(July 14, 2016) While the issue was only briefly touched on during a forum at the Ocean Pines Community Center last month, the relationship between the board of directors and the general manager took center stage during a debate in The Parke community on July 6.
A majority of the 11 remaining OPA Board candidates gave their opinion on whether General Manager Bob Thompson should be fired during their first day of office.
Steve Lind, a former police officer, was the first to mention Thompson, and did so during his opening remarks.
“It doesn’t take a detective to figure out that for the last three elections the general manager has been ‘the’ campaign issue,” he said. “The general manager has been the center of much of the controversy and much of the divisiveness, and for the good of the community this personnel issue must be quickly resolved before we can get back to conducting the people’s business.”
Lind said he had never seen such “political battling” over a general manager during his 17 years of residence in the Pines.
“We need to take politics and personality out of the GM office,” he said. “Simply sitting at the table and voting on spending projects based only on the facts and opinions of one unelected person – the manager – is not enough.”
Doug Parks said he was concerned that the general manager “dominates … most, if not all, of the discussion.”
Slobodan Trendic called Thompson’s $165,000 base “outrageous,” and blamed him for deteriorating infrastructure, outdated information technology, “ongoing controversy” at the yacht club and a lack of transparency.
“Do you know that the board pays our general manager the same salary that [the] Maryland state governor makes?” he asked.
Trendic went on to say the “key difference” between the roughly five or six candidates focused on ousting Thompson was just how fast they would move to do so.
“As your new board member, I will move promptly to address our concerns with the general manager’s performance. I believe that has been the root cause of most controversies that has plagued the board and divided us as a community,” he said.
Businessman Brett Hill said Ocean Pines had “too much money sitting around in the hands of, really, one person.” As such, he said Ocean Pines did not need to keep as much money in reserves as it does under the current policy.
“If we were managing our operating budget properly and putting money into repairing facilities, we wouldn’t need to have $9 million sitting in the bank [waiting] for something to fall down,” he said. “That’s just ludicrous.”
He said Thompson was at fault for the poor performance of several amenities. During the Fourth of July weekend, for example, Hill said business at the yacht club suffered because of a broken credit card machine and a tiki bar that was “shut down … with 150 people on the deck to watch fireworks.”
“How is that a board of director’s problem? That’s management,” he said. “Management has to be fixed, and the board of directors is responsible for doing that.”
During one portion of the forum, candidates were allowed to ask each other a question.
Tom Janasek opted for the direct approach, asking Larry Perrone if he would “terminate the GM’s contract.”
Perrone, however, said the controversy surrounding the general manager was simply a “symptom of poor leadership” on the board of directors. He said he would set a strict time frame and ask Thompson to operate with improved board oversight.
“If he can’t operate within that kind of structure, which I don’t think has existed over the last five or six years, then it would be my position to recommend that we replace the general manager,” he said. “Some of the candidates just want to fire him on day one. I don’t think that’s the correct approach. I think that the board of directors are as much of a problem here.”
Lind hinted that the “fire him on day one” approach was not soon enough.
“It’s not day one. It’s … three years, four years this has been going on,” he said. “This is the third election that the GM is the central issue.
“As far as saying that it’s all the board’s fault – like he was an innocent bystander – that’s ridiculous,” Lind continued. “Something has to be done … it’s time to resolve it right now.”
George Simon defended Thompson, a man he said he has known for more than 25 years and shares similar views with.
“As far as an integrity standpoint, you will not find a better man in this community,” he said. “A general manager is instructed by the board of directors, and most of the criticism that our general manager has taken needs to fall right back on the board.
“Instead of a general manger issue, I believe what we have is a board issue,” he continued. “We have certain people that like to grandstand. If they don’t vote for a certain thing to happen in the community, you can count on a ‘no’ vote from them for everything that has to do with that.
“I have no problem with working with the board and coming up with a solution to give the general manager a directive to do what is best for the community,” Simon said.
Frank Daly said the board needed to have a plan in place to find a replacement before it even considered terminating Thompson. Moreover, he offered a few sobering thoughts about the potential cost and likelihood of success for such a replacement.
“Quite frankly, we have five or six business people sitting up here, but I don’t think any one of us has ever run an association where we’ve been responsible for police protection and public works,” he said. “Putting somebody in charge that’s not prepared to take that over and has not run those functions are going to leave monkeys in the wheelhouse.
Daly said he had experience as a recruiter, often landing clients salaries of “more than a million dollars a year.”
“If you think you’re going to pay less [for a general manager] you’re kidding yourself,” he said. “It’s going to take six-to-nine months [and], based on what I know about Bob Thompson’s contract and severance deal, it’s going to cost up to $250,000. And the chances of that person being success [is] 70 percent or less over a two-year period.
“Ocean Pines is a tough place to manage,” Daly continued. “We have 11,000 people, 8,400-plus homeowners, and you have a corporation trying to function as a government.”
