By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(May 17, 2018) With the passing of the candidate-filing deadline last Thursday, work by the Ocean Pines Search Committee is effectively done for the year, except for its final report.

Committee Chairman Ken Koroknay confirmed on Monday 10 candidates had filled out applications for three board vacancies. Per association bylaws, at least two more candidates than vacancies were required.

Koroknay said the committee turned over applications to Association Secretary Colette Horn on Thursday. Horn must validate candidate eligibility by Thursday.

“She’s going to do the verification, and then she will hand them over to the elections committee and they’ll make an announcement as to who the candidates are,” he said. “My anticipation is this week we’ll probably have an announcement.”

Koroknay said the committee, whose primary function is recruiting candidates, was pleased with the high number.

“I thought we would have a pretty good turnout, [although] I wasn’t quite sure why we would have a good turnout,” he said, adding an informational meeting last month provided some clues.

During that meeting, April 26, several potential candidates attended and one, Mark Mitchell, spoke publicly.

“I thought, here’s somebody who wants to jump into the fray because he thinks maybe we’ve got an established GM, irrespective of some of the criticism there,” Koroknay said. “I would think there are some candidates who say, ‘I’d rather be on the board now than maybe a year or two ago.’

“I think we’re all thrilled with 10,” he added.

Koroknay said the committee “did a fair amount of legwork” itself and also used association advertising as a recruiting tool. He said committee members reached out to other volunteer groups as well as previous board candidates.

“If you’re on a committee, you’re probably a little more engaged and influential within the community, and we put that word out that we’ve got [three board seats] open and we asked those people to help us keep their eye out for individuals who had expressed interest,” he said.

As for further committee activities, Koroknay said, “that’s it,” except for providing a final report.

“We’ll provide a report to the board the same as any other committee, what we saw and what we would suggest change,” he said.

According to Resolution M-09 governing the committee, the report is due no later than June 30 and “shall include” a list committee of activities, any problems encountered, and recommendations for improving the search process.