OCEAN PINES – Officials are working with Verizon to address cell service in Ocean Pines.
During last Saturday’s board meeting, General Manager John Viola shared an update on ongoing efforts to address poor cell service in Ocean Pines. He said planned upgrades should address community members’ concerns.
“We have reached out to Verizon, and they have confirmed there is an issue of poor reception,” he said. “We’ve given them examples, specific places, people to call, phone numbers they can keep track of, so they are working on it. They also told us we will receive updates within the next few weeks on when the upgrades will occur this year. They do have upgrades planned. They believe that will help.”
Earlier this year, association member Tom Janasek came before the Ocean Pines Board of Directors requesting some action be taken to address cell service in the community. With a commitment from Association President Doug Parks to explore the issue, officials began reaching out to Verizon.
“As we know, we’ve had a request,” Viola explained. “Tom came in and challenged us – which is a good challenge – on cell service. Doug asked me to look into it.”
Viola told community members last week the association would receive regular updates from Verizon on their efforts to improve cell service in Ocean Pines. He said population could be to blame for poor cell service.
“Yes, in the summertime we do have problems with cell service …,” he said. “They’re blaming it on the trees, on the branches, or whatever. We just think there’s a lot of people here.”
Viola said the association would also work with Worcester County to add cell towers.
“They are also looking at, and we’re going to work with the county on, zonings to try to get us cell towers,” he said. “So that will be part of the workgroup and hopefully I’ll have some good information over the next couple of months.”
Viola last week also provided an update on the new marina gas docks. He said work concluded ahead of Memorial Day.
“The good news is that the team, everybody completed it on time,” he said, “maybe a day or two before the Memorial Day weekend.”
He noted, however, that he had received complaints about the safety of the aluminum dock.
“I’ve got some questions about having an aluminum dock out there on the water,” he said. “The safety I talked about is there, all the grounding, everything is there. You have a product that lasts way longer and is more efficient and effective than the wooden docks … We have the five pumps. They are all pumping. Everything is fine. We just need some good weather.”
