Ocean Pines resident Doug Parks turns 61 this month. He’s one of 12 homeowners running for the Association’s Board of Directors this year and, if elected, he would be the youngest member of that body.
Spending a few moments with Parks, it’s clear he has plenty of energy to offer the job.
“Age is interesting, but I think the more important thing is energy level and attention to detail,” he said. “I have a couple of colleagues who are older than me, and I sort of hope I’m that sharp and have that much energy when I’m their age.”
Born in Philadelphia, Parks grew up in Bowie, Maryland. He bought a second house in Ocean Pines in 2007, and moved to the area full time in 2013.
He graduated from the University of Maryland, cum laude, with a degree in information systems management and a minor in business administration, and has held several executive positions during his three-decade career in the tech sector, including at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the AES CORPORATION, and the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Parks volunteered with the U.S. Olympic Hockey team from 1997-2006 and, in Ocean Pines, he currently chairs the by-laws and resolutions committee.
Along with being high-energy, he calls himself a “big picture” kind of guy.
“I pride myself, after being exposed to those kinds of things, that I’m not one to jump to conclusions. I really want to take in the big picture,” he said. “When I’m going through the decision-making process, I want folks who have an opposing viewpoint sitting in the room with me. That viewpoint may bring an approach or a perspective that you hadn’t realized.”
That approach is something Parks hopes to bring to the board of directors this August.
“As long as everybody feels like they’re engaged and what they say – even though it’s a disagreement – is going to be considered, that’s really where I see the benefit,” he said. “But unless you’ve been exposed to those kinds of things and actually can put them into practice, some people don’t even know that that kind of stuff exists. They think it’s just theory, and I’ve actually been able to put it in practice.”
If elected, Parks said he would also make cultivating relationships a priority.
“There needs to be as much time spent in cultivating that relationship between the board members as there is to conducting the business of Ocean Pines,” he said. “And you have to explicitly state your purpose – don’t do it in the clandestine way. Be blunt – be open and honest about it.
“I call it the ‘reasonable person test.’ Would a reasonable person think that’s a good idea, and would they be engaged?” he added. “I think that level of effort, to work with everybody to build that camaraderie, build that consensus and build that trust that says, even though I disagree with that person my opinion is being considered.”
He sees “us and them” scenarios forming factions on the current board, and the regularity of 4-3 votes would seem to back that up. At times, Parks said he believes those narrow votes are made to preserve those divides rather than to back an actual issue.
Instead, he said votes should be made with the best interest of the majority of the homeowners at heart.
“You need to think in terms of a board member in terms of saying, ‘I suspect that some portion of our population will agree with that, but I don’t have the luxury of sub-optimizing my solutions.’ I have to look at the broad base of what we’ve got. I might have to say no, and I’m willing to do that,” he said.
Parks said what got him into the race this year was the debate over the Manklin Meadows racquet sports complex.
“Obscene is the word I would use there – $750,000, one bid,” he said. “What’s wrong with saying, ‘Folks, we’re not ready for this yet? What are the other solutions that could potentially be available to us?’”
In particular, he was intrigued by Director Tom Herrick’s proposal to convert an “unused tennis court” for pickleball, which came after the board approved $150,000 to work on a portion of the old plan, estimated to cost $750,000.
“From a business perspective, you’ve got a simple ask from our racquet sports folks to add pickleball courts. Based on that analysis, that morphed into something that’s a $150,000 spend to move a playground and do stormwater mitigation, and some parking lot stuff that has nothing to do with the original ask,” he said, adding that he would have favored converting the court, trying it out for a year, and then reevaluating the situation.
“With a small, nominal investment we could’ve had an opportunity to meet the most important thing, and that was the request of the constituency,” Parks said. “Right now there’s no more pickleball courts and our budget is down potentially $150,000 for what? Don’t insult my intelligence – it’s phase one of a three-phase project. How dare you?
“That’s the one that got me. That really pushed me over the edge,” he continued. “I can’t see that kind of reckless approach to things.”
