Ocean Pines Director Esther Diller

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Sept. 13, 2018) A motion to seek “comprehensive turn-key HOA Management Services” in Ocean Pines was significantly scaled back on Saturday.

Director Esther Diller, in her first official motion since being elected, said the association for decades has used “outdated and poorly integrated software that has limited functionally and a costly support services.”

“The association has reached a critical point and it is no longer able to manage day-today operations successfully and efficiently in a financially prudent manner,” Diller said.

She added that while more than $1 million was budgeted for new software, Ocean Pines “has not considered the costs … of turnkey outsourcing.”

Diller said outsourcing was “not a word to be afraid of” and “not about replacing people [or] eliminating people.”

However, she added, “any department that works within the LANSA software … needed to be part of this RFP.” LANSA is an international software development company.

“We may come back and say it’s not the right option,” she said. “But, we are at that point where it’s been talked about and we need to get options.”

Directors Frank Daly and Slobodan Trendic said they supported the motion, while four others indicated they were not.

Association Vice President Steve Tuttle asked how many departments used LANSA software.

“You say the scope is anybody that’s associated with LANSA. Can we unpack what that is?” he asked. “It sounds like that’s everybody to me, pretty much.

“My concern is this is just too broad a scope,” Tuttle continued. “I need to have it narrowed down, exactly what we would be voting for.”

Association President Doug Parks said he considered supporting the motion until he heard the “LANSA” reference.

“That throws a little bit of a wrench into it,” he said. “Now, to me, it affects other parts of the enterprise.”

Parks said evaluating options for the finance department were one thing, but, “if it goes beyond that, it’s far too nebulous for me at this point and I wouldn’t be in support of that.”

Director Colette Horn said it looked like Diller was shopping “a solution looking for a problem” and using an “apples to oranges comparison.”

“The known problem that we have is the software – it’s not the management,” she said. “If we look at what has happened over the course of the past year, we’ve had significant improvements in the way our financial reporting is conducted as a result of the work that” Finance Director Steve Phillips and General Manager John Bailey have done.

Moreover, Horn said a technology work group over the last year had already eliminated outsourcing as a viable option to replace outdated financial software.

Director Ted Moroney said he was all for getting pricing to outsource the financial backbone of the association, but suggested also pursuing the work group recommendation to purchase Northstar Club Management Software, “so that we do have something to compare it with.”

“What I am not interested in doing is outsourcing the entire operation and the entire management of Ocean Pines,” he said. “I just think this is very, very broad.”

Trendic disagreed and said, “I don’t think we should stop at financial management.” He also offered to help draft a request for proposals.

After more than 30 minutes of debate, Diller instead agreed to support an amended motion, “To instruct the general manager to issue a non-binding request for proposals for back office financial management to include necessary software, staffing options, and necessary IT support.”

According to the new motion language, Bailey and Treasurer John Viola would jointly prepare the request for proposals, to be issued by Oct. 1 and presented to the board by Dec. 1.

The board voted 6-1 for the amendment, with only Horn not in favor.