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Ocean Pines BOD approve pair of election reforms

(May 4, 2017) The Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors passed two significant reforms last Saturday, overhauling the election process in one and addressing concerns of impropriety in another.
The directors unanimously approved sweeping changes to Resolution M-06, governing elections. Most notably, the amended resolution opened up the ballot counting process, which previously had been done in a closed session of the elections committee.
The new text regarding counting ballots reads, “The ballot counting operation may be observed by any association member. Association members may witness the ballot-counting process but will not be privy to vote total during the counting process nor engage in any way in the ballot counting process, Elections Committee, consultants or Association staff. The ballot counting will be conducted in a room of sufficient size to accommodate the process and Association Members wishing to observe the count. The Committee may request the assistance of a computer consultant and designated Association staff.”
Other changes to M-06 included provisions for multiple candidate forums, procedures for counting duplicate ballots, and capping the word count of candidate statements and Q&A responses published in Ocean Pines literature to 200 words each. Dozens of smaller changes to the langue of the resolution, recommended by an Ocean Pines attorney, were also included in the reform.
The elections committee had lobbied to announce the vote totals immediately after the votes are counted, rather than during the annual meeting on the following day as has been the practice in Ocean Pines for nearly 50 years.
Two variations of M-06 were on the agenda during the board meeting. One, presented by Director Slobodan Trendic, was the unaltered elections committee draft that was introduced – but rejected – by the board during a meeting in March. The second was a streamlined version drafted by Director Cheryl Jacobs that would have addressed the ballot-counting process.
Proponents of the earlier announcement time said it would allow time for candidates in close races to ask for a recount before the results were announced – and certified – during the annual meeting. Critics of the change said the issue was much more complex and could bog down the other, more universally accepted changes in the new M-06 draft.
Board Vice President Dave Stevens introduced a “friendly amendment” to the elections committee draft that seemed to satisfy both sides.
Rather than announce the votes after the counting has finished, the results would be locked in a cabinet until it was time for the announcement during the annual meeting or a special board session.
“The effect of this amendment is that the election results will be read at the annual meeting or, lacking a quorum, at a subsequent special board meeting,” Stevens said. “This is our current practice. Other changes recommended by the committee and our attorney will go into effect.
“In extensive board discussion it has become apparent that the timing of the announcements of the results were a single, major point of contention,” Stevens continued. “Adopting this change will meet the will of the board majority while retaining the work done by the committee and the attorney.”
Trendic said he reached out to the elections committee and its members were comfortable with the change. The board voted 7-0 to adopt the amended resolution, and Jacobs subsequently withdrew her version.
“With this amendment being agreeable to the committee, that satisfies, I think what we all were trying to accomplish,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs introduced a second reading for an amendment to Resolution M-09, addressing the concern that a director running for reelection could be appointed to the search committee, which is each year must find and certify board candidates. Last year, Jack Collins was the liaison to the committee and ran for reelection.
The bylaws and resolutions committee recommended the amendment, Jacobs said.
Board President Tom Herrick was not in favor of removing the liaison entirely, as the amendment would have done, and instead offered an amendment that required the liaison to be a director who is not up for reelection.
He said it was especially important to have a liaison this year, when the committee had not been constituted until roughly five days before the candidate-filing deadline. Five members were confirmed for the advisory board during the meeting.
Ocean Pines bylaws require the committee to be staffed by February, but that was not done.
“I feel if we pull the support for this committee and have no point of contact for them to correspond with staff, I think it puts them at a huge disadvantage,” Herrick said. “I really believe that the board should afford this committee the support that they need to carry out their function.”
The board voted 4-2 to approve the motion as amended by Herrick. Jacobs and Trendic voted no and Stevens abstained.