OCEAN PINES – While committed to improving the Ocean Pines Association election process, members of the board of directors appear to be split on how to go about it.
At a work session Monday, board member Cheryl Jacobs proposed an amendment to the resolution regarding elections that would ensure that ballots are counted in open session and that candidate responses in the voting package are limited to 200 words. She said the changes, which she plans to introduce for a vote at Saturday’s board meeting, would address two of the primary issues identified during the board’s 2016 election.
“I think what I’ve proposed solves our problems initially,” she said.
The changes suggested by Jacobs were put forth as an alternative to the more extensive changes proposed by the association’s elections committee last month. The committee recommended numerous changes to the resolution M-06, the document that outlines election procedures.
Steve Tuttle, chairman of the committee, said the group spent months compiling and revising the version of M-06 submitted in March. He said the committee had consulted with the association’s attorney, Jeremy Tucker, and had accepted “over 90 percent” of his recommendations. The area in which the committee did not agree with the attorney was in regard to the announcement of the election results.
The committee maintains that results should be announced after the vote count, prior to when they’re validated at the annual meeting.
Tuttle said the committee had developed the amendment with the goal of ensuring the annual election occurred in an open and transparent manner.
“Transparency is not just a word,” Tuttle said. “It was and continues to be about how we conduct ourselves.”
By announcing the election results immediately after the votes are counted, Tuttle said the association would give candidates enough time to determine whether they wanted a recount before the annual meeting the following day.
Board member Doug Parks said he didn’t disagree with Jacobs’ suggestions but that the issue of a recount did need to be addressed, as it was mentioned in the association’s bylaws.
“It’s known right now there is no process for a recount,” he said.
Brett Hill, a board member and the association’s acting general manager, pointed out that the annual election would be happening this summer. He said that while the elections committee’s changes were likely be debated for some time, the changes proposed by Jacobs could be approved more quickly.
“We’re going to be talking about this for months,” Hill said. “We need to do something that fixes it now. Cheryl’s motion does that.”
Tuttle said Jacobs’ proposal wasn’t based on the advice of the association’s attorney.
“She has ignored all of the editorial and advisory comments from your own attorney,” he said.
While some board members suggested either one of the potential amendments could be changed so that they were amenable to everyone, others said that shouldn’t be done during Saturday’s regularly scheduled meeting.
“I’m against making that many amendments on the fly,” Hill said.
Board member Pat Supik said the election process deserved a significant amount of consideration.
Jacobs urged anyone interested in amending either her proposed amendment or the one previously proposed by the committee to do so prior to Saturday’s meeting to prevent confusion.
The board’s regular monthly meeting is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Ocean Pines Community Center.