Those who want to see better management, he suggested, should “elect a better board.”
“A better board will give you better management,” he said.
A majority of the 11 remaining OPA Board candidates gave their opinion on whether General Manager Bob Thompson should be fired during their first day of office.
Steve Lind, a former police officer, was the first to mention Thompson, and did so during his opening remarks.
“It doesn’t take a detective to figure out that for the last three elections the general manager has been ‘the’ campaign issue,” he said. “The general manager has been the center of much of the controversy and much of the divisiveness, and for the good of the community this personnel issue must be quickly resolved before we can get back to conducting the people’s business.”
Lind said he had never seen such “political battling” over a general manager during his 17 years of residence in the Pines.
“We need to take politics and personality out of the GM office,” he said. “Simply sitting at the table and voting on spending projects based only on the facts and opinions of one unelected person – the manager – is not enough.”
Doug Parks said he was concerned that the general manager “dominates … most, if not all, of the discussion.”
Slobodan Trendic called Thompson’s $165,000 base “outrageous,” and blamed him for deteriorating infrastructure, outdated information technology, “ongoing controversy” at the yacht club and a lack of transparency.
“Do you know that the board pays our general manager the same salary that [the] Maryland state governor makes?” he asked.
Trendic went on to say the “key difference” between the roughly five or six candidates focused on ousting Thompson was just how fast they would move to do so.
“As your new board member, I will move promptly to address our concerns with the general manager’s performance. I believe that has been the root cause of most controversies that has plagued the board and divided us as a community,” he said.
Businessman Brett Hill said Ocean Pines had “too much money sitting around in the hands of, really, one person.” As such, he said Ocean Pines did not need to keep as much money in reserves as it does under the current policy.
“If we were managing our operating budget properly and putting money into repairing facilities, we wouldn’t need to have $9 million sitting in the bank [waiting] for something to fall down,” he said. “That’s just ludicrous.”
He said Thompson was at fault for the poor performance of several amenities. During the Fourth of July weekend, for example, Hill said business at the yacht club suffered because of a broken credit card machine and a tiki bar that was “shut down … with 150 people on the deck to watch fireworks.”
“How is that a board of director’s problem? That’s management,” he said. “Management has to be fixed, and the board of directors is responsible for doing that.”
During one portion of the forum, candidates were allowed to ask each other a question.
Tom Janasek opted for the direct approach, asking Larry Perrone if he would “terminate the GM’s contract.”
Perrone, however, said the controversy surrounding the general manager was simply a “symptom of poor leadership” on the board of directors. He said he would set a strict time frame and ask Thompson to operate with improved board oversight.
“If he can’t operate within that kind of structure, which I don’t think has existed over the last five or six years, then it would be my position to recommend that we replace the general manager,” he said. “Some of the candidates just want to fire him on day one. I don’t think that’s the correct approach. I think that the board of directors are as much of a problem here.”
Lind hinted that the “fire him on day one” approach was not soon enough.
“It’s not day one. It’s … three years, four years this has been going on,” he said. “This is the third election that the GM is the central issue.
“As far as saying that it’s all the board’s fault – like he was an innocent bystander – that’s ridiculous,” Lind continued. “Something has to be done … it’s time to resolve it right now.”
George Simon defended Thompson, a man he said he has known for more than 25 years and shares similar views with.
“As far as an integrity standpoint, you will not find a better man in this community,” he said. “A general manager is instructed by the board of directors, and most of the criticism that our general manager has taken needs to fall right back on the board.
“Instead of a general manger issue, I believe what we have is a board issue,” he continued. “We have certain people that like to grandstand. If they don’t vote for a certain thing to happen in the community, you can count on a ‘no’ vote from them for everything that has to do with that.
“I have no problem with working with the board and coming up with a solution to give the general manager a directive to do what is best for the community,” Simon said.
Frank Daly said the board needed to have a plan in place to find a replacement before it even considered terminating Thompson. Moreover, he offered a few sobering thoughts about the potential cost and likelihood of success for such a replacement.
“Quite frankly, we have five or six business people sitting up here, but I don’t think any one of us has ever run an association where we’ve been responsible for police protection and public works,” he said. “Putting somebody in charge that’s not prepared to take that over and has not run those functions are going to leave monkeys in the wheelhouse.
Daly said he had experience as a recruiter, often landing clients salaries of “more than a million dollars a year.”
“If you think you’re going to pay less [for a general manager] you’re kidding yourself,” he said. “It’s going to take six-to-nine months [and], based on what I know about Bob Thompson’s contract and severance deal, it’s going to cost up to $250,000. And the chances of that person being success [is] 70 percent or less over a two-year period.
“Ocean Pines is a tough place to manage,” Daly continued. “We have 11,000 people, 8,400-plus homeowners, and you have a corporation trying to function as a government.”
Those who want to see better management, he suggested, should “elect a better board.”
“A better board will give you better management,” he said.