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Requests for proposals to release for pier, bulkheads

JOSH DAVIS/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
Ocean Pines Director Frank Daly, and three others, on Saturday said board members should not be involved in writing or reviewing bid requests.

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Sept. 13, 2018) In separate motions approved Saturday, the Ocean Pines Board of Directors cast a wide net in gathering information on two hot waterfront topics: bulkhead staging and the sanctuary crab pier.

A parallel debate concerned whether board members should be involved in operational issues.

On bulkheads, the board ordered bid requests, due Sept. 30, for a bulkhead repair and replacement program “that will include an option for [a] material and equipment staging area outside of OPA, so that all location choices can be properly priced and benchmarked.”

For months, residents have asked for the removal of construction equipment and materials from the current staging area of the swim and racquet club park. In addition, a homeowner motion approved in August asked the board to “consider alternate staging grounds for bulkhead repair … and return the swim and racquet club park back to its originally intended use as a park and recreational area.”

Also included in the motion on Saturday was, “Upon completion of the bulkhead bidding process and entering into a contract(s), terminate any existing bulkhead agreements and remove all remaining construction materials and equipment from OPA property, should offsite staging and storage be selected.”

Director Ted Moroney, who introduced the motion, said its purpose was “to attempt to address a decades-old bulkhead staging area issue that [the] Ocean Pines community has been asking for.”

Moroney, in the motion text, wrote, “OPA can determine any actual cost difference and if, offsite storage is selected, restore the swim and racquet club complex to a recreation-only area.”

The motion was approved unanimously without further discussion.

Earlier during the meeting, Moroney said he favored moving the staging area.

“I’ve already gone on record that I’m in favor of not using it going forward,” he said, adding what still needed to be determined was, “should the overall cost, if there is a differential … be split among all of the homeowners, or should it be a portion only to those who have bulkheads?”

“Based on contractor feedback,” Moroney said, the differential was likely a 15-25 percent cost increase.

“I say it could be from zero to 10 percent, to 20 to 50,” he said.

Association President Doug Parks said, “a lot of numbers [that] have been thrown around” and plenty of conjecture on the subject.

“From my perspective, I’d like to see us … find out those numbers,” Parks said. “Do we really have a problem and, if so, how do we react to it?

“My takeaway is, get the numbers [and] let’s give some serious thought about how to spread that cost out,” he added.

A motion on the crab pier also involved multiple points: ordering separate bid requests to remove the current pier, replace it as is, replace it with an observation platform, and to “report to the board no later than Oct. 15 the options, issues and recommendations for relocating the existing crab pier elsewhere in Ocean Pines.”

Residents in the Whitetail Sanctuary neighborhood, where the pier is situated, have asked for it to be converted into a nature preserve, while others in the community argued it should simply be renovated.

Director Slobodan Trendic was for the motion, but proposed a “friendly amendment” to allow the board to review the bid requests before they’re released.

Moroney said he would accept Trendic’s amendment in order to proceed, but added, “I think at some point we need to have a talk about what we do as far as RFPs.”

In what became a reoccurring theme during the meeting, three other directors suggested board members should not have a role in writing or reviewing bid requests.

“I don’t think anybody on this board should be reviewing any RFP,” Frank Daly said. “It’s an operational issue – we are not operation people.”

“I am a strong opponent of the board … reviewing RFPs,” association President Doug Parks said. “We’re here to make decisions based on the information presented that was developed by an RFP process – we’re not in the business of developing and reviewing RFPs.”

“We should not be dabbling in that part of the job,” Director Colette Horn agreed.

Trendic countered that he simply wanted to review the request for proposals because he “understood” one of the options was to build a new aluminum pier, “which is a lot more expensive.”

“The question is, is this a wise use of the association’s money?” Trendic said.

“Fair enough, but I think the practical aspect would be to share that with the GM to make sure it’s included in the RFP, and then remove us from the RFP process,” Parks said.

The amendment and original motion were approved unanimously.