OCEAN PINES – Officials say candidate applications remain open for this year’s board election.
Ocean Pines Elections Committee Chair Tom Piatti said less than two weeks remain to submit candidate applications for the 2023 Ocean Pines Board of Directors election. To date, two association members – Elaine Brady and John Latham – have announced their candidacy.
“Elaine resigned as a member of the OPA Elections Committee to run and John, a member of the OPA Marine Activities Committee, will soon resign to run,” Piatti said in a statement Monday. “Presently, there will be two vacancies to fill, those of President Doug Parks and Director Collette Horn, whose terms expire this year.”
In March, the elections committee announced upcoming dates for the 2023 election process, including filing and voting deadlines.
This year, candidates will vie for two seats currently held by Parks and Horn. As both are serving the last year of two consecutive terms, they cannot run again because of term limits.
It should be noted there could also be a third open seat on the board, as Director Frank Daly has announced his intentions to sell his home in the Pines. However, it remains to be seen if any potential vacancy will impact this year’s election process.
“We are in the process of selling our home but no firm dates have been nailed down at this time,” Daly said in a statement last week.
Piatti said Ocean Pines homeowners wishing to run for the board have until May 10 at 4 p.m. to file candidate applications. In a recent board meeting, Director Stuart Lakernick announced the revised applications could be found on the association’s website.
“On April 10, the board voted unanimously online to adopt the edits for the new candidate application. It’s now available online,” he said. “We’re going to ask anybody that’s interested in running for the board of directors to go online, download that application and submit it.”
The voter eligibility deadline is July 6, and hybrid candidate forums will be announced in early July.
The ballot deadline is Wednesday, Aug 9, with ballot count and vote totals announced on Aug. 11.
“We encourage anyone who is thinking about running to do their homework, read up on the Association’s governing documents, attend the regular meetings, and volunteer,” Piatti said in a news release. “Volunteers have helped make this community what it is today, and there’s no better way to give back than to serve on our Board of Directors.”
The seven-member volunteer board is the governing body of Ocean Pines. Terms for elected directors are three years.
