(Dec. 26, 2019) After raising community ire in January by proposing increasing annual assessment fees more than $100, Ocean Pines Association General Manager John Bailey was replaced by OPA Treasurer John Viola, who, beginning in March, quelled fiscal concerns sufficiently to warrant a contract extension to December.
The dissension with Bailey was on display during budget discussions in mid-January, when several members of the OPA Board of Directors expressed skepticism with his fiscal projections.
In reaction, several board members requested a five-year outlook for potential spending to address drainage issues, bulkhead repairs and road maintenance.
Bailey reported bulkhead reserves would begin the start of the upcoming fiscal year on May 1 at $1,598,000, while estimating a fiscal 2019/2020 contribution at $22,500 and planned spending of $1.6 million would essentially empty the fund with just over $1,400 remaining to close the budget year.
Those dire reserve fund estimates were coupled with a proposal from Bailey, seemingly following earlier suggestions from the OPA Budget and Finance Committee, to drop both the annual $19 contribution paid by association members and the $453 annual fee paid by bulkhead owners for the upcoming fiscal year.
“Then, going into the following year, the $19 would be back in as well as the assessment for bulkhead property owners,” he said.
Bailey referenced a study on reserve funding that set future spending on bulkheads at $1.1 million per year, while noting the association was averaging roughly $800,000 annually.
Director Ted Moroney characterized Bailey’s fiscal projections as “overly aggressive,” claiming the balance for bulkhead reserves would likely be in the area of $400,000 to close the next fiscal year on April 30, 2020
Viola echoed the sentiment expressed by Moroney, while noting the bulkhead work planned for the closing months of fiscal 2019 was significantly greater that what had already been completed.

This is the GM, this is your budget, this is your plan and, even sitting here, I’m not completely sure that you are convinced yourself that you are going to get this work done,” he said.
Viola also questioned suspending annual bulkhead fees collections and draining the reserve fund.
Moroney said if the figures provided by Bailey proved correct, it could jack up collections by 30 percent from bulkhead owners.
In early February, a throng of property owners attended the OPA board meeting after a budget draft released by Bailey on Jan. 25 included the assessment increase.
Bailey noted the range of “comments, concerns and frustrations,” received about the proposed assessment increase of $127, which would be the second largest instituted by the association.
“There is one thing I know we all can agree on – I certainly got your attention,” he said.
Bailey reported the association had been profitable for the last five months of calendar year 2018.
“If we’re doing well in the budget this year, why do we need such a large increase for next year?” Bailey asked. “Ultimately, that depends on what we … really want to accomplish.”
Among the fiscal objectives highlighted by Bailey were addressing previous deficit issues and accruing capital for deferred maintenance general replacement needs.
Bailey estimated that about $1 million remained of the $1.6 million deficit incurred over the prior two fiscal years, while proposing budgeting to pay off the balance over the next three years.
Bailey also proposed increasing spending on drainage to more than $900,000, compared to the roughly $116,00 spent in fiscal 2019.
Among a dozen projects included as being budgeted from replacement reserves was $800,000 to expand the police and administration building.
The contentious budget process proved the end for Bailey, who departed his post prior to the board meeting set for Feb. 16 to vote on the budget.
That same week, the board announced that Bailey had left his position on amicable terms and the process of scouting a replacement had begun.
Bailey took over as general manager in September 2017, following a yearlong applicant search to replace Brett Hill, who took the reins on an interim basis after Bob Thompson was relieved of duty in August 2016.
In March, when the process of hiring a new general manger was under discussion, Moroney suggested the complexity of overseeing OPA operations might require a revised approach.
“I am against repeating the process of simply looking for a qualified HOA manager,” he said.
Moroney said the interim operational team put in place after Bailey departed was showing positive early results.
“As one director commented, we have untapped abilities and resources that are just now showing their abilities,” he said.
During an emergency meeting on March 30, the board voted 4-0 to appoint Viola as an unpaid general manager on a volunteer basis.
Viola had previously served as budget and finance committee chairman before becoming association treasurer in June 2018.
OPA Vice President Steve Tuttle stressed the temporary nature of the appointment.
“John will be supported in this role by the Transition Management Team and the OPA staff, especially Michelle Bennett, Colby Phillips and Stephen Phillips,” he said.
OPA President Doug Parks said the stopgap measure would not preclude sending out a request for proposal for outsourced management.
Board member Dr. Colette Horn said search firms would also be contacted to investigate hiring another general manager with a motion set for April 6.
The board subsequently voted to table the motion to research executive hiring firms at the early April meeting.
At that point, board members continued debating the merits of filling the position through the previous method of hiring an individual candidate, outsourcing to a management firm or some combination.
The board voted to table the decision for one month to review resumes already beginning to trickle since after Bailey left.
By the end of April, Viola announced the transition management team put in place after Bailey left was being disbanded.
“Because there was no general manager in place, the board put this temporary management team into place to work with the department heads to help Ocean Pines,” Viola said. “When they filled the position with me on the temporary basis, we decided to leave the temporary management team in place until I could evaluate further on what was needed.”
In his first month of taking the reins, Viola oversaw the roster of advisory committees and named Colby Phillips OPA Operations Director, while Finance Director Steve Phillips maintained watch over business matters.
Viola said the combination of talents appeared capable to abandon the transition management team.
By late May, the board noted excessive costs as one reason to abandon the proposal to contract with an outside management firm, while still pursuing hiring an individual candidate as general manager.
Of the 49 firms OPA requested to submit proposals for outsourcing management services, only a handful responded, Viola said.
By early June the board agreed to extend Viola as interim general manger until December while it continued to search for a permanent replacement.
“One of the things we wanted to do was continue the continuity that we’ve started,” Parks said. “We’ve seen a lot of success based on when we first didn’t have a GM and when we put a transition management team in place.”
Looking to reverse the scales after suffering significant financial losses in 2017 and 2018, Viola’s initial move as general manager was to form multiple workgroups that paired elected officials with staff and association members to examine dredging and drainage, building construction, a new compensation study and contracts for food and beverage.
“The biggest thing I saw … and what I really believed that we needed to do as an association, was to empower our team [and] empower individuals,” he said. “We have a lot on our plate and that’s fine … [but] the only way to get it done is by utilizing the team.”
Viola also noted past board members, such as Tom Terry, Marty Clarke and

Photo; File Photo
In April, then-interim Ocean Pines Association General Manager John Viola, left, with Association Vice President Steve Tuttle and President Doug Parks stage an emergency meeting to hash out revamped operational frameworks in the wake of General Manager John Bailey’s departure.

, have been instrumental in the turnaround.
“Utilizing those teams, that expertise, is definitely helping us,” he said.
During the annual homeowners’ meeting in August, Viola reported the fiscal 2019 budget ended in the black, with revenues outpacing expenses by about $116,000.
“We were favorable this year $116,000 to the budget, [which] is a big difference from the last two years where I stood up here and had to inform you of losses of around $350,000 and $1.4 million,” he said. “We’re definitely moving in the right direction.”
Viola noted during his first month as general manager that department staff was directed to analyze budget dollars to locate potential cost cuts.
Viola said to help reduce the debt that weighed down the operating budget, annual assessments were raised in 2019, with $71 of that charge dedicated to paying down operating fund deficits.
Viola said the recent assessment increase has helped trim about $600,000 off the operating fund deficit, which ended fiscal 2019 at about $895,000.
“We went from the $1.3 million negative … to a positive $115,000 and that’s the way we will track,” he said.