OCEAN PINES– Is it a business? Is it a community center? Why didn’t this group or that group book its event here?
A week after the direction of the new Yacht Club became an issue during an OPA Board meeting, the questions have continued and three leading members gave varying takes on the exact direction of the $5 million facility opened this year.
Board Vice President Marty Clarke insisted the Yacht Club has always been and will continue to be a business.
“I have never ever, ever called that into question,” he said. “It is a business and there is not a majority of this board to make it a new community center. There are people that think that’s a wonderful idea – lets suck the marrow off the bone of the people that don’t live here that pay for this as much as we do, but we’ll use it to play cards on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. There’s not any consensus on the board for that, I’m sure.”
“I have always been the guy that says, ‘You’ve got to pay to play’” Clarke continued. “I don’t think we should have any facility for free because there isn’t any such thing as free.”
Clarke said Ocean Pines has been trying to accommodate individual groups – notably card players – for years.
“When I and Ray Unger pushed to get the new community hall built, all the square footage that was added was added with the thought in mind that the card players would have a place to play cards,” he said. “I really thought we ought to have charged something – a cleanup fee, heating and air – cost. I couldn’t have six other guys over at my house to play poker and not have it cost something. Somebody is paying for something.”
Clarke suggested community groups try other venues, like the new fire department and to let the Yacht Club continue to be a yacht club.
“What’s wrong with the second floor of the fire department?” Clarke asked. “It’s got an elevator. It’s brand new. And it sits empty. That’s just one suggestion – there’s a hundred of them. There’s plenty of room. The truth is we have space, but everybody wants to build something bigger and newer.”
Board Parliamentarian Tom Terry had a decidedly different perspective.
“The Yacht Club is an amenity of our association, and by definition, by my sense and past Boards, amenities are not necessarily pure profit centers,” he said. “Our pricing has gone up a little based on having a new facility, a new chef, brand new kitchens, all those things. That does not mean we can’t have some adjustment for organizations and I know (General Manager) Bob (Thompson) said that’s something he’s looking at. I think it’s a good thing he’s look at that.
“We clearly need to balance the fact that that is an amenity that is owned by our members,” Terry continued. “At the same time, we have to let that organization function as effectively as they can.”
Some members of the board felt slighted when the Chamber of Commerce booked its annual awards banquet, on Oct. 9, at the Marlin Club in West Ocean City rather than Yacht Club.
“We lost an opportunity there,” said Terry. “Hopefully we can get to it next year and get back together. It’s just an opportunity where we could have showcased our Yacht Club to the chamber dinner, and then the chamber members would have had an opportunity to showcase what we invested. It was unfortunate, whatever the reasons were. I think everybody recognizes that. But the world is not going to come to an end.”
Board President Dave Stevens said a similar snub occurred when the golf association repeatedly approached the Yacht Club about booking its signature event. During one instance, management was shown a prospective menu – at $60 a plate – from Lighthouse Sound. The Yacht Club countered with a menu – priced at $70 per plate.
“They made multiple attempts to try and go to the Yacht Club and then in the end had to decide to try and go to another place,” he said. “I think it’s an instance of bad communications, or perhaps lack of a responsiveness that caused it. What I don’t know is whether or not that’s one case out of a 100 or not. I would like to find that out just to know what we could do better next year.”
“I think that’s embarrassing to us, not the chamber,” Clarke said of the former incident. “We just spent $5 million on a new building. The Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce – in Ocean Pines – is having their banquet at the Marlin Club. The Golf Association – where do you think they’re having their banquet this year? At the Lighthouse Sound.”
Stevens said he was less familiar with the chamber event’s circumstances.
“I know almost nothing about inner workings of the chamber of commerce,” he said. “I read their newsletters. I know they do a lot of great things for the community, and obviously they’re very civic minded from a business perspective. So I think it came as a little bit of a blow that they would choose to go to West Ocean City rather than use the facility that was basically paid for and supported by the people who live in the community that they’re active in.”
