By TOM STAUSS/Publisher 1/14/2006

Approval of a break-even fiscal year 2007 food and beverage budget at the Ocean Pines Yacht Club by the Ocean Pines Association directors Jan. 10 was overshadowed by an assertion that the OPA administration is violating board policy relating to catering at the club.

Director Mark Venit called a decision by the OPA management to sell Friday and Saturday catering services on the second floor of the Yacht Club this summer “outrageous” and “unacceptable” because it contravened a directive not to do so passed by the board last year.

The policy motion passed by the board in June of last year banned most Friday and Saturday catering functions on the second floor of the Yacht Club from mid-July through Labor Day of last year, with no specific mention that the policy would remain in place during 2006.

Venit said the directors had agreed that the policy would be revisited after the season, but that understanding was not included as part of the motion. Nor did the directors raise the issue this past fall. Venit learned of the Friday and Saturday bookings at the Yacht Club during his review of the Yacht Club budget for FY ’07.

During Jan, 10 budget deliberations, Venit said the policy decision last year was designed to preserve the Yacht Club as a dining facility rather than converting it into a catering hall. Venit said he understands that catering is more profitable to the association than ala carte dining, but that the second floor dining room at the Yacht Club should be open to Ocean Pines residents throughout the summer, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

He said the policy of preserving the upstairs of the Yacht Club for ala carte dining during the summer should be coupled with a new effort to convert the second floor of the Beach Club in Ocean City for use as a catering facility. In an earlier discussion relating to the Beach Club budget, Venit proposed that portable heaters and air conditioners be added to the little used upstairs of the beachfront club.

While Venit expressed outrage at the Friday and Saturday night bookings for this summer, the practice was defended, first by OPA General Manager Dave Ferguson and then by OPA director Dan Stachurski, who was OPA president last year until September, when he was succeeded by Glenn Duffy.

Venit received some support from director George Coleburn, who suggested that Ferguson should have consulted the full board before authorizing staff to accept catering bookings on Friday and Saturday nights this summer. Coleburn softened his criticism by expressing understanding of how difficult it is to run a food and beverage operation and that he himself is no expert.

Director Heather Cook also seemed to agree with Venit’s criticism but was not prepared to accept Venit’s demand for the cancellation of the Friday and Saturday night bookings or his suggestion that staff should try to reschedule them for Sunday night or other OPA venues, such as the Country Club or the Beach Club in Ocean City.

“I think we’re screwed for this summer, Mark,” she said, adding that weddings and other events are booked months in advance and can’t be easily changed.

Ferguson said he asked Stachurski last summer if the policy applied to summer bookings at the Yacht Club in 2005 only and was told that it did.

Ferguson also rejected Venit’s assertion that the Yacht Club has been turned into a catering hall, citing figures that indicate show that catering revenues have risen to about $362,000, against projected total revenues at the club this year of $860,000.

Ferguson also said he has been directed to make the food and beverage operations self-supporting, a goal that he and his staff are very close to achieving. The Yacht Club operations are expected to lose about $30,000 in the current fiscal year, with operations projected to break even at about $923,000 in revenues in FY ’07.

While Venit continued his criticism of staff, Stachurski waited patiently but with evident irritation for his turn to speak. He also left the room briefly to ask administrative assistant Phyllis East to pull a copy of the minutes from the meeting last year when the policy was approved.

Stachurski quoted directly from the minutes and the adopted motion, which specified the summer of 2005 only and made no mention of revisiting the issue again for the summer of 2006. He also quoted from a goals policy adopted Oct. 19 by the board that directs Ferguson “to go run it (the Yacht Club) and make it break even.”