(Aug. 25, 2016) Although the Ocean Pines Clubs Advisory Committee was in something of a holding pattern after the recent board of directors election, there was news of a new chef at the community yacht club and plenty of speculation as to where the association itself would head next during its Aug. 18 meeting.
The committee must make recommendations to the board based on OPA food and beverage operations, chiefly those related to the yacht club.
Before the meeting, Chairman Les Purcell and committee member Gary Miller met with yacht club General Manager Jerry Lewis and were told that current sous chef Rob Sosonovich had been tapped to succeed departing Executive Chef Tim Ulrich.
Ulrich, Purcell said, “left for what he hopes to be country club experience somewhere [else].”
“We have a gentleman here who has already been here for a long time … who is going to take his place,” Purcell said. “There wasn’t anything nasty in anyway said, but it was just revealed what we all knew, that Tim had a white-collar mentality about most things and it just was grating on him. It was something he thought he could do better – that’s why he took another job.”
Officially, Purcell said, Sosonovich would not be named the executive chef because that title requires “schooling, etc.”
“He still will be the head chef,” Purcell said. “He and Jerry will both be at our next meeting to talk to us about their plans.”
Miller clarified that Sosonovich was “being given the opportunity to run the kitchen” for the remainder of the year – an extended dress rehearsal of sorts.  
“Assuming he does as well as Jerry and [General Manager] Bob [Thompson] think he will do, he will keep it,” he said. “He has until January to convince them that he’s the right person for it. But they seem 99.9 percent sure that he will fit in.”
He added that the new head chef was “much more of a blue collar person as far as menus and what he’s going to be bringing out.”
Miller said that would likely include a new menu, as well as “new takes” on Sunday NFL Football promotions or specials. Apparently, Sosonovich had already been successfully running tasting promotions that the yacht club regularly holds while pursuing banquet bookings.
“He actually does have a lot of experience,” Miller said. “He’s been here since the new yacht club opened.”
He added, “The impression that Jerry has given us is that Rob is capable of doing whatever needs to be done here. It’s just that instead of having the highfalutin’ foie gras and frog’s legs and that kind of thing, he’s taking it down a notch and doing more of the local favorites like crab cakes and seafood and steaks.”
Committee member Audrey Wahl, who was recently confirmed by the board to serve another term on the advisory panel, noted that the committee had long recommended a more blue-collar approach.
“People’s pallets can be pleased and you don’t need to have that degree,” she said.
The discussion then turned to the reconstituted board, which will be joined by newly elected members Brett Hill, Slobodan Trendic and Patricia Supik.
Miller said a consistent problem at the yacht club has been retaining quality staff, in part because of budgetary constraints. With a revolving door of personnel, the quality of both the food and the service have suffered.
“It’s difficult to get people to work here,” he said. “People in Ocean City don’t want to drive all the way here, the kids in Ocean Pines don’t want to work here because their parents are here looking over them [and] the pay isn’t all that great.
“A major part of the reason [staff is difficult to retain] is that the board keeps cutting the budget for staff,” Miller added. “Until the board decides that they’re going to up the budget and we can hire people that are here consistently and paying a decent salary we’re never going to fix the problem.”
He added that a reduction in the public works staff, who often assist with improvements throughout the community, has also hurt the yacht club.
Wahl speculated, based on what she has read during the campaign, that Trendic’s first action would “probably be to get rid of Bob Thompson.”
Purcell, a former board member, said that when people come onto the board “with an agenda” they often forget that “in order to accomplish whatever that agenda is – good or bad – they need four votes.”
Simply because something is promised, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, he said. “Let’s ride it out and see how it goes and give the new guy an opportunity to do the best job, and if it turns out bad then we’ll wait until next time.”
Miller suggested there would likely be two new factions on the board: Trendic, Dave Stevens and Tom Herrick, and Supik, Pat Renaud and Cheryl Jacobs.
“The hope is that Brett will go in and keep his eyes open and wait a little bit and make his own decisions, and decide on his own what is going to happen instead of just following the other [two] that Slobodan has got his hands around,” he said.
“I’m hoping, and it may be wishful thinking, that Brett will … actually take a deep breath and look at things and make his own decision before he just jumps on getting rid of somebody,” Miller continued.
Purcell noted that the committee would be without a liaison until the new board met Monday to elect officers and representatives to each advisory group. Until then, he encouraged members to “dream up anything that you want sent to the board, and we can discuss it at the next meeting.”
Miller and others speculated that the committee might also have to contend with meeting a new general manager, if the new board decided to terminate Thompson’s contract as some candidates pledged during the campaign.
“And then what you’ll have is some new person who the board will want to control totally, which is not their job,” Purcell said. “The board puts out policy – the general manager has to deal with that and run the operation. That’s as far as it goes.”
“I’m going to make a prediction: if the board decides to get rid of Bob, Slobodan will be our next GM,” Miller said. “I hope I’m wrong.”