OCEAN PINES – Incumbent Doug Parks and newcomer Colette Horn will join the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors following this summer’s election.
On Saturday, Ocean Pines officials announced that Parks and Horn had won the two seats available in this year’s election. Each will now serve three year terms on the board. Parks received 1,912 votes while Horn received 1,647. Candidate Marty Clarke received 1,579 votes while candidate Nicole Crosariol received 1,407 votes.
Horn thanked voters.
“I appreciate their support and the faith they’ve placed in me,” she said.
Horn, a licensed psychologist, said she had been prompted to run for the board seat because she had concerns about the way the association was being run. She believes she has skills that will be an asset to the board moving forward.
As she campaigned this summer, she spoke to residents throughout the community as she made visits to places like the Tern Grill and Ocean Pines Yacht Club. Many residents took it upon themselves to get in touch with her after she was announced as a candidate. She said they shared concerns about changes to the formerly adults-only pool at the yacht club, the Ocean Pines infrastructure and even the amount of drama seen recently among board members. During the past few months there has been criticism of Brett Hill, the board member who is serving as the association’s acting general manager, as well as criticism of board member Slobodan Trendic, who was proposed for removal from the board by some of his peers. As recently as this month, Tom Herrick, who had been president of the board, resigned from the post, citing issues caused by fellow directors.
Horn said she thought the addition of the association’s new general manager in September would ease the overall situation.
“I think having a new general manager is going to kind of reset things, “she said. “I think that’ll contribute to settling things down.”
She added that there would also have to be some “shifting in attitudes” and forgiveness among board members.
“I think the motivation is there, “she said. “I think the will is there. It’s going to take some self-discipline to a certain extent.”
Colette Horn
As a board member, Horn says she’s eager to ensure the association’s various policies are tightened up. She also plans to bring more attention to business ethics.
“I think we’ve lost sight of the importance of that,” she said, adding that it was something she was well versed in as a psychologist. “It’s not been front and center for the board. Now that we have board members who are not retired, it’s even more important. It’s easy to find yourself in conflict of interest when you’re wearing two hats.”
Parks, who has spent the past year on the board after being appointed to fill the vacancy created by last year’s resignation of Pat Renaud, said throughout his campaign that he wanted to continue the work he’d started. During the past year, he said he’d contributed to the board’s decision to renovate the Ocean Pines Beach Club and to complete bridge repairs. He also created the Ocean Pines Technology Work Group to assess the community’s tech needs.
Doug Parks
Parks said he’d gathered an understanding of the association’s needs and how it operated.
“I have a volunteer spirit and I felt there was some unfinished business,” he said regarding his decision to seek election for a full three-year term.
He added that he was eager to work with the incoming general manager and continue the projects started by the technology work group. He says there’s also a need to explore possibilities for an adults-only pool and to “take a long hard look” at the yacht club and its operation.
With this year’s election complete, the board is expected to schedule an organizational meeting within the next two weeks.