Clarke took specific issue with the management of the Yacht Club.
“The problem with the Yacht Club was never the club,” he said. “It’s always been mismanaged ever since we ran Joe Reinhart out of here, which was a huge mistake. Do I think it’s being mismanaged? Yes, it’s being mismanaged.”
“They’re into this ‘open for business,’” Clarke continued. “You want to see open for business? Drive by the swimming pool – you probably have nine people of nine in there counting floor tiles and four swimmers.”
Clarke admitted he was unsure what the board could do to improve the management of the facility.
“From a king perspective, I’d lease the damned place out – or at least make my best effort to lease it out,” he said. “The only time the place ever made money was 1996 when we leased it out. That would be a change in everything. Get the board of directors’ fingers out of that pie and it might not fail. We obviously suck at this. The place has got no rent and no taxes and it can’t make money? Hello?”
In August, the Yacht Club netted $46,656, despite spending $133,170 in employee wages and $145,928 in food and beverage costs. Clarke was unimpressed.
“I hear people go, ‘It made $46,000 in August,’” he said. “Everybody goes, ‘Wow! We lost $3,000 the last two years, so we really are doing good!’ Nobody mentions that in ’09 we made $53,548 and didn’t have a new building.”
Terry chalked up his concerns on the Yacht Club to “growing pains.”
“I think at the end of the day we’ll find our way through this,” he said. “I think there’s an opportunity for us to find our way. We are booking many, many events at our facility, so our pricing model is not that far off from the marketplace. You work through the first year, you tweak it, and you go from there.”
Stevens believes the facility’s problems are slightly broader.
“We have to step back and understand that this Yacht Club that we have created has a different character than the previous Yacht Club,” he said. “I think to a certain extent it’s trying to find through this first year of operation what its identity will be.
“I believe that the average person has the perfect right to look at what we’re offering and compare it to others and go wherever they want,” Stevens continued. “However, when you’re talking about civic-minded organizations a higher degree of tolerance might be shown for a first year.”
A week after the direction of the new Yacht Club became an issue during an OPA Board meeting, the questions have continued and three leading members gave varying takes on the exact direction of the $5 million facility opened this year.
Board Vice President Marty Clarke insisted the Yacht Club has always been and will continue to be a business.
“I have never ever, ever called that into question,” he said. “It is a business and there is not a majority of this board to make it a new community center. There are people that think that’s a wonderful idea – lets suck the marrow off the bone of the people that don’t live here that pay for this as much as we do, but we’ll use it to play cards on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. There’s not any consensus on the board for that, I’m sure.”
“I have always been the guy that says, ‘You’ve got to pay to play’” Clarke continued. “I don’t think we should have any facility for free because there isn’t any such thing as free.”
Clarke said Ocean Pines has been trying to accommodate individual groups – notably card players – for years.
“When I and Ray Unger pushed to get the new community hall built, all the square footage that was added was added with the thought in mind that the card players would have a place to play cards,” he said. “I really thought we ought to have charged something – a cleanup fee, heating and air – cost. I couldn’t have six other guys over at my house to play poker and not have it cost something. Somebody is paying for something.”
Clarke suggested community groups try other venues, like the new fire department and to let the Yacht Club continue to be a yacht club.
“What’s wrong with the second floor of the fire department?” Clarke asked. “It’s got an elevator. It’s brand new. And it sits empty. That’s just one suggestion – there’s a hundred of them. There’s plenty of room. The truth is we have space, but everybody wants to build something bigger and newer.”
Board Parliamentarian Tom Terry had a decidedly different perspective.
“The Yacht Club is an amenity of our association, and by definition, by my sense and past Boards, amenities are not necessarily pure profit centers,” he said. “Our pricing has gone up a little based on having a new facility, a new chef, brand new kitchens, all those things. That does not mean we can’t have some adjustment for organizations and I know (General Manager) Bob (Thompson) said that’s something he’s looking at. I think it’s a good thing he’s look at that.
