BERLIN – Bob Thompson will continue in his role as general manager of the Ocean Pines Association following a decision by the board of directors to extend his contract.
The board voted 6-1 in closed session last week to extend Thompson’s contract another three years.
“As the president of the board of directors, I am happy to take this opportunity to announce on behalf of the board that we have secured the continued employment of our general manager,” Pat Renaud, president of the board, said in a statement. “It is the opinion of the majority of directors that the current contract has worked well for both the community and the general manager and therefore no change was necessary.”
Thompson, who was hired in 2010, is currently serving under a 36-month contract that requires the board to make a decision in the 24th month regarding whether there will be an extension. The board voted to renew the contract “as is” for another three years.
“It was an affirmation of the efforts I put in on behalf of the community,” Thompson said. “I appreciate the board’s support.”
Thompson says he’s eager to continue his work in the 8,400-home community where he manages 81 year-round employees and a staff of 300 in the summer. He says that while he deals with everything from facility maintenance to balancing the association’s multimillion dollar budget, his work comes down to one thing — service.
“Everything we do is about service,” he said. “You’re working directly for your homeowners.”
Thompson is proud of his efforts to improve the association’s financial performance in recent years and is pleased with the relationship he’s built with his staff. In the next few years, he says one of his primary goals is to see Ocean Pines develop a strategic plan for the future.
“That’s a critical component we need to work toward,” he said. “We have some unique facility needs that have to be addressed. We’re an aging community.”
Thompson believes the biggest challenge he’s faced and will continue to face as general manager in Ocean Pines is communicating effectively with the community’s thousands of residents. Thompson says he struggles to make sure the “silent majority” is as well represented as the “vocal minority.” He says he expected to face daily challenges when he took on the role of general manager. What he didn’t expect was that one of the biggest challenges would be the level of passion Pines residents bring to their individual issues.
“The vocal minority comes from a less than positive position,” he said. “This community does so much good and stands for so many good things. Unfortunately we lose sight of that because we get caught up in negativity.”
That, he says, is why one of the largest parts of his job is trying to promote what he knows is true.
“There’s a lot more good than there is bad in Ocean Pines,” he said.
