Voters get another opportunity to ask candidates their thoughts on issues

By Greg Ellison

(July 8, 2021) The second installment of the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors election forum is scheduled for July 13 at 7 p.m. in the Golf Clubhouse.

The entire candidate field of Rick Farr, David Hardy, Stuart Lakernick and incumbent Director Frank Daly attending the initial forum on June 9.

Elections Committee Chairman Steve Habeger said residents have submitted many questions in the follow-up to the two-plus hour affair last month.

“We put out the word that we are interested in what members want to hear about and we’ve gotten a couple of pages,” he said.

To limit redundancies, the pool of questions will be grouped by common themes.

“We’re going to have to skinny them down, but it’s good to know what the voters want to know about,” he said.

Along with covering fresh topics, certain issues discussed during the last forum could be revisited.

“The very first question we asked at the first forum was about short-term rentals,” he said.

Just three days after the candidates’ were heard on the matter, the association staged a town hall meeting on the subject on June 12.

“Then the next Saturday was the town hall meeting and things seemed to have changed a bit,” he said.

Round two of the board election forum also includes a venue change because of a scheduling conflict.

Unlike the June affair, which was held in the Assateague Room of the community center, the July 13 event will be held at the Golf Clubhouse.

“The Power Squadron had the Assateague Room,” he said.

The booking dilemma arose after the originally selected date proved untenable.

“A year ago, we set the schedule and we chose the Saturday morning when the [OC] Airshow showed up,” he said. “That was just a non-starter.”

Habeger said election committee members concluded that coinciding with the annual aerial extravaganza in late June was a bad move.

“It’s a busy weekend for a lot of people,” he said. “It sweeps the bandwidth.”

Despite going four-for-four in terms of candidate participation during the June forum, the attendance picture next week remains unclear.

Habeger said although the occasion provides candidates another opportunity to engage with constituents, their participation is not required.

“Once their name is on the ballot, they don’t have to show up at the candidate draw or any of the forums,” he said. “They’ll make their decisions … every candidate in every election does that.”

Election ballots, which will be mailed next week, are due by Aug. 11, to be followed by a vote count on Aug. 13 beginning at 10 a.m.

The OPA Annual Homeowners Meeting will take place on Aug. 14 at 9 a.m. in the Assateague Room.

For questions about the election, or to submit questions for the second candidate forum email elections@oceanpines.org.