(Aug. 18, 2016) A peaceful protest of sorts was held in the Ocean Pines Association administration building last Friday, when part of the building was closed during ballot counting for the board of directors election.
OPA Resolution M-06, covering elections and referendum procedures, requires votes to be counted “in closed session” by the elections committee, “with the assistance of a computer consultant and Association staff.” Some of the candidates and others in the community, however, claimed this violated the Maryland Homeowner’s Association Act, and threatened legal and other action.
General Manager Bob Thompson arrived just before 8 a.m. and walked into the dark lobby of the building, then briefly into the adjacent police station, before opening the front double doors.
There were few cars in the parking lot and all of the lights in the building appeared to be off, except in the back boardroom where members of the committee would set up and the ballot-counting machine would be prepared by contractors from B. Donald Kimball, Inc. (BDK).
At about 8:10 a.m., a sign went up on the door leading to the section of the building that housed the boardroom and several other offices. It read, in all red capital letters, “AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.”
No one was to be allowed into that area except the staff members who work in those offices, members of the election committee, the contractor, and the printer who handles the physical ballots.
At about 8:26, Steve Smith from the elections committee arrived carrying coffee and donuts. At 8:42 a man, appearing to be in his early 60s, came in and asked about a board meeting. A receptionist told him he could have a seat in the lobby. He did so, and opened a newspaper.
Thom Gulyas, owner of ACE Printing & Mailing, arrived with the ballots, which were placed on a small hand truck. As he was considered authorized personnel, he was let through the door.
About 15 minutes before 9 a.m. Ocean Pines Forum creator Joe Reynolds arrived with Progress newspaper publisher Tom Stauss, former director Jeff Knepper and homeowner Steve Tuttle, who organized a candidate forum at the Ocean Pines library in July.
Thompson emerged and told Reynolds he could not go in the counting room.
“You’ll regret it,” Reynolds said.
“Threaten me again,” Thompson said. “Your social media site doesn’t scare me.”
“That’s not a threat – it is a statement,” Reynolds said. “I think you will regret this politically.”
Director Tom Herrick, the board secretary and liaison to the committee, came in and was let through the locked door. He appeared to be discussing something with Thompson.
Candidates Brett Hill, Slobodan Trendic, Steve Lind and Tom Janasek also arrived. They stood in the lobby, exchanged pleasantries, and talked about the situation at length.
Hill had filed a complaint with the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, alleging closed-door vote counting process was in violation of Maryland law. He mentioned bringing a lawyer to the ballot counting, wanting it to be done in open session, but no lawyer was present.
As a compromise, Ocean Pines administration agreed to allow a “third-party” to watch the ballot count, appointing Controller Art Carmine to do so. While Hill and others were not exactly pleased with that selection, it was apparently enough to hold off further legal action.
“We asked for our attorney,” Hill said, adding that the lawyer in question represented several of the candidates. “If privacy or whatever is the issue, anything with an attorney would be under attorney-client privilege. There’s implicit confidentiality.”
“This is a ploy to make it look like we’re presenting a danger to the stability of Ocean Pines,” Lind said. “Don’t fall for that.”
At about 9:30 another candidate, George Simon, walked into the lobby.
“I just wanted to see if anyone was handcuffed or shot,” Simon said, adding that he had to get back to work.
Several of the remaining candidates walked outside and attempted to see into the window of the boardroom, through the blinds, which were closed but still allowed some field of vision.
Others simply gathered outside to watch the watching watchers, including Herrick.
“Hopefully the entire board will look at what’s transpired and the controversy the current resolution has caused,” he said. “Hopefully we can alleviate that.”
Herrick said he wanted to see more transparency, but said he could not get into specifics without first discussing the matter with the rest of the board.
Hill said being locked out was “extremely disappointing.”
“I expected more out of the elections committee and the administration,” he said. “I guess we’ll see where it goes the next couple of days.”
Asked, if elected, how big of a priority changing the rules would be, Hill replied, “It has to start day one.”
“This can never happen again,” he said. “It needs to be an independent, but transparent process so that both sides – administration and the board – can see an accurate and nonconflicting process, as well as [having] the association participating. There has to be some assurance that everything is being done by the books and following the rules.”
As a homeowner, Trendic said he “expected to be allowed to attend the meeting.”
“I’m not questioning the rest of their conduct, but at least this has been published as a meeting. Three members of the committee are in that room, therefore there is a quorum,” Trendic said. “The fact that the door is locked, no one is being let in, there has been no prior notice, no public announcement as to the change of venue, indicates to me this is another example of the committee’s failure to comply with the resolution and properly comply with the members of the community.”
