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Published On: 4/27/17

Reforms on tap for Pines Board meeting, Saturday

By: Josh Davis, Associate Editor via Bayside Gazette
(April 27, 2017) Two significant elections-related amendments will appear on the agenda during the Ocean Pines Association Board meeting on Saturday.
Director Cheryl Jacobs plans to introduce changes to Resolution M-06, governing the elections process, and Resolution M-09, related to the Ocean Pines Search Committee, which recruits and certifies board candidates.
During a board work session on Monday, Jacobs said the changes to M-06 would require ballots to be counted during an open session – a major issue of contention during the election last year – and would cap candidate statements and Q&A answers that appear in OPA literature to 200 words.  
The Ocean Pines Elections Committee introduced a more sweeping overhaul of M-06 during a board meeting in March, but the directors rejected a first reading of the amendment by a 3-2 vote. Two directors were absent during the meeting.
Jacobs praised the election committee’s work, which included two meetings with the bylaws and resolutions committee, on which she serves as board liaison. But she said issues remain with committee changes related to announcing the result of the ballot count immediately.
“I am doing this on my own,” she said. “I was adamant after the last election that I never wanted to see the kind of controversy that we had … and this, in my opinion, is a very simple solution to remedying that problem.”
Board Vice President Dave Stevens said he had no problem with the changes, but that some issues with Ocean Pines elections still needed to be addressed. Notably, he said there were no guidelines for holding a recount in the case of a close or tie vote.
Under the current rules, votes are counted and then announced on the following day during the Ocean Pines Annual Meeting on the second Saturday each August. Attorney Joe Moore previously provided a ruling that said the election results weridated by the announcement during that meeting.
Because results are not announced earlier, Stevens said, there was a degree of confusion as to when and how a recount could take place.
Director Slobodan Trendic, the liaison to the elections committee, lobbied to reintroduce the changes as previously submitted, saying they were more comprehensive than the amendment offered by Jacobs. He said they addressed announcing results and provided provisions for a recount.
Elections Committee Chairman Steve Tuttle said the advisory panel unanimously supported its amendment, which included about 40 changes to M-06, 95 percent of which he said were vetted by Ocean Pines Attorney Jeremy Tucker.
“Transparency is not just a word – it was and continues to be about how we conduct ourselves within our association,” Tuttle said. “Several candidates in the last election argued for transparency in all association activities, decisions, leadership, meetings and finances. Opening the counting process provides opportunities to increase association member participation in the business of the association. Announcing the results of the ballot count upon completion provides a means to even greater openings.
“If an election is close … it’s quite possible that one or more candidates would request a recount,” Tuttle continued. “Announcing the results as soon as the ballots are counted gives any candidate a day to decide if they want to request a recount. In contrast, if the results are not announced until the officially convened association meeting there is really no opportunity for a candidate to consider and possibly request a recount.”
Tuttle strongly urged the board to “do the right thing.”
“Hear our advice and allow for a vote on a first reading of M-06 … as presented to the board at the March 26 meeting,” he said.
Trendic suggested the vote in March would have been different if all seven directors had been present. Interim General Manager and Director Brett Hill, however, said he would not have supported M-06 as presented by the elections committee.
“I still don’t think that we’ve really solved the problem [with the recount],” Hill said. “I believe what Cheryl presented solves the initial problem and we need to get it forward ... there’s too much to work out [and] we’re going to be talking about this for months. We need to get something done now and Cheryl brings something that fixes it now.”
Jacobs agreed.
“I am in no way diminishing the hard work that was done by the elections committee, but I think the point that Brett just made is why I have put forth what I have,” she said. “There are lots of other things that they took into consideration and it has bogged down getting this one thing – for the most part – that the entire community wanted, and that was to open up the counting.
“We can drag our feet on this and we can try to make amendments on the fly, which is never a good idea, or we can say let’s take this first step and make sure that this election satisfies the issue of transparency and that the ballot counting is done in an open session,” Jacobs added. “If we keep dragging our feet, then we’re going to have another election where this is still an issue.”
Stevens and Trendic each said they would consider proposing amendments on Saturday. Jacobs requested that any director present those amendments ahead of time.
“I agree with that 100 percent. I’ve sat through many of these amended second readings … and doing it on the fly is bad,” Stevens said.
Director Doug Parks concurred.
“We could get there on Saturday and we could spend an inordinate amount of time basically doing the same thing we’re doing here,” he said. “If we don’t take that step forward, we will be mired in this discussion ad infinitum and that’s not going to do anybody any good.”
The amendment to Resolution M-09 would remove the board appointment of a liaison to the search committee, which recruits candidates for the board. A vote to accept a second reading of that change was postponed last month.
Board President Tom Herrick offered an amendment in March to stipulate the board liaison to the committee not be a candidate for office, which he suggested would remove any air of impropriety.
Jacobs said she discussed the matter with the bylaws and resolutions committee, which drafted the amendment, and the consensus was the proposed changes should not be amended further.
Jim Trummel, a member of bylaws and resolutions, confirmed the committee was unanimous in its support of the original proposal.
“We feel that it is appropriate to assure that there is a separation from the board to the search committee,” he said, adding the modification was based on bylaws of the Choptank Electric Cooperative. “The basis of that recommendation is to make sure the search committee is entirely independent of any [board] influence.”
Several directors were split, with Stevens going as far as saying he might flip a coin before the vote.
The board will meet to discuss both items at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Assateague Room in the community center on 235 Ocean Parkway. 
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