(June 16, 2016) A dozen candidates for the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors will face off in a candidate forum on Wednesday, June 22.
They will not, however, be placed up on risers when the forum occurs, after no small amount of debate on the subject during the annual candidate draw last Thursday.
The draw determines the seating – and speaking – arrangement at the forum, as well as the ordering on the ballots. Eleven of the 12 candidates were present at the draw, with only Ray Unger absent.
After choosing names from a shoebox, Comprehensive Planning Committee Chairman Frank Daly came in first, followed by Slobodan Trendic, George Simon, Tom Janasek, Sharona Ezaoui, By-Laws & Resolutions Committee Chair Doug Parks, Steve Lind, Brett Hill, former director Unger, Budget and Finance Committee Chairwoman Patricia Supik, current Director Jack Collins, and Larry Perrone.
Perrone will not attend the forum because of a scheduling conflict. In October, he made plans and purchased tickets to take two of his granddaughters on a Disney cruise.
In lieu of his absence, he will show a short video statement during the forum.
Normally a dry – and short – affair, this year’s draw lasted nearly an hour after many of the candidates voiced complaints about the election process. For one, some of the election materials mailed to homeowners would have only included a 50-word candidate statement.
Elections Committee member Steven Smith noted that Resolution M-06, related to elections and referendums procedures in the Pines, requires “not more than a fifty (50) word statement to be included in the voting packages.” Under the same resolution, a 200-word statement by each candidate must be published in the summer edition of the Ocean Pines Report.
The committee had planned to do just that, although was met with significant pushback.
Trendic said that last year’s mailed election materials included the full 200-word statement. Smith suggested that was only the case because there was space to do so. This year, with 12 candidates – five more than last year – space is at a premium.
“Shrinking [the statement] from 200 to 50 is almost impossible to convey candidate positions,” Trendic said. “Just reconsider it. There’s plenty of time. This is not really a do-or-die situation today.”
“The fact that you can only submit 50 words … How are people going to make an informed decision about who to select?” Lind asked. “Not to be flippant, but I couldn’t even tell a joke in 50 words.”
Smith suggested the candidates ask the board of directors to pass a new resolution, changing the rules.
“Everybody always wants to tell us how we should operate everything,” he said. “If you’re going to change it, what’s the next thing in the bylaws that somebody is going to come to us and say [change it]? … Go to the board and get a resolution.”
Chairman Bill Wentworth said the committee did not need a resolution and would look into the matter.
“That’s our decision to do that,” he said. “I’m 99.9 percent sure we can do that.”
Also at odds, the elections committee planned to place each candidate on risers during the forum in order to make it easier for the audience to see. Several candidates balked at that suggested setup.
“Eliminate the riser. Put a table in front of somebody with the chairs associated with it. If they want to speak they just stand up and they address the crowd,” Collins said. “If you have a riser, there is a physical danger – there’s no two ways about that.”
“If everybody here does not want to be visible for everybody in the back to see you, we’ll let you sit behind a table,” Smith said. “We just thought we were doing you a favor.”
An informal poll of candidates present found roughly half were in favor of eliminating the risers, with the rest saying they had no preference.
During the actual forum, each candidate will be allowed to make a three-minute opening statement, a three-minute closing statement, and have two minutes each to answer two questions. The questions will be written by the committee and randomly assigned to the candidates.
At the end, candidates are encouraged to remain and talk with remaining members of the audience.
Smith recalled that close to half of the attendees during last year’s forum were gone by the time the two-hour event ended, and said the committee was doing everything it could to streamline the format.
There was some debate about the brevity of time each candidate would be able to speak, but most acquiesced, admitting audience retention would eventually become an issue.
Wentworth also made it a point to caution the candidates on the use of proper decorum during the forum.
“We’re not always going to agree … but we have a responsibility to respect the right to say it,” he said. “You’re going to set the tone for this … You’ve got the respect these folks who are putting in their time, taking their energy to do this.”
The 2016 candidate draw will be held at 6 p.m. in the Assateague Room inside the Ocean Pines Community Center.