On the country club, Parks said he favors repairing rather than replacing the ailing facility. He pointed to a 2011 study that recommended “retrofitting and renovating.”
“What bothered me was, why wasn’t anything done?” he said. “To watch the budget meetings [this year] – I was appalled. You’ve got people in coats having a meeting indoors. It can’t be that bad. I’m missing something here.
“I don’t want to draw any conclusions, but, why is it like this? You’ve got to invest the money to make the building sustainable. That’s standard operating procedure. It’s not political – it’s how you run the environment,” Parks added.
If leadership in Ocean Pines were to solicit another study that suggested spending $2-3 million to replace that building, Parks countered that he could produce “tangible evidence that you can’t take care of a building.”
“Prove me wrong,” he said. “You couldn’t take care of the last one, and now your solution is building a new one – I’m going to argue that you’re not going to be able to take care of this one either. And I’ve got evidence backing me up.
“Do I want to build a new clubhouse? Absolutely not,” Parks added. “We have plenty of time for these grandiose new ways to spend money, but we don’t have a lot of time to maintain what we do have. The level of effort that goes into maintaining our current environment is not commensurate with the level of effort that goes into building new.
“This isn’t the Friday afternoon bridge club, whose most important financial decision as to whether they’re going to have a pizza party or an ice cream social at the end of the year,” Parks said. “We’re talking about millions of dollars with both requirements to the membership and requirements to governance and compliance and regulatory issues as well. This is a business and we need to understand and treat it as such.”
Rather than talk specifically about General Manager Bob Thompson, an often-controversial figure in the Pines, Parks targeted the board of directors as the ultimate source of many of the problems.
“What’s missing is the board direction,” he said. “The board does not direct what goes on here. That’s the shift, and that’s one of the things that I am running on is the shift of authority and leadership back to the board.
“I have been a leader for a very long time. I tell you what to do, and you show me how to get it done. That’s really the way it is,” Parks continued. “[In Ocean Pines], I kind of just shake my head. The information flow should go from the board to the GM, and if you don’t establish that – shame on you.”
Spending a few moments with Parks, it’s clear he has plenty of energy to offer the job.
“Age is interesting, but I think the more important thing is energy level and attention to detail,” he said. “I have a couple of colleagues who are older than me, and I sort of hope I’m that sharp and have that much energy when I’m their age.”
Born in Philadelphia, Parks grew up in Bowie, Maryland. He bought a second house in Ocean Pines in 2007, and moved to the area full time in 2013.
He graduated from the University of Maryland, cum laude, with a degree in information systems management and a minor in business administration, and has held several executive positions during his three-decade career in the tech sector, including at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the AES CORPORATION, and the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Parks volunteered with the U.S. Olympic Hockey team from 1997-2006 and, in Ocean Pines, he currently chairs the by-laws and resolutions committee.
Along with being high-energy, he calls himself a “big picture” kind of guy.
“I pride myself, after being exposed to those kinds of things, that I’m not one to jump to conclusions. I really want to take in the big picture,” he said. “When I’m going through the decision-making process, I want folks who have an opposing viewpoint sitting in the room with me. That viewpoint may bring an approach or a perspective that you hadn’t realized.”
That approach is something Parks hopes to bring to the board of directors this August.
“As long as everybody feels like they’re engaged and what they say – even though it’s a disagreement – is going to be considered, that’s really where I see the benefit,” he said. “But unless you’ve been exposed to those kinds of things and actually can put them into practice, some people don’t even know that that kind of stuff exists. They think it’s just theory, and I’ve actually been able to put it in practice.”
If elected, Parks said he would also make cultivating relationships a priority.
“There needs to be as much time spent in cultivating that relationship between the board members as there is to conducting the business of Ocean Pines,” he said. “And you have to explicitly state your purpose – don’t do it in the clandestine way. Be blunt – be open and honest about it.
