BERLIN – At its first meeting since this summer’s election, the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors selected Pat Renaud as president.
In a 4-3 vote, board members on Monday chose Renaud as president over Jack Collins. Both touted their desire to eliminate the tension that exists between the various members of the board.
“I don’t have all the answers but I do have the ability to bring people together,” Renaud said.
Following the vote, Renaud thanked board member Dave Stevens for his leadership as president during the past year. He then nominated board member Tom Terry as a candidate for vice president. When new board member Cheryl Jacobs was nominated as well, Terry said he was torn.
“This is my last year [on the board],” he said. “I want to make sure the board is in the position to move forward. In my view, we’re electing a group of people now that can lead us into the future.”
The board voted 5-2 to elect Jacobs as vice president. She told them she was looking forward to continuing to work on behalf of Pines residents.
“While I don’t have experience on the board, I do have a lot of experience to bring to the board,” she said.
New board member Tom Herrick was chosen to serve as secretary while Terry was elected treasurer. Though Ocean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson was chosen as one assistant treasurer, Terry said he’d like resident and former board member Pete Gomsak — who before retiring worked for a major accounting firm — to serve as another.
“He has brought a lot of valuable information to our organization over the years,” Terry said.
Stevens spoke against Gomsak serving as assistant treasurer. He said he thought Gomsak would handle all of the treasurer’s duties if he were appointed as assistant.
“What we’re doing is turning the whole job over to Pete,” he said.
Board member Bill Cordwell said Gomsak had been a big help to him when he’d served as treasurer.
“He can help this board immensely,” Cordwell said. “He’s forgotten more about Ocean Pines finance than most in this room will ever know.”
The board eventually voted 4-3 to appoint Gomsak as second assistant treasurer.
Monday’s selection of officers at the board’s organizational meeting followed a lengthy discussion regarding the legality of a prior meeting planned by Terry and Renaud. According to Terry, they were interested in meeting with the board’s new members, Herrick and Jacobs, to discuss who should be nominated for office. Terry called Joe Moore, the association’s legal counsel, and asked if that would be permissible. Moore told him that because Herrick and Jacobs weren’t official members of the board until the organizational meeting, he could meet with them and not have to worry about a quorum.
“In the past, it has been the position that new members become board members as of the organizational meeting,” Moore said. “I don’t see that a person cannot caucus.”
Though the meeting did not occur, according to Terry, it still appeared to have created a schism among board members. Stevens, who brought up the subject Monday, said he was under the impression the new board members had been board members since the election results were announced. He said the meeting Terry and Renaud sought constituted a closed board meeting.
“The election is final,” he said. “It requires no further validation than to read the results at the [annual] meeting. I think it’s been ignored for convenience in this case.”
When Jacobs said she hadn’t seen that in the bylaws, Stevens said it wasn’t there but was rather the precedent adopted by the board.
Cordwell said regardless of what the precedent was, when he was elected he didn’t think he was a board member until the organizational meeting.
“I didn’t believe I was a director until I was sworn in,” he said, adding that he didn’t know why they were discussing the issue when the supposed meeting never occurred.
Stevens said the issue was certain board members had tried to call a private closed meeting to discuss association business.
Terry interrupted with his own explanation. He said that Renaud had invited some board members to a meeting after he’d checked with Moore to make sure it was allowed. Though Moore told him it was, the meeting did not take place because the people invited opted not to attend.
“They aren’t running to be a voting bloc,” Terry said. “They said they were independent thinkers.”
Moore said he would research when newly members officially take possession of their seats but said the board might need to take action on it.
“It may be overdue that a policy resolution may be necessary,” he said. “I think this board needs to reach a firm consensus if not a resolution.”