(Aug 3, 2017) Ocean Pines Chief Financial Officer Mary Bosack, Controller Art Carmine, Beach Club Manager Lynda Huettner, Golf Course Superintendent Rusty McLendon, Facilities Manager Jerry Aveta, Recreation and Parks Director Sonya Bounds, Marketing and Public Relations Director Teresa Travatello, Yacht Club Manager Jerry Lewis, Office Coordinator Linda Martin and information technology specialist Paul Fazzalaro.
These are the names of the high-level employees who resigned or were fired since interim General Manager Brett Hill took over last August.
Soon to be added to that list, apparently, is Payroll Coordinator Beverly Bromley Meadows, who last week posted on Facebook that she, too, had had enough.
“After 33 years of being a part of the Ocean Pines Community – I think I’ve hit my breaking point,” she wrote last Wednesday. “I’m ready to blow this Popsicle stand.”
She added, “What you’re reading in the papers [is] completely inaccurate – but for the employees, it’s a lot worse than what you are reading!”
Since Hill took over, Ocean Pines also parted ways with several individuals and firms with which it had worked with for a decade or more, including long-time bulkhead repair and replacement contractor Dean Fisher and Fisher Marine, attorney Joe Moore, and auditing firm Trice, Geary and Myers LLC.
Reportedly, many staffers at the yacht club and beach club were let go earlier this year as well.
When General Manager Bob Thompson was fired last August, Director Pat Renaud resigned, as did the entire membership of the Elections Advisory Committee.
Several sources said Food and Beverage Manager Brian Townsend has been on hiatus for a month, and it’s not clear whether he will return.
The Gazette in May reported accusations that Hill had arranged for video and audio surveillance in the administration building. An employee said the work environment, at the time, became “toxic … very unhealthy and stressful.”
Another employee sent a similar statement to the Gazette on Monday.
“Many of the staff are grateful that the community is demanding to get to the bottom of the issues at hand. The morale has been destroyed under the current AGM and each day that passes that he is left in that position is one more day that the board is leaving all of us in a bad and hostile working environment.
“Shame on them for turning a blind eye. Yes, a new general manager has been selected and everyone is happy about that, but it is still six weeks away, and when you are in a hostile work environment, six weeks can feel like a lifetime.”
Hill said, in July, the accusations were much ado about nothing.
“Video surveillance has been in place in the majority [of facilities] owned and operated by Ocean Pines for greater than 10 years. It would be up to the board to make any changes to existing policy,” Hill wrote in an email.
“I am not aware of any formal discussions scheduled to take place, given how long surveillance has been a part of the business practices of the Association.”
On July 9, then-Board President Tom Herrick said an undated and unsigned human resources complaint was turned over to the Ocean Pines attorney.
Herrick, who resigned from the position on July 26, said at the time board members Cheryl Jacobs and Slobodan Trendic had perpetrated “a conspiracy to affect the election.”
During that same meeting, Jacobs countered that employees had come to her because she is an attorney and because they knew she would keep their confidence.
“That’s because of the situation we have found ourselves in, thanks to Mr. Hill,” Jacobs said. “I have done nothing other than try to helpful to employees who find themselves in this predicament.
“I didn’t go to Mary Bosack – Mary Bosack came to us,” Jacobs added. “Mary Bosack came to us because she went to other directors and felt her complaints fell on deaf ears, so much to the point that she then felt she had no recourse but to resign.”
These are the names of the high-level employees who resigned or were fired since interim General Manager Brett Hill took over last August.
Soon to be added to that list, apparently, is Payroll Coordinator Beverly Bromley Meadows, who last week posted on Facebook that she, too, had had enough.
“After 33 years of being a part of the Ocean Pines Community – I think I’ve hit my breaking point,” she wrote last Wednesday. “I’m ready to blow this Popsicle stand.”
She added, “What you’re reading in the papers [is] completely inaccurate – but for the employees, it’s a lot worse than what you are reading!”
Since Hill took over, Ocean Pines also parted ways with several individuals and firms with which it had worked with for a decade or more, including long-time bulkhead repair and replacement contractor Dean Fisher and Fisher Marine, attorney Joe Moore, and auditing firm Trice, Geary and Myers LLC.
Reportedly, many staffers at the yacht club and beach club were let go earlier this year as well.
When General Manager Bob Thompson was fired last August, Director Pat Renaud resigned, as did the entire membership of the Elections Advisory Committee.
Several sources said Food and Beverage Manager Brian Townsend has been on hiatus for a month, and it’s not clear whether he will return.
The Gazette in May reported accusations that Hill had arranged for video and audio surveillance in the administration building. An employee said the work environment, at the time, became “toxic … very unhealthy and stressful.”
Another employee sent a similar statement to the Gazette on Monday.
“Many of the staff are grateful that the community is demanding to get to the bottom of the issues at hand. The morale has been destroyed under the current AGM and each day that passes that he is left in that position is one more day that the board is leaving all of us in a bad and hostile working environment.
“Shame on them for turning a blind eye. Yes, a new general manager has been selected and everyone is happy about that, but it is still six weeks away, and when you are in a hostile work environment, six weeks can feel like a lifetime.”
Hill said, in July, the accusations were much ado about nothing.
“Video surveillance has been in place in the majority [of facilities] owned and operated by Ocean Pines for greater than 10 years. It would be up to the board to make any changes to existing policy,” Hill wrote in an email.
“I am not aware of any formal discussions scheduled to take place, given how long surveillance has been a part of the business practices of the Association.”
On July 9, then-Board President Tom Herrick said an undated and unsigned human resources complaint was turned over to the Ocean Pines attorney.
Herrick, who resigned from the position on July 26, said at the time board members Cheryl Jacobs and Slobodan Trendic had perpetrated “a conspiracy to affect the election.”
During that same meeting, Jacobs countered that employees had come to her because she is an attorney and because they knew she would keep their confidence.
“That’s because of the situation we have found ourselves in, thanks to Mr. Hill,” Jacobs said. “I have done nothing other than try to helpful to employees who find themselves in this predicament.
“I didn’t go to Mary Bosack – Mary Bosack came to us,” Jacobs added. “Mary Bosack came to us because she went to other directors and felt her complaints fell on deaf ears, so much to the point that she then felt she had no recourse but to resign.”