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Clubs committee, financial reports hammer OPA clubs

 (July 27, 2017) The current operations of Ocean Pines clubs were condemned last Thursday, as a Clubs Advisory Committee meeting turned into a forum of complaints from frustrated members who detailed their recent bad experiences.
The meeting was held just days before the association released its June financial report, which appeared to back up those sentiments.
The report revealed a $34,988 net operating loss for the month and $63,977 year-to-date net operating loss at the beach club. A profit of $30,196 was budgeted for the month.
The yacht club had a net operating loss of $115,537 in June and a year-to-date net operating loss of $147,618. The budget listed a $1,311 profit for the month.
Last year for the same period, the beach club posted a $16,919 profit, a difference of $87,164, while the yacht club showed a $5,010 loss as of June 2016, a difference of $179,197.
“We’ve all been hearing horror stories about service and food at all of the clubs,” committee member Gary Miller said on Thursday. “We’ve all had ideas and thoughts and recommendations that nobody is particularly listening to, it seems.”
Committee member Donna Hickey reported that she and her husband recently went golfing with a man who attended a wedding at the yacht club. The man said the décor was nice enough, but was appalled when the buffet ran out of food.
“When the bride and groom and family asked if they could get more food and what was going on, they were told by the management that the people who ate first ate too much,” Hickey said. “That was the answer that was given … you can’t make this stuff up.”
Hickey said she recently went to the beach club and ordered sandwiches.
“The rolls were so hard, you could break them,” she said. “We threw three of our sandwiches in the trash.”
She said she spoke with the manager of one of the clubs, who apologized and said they did not have any control over the food.
“He apparently has 18 years experience as a restaurateur and he had said that he has spoken to [interim General Manager] Brett [Hill] and made some suggestions in terms of alternative food choices and products, but at this juncture he said his hands are tied,” Hickey said.
Hickey asked Board of Directors Vice President Dave Stevens who was in charge of ordering food for the clubs.
“Does Brett do direct ordering?” she asked.
“Nah. He’d better not. I don’t think so,” Stevens said.
Hickey said she also recently had a disturbing discussion with a floor manager.
She said she asked the manager if her understanding that managers would “float” between the different clubs is true. He apparently said they would, to some degree, but not on a regular basis.
“He said, ‘Well, actually I would be hoping that I can spend more time over at the beach club, because that’s easier and that’s what I’m looking for – I’m looking for easy,” she said. “I’m thinking, this is a floor manager of our largest amenity telling a community member ‘I want easy.’
“This guy has such responsibilities to make this place look sharp, act sharp, get the staff going,” Hickey added.
“Maybe that’s why it’s not working,” Miller said.
Hickey also reported hearing “very foul language” from several of the bartenders at the yacht club.
Committee member Herb Roe said he recently had a bad experience at the tiki bar outside the yacht club. He stood in line for 15-20 minutes waiting for a drink, but the two bartenders there refused to even make eye contact with him.
“So I said, to hell with it, I’m going inside,” Roe said. “I went inside and there were only six people sitting at the bar inside and [the bartenders] didn’t make any eye contact. What the hell is that all about? Who are these guys? It’s like Butch Cassidy.”
One committee member suggested it was difficult to hire good workers, because word had gotten out that Ocean Pines fired most of its clubs staff earlier this year.
“Try this, do you want to go some place where there really aren’t very many people and there really aren’t very good tips, or do you want to go across the bay and work in a place where there are a lot of people and there are a lot of good tips?” Stevens said.
“If they wanted to make money and they decided to come here, well then do the job,” committee member R. Lewis Furman said.
Committee member Audrey Wahl said she was upset by early reports that Ocean Pines clubs were in for a poor summer financially.
“It has started out that way and it breaks my heart, because I think that we have so much good that could be developed and I don’t know why this hasn’t come to [fruition],” she said. “Well, this year I know why.”
Until Ocean Pines hires a new general manager, Miller said, committee suggestions are not likely to change anything.
“From what I read, I’m not too sure it’s going to mean anything to Brett no matter who they hire,” committee Chairman Les Purcell said. “He seems to do whatever he damned well pleases, no matter who says what.”
“He’s so incompetent – and he is a dictator,” Wahl added.
Miller said Ocean Pines had hired plenty of managers and tried plenty of different things at places like the yacht club, but largely always got the same result.
“The final answer is, it’s not worked,” he said. “Whether it’s because people didn’t listen to a committee or there wasn’t enough money budgeted for employee salaries or for training or whatever … it hasn’t worked. Is it time to think about something else?”
He said one option was to ask the directors to consider hiring a professional restaurateur to run the clubs. Another option, he said, was to lease out the food and beverage operations entirely.
Miller went on to say the committee was due to give its annual report to the board.
Committee member Gerald Horn said the report needed more than just anecdotal information – it needed hard data.
He called for the return of comment cards at clubs facilities that could be used as a tool to gather data. If analyzed correctly, he said, that information could be used to identify the biggest areas of concern.  
“I do think we’re long on opinions and short on data and I’d like to inject some data,” Horn said. “If we intend to submit a report, let’s submit a report that really reflects what our committee says, in concrete terms.”
Roe said the committee was somewhat restricted by a lack of access. Committees, in an official capacity, are not permitted to have direct conversations with staff members. Communication is limited to committee liaisons and the board president.
“If you’re totally isolated and cut off  … then you’re not going to get that information,” Roe said. “Nothing is coming down. Nothing is being shared. We don’t even know when things happen for improvements at the yacht club or beach club or anything else.
“It’s a one-way street right now, and hopefully that will change,” he added.
The committee members agreed to begin working on the annual report, but said they would wait until a new general manager is hired to turn that in.
Purcell also had a suggestion for committee members.
“If you want to be educated at the yacht club, go over there some night [and] don’t just talk to your friends. Go find somebody that’s new and ask them what they think. You will get amazingly different answers,” he said.