OCEAN PINES– After a contentious election, the two newest members of the Ocean Pines Association Board took a mostly conciliatory tone after the community released voting results on Saturday, Aug. 9.
Pat Renaud and Dave Stevens, who ran as a voting bloc against members of the current board and its relationship with General Manager Bob Thompson, received 1,767 votes and 1,738 votes, respectively, handily defeating their opponents. Incumbent Jeff Knepper received 1,392 votes, incumbent Terri Mohr received 1,323 votes and newcomer Lawrence Lee, running as a moderate voice, received 456 votes.
Renaud and Stevens will serve three-year terms on the seven-member board.
While not calling it an outright mandate, Renaud said he and Stevens had an idea of what their first move as newly elected officials could be.
“We want to look at some organizational changes and make the control go back to the board – I think we’ve been very clear about that,” he said. “We both agree on that issue. We certainly want to make sure that things are being run smoothly and that the board is in control of what it’s supposed to be in control of.”
Stevens formerly served on the board, but had to step down several years ago because of term-limit restrictions.
“I think (the election) confirmed our sense of the dissatisfaction of a great number of people in Ocean Pines,” Stevens said. “We made the issues as plain as we could – some would say maybe too plain – but we were trying to do that. If you think everything is okay don’t vote for us, but if you are dissatisfied with the relationship between the board and the general manager, that’s a key issue, and if you vote for us it will be changed.”
At least two members of the current board are expected to vote with Renaud and Stevens, giving them, in theory, a 4-3 majority.
“I think it does shift it,” Renaud said. “I think we’ll have four like-minded directors and maybe three others that may not be as like-minded, but we hope they are.”
“We wanted to be sure that we were not facing a 4-3 voting block,” said Stevens. “That’s what happened before and I had their experience of three years on the board where I was in that minority. What I am also hoping is that … there will be a real exchange of ideas and that it won’t be all ‘us and them,’ and in fact we will agree on a lot of issues. But the fundamental issue – the responsibility of the board – is one that perhaps is going to take people a little bit of time to adjust to.”
The new board will hold an organizational meeting during the next few weeks, although an official date has not yet been determined, in order to elect a new president, vice president and secretary.
“Whoever becomes the president determines where we’re going to go next, I think,” said Renaud. “We’d like to talk about the organizational situation and how that’s working out between the board and the general manager.”
Thompson and his recent contract extension were heating topics during the campaign. Both new members said, although they objected to Thompson’s pay raise, they would not seek to change or challenge the contract.
“I have no preconceived notion about that,” said Renaud. “I went on record as saying it was excessive – it was higher than it should be, particularly for the area we live in – but as far as changing is concerned contracts are not that easy to change. I think if we’re going to keep the contract as it is we’ve got to make sure that whatever bonuses are built in there are actually earned and not just given automatically.”
“Despite what some people really want I think a contract is a contract,” Stevens said. “I do think there are issues in the general manager’s contract that need to be clarified, and hopefully we’ll be doing that. But if you’re looking for radical changes I don’t foresee that happening.”
Renaud does not believe the contentious nature of the election will hamper his ability to work with the remaining members of the OPA Board.
“I know that my running mate had been there before and there was some contention between him and some of the other people, which I’m not a part of,” he said. “I talked to the other people and said, ‘I don’t have a bone to pick and I want to deal with everybody on an equal basis.’ As far as I’m concerned I vote the way things should be as opposed to what anybody else thinks. If I can be, I like to be the conciliatory person that says, ‘let’s sit down and solve the problems and let’s not talk about personalities.’”
“I’m willing to reach out any way that I can,” Stevens said. “I’ll take any advice that I can, and I’ll listen to what they have to say. But I can’t sweep aside what I’ve observed in the last four years either. I’m hoping everything works out in a reasonable way.”
Stevens said his first order of business would be to clarify the requirements of the board with respect to general manager reporting, including the time limits, content and format of the reporting.
“It sounds like it’s almost trivial, but it isn’t,” he said. “Then there are ongoing issues that have to be addressed. On my list are the capital improvements. I have said during the election that I believe the board has to take responsibility for that, and that’s what I intent to do, hopefully getting some support from within the community and with some cooperation from the general manager and his staff.”
