(Oct. 20, 2016) Indications were strong on Monday that the Ocean Pines Association would look to replace ousted General Manager Bob Thompson rather than hire a homeowners association management company.
At the more than five-hour board of directors work session, Director Slobodan Trendic proposed creating a work group that would explore hiring a management firm. He said the group also could explore replacing Comptroller Art Carmine, who is retiring.
The consensus from the directors was that replacing the controller was the job of the general manager and Director Brett Hill, who is filling the manager’s role on an interim basis, said he had concluded that Ocean Pines would benefit from having a dedicated full-time GM, as opposed to hiring a firm.
Hill has been in the role for about six weeks.
“In my short tenure, I’m looking at the organization [and] the more that I’m seeing, we’re dealing with issues well beyond an HOA,” he said. “In my professional management opinion, we’re beyond an outsourced HOA company being able to fulfill our needs.”
Hill said Ocean Pines was fortunate to have a “very dedicated and skilled” staff, and that the association was already outsourcing some areas, including payroll.
“The breadth of many of our roles in the organization are beyond an individual outsource unit,” he said. “We are a very, very diverse organization.”
He added that he was not impressed with the response from general manager applicants so far, and suggested the association would do well to hire a professional recruiter.
“We have, in all practical terms, failed in recruiting viable candidates on our own,” he said. Listings for the job had apparently been posted online and in local newspapers.
“Our GM applicants have varied from bartenders to other HOA managers, but they have HOA experience – they haven’t dealt with a police department,” he said, adding that Ocean Pines was more “county-like” than traditional homeowners’ associations.
“We have a population here that’s larger than two of the counties here on Delmarva – that’s a huge number,” he said. “I think we’re beyond [being] able to recruit and we’re beyond what a management company could do for us. We need the right person and we need a better means to find that person.
“While I know we have many talented residents that live in the neighborhood, I think a working group of our residents is not going to do us the best service and define the correct executive recruiter that could place [an] almost municipal-level position and conduct a search that reaches beyond our geographic footprint here to find all of the candidates so we have a good pool to choose from is the direction we need to go. That’s my personal recommendation,” Hill added.
Director Cheryl Jacobs said that was “exactly what [she] wanted to hear,” adding that the initial job description might have been too narrow.
Trendic maintained he still saw a benefit of having the work group, and asked if the board had considered how it would vet potential general manager candidates. He said he not seen any applications, “except for maybe one.”
He suggested the board examine what similar associations, specifically Columbia, Montgomery Village and Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, had done.
“We have the opportunity to really look at and learn from other associations, because we don’t have other unique challenges – there are other associations that have the same kind of operations that we do,” Trendic said.
He added his disappointment that the association could not easily fill the role internally, calling that a failure.
“Whether this was a planned situation or not, I think as an association we have a lack of senior staff,” Trendic said. “It’s one of the major challenges that really, in a way, should not have happened had we had the right, perhaps, approach from a board perspective in terms of setting the priorities, how we govern the association, how we mentor the internal talent. Just the fact that we really have not even said that there is one single person inside this association that could fill a void of one of those two positions, to me, is a failure.”
“I would challenge that, because I believe we’re fulfilling those positions just fine – there is not failure to fulfill anything here,” Hill said
Trendic clarified that he believed Hill was doing a “phenomenal job” in the interim role, but said “for us to rely on our own opinions … might be an oversight.”
Hill suggested the board get formal proposals from three different companies “so we can understand the costs, the services they offer, their areas of expertise, and then we as a board can use our sound judgment to use the best authority to search for that position.”
When a final list of candidates came in, he said the entire board should run the interview process together.
“If we have an industry expert recruiting the position, then we have everything we need to bring that person to the table,” Hill said.
Jacobs agreed and Director Pat Supik, added, “I would support that.”
Vice President Dave Stevens said the board must remain involved and kept aware of the process “every step of the way.”
“Hopefully the process is as reasonable and visible as it can be,” Stevens said.
At the more than five-hour board of directors work session, Director Slobodan Trendic proposed creating a work group that would explore hiring a management firm. He said the group also could explore replacing Comptroller Art Carmine, who is retiring.
The consensus from the directors was that replacing the controller was the job of the general manager and Director Brett Hill, who is filling the manager’s role on an interim basis, said he had concluded that Ocean Pines would benefit from having a dedicated full-time GM, as opposed to hiring a firm.
Hill has been in the role for about six weeks.
“In my short tenure, I’m looking at the organization [and] the more that I’m seeing, we’re dealing with issues well beyond an HOA,” he said. “In my professional management opinion, we’re beyond an outsourced HOA company being able to fulfill our needs.”
Hill said Ocean Pines was fortunate to have a “very dedicated and skilled” staff, and that the association was already outsourcing some areas, including payroll.
“The breadth of many of our roles in the organization are beyond an individual outsource unit,” he said. “We are a very, very diverse organization.”
He added that he was not impressed with the response from general manager applicants so far, and suggested the association would do well to hire a professional recruiter.
“We have, in all practical terms, failed in recruiting viable candidates on our own,” he said. Listings for the job had apparently been posted online and in local newspapers.
“Our GM applicants have varied from bartenders to other HOA managers, but they have HOA experience – they haven’t dealt with a police department,” he said, adding that Ocean Pines was more “county-like” than traditional homeowners’ associations.
“We have a population here that’s larger than two of the counties here on Delmarva – that’s a huge number,” he said. “I think we’re beyond [being] able to recruit and we’re beyond what a management company could do for us. We need the right person and we need a better means to find that person.
“While I know we have many talented residents that live in the neighborhood, I think a working group of our residents is not going to do us the best service and define the correct executive recruiter that could place [an] almost municipal-level position and conduct a search that reaches beyond our geographic footprint here to find all of the candidates so we have a good pool to choose from is the direction we need to go. That’s my personal recommendation,” Hill added.
Director Cheryl Jacobs said that was “exactly what [she] wanted to hear,” adding that the initial job description might have been too narrow.
Trendic maintained he still saw a benefit of having the work group, and asked if the board had considered how it would vet potential general manager candidates. He said he not seen any applications, “except for maybe one.”
He suggested the board examine what similar associations, specifically Columbia, Montgomery Village and Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, had done.
“We have the opportunity to really look at and learn from other associations, because we don’t have other unique challenges – there are other associations that have the same kind of operations that we do,” Trendic said.
He added his disappointment that the association could not easily fill the role internally, calling that a failure.
“Whether this was a planned situation or not, I think as an association we have a lack of senior staff,” Trendic said. “It’s one of the major challenges that really, in a way, should not have happened had we had the right, perhaps, approach from a board perspective in terms of setting the priorities, how we govern the association, how we mentor the internal talent. Just the fact that we really have not even said that there is one single person inside this association that could fill a void of one of those two positions, to me, is a failure.”
“I would challenge that, because I believe we’re fulfilling those positions just fine – there is not failure to fulfill anything here,” Hill said
Trendic clarified that he believed Hill was doing a “phenomenal job” in the interim role, but said “for us to rely on our own opinions … might be an oversight.”
Hill suggested the board get formal proposals from three different companies “so we can understand the costs, the services they offer, their areas of expertise, and then we as a board can use our sound judgment to use the best authority to search for that position.”
When a final list of candidates came in, he said the entire board should run the interview process together.
“If we have an industry expert recruiting the position, then we have everything we need to bring that person to the table,” Hill said.
Jacobs agreed and Director Pat Supik, added, “I would support that.”
Vice President Dave Stevens said the board must remain involved and kept aware of the process “every step of the way.”
“Hopefully the process is as reasonable and visible as it can be,” Stevens said.