By Greg Ellison

Representation of members needed to finalize election

(Aug. 6, 2020) Scheduled outdoors at the Worcester County Veterans Memorial to accommodate social distancing guidelines, and contingent on attendance, the Ocean Pines Association’s annual meeting Saturday will likely finalize the 2020 Board of Director election results.

OPA Vice President Steve Tuttle said the homeowners annual meeting, assuming a quorum of 100 members is present, would serve as the official end of the current election cycle.

“We have to have a forum, which means we have to have 100 eligible voters present,” he said. “That means people who have paid their assessments by close of business on July 1.”

Tuttle fears an array of factors could prevent the assigned mark from being reached.

“I don’t want to be pessimistic … but I wonder if we will get 100,” he said. “We sometimes struggle getting a forum even when it’s in the Assateague Room.”

Besides coronavirus concerns, Tuttle said attracting a crowd to an outdoor meeting during the height of summer could be difficult.

“We don’t have a lot of choices,” he said. “We’re required to at least try and have an annual meeting.”

If the weather isn’t conducive to meeting outdoors, the annual meeting will be cancelled.

“We’re kind of caught between a rock and a hard place as far as getting this thing done,” he said. “There was no indoor space big enough to accommodate a quorum or 100 people if that many showed up.”

Tuttle stressed that facemasks must be worn by everyone attending.

“They really want to be careful that we follow the CDC and Gov. [Larry] Hogan’s guidelines,” he said.

Health safety procedures will include setting up 100 chairs spaced six feet apart on the grass field by the Worcester County Veterans Memorial.

“If you come there as a couple, you’ll still have to sit apart at the time of the meeting,” he said. “We’re not going to allow you to move two chairs together.”

Tuttle said members are requested to leave chairs where they are positioned.

“It’s just clear that to keep everybody separate makes sense,” he said.

Other safety adaptations include a two-tiered check in process.

“They will be required to sign in when they come at one table,” he said.

The initial sign-in process is to collect data to allow contact tracing if a coronavirus outbreak occurs following the meeting.

“Once they sign in, depending on their name in the alphabet, they’ll go to one of the appropriate tables to check in with the Elections Committee, who will verify they’re on the list as an eligible voter,” he said. “They will be tabbing that as we go so they will know when we reach 100 [or] if we do.”

The Elections Committee will try to confirm the quorum count by the meeting’s scheduled start time of 9 a.m. on Saturday. Members are requested to bring ID to assure verification.

“They will signal to [OPA] President [Doug Parks] that we do or don’t have a quorum,” he said.

At that point, the meeting will proceed if the prescribed attendance if reached.

“If there is not a quorum then the board will hold a special meeting at a later date,” he said.

Either on Saturday, or a yet to be determined date in the immediate future, vote totals will be officially recorded, but results for the 2020 OPA Board election will be tabulated and announced this Friday.

“They’re already validated at the end of the [ballot] count on Friday, but the board receives them and then it becomes an official end of the election, if you will,” he said.

Tuttle said to support full transparency the OPA resolution governing elections and referendums was amended to allow vote counts to be announced just prior to the annual meeting.

“That was just a little bit awkward holding onto that information once its been done, so we modified [the resolution] to allow announcing the results of the election as soon as the ballots are counted,” he said.

In addition to providing vote totals to candidates and board members on Friday, information will be posted on the OPA website with email blasts sent to members.

Tuttle said the ballot count, which will take place starting at 10 a.m. on Friday in the East Room of the Ocean Pines Community Center, is open for interested parties to observe.

“Usually not many people show up,  and it should be enough space in there for social distancing,” he said. “If 50 people show up, we’re going to have a problem.”

In addition to making two selections among three board candidates vying for a pair of open seats, OPA voters are also replying to a survey question gauging support and opposition to the use of electronic voting in future election cycles.

In addition to election validation, the annual meeting agenda also includes the annual Sam Wilkinson Volunteer Award presentation, along with reports from General Manager John Viola, OPA Attorney Jeremy Tucker, OPA President Doug Parks and Auditor Paul Shifrin. The meeting will close with a public comment period limited to five minutes per individual.