OCEAN PINES – Fiscal accountability and sound business practices dominated most of the discussion at the Ocean Pines Association (OPA) candidate’s forum this week.
Four contenders in this year’s board election will vie for two positions currently held by Dave Stevens and Doug Parks, and on Wednesday candidates Colette Horn, Nicole Schafer Crosariol, Martin Clarke and Parks shared their views on matters ranging from deteriorating mailboxes to reserve funds.
Candidates were each given time to share opening and closing statements and answer submitted questions focused on amenities, funds, back assessments, the North Gate bridge, community involvement and other topics.
When asked about OPA finances, candidates gave potential solutions to problems at hand.
Crosariol said issues pertaining to the association’s finances should be addressed frequently and argued for quarterly reviews of the budget.
“I think going forward and having an annual budget meeting, you can’t really assess things as they come,” she said.
Parks argued that while the community’s budget is fine, a larger effort should be taken to reduce assessments and bring savings back to members. He said he didn’t vote for this year’s budget because of larger and unjustifiable labor costs.
“I thought that we missed the boat or could have done a better job,” he said.
Clarke called for a zero-based budget, where operational costs are divided among the community’s 8,452 members to calculate assessments. He argued that the general manager failed to present a zero-based budget last year.
“The job is to do a good budget, as good as you can, divide it by 8,452, that is your assessment,” he said. “If it goes up, it goes up. If it goes down, like it should have last year by easily $100, it goes down.”
Horn agreed that the association was in a healthy financial situation, but said surplus spending would eventually increase assessments. She argued that the board should be held accountable for setting and sticking to a budget.
“I do take an exception with the idea that going $270,000 over budget in a given year is okay,” she said. “If we do that every year, where are we going to make those funds up?”
Candidates also addressed business operations at various amenities, particularly the Yacht Club.
Clarke said in the last six months the Yacht Club lost $328,000 and supported shutting the amenity down during the off season.
“I would shutter that club around the end of September, winterize the pipes and not reopen it again until April if I was king,” he said. “That’s the way it was done here until 1988.”
Horn disagreed with shutting down a multi-million dollar building in wintertime, but suggested looking into management issues.
“The real problem is solving the management problem, the quality of service, the quality of product, so that the summer months can pay for the winter months,” she said.
Crosariol agreed with Horn that the building remain open year round, but suggested marketing campaigns and weekly specials to draw in more customers.
“I think it would help sustain it enough over time with the right management,” she said.
Parks said nothing has been done in recent years to turn off-season losses into gains and suggested either closing the operation in the off-season or utilizing outside help to bolster its profits during the summer months.
“Why doesn’t someone have the courage to say we should take a different approach?” he said.
Candidates unanimously agreed that outsourcing should be a consideration for certain amenities.
Clarke argued that outsourcing certain amenities, like the Ocean Pines Golf Club and Food and Beverage, could increase profits.
“It’s time to have somebody with skin in the game,” he said.
Horn agreed that outsourcing is a viable option for the Yacht Club and Golf Club, but only if the motives of both parties align.
“If we decide to outsource, we need to be clear on what our purpose is,” she said. “If we are looking to maximize our profit and share in the profit with whoever we outsource to, that means we are also going to be sharing in any losses and there will be some losses in the beginning when a new business is getting itself up and running.”
Crosariol agreed outsourcing would give a business the drive to run a facility in a more profitable manner and Parks suggested looking into the idea.
“Our amenities are supposed to be run in a business-like fashion,” he said. “Continuing to lose money is not running it in a business-like fashion and I think we owe it to the membership to at least investigate where we can possibly do that.”
At the end of the forum, candidates identified issues they intend to address if they are elected to the board.
Clarke said he would address a zero-based budget. Parks vowed to address the budget and sound business practices at the Yacht Club. Horn said she would focus on eliminating conflicts of interest from the board and addressing fiscal accountability, including a salary study for the general manager position. Crosariol said she would advocate for year-round amenities and transparency.
