commentary by Joe Reynolds

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout; But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.

It was inevitable. OPA Board of Directors members Dave Stevens and Marty Clarke had virtually no chance of working as a team. OPA's so-called "new board majority" has struck out.

The reality is, there never was a viable new board majority after the OPA election last August. Yes, there were the trappings, the bravado, the election of new officers, the symbolic moving of the General Manager to the end of the board table at meetings; the near elimination of the GM's long PowerPoint presentations. In the end, however, it was all meaningless, an observation made painfully clear at the board meeting last Saturday.

A political majority is only as effective as the cohesiveness of its members. This current supposed majority of Dave Stevens, Marty Clarke, Pat Renaud and Jack Collins, like Humpty Dumpty, has fallen and will never be put back together again.

Political majorities don't have to agree on every issue, but without agreement on major issues they cannot survive. In Ocean Pines there is no more major issue currently than whether or not to eliminate $130 reserve funding in the assessment for the so-called Five Year Plan initiated about six years ago.

Clarke made elimination of this part of the assessment a cornerstone of goals for the new majority. Last Saturday, OPA president Dave Stevens parted ways with Clarke and announced his support for continued collection of the $130 in the assessment. Mindful Clarke would not be a happy camper, Stevens tried a ruse even a three-year-old would see through. He proposed continued collection of the money but changing the name of the reserve fund it goes into.

Board member and former OPA president Tom Terry, now in the minority group, tried to control his excitement, even saying he needed time to consider the Stevens proposal. But the writing was on the wall and Terry saw it immediately. Sharyn O'Hare and GM Bob Thompson did not appear to be as observant as Terry about what had just happened. It was a political bombshell; in some ways it was the end of something that never really existed.

Like Terry, Marty Clarke knew exactly what had happened, and he was not happy. He turned to the audience and said, "I'm announcing to the media that I will not run for re-election to the board." Shortly thereafter he packed up his papers, put on his coat and left the building.

Stevens continued on as though nothing had happened. By the end of the board meeting, the board had failed to eliminate virtually any fat from the GM's proposed 2015-2016 budget; Tom Terry was still blaming the fire department for the GM's proposed assessment increase; and the board had voted to add some expenditures that could more than double the assessment increase originally proposed by the GM.

All this transpired in over five boring hours, with the interesting stuff happening at the very end when nearly all association members attending had either fallen asleep or left the building. Some were put off by what seemed like incomprehensible mumbling by board members due to either an inadequate sound system or board members who do not know how to use the $7,000 microphones scattered about the table with little more usefulness than flower pots.

In the end, Stevens destroyed his majority for little or no purpose. He parted ways with Clarke on Clarke's most important issue, only to then say he did not want to see an assessment increase this year. To prevent an increase, Stevens then incredibly suggested reducing the disputed $130 Five Year Plan assessment amount. So the net result would be no increase in the assessment as opposed to Clarke's proposed plan of reducing the assessment by about $50.

Is it possible Stevens and Clarke will kiss and make up? If so, on what premise, and how will Collins and Renaud fit into the equation?

Back on August 10, 2014, right after the election and excitement over the "new board majority," I wrote the following:

"The relationship between Clarke and Stevens may not end up being as smooth as some might think. This new majority's major commonality is a desire to exert greater control over the GM. Beyond that all bets are off."

Interestingly, all sides seem to agree that OPA's reserve funds will stand at a relatively high amount of about $4 million at the end of fiscal 2015-2016, even if the $130 is not collected.

All in all, it proves once again -- You Can't Make This Stuff Up.

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  Stevens Shatters His Board Majority