By Morgan Pilz,

Doug Parks

Staff Writer

(July 25, 2019) Several Ocean Pines Association Advisory Committees could use a few more members, and are asking for volunteers.

The lack of volunteers is not severe. Every committee has at least the minimum number of volunteers required and many of the advisory committees are still running despite being short anywhere from three to six members. Nonetheless, volunteers would still be welcome.

“We haven’t had a whole lot of turnover per se,” Ocean Pines President Doug Parks said. “If you look at the past several meetings, we have appointments [to the committees], which is the last part of the agenda on our board meetings. But I guess maybe people don’t know about the time commitment. They don’t know what the requirements are.”

There are specific requirements for each committee and how many members each currently has.

The following committees currently has the following number of members:

• Aquatics: needs three-nine members (has five)
• ARC: three members and two alternates (has three and two)
• Budget and Finance: five-nine members (has six)
• Bylaws and Resolutions: three-five members (has three)
• Clubs: three-nine members (has nine)
• Communications “not less than seven members” (has seven)
• Elections: five members (has five)
• Environment and Natural Assets: three-nine members (has seven)
• Golf: three-nine members (has seven)
• Marine Activities: three-nine members (has eight)
• Recreation and Parks: three-nine members (has three)
• Strategic Planning: three-nine members (has three)

No one advisory committee has the same number of meetings in a month. Some committees meet twice a month and others might meet two to four times a year as needed.

There is also no need to produce some sort of solution or issue to be solved every time there is a meeting, Parks said.

“It could lay dormant because there’s not really pressing issues per se,” Parks said. “Communication goes both ways. A lot of times, the board may send something to a committee and ask for their opinion on it, and at other times, the issue can originate from the committee and go up to the board.

Parks also thinks people are unwilling to sign up because they need to have certain experiences or expertise in the area covered by the committees. This is not the case, he said.

“The idea is in advisory committees you get a group of people who are kind of interested in that particular aspect of Ocean Pines and try to get them to discuss things that are relevant to what the committees are responsible for and see if there’s things that they can look to provide to the board,” Parks said.

For instance, the Recreation and Parks committee, as the name would suggest, maintains all the parks and walking trails in Ocean Pines. These responsibilities range from upgrading the picnic benches to putting up signs, and most recently, installing new playground equipment at White Horse Park.

The Recreations and Parks committee currently has three board members.

“When Ocean Pines first came into existence 50 years ago, one of the chief selling points was this inclusive recreation community,” board member Tim McMullen said. “Our recreations committee will discuss a plethora of problems that are facing our community as far as recreations.

“The essence of Ocean Pines as a community, is all the people who do things on a volunteer basis,” he continued. “I’m in the clubs committee, I’m deeply involved with the Veteran’s Memorial and I’m very impressed by this committee atmosphere. Our committee does need new members, but I think people will respond because Ocean Pines is an outstanding community.”

Parks encourages homeowners to volunteer however they can.

“Somebody told me many, many years ago, ‘Hey, never turn down a volunteer in a volunteer organization,’” Parks said. “If there’s people out there that are interested in assisting because they’re part of an advisory committee, we welcome them.”

Anyone interested in volunteering for the Recreation and Parks Advisory Committee can email McMullen at mac122147@hotmail.com.

Committee members are appointed by the Ocean Pines Association president with the consent of the Board of Directors. Members may serve on more than one committee.

In order to qualify to serve on a committee, a homeowner must be eligible to vote.

Application forms are available at the Ocean Pines Administration Building on 239 Ocean Parkway. Forms may also be downloaded online at https://www.oceanpines.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/OP-Committee-Application-2-14-18.pdf.

For information on general policies related to advisory committees, visit https://www.oceanpines.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/C-01-10-20-18.pdf.

Guidelines for specific committees are available in Ocean Pines Books of Resolutions sections C-02 through C-15. For more information, visit https://www.oceanpines.org/forms-docs- cat/book-of-resolutions.