“We clearly need to balance the fact that that is an amenity that is owned by our members,” Terry continued. “At the same time, we have to let that organization function as effectively as they can.”
Some members of the board felt slighted when the Chamber of Commerce booked its annual awards banquet, on Oct. 9, at the Marlin Club in West Ocean City rather than Yacht Club.
“We lost an opportunity there,” said Terry. “Hopefully we can get to it next year and get back together. It’s just an opportunity where we could have showcased our Yacht Club to the chamber dinner, and then the chamber members would have had an opportunity to showcase what we invested. It was unfortunate, whatever the reasons were. I think everybody recognizes that. But the world is not going to come to an end.”
Board President Dave Stevens said a similar snub occurred when the golf association repeatedly approached the Yacht Club about booking its signature event. During one instance, management was shown a prospective menu – at $60 a plate – from Lighthouse Sound. The Yacht Club countered with a menu – priced at $70 per plate.
“They made multiple attempts to try and go to the Yacht Club and then in the end had to decide to try and go to another place,” he said. “I think it’s an instance of bad communications, or perhaps lack of a responsiveness that caused it. What I don’t know is whether or not that’s one case out of a 100 or not. I would like to find that out just to know what we could do better next year.”
“I think that’s embarrassing to us, not the chamber,” Clarke said of the former incident. “We just spent $5 million on a new building. The Ocean Pines Chamber of Commerce – in Ocean Pines – is having their banquet at the Marlin Club. The Golf Association – where do you think they’re having their banquet this year? At the Lighthouse Sound.”
Stevens said he was less familiar with the chamber event’s circumstances.
“I know almost nothing about inner workings of the chamber of commerce,” he said. “I read their newsletters. I know they do a lot of great things for the community, and obviously they’re very civic minded from a business perspective. So I think it came as a little bit of a blow that they would choose to go to West Ocean City rather than use the facility that was basically paid for and supported by the people who live in the community that they’re active in.”
Clarke took specific issue with the management of the Yacht Club.
“The problem with the Yacht Club was never the club,” he said. “It’s always been mismanaged ever since we ran Joe Reinhart out of here, which was a huge mistake. Do I think it’s being mismanaged? Yes, it’s being mismanaged.”
“They’re into this ‘open for business,’” Clarke continued. “You want to see open for business? Drive by the swimming pool – you probably have nine people of nine in there counting floor tiles and four swimmers.”
Clarke admitted he was unsure what the board could do to improve the management of the facility.
“From a king perspective, I’d lease the damned place out – or at least make my best effort to lease it out,” he said. “The only time the place ever made money was 1996 when we leased it out. That would be a change in everything. Get the board of directors’ fingers out of that pie and it might not fail. We obviously suck at this. The place has got no rent and no taxes and it can’t make money? Hello?”
In August, the Yacht Club netted $46,656, despite spending $133,170 in employee wages and $145,928 in food and beverage costs. Clarke was unimpressed.
“I hear people go, ‘It made $46,000 in August,’” he said. “Everybody goes, ‘Wow! We lost $3,000 the last two years, so we really are doing good!’ Nobody mentions that in ’09 we made $53,548 and didn’t have a new building.”
Terry chalked up his concerns on the Yacht Club to “growing pains.”
“I think at the end of the day we’ll find our way through this,” he said. “I think there’s an opportunity for us to find our way. We are booking many, many events at our facility, so our pricing model is not that far off from the marketplace. You work through the first year, you tweak it, and you go from there.”
Stevens believes the facility’s problems are slightly broader.
“We have to step back and understand that this Yacht Club that we have created has a different character than the previous Yacht Club,” he said. “I think to a certain extent it’s trying to find through this first year of operation what its identity will be.
“I believe that the average person has the perfect right to look at what we’re offering and compare it to others and go wherever they want,” Stevens continued. “However, when you’re talking about civic-minded organizations a higher degree of tolerance might be shown for a first year.”