They will not, however, be placed up on risers when the forum occurs, after no small amount of debate on the subject during the annual candidate draw last Thursday.
The draw determines the seating – and speaking – arrangement at the forum, as well as the ordering on the ballots. Eleven of the 12 candidates were present at the draw, with only Ray Unger absent.
After choosing names from a shoebox, Comprehensive Planning Committee Chairman Frank Daly came in first, followed by Slobodan Trendic, George Simon, Tom Janasek, Sharona Ezaoui, By-Laws & Resolutions Committee Chair Doug Parks, Steve Lind, Brett Hill, former director Unger, Budget and Finance Committee Chairwoman Patricia Supik, current Director Jack Collins, and Larry Perrone.
Perrone will not attend the forum because of a scheduling conflict. In October, he made plans and purchased tickets to take two of his granddaughters on a Disney cruise.
In lieu of his absence, he will show a short video statement during the forum.
Normally a dry – and short – affair, this year’s draw lasted nearly an hour after many of the candidates voiced complaints about the election process. For one, some of the election materials mailed to homeowners would have only included a 50-word candidate statement.
Elections Committee member Steven Smith noted that Resolution M-06, related to elections and referendums procedures in the Pines, requires “not more than a fifty (50) word statement to be included in the voting packages.” Under the same resolution, a 200-word statement by each candidate must be published in the summer edition of the Ocean Pines Report.
The committee had planned to do just that, although was met with significant pushback.
Trendic said that last year’s mailed election materials included the full 200-word statement. Smith suggested that was only the case because there was space to do so. This year, with 12 candidates – five more than last year – space is at a premium.
“Shrinking [the statement] from 200 to 50 is almost impossible to convey candidate positions,” Trendic said. “Just reconsider it. There’s plenty of time. This is not really a do-or-die situation today.”
“The fact that you can only submit 50 words … How are people going to make an informed decision about who to select?” Lind asked. “Not to be flippant, but I couldn’t even tell a joke in 50 words.”
Smith suggested the candidates ask the board of directors to pass a new resolution, changing the rules.
“Everybody always wants to tell us how we should operate everything,” he said. “If you’re going to change it, what’s the next thing in the bylaws that somebody is going to come to us and say [change it]? … Go to the board and get a resolution.”
Chairman Bill Wentworth said the committee did not need a resolution and would look into the matter.
“That’s our decision to do that,” he said. “I’m 99.9 percent sure we can do that.”
Also at odds, the elections committee planned to place each candidate on risers during the forum in order to make it easier for the audience to see. Several candidates balked at that suggested setup.
“Eliminate the riser. Put a table in front of somebody with the chairs associated with it. If they want to speak they just stand up and they address the crowd,” Collins said. “If you have a riser, there is a physical danger – there’s no two ways about that.”
“If everybody here does not want to be visible for everybody in the back to see you, we’ll let you sit behind a table,” Smith said. “We just thought we were doing you a favor.”
An informal poll of candidates present found roughly half were in favor of eliminating the risers, with the rest saying they had no preference.
During the actual forum, each candidate will be allowed to make a three-minute opening statement, a three-minute closing statement, and have two minutes each to answer two questions. The questions will be written by the committee and randomly assigned to the candidates.
At the end, candidates are encouraged to remain and talk with remaining members of the audience.
Smith recalled that close to half of the attendees during last year’s forum were gone by the time the two-hour event ended, and said the committee was doing everything it could to streamline the format.
There was some debate about the brevity of time each candidate would be able to speak, but most acquiesced, admitting audience retention would eventually become an issue.
Wentworth also made it a point to caution the candidates on the use of proper decorum during the forum.
“We’re not always going to agree … but we have a responsibility to respect the right to say it,” he said. “You’re going to set the tone for this … You’ve got the respect these folks who are putting in their time, taking their energy to do this.”
The 2016 candidate draw will be held at 6 p.m. in the Assateague Room inside the Ocean Pines Community Center.