By 9:49, all of the onlookers were gone, including the candidates, and the lobby was empty.
Thompson, at that point, said the hallway door was locked to “allow the rest of the staff to effectively function in the daily activities without the disruption.”
“The election process is not a staff process – it’s a board and committee process,” he said. “In today’s world, my priority first and foremost [objective] has to be to look out for the staff. One of the things I do, by securing the facility, allowed me to make sure the staff were not in harm’s way – not that I thought anyone was going to hurt them physically.”
Thompson said only committee members, the IT contractor, the printer and Carmine were allowed into the boardroom. He said disruptions to his staff were only minor.
“Having people come and state their opinion or their opposition to it is part of the America way – there’s no issue with that,” he said. “That’s what is supposed to happen if you have a concern about things as long as you do it in an orderly way, and I think they did. It was all civil. I didn’t take any exception on my part.
“The only part that was a little disconcerting is when they started walking around, pulling on the doors and peeping through the windows. That’s just odd to me,” Thompson said. “Other than that it was fine. I understand that people are frustrated – I get that.”
Shortly after 10 a.m. Gulyas emerged with an empty hand truck.
“It’s going well,” he said. “There’s nothing to see. There really isn’t. They go through everything, if there’s any questionable [ballots] each committee member takes a look, they all decide how it should be handled – only for the questionable ones. Everything else is just feeding through [the machine]. It’s a slow process.”
Those inside the boardroom, Gulyas said, took the people peering into the windows, lightly.
“John Connell [from BDK] was looking out the window and said, ‘they’re throwing ropes over the [tree] limbs for you guys,” Gulyas said.
He added that he asked all the members of the elections committee if they planned to stay on next year.
“They all just kind of smiled at me,” he said. “That’s a shame. They do a good job.
“There’s too many people watching – you couldn’t cheat this thing,” he added.
Members of the committee surfaced at 12:22 p.m.
Asked if they know the results, Smith and Judy Butler both said, “I do not.”
“They’re sealed in the cabinet,” Chairman Bill Wentworth added. “I don’t even know. We’ll know tomorrow.”
The results were announced to the public on the following morning, less than a 100 yards away, in the community center. Hill, Trendic and Pat Supik were each elected to three-year terms on the board of directors.
OPA Resolution M-06, covering elections and referendum procedures, requires votes to be counted “in closed session” by the elections committee, “with the assistance of a computer consultant and Association staff.” Some of the candidates and others in the community, however, claimed this violated the Maryland Homeowner’s Association Act, and threatened legal and other action.
General Manager Bob Thompson arrived just before 8 a.m. and walked into the dark lobby of the building, then briefly into the adjacent police station, before opening the front double doors.
There were few cars in the parking lot and all of the lights in the building appeared to be off, except in the back boardroom where members of the committee would set up and the ballot-counting machine would be prepared by contractors from B. Donald Kimball, Inc. (BDK).
At about 8:10 a.m., a sign went up on the door leading to the section of the building that housed the boardroom and several other offices. It read, in all red capital letters, “AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.”
No one was to be allowed into that area except the staff members who work in those offices, members of the election committee, the contractor, and the printer who handles the physical ballots.
At about 8:26, Steve Smith from the elections committee arrived carrying coffee and donuts. At 8:42 a man, appearing to be in his early 60s, came in and asked about a board meeting. A receptionist told him he could have a seat in the lobby. He did so, and opened a newspaper.
Thom Gulyas, owner of ACE Printing & Mailing, arrived with the ballots, which were placed on a small hand truck. As he was considered authorized personnel, he was let through the door.
About 15 minutes before 9 a.m. Ocean Pines Forum creator Joe Reynolds arrived with Progress newspaper publisher Tom Stauss, former director Jeff Knepper and homeowner Steve Tuttle, who organized a candidate forum at the Ocean Pines library in July.
Thompson emerged and told Reynolds he could not go in the counting room.
“You’ll regret it,” Reynolds said.
“Threaten me again,” Thompson said. “Your social media site doesn’t scare me.”
“That’s not a threat – it is a statement,” Reynolds said. “I think you will regret this politically.”
Director Tom Herrick, the board secretary and liaison to the committee, came in and was let through the locked door. He appeared to be discussing something with Thompson.
Candidates Brett Hill, Slobodan Trendic, Steve Lind and Tom Janasek also arrived. They stood in the lobby, exchanged pleasantries, and talked about the situation at length.