“I call it the ‘reasonable person test.’ Would a reasonable person think that’s a good idea, and would they be engaged?” he added. “I think that level of effort, to work with everybody to build that camaraderie, build that consensus and build that trust that says, even though I disagree with that person my opinion is being considered.”
He sees “us and them” scenarios forming factions on the current board, and the regularity of 4-3 votes would seem to back that up. At times, Parks said he believes those narrow votes are made to preserve those divides rather than to back an actual issue.
Instead, he said votes should be made with the best interest of the majority of the homeowners at heart.
“You need to think in terms of a board member in terms of saying, ‘I suspect that some portion of our population will agree with that, but I don’t have the luxury of sub-optimizing my solutions.’ I have to look at the broad base of what we’ve got. I might have to say no, and I’m willing to do that,” he said.
Parks said what got him into the race this year was the debate over the Manklin Meadows racquet sports complex.
“Obscene is the word I would use there – $750,000, one bid,” he said. “What’s wrong with saying, ‘Folks, we’re not ready for this yet? What are the other solutions that could potentially be available to us?’”
In particular, he was intrigued by Director Tom Herrick’s proposal to convert an “unused tennis court” for pickleball, which came after the board approved $150,000 to work on a portion of the old plan, estimated to cost $750,000.
“From a business perspective, you’ve got a simple ask from our racquet sports folks to add pickleball courts. Based on that analysis, that morphed into something that’s a $150,000 spend to move a playground and do stormwater mitigation, and some parking lot stuff that has nothing to do with the original ask,” he said, adding that he would have favored converting the court, trying it out for a year, and then reevaluating the situation.
“With a small, nominal investment we could’ve had an opportunity to meet the most important thing, and that was the request of the constituency,” Parks said. “Right now there’s no more pickleball courts and our budget is down potentially $150,000 for what? Don’t insult my intelligence – it’s phase one of a three-phase project. How dare you?
“That’s the one that got me. That really pushed me over the edge,” he continued. “I can’t see that kind of reckless approach to things.”
On the country club, Parks said he favors repairing rather than replacing the ailing facility. He pointed to a 2011 study that recommended “retrofitting and renovating.”
“What bothered me was, why wasn’t anything done?” he said. “To watch the budget meetings [this year] – I was appalled. You’ve got people in coats having a meeting indoors. It can’t be that bad. I’m missing something here.
“I don’t want to draw any conclusions, but, why is it like this? You’ve got to invest the money to make the building sustainable. That’s standard operating procedure. It’s not political – it’s how you run the environment,” Parks added.
If leadership in Ocean Pines were to solicit another study that suggested spending $2-3 million to replace that building, Parks countered that he could produce “tangible evidence that you can’t take care of a building.”
“Prove me wrong,” he said. “You couldn’t take care of the last one, and now your solution is building a new one – I’m going to argue that you’re not going to be able to take care of this one either. And I’ve got evidence backing me up.
“Do I want to build a new clubhouse? Absolutely not,” Parks added. “We have plenty of time for these grandiose new ways to spend money, but we don’t have a lot of time to maintain what we do have. The level of effort that goes into maintaining our current environment is not commensurate with the level of effort that goes into building new.
“This isn’t the Friday afternoon bridge club, whose most important financial decision as to whether they’re going to have a pizza party or an ice cream social at the end of the year,” Parks said. “We’re talking about millions of dollars with both requirements to the membership and requirements to governance and compliance and regulatory issues as well. This is a business and we need to understand and treat it as such.”
Rather than talk specifically about General Manager Bob Thompson, an often-controversial figure in the Pines, Parks targeted the board of directors as the ultimate source of many of the problems.
“What’s missing is the board direction,” he said. “The board does not direct what goes on here. That’s the shift, and that’s one of the things that I am running on is the shift of authority and leadership back to the board.
“I have been a leader for a very long time. I tell you what to do, and you show me how to get it done. That’s really the way it is,” Parks continued. “[In Ocean Pines], I kind of just shake my head. The information flow should go from the board to the GM, and if you don’t establish that – shame on you.”