Pat Renaud and Dave Stevens, who ran as a voting bloc against members of the current board and its relationship with General Manager Bob Thompson, received 1,767 votes and 1,738 votes, respectively, handily defeating their opponents. Incumbent Jeff Knepper received 1,392 votes, incumbent Terri Mohr received 1,323 votes and newcomer Lawrence Lee, running as a moderate voice, received 456 votes.
Renaud and Stevens will serve three-year terms on the seven-member board.
While not calling it an outright mandate, Renaud said he and Stevens had an idea of what their first move as newly elected officials could be.
“We want to look at some organizational changes and make the control go back to the board – I think we’ve been very clear about that,” he said. “We both agree on that issue. We certainly want to make sure that things are being run smoothly and that the board is in control of what it’s supposed to be in control of.”
Stevens formerly served on the board, but had to step down several years ago because of term-limit restrictions.
“I think (the election) confirmed our sense of the dissatisfaction of a great number of people in Ocean Pines,” Stevens said. “We made the issues as plain as we could – some would say maybe too plain – but we were trying to do that. If you think everything is okay don’t vote for us, but if you are dissatisfied with the relationship between the board and the general manager, that’s a key issue, and if you vote for us it will be changed.”
At least two members of the current board are expected to vote with Renaud and Stevens, giving them, in theory, a 4-3 majority.
“I think it does shift it,” Renaud said. “I think we’ll have four like-minded directors and maybe three others that may not be as like-minded, but we hope they are.”
“We wanted to be sure that we were not facing a 4-3 voting block,” said Stevens. “That’s what happened before and I had their experience of three years on the board where I was in that minority. What I am also hoping is that … there will be a real exchange of ideas and that it won’t be all ‘us and them,’ and in fact we will agree on a lot of issues. But the fundamental issue – the responsibility of the board – is one that perhaps is going to take people a little bit of time to adjust to.”
The new board will hold an organizational meeting during the next few weeks, although an official date has not yet been determined, in order to elect a new president, vice president and secretary.
“Whoever becomes the president determines where we’re going to go next, I think,” said Renaud. “We’d like to talk about the organizational situation and how that’s working out between the board and the general manager.”
Thompson and his recent contract extension were heating topics during the campaign. Both new members said, although they objected to Thompson’s pay raise, they would not seek to change or challenge the contract.
“I have no preconceived notion about that,” said Renaud. “I went on record as saying it was excessive – it was higher than it should be, particularly for the area we live in – but as far as changing is concerned contracts are not that easy to change. I think if we’re going to keep the contract as it is we’ve got to make sure that whatever bonuses are built in there are actually earned and not just given automatically.”
“Despite what some people really want I think a contract is a contract,” Stevens said. “I do think there are issues in the general manager’s contract that need to be clarified, and hopefully we’ll be doing that. But if you’re looking for radical changes I don’t foresee that happening.”
Renaud does not believe the contentious nature of the election will hamper his ability to work with the remaining members of the OPA Board.
“I know that my running mate had been there before and there was some contention between him and some of the other people, which I’m not a part of,” he said. “I talked to the other people and said, ‘I don’t have a bone to pick and I want to deal with everybody on an equal basis.’ As far as I’m concerned I vote the way things should be as opposed to what anybody else thinks. If I can be, I like to be the conciliatory person that says, ‘let’s sit down and solve the problems and let’s not talk about personalities.’”
“I’m willing to reach out any way that I can,” Stevens said. “I’ll take any advice that I can, and I’ll listen to what they have to say. But I can’t sweep aside what I’ve observed in the last four years either. I’m hoping everything works out in a reasonable way.”
Stevens said his first order of business would be to clarify the requirements of the board with respect to general manager reporting, including the time limits, content and format of the reporting.
“It sounds like it’s almost trivial, but it isn’t,” he said. “Then there are ongoing issues that have to be addressed. On my list are the capital improvements. I have said during the election that I believe the board has to take responsibility for that, and that’s what I intent to do, hopefully getting some support from within the community and with some cooperation from the general manager and his staff.”