Hill had filed a complaint with the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, alleging closed-door vote counting process was in violation of Maryland law. He mentioned bringing a lawyer to the ballot counting, wanting it to be done in open session, but no lawyer was present.
As a compromise, Ocean Pines administration agreed to allow a “third-party” to watch the ballot count, appointing Controller Art Carmine to do so. While Hill and others were not exactly pleased with that selection, it was apparently enough to hold off further legal action.
“We asked for our attorney,” Hill said, adding that the lawyer in question represented several of the candidates. “If privacy or whatever is the issue, anything with an attorney would be under attorney-client privilege. There’s implicit confidentiality.”
“This is a ploy to make it look like we’re presenting a danger to the stability of Ocean Pines,” Lind said. “Don’t fall for that.”
At about 9:30 another candidate, George Simon, walked into the lobby.
“I just wanted to see if anyone was handcuffed or shot,” Simon said, adding that he had to get back to work.
Several of the remaining candidates walked outside and attempted to see into the window of the boardroom, through the blinds, which were closed but still allowed some field of vision.
Others simply gathered outside to watch the watching watchers, including Herrick.
“Hopefully the entire board will look at what’s transpired and the controversy the current resolution has caused,” he said. “Hopefully we can alleviate that.”
Herrick said he wanted to see more transparency, but said he could not get into specifics without first discussing the matter with the rest of the board.
Hill said being locked out was “extremely disappointing.”
“I expected more out of the elections committee and the administration,” he said. “I guess we’ll see where it goes the next couple of days.”
Asked, if elected, how big of a priority changing the rules would be, Hill replied, “It has to start day one.”
“This can never happen again,” he said. “It needs to be an independent, but transparent process so that both sides – administration and the board – can see an accurate and nonconflicting process, as well as [having] the association participating. There has to be some assurance that everything is being done by the books and following the rules.”
As a homeowner, Trendic said he “expected to be allowed to attend the meeting.”
“I’m not questioning the rest of their conduct, but at least this has been published as a meeting. Three members of the committee are in that room, therefore there is a quorum,” Trendic said. “The fact that the door is locked, no one is being let in, there has been no prior notice, no public announcement as to the change of venue, indicates to me this is another example of the committee’s failure to comply with the resolution and properly comply with the members of the community.”
By 9:49, all of the onlookers were gone, including the candidates, and the lobby was empty.
Thompson, at that point, said the hallway door was locked to “allow the rest of the staff to effectively function in the daily activities without the disruption.”
“The election process is not a staff process – it’s a board and committee process,” he said. “In today’s world, my priority first and foremost [objective] has to be to look out for the staff. One of the things I do, by securing the facility, allowed me to make sure the staff were not in harm’s way – not that I thought anyone was going to hurt them physically.”
Thompson said only committee members, the IT contractor, the printer and Carmine were allowed into the boardroom. He said disruptions to his staff were only minor.
“Having people come and state their opinion or their opposition to it is part of the America way – there’s no issue with that,” he said. “That’s what is supposed to happen if you have a concern about things as long as you do it in an orderly way, and I think they did. It was all civil. I didn’t take any exception on my part.
“The only part that was a little disconcerting is when they started walking around, pulling on the doors and peeping through the windows. That’s just odd to me,” Thompson said. “Other than that it was fine. I understand that people are frustrated – I get that.”
Shortly after 10 a.m. Gulyas emerged with an empty hand truck.
“It’s going well,” he said. “There’s nothing to see. There really isn’t. They go through everything, if there’s any questionable [ballots] each committee member takes a look, they all decide how it should be handled – only for the questionable ones. Everything else is just feeding through [the machine]. It’s a slow process.”
Those inside the boardroom, Gulyas said, took the people peering into the windows, lightly.
“John Connell [from BDK] was looking out the window and said, ‘they’re throwing ropes over the [tree] limbs for you guys,” Gulyas said.
He added that he asked all the members of the elections committee if they planned to stay on next year.
“They all just kind of smiled at me,” he said. “That’s a shame. They do a good job.
“There’s too many people watching – you couldn’t cheat this thing,” he added.
Members of the committee surfaced at 12:22 p.m.
Asked if they know the results, Smith and Judy Butler both said, “I do not.”
“They’re sealed in the cabinet,” Chairman Bill Wentworth added. “I don’t even know. We’ll know tomorrow.”
The results were announced to the public on the following morning, less than a 100 yards away, in the community center. Hill, Trendic and Pat Supik were each elected to three-year terms on the board of directors.