Director Slobodan Trendic last Saturday said he was looking for ways to save the association money on its bulkhead program, including seeking separate bids for installation and materials.

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Nov. 15, 2018) Ocean Pines Director Slobodan Trendic on Saturday asked to run the numbers on separate contracts for bulkhead replacement work and the materials needed to do the work, and the board eventually reached a compromise to do just that.

His original motion would have required General Manager John Bailey to issue a bid request “only for the installation-related services for bulkhead replacement work no later than November 30, 2018.”

“This will enable OPA to have separate contracts for the installation services only and to contract directly with the preferred suppliers for required material,” Trendic said. “This approach will provide the association’s membership with substantial financial saving over the life of the bulkhead replacement program.”

Association Vice President Steve Tuttle opposed the motion, because the board already approved a contract for the next phase of bulkhead work that included both materials and installation.

“Secondly,” he continued, “I question whether contractors are really going to be willing to bid on a contract where they do not supply the materials, primarily because that’s where a significant part of their profit comes from,” Tuttle said. “I don’t see any guarantee of savings here.”

He also warned of a potential “management nightmare” if an Ocean Pines employee were charged with overseeing the materials.

“We just went through a whole issue with [the] swim and racquet about storing bulkhead materials on Ocean Pines property and, all of the sudden now, if we do something like this, we’re going to be storing materials on Ocean Pines property somewhere. That’s an issue for me,” Tuttle said.

Trendic said his motion was about lowering costs, and the recent decision to move bulkhead equipment and materials away from the swim and racquet club had driven up those costs.

“Therefore, it is really imperative and essential for the board and the association to look at any opportunities where the costs can be reduced,” he said.

Director Colette Horn argued “the competitive bidding process that we use achieves this already,” and said she was against diverting more staff time and resources when there were more pressing issues like deferred maintenance and drainage.

Association President Doug Parks wondered if contractors would artificially inflate their labor costs to offset the missing revenue for materials.

Two other directors, Esther Diller and Frank Daly, sided with Trendic.

Diller, in particular, said she felt like a broken record.

“I don’t know why we’re so afraid to get information, but we just constantly seem to be,” Diller said. “We’re not making any decisions here. We’re just merely putting everything on the table. Then, we can make an educated decision – whether it’s with this or anything else in this community. I will tell you, this is a frustration I have.”

Daly added, “It is just what boards do” to gather information before making decisions.

Director Ted Moroney offered a friendly amendment, to remove the date and ask the general manager to seek bids for both a full service contract and one for “installation-related services” only, whenever the next phase of work needed to be done.

The amendment passed unanimously and the original motion, as amended, passed 5-2 with Horn and Moroney opposed.