changes and additions simply “memorialized” current practices. Other changes, he said, were written as safeguards in the instance that future treasurers were not investment minded.
Committee member John O’Connor underscored that notion.
“You happen to [currently] have a treasurer that understands dollars,” he said. “If you have somebody who understands it, then it’s not a problem. We’ve had treasurers who didn’t know the difference between a debit and a credit. Somebody who doesn’t know what they’re doing – that’s my concern.”
Current treasurer Tom Terry, a member of the board, said that the bylaws were written with that in mind, not requiring the treasurer to be on the board.
“It’s the only officer of the corporation that doesn’t have to be on the board,” he said. “If you have folks who … are well-meaning, but none of them have any finance background, then you can name a treasurer that’s not a board member.”
Still, the committee discussed several minor wording changes to the draft, which was not made available to the press. Committee member John Trumpower was appointed to type the changes and email those to Supik.
An agreement was made to vote on the final draft by email, with the intention of introducing F-01 as a first reading during the January meeting of the board of directors, with a vote likely in February.
Terry endorsed the committee’s timeframe.
“If we can’t get F-01 in this form through in four months, then there’s really something wrong,” he said.
Adjunct committee member Tom Beery, who drafted a proposed set of guidelines, said the existing document was only about three paragraphs long and was “sorely lacking in protections and direction for investments of the association funds.”
“Ocean Pines is not a municipality. We’re technically a [home owner’s association],” he said. “We operate as if we are a municipality in a lot of ways, but we don’t have taxing authority, and as a result we need to have the same protections, by agreement, that the state provides for municipalities.”
Beery said the new document would provide guiding principals and that some of the changes and additions simply “memorialized” current practices. Other changes, he said, were written as safeguards in the instance that future treasurers were not investment minded.
Committee member John O’Connor underscored that notion.
“You happen to [currently] have a treasurer that understands dollars,” he said. “If you have somebody who understands it, then it’s not a problem. We’ve had treasurers who didn’t know the difference between a debit and a credit. Somebody who doesn’t know what they’re doing – that’s my concern.”
Current treasurer Tom Terry, a member of the board, said that the bylaws were written with that in mind, not requiring the treasurer to be on the board.
“It’s the only officer of the corporation that doesn’t have to be on the board,” he said. “If you have folks who … are well-meaning, but none of them have any finance background, then you can name a treasurer that’s not a board member.”
Still, the committee discussed several minor wording changes to the draft, which was not made available to the press. Committee member John Trumpower was appointed to type the changes and email those to Supik.
An agreement was made to vote on the final draft by email, with the intention of introducing F-01 as a first reading during the January meeting of the board of directors, with a vote likely in February.
Terry endorsed the committee’s timeframe.
“If we can’t get F-01 in this form through in four months, then there’s really something wrong